Max Helms: Curse of the Relic (Max Helms - Private Investigator Book 1) by Walter Hammett Page B

felt as though it was going to shoot right out of his chest. He saw Charlie kneel over him. “Boy! You really know how to bring the party crashers!” Charlie said. “That was a close one!”
    Charlie laugh ed nervously. “Did you get it?” he asked. “The relic?”
    Don gave Charlie the evil eye and handed him the sack. “I got it, all right!” he replied.
    Charlie t ook the sack, looked it over for a bit and then finally opened it and pulled out the relic. “Boy! Mr. Heinrich is gonna be kippy!” he said with an ear-to-ear smile on his face.
    Don was so exhausted that he didn’t much care if Mr. Heinrich was happy or not. He watched Charlie carefully put the relic back in the sack. “Tell Tony I owe him a knuckle sandwich for being late!”
    Charlie smiled as Don closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home by the Bay - Saturday, September 27, 1938
    Don was happy to be back in his city, the city by the bay. Now he just needed to deliver the relic to Mr. Heinrich.
    He walked out of his apartment to a beautiful sunn y day. He buttoned up his coat to cover up his safari outfit from his African adventure. He’d decided to wear it as he thought Mr. Heinrich would get a kick out of it. He took a deep breath of the fresh bay air and started down the street to his car.
    He noticed two guys standing at the entrance to an alley he had to pass. Both had their eyes fixed on the sack he carried. He recognized them as Rico and Joey, a couple of two-bit neighborhood thugs. Everyone in the neighborhood knew who he worked for, so they would have to be nuts to try anything with him. If that wasn’t enough, his temper was legendary. He once beat a man into unconsciousness just for reading a newspaper headline too loud on the train.
    He nodded to them as he approached. Joey looked down at the ground as he passed. Rico stepped out to meet him. As he started to go around Rico, he felt something he hadn’t felt since he joined Mr. Heinrich – the oddly familiar round barrel of a gun in his back. Rico motioned for him to go into the alley and Don gladly obliged.
    “ Give us all your dough and you won’t have any problems!” Rico demanded.
    Don thought that they could have all of the money in his wallet as long as they didn’t take Mr. Heinrich’s sack. “My wallet’s in my inside coat pocket,” he replied. “It’s all yours. I don’t want any trouble.”
    As Don opened his coat, he wished he would have worn a different outfit.
    “What’s with the funny threads?” Rico asked as he reached into Don’s coat and grabbed his wallet. “What are you, some kind of a Boy Scout?”
    “It’s a little early to be trick or treating ain’t it pal?” Joey said with a sly grin.
    Rico looked down at the sack and asked, “What’s in the sack?”
    “Yeah, I’m a boy scout,” Don replied. “And I’m on a mission to bring my boss his lunch. That’s what’s in the sack, a liverwurst sandwich.”
    A look of disbelief came over Rico’s face as he said, “For some reason, I don’t believe you. That’s an awfully big sack for a sandwich.”
    “My boss has a big appetite ,” Don said sarcastically to Rico.
    Rico’s face changed from a look of disbelief to one of anger as he spoke. “So, you’re a wise guy, huh? We’ll just take your boss’s lunch as well then. We’re both kind of hungry since we skipped breakfast.”
    Don knew he couldn’t let them take the sack. He became quite irate at the whole situation. “Look , you don’t want to anger my boss,” he explained. “If he doesn’t get his lunch, there’s gonna be hell to pay!”
    Rico smirked as he said, “We don’t care if your scout master is mad at us. We’re taking the sack!”
    Don was having a hard time keeping his temper in check. He got an idea that he hoped would keep them from taking the sack. He spoke in a calming manner. “If I were to, say…get this sack to my boss and tell him that you two helped me get it there safe and