"Well, it looks like we got ourselves a party now," Hal said.
?
* * *
?
The pain was like a rotten tooth lodged in Smoke's skull.
"Shit," he said.? "Motherfucker."
He stood at the public phone in the parking lot of the Gas-N-Go.? Traffic flowed by, the people oblivious to the life and death struggles going on all around them.? Lola's telephone was a loud, obnoxious and constant busy signal.? The girl was in her twenties, supposedly of the new modern generation, and she seemed like the only person left in America who didn't have call waiting.
He slammed the receiver down.
"Shit!"? He walked around in a tight little circle.
Only moments ago, Smoke had awakened and crawled through the hedges next to his home.? When he reached the end of the hedge, he had lingered in the alley a moment, staring out at the parked cars.? Behind him, huge orange shadows had danced on the sides of houses.? Every few seconds, his vision had grown dark at the edges and he thought he would pass out again.?
The fire department had already come, hosing down the backyard and the shed, which burned intensely.? Crowds of people had gathered.? Smoke came out and began walking along the street, eyes downcast, his head spinning, limping along at just under double speed.? Bad enough just to walk.? But worse if people noticed him and saw how badly he had been beaten the same night that his workshop exploded.? Either way, he had no choice - he had to get moving.
Now, he stepped a few yards away from the phone.? He could still see the red orange glow on the horizon.? Cruz was out there now, rolling around like a loose ball bearing.? No telling what he was going to do next.? Then Smoke realized why Lola's phone was busy.? Cruz was already there.? He had taken the phone off the hook - maybe ripped it out of the wall.? Maybe Moss had wrapped the phone cord between his hands and?
Shit, Lola.? A searing pain ripped through Smoke.? It had nothing to do with the beating he had endured.? It was the pain of separation, the impotent fear for her safety.? His mind raced.? He couldn't breathe.? He drifted back to the phone.
Call the cops.? Call the fucking cops.? Smoke had never called the cops in his life.? Call the cops.? Call them NOW.?
A woman stood there next to him.? She was blonde and slim, that kind of early-forties suburban mom who chauffeurs her children in a late model minivan from school to soccer practice to music lessons.?
"Sir, do you need that telephone?? My cell phone died."
She smiled, but the smile died when she saw his bloodied face.
"I'm using it," he snapped.
"Are you all right?? Do you need an ambulance?"
"I'm fine."??
He punched in Lola's number again.? This time it rang.? Thank God.
It rang and rang.?
Finally, she picked it up.? Her voice came, upbeat and musical as ever.?
"Hello?"
?
* * *
?
Cruz and Moss paced through the second floor apartment.
It stood to reason it would have a similar layout to Lola's place upstairs.? Two bedrooms, a narrow bathroom, a living room, and a combined kitchen and dining room by the front door.? This apartment was stripped - no furnishings, half-painted - paint cans, ladders and canvas tarps piled in a corner of the living room.? It had that stale, musty smell - that stench of paint and sawdust trapped inside for too long.? Cruz looked around.? All the windows were closed.? The smell was giving him a headache.
It was crazy roundabout bullshit to do it this way.? If they had the girl Dugan would have to give himself up.? Or would he?? Some men would ditch, Cruz knew.? It all depended on what the old boy felt for this hot little black girl he had seen in the dossier, and that remained to be seen.? If she was just a piece of ass to him, he would leave her behind and run.
That simple.?
And then Cruz would have blown the job and would have one more person to kill, an innocent.? Two innocents, including the second girl.? Not to mention Moss.? He'd have to kill Moss, too, wouldn't he?? Sure.? If he blew this job, there was no going home again.? Man, this shit was wearing on him.??
"It ain't lightweight," Vito had said.? "You let us worry about the thinking end of it."
Well, it wasn't lightweight so far.?
Someone was coming up the stairs.? Moss pulled his gun and stepped lightly to the door and watched through the eyehole.? Cruz heard the person reach the top of the first flight of stairs.? Footsteps moved along the hallway.
"It's a girl," Moss whispered.? "Going upstairs.? Must be the roommate."
Shit, another one.? Another innocent in the way of this bullshit job.? Cruz flashed to the cleaning woman weighted down in twenty feet of seawater, being picked clean by the crabs and the elements.? When they pulled her out of there, they'd have to check the dental records just to know who she was.?
Cruz didn't want to go up there, not with Moss.? Moss could turn this thing into a bloodbath.? Unless?
He felt the sudden urge and let it carry him for a moment.? What would it take?? Pull the Glock right now and put three slugs in the back of Moss's neck.? Finish him with one to the brain.? Walk out of this building then get in the car and drive.?
Without the money.???
No.? It was too soon.? Either do the job all the way through, bring Dugan back to New York, or wait around and get the money.? Don't do neither.? The realization came to Cruz like something that had always been there, submerged at the bottom of a deep pool but slowly working its way to the surface over long years.? The way you retire, he grasped now, is you don't announce it beforehand.
Moss turned back to him.? "Ready?"
Cruz couldn't let Moss know just how far he had drifted in the past hour.? At least, he couldn't let him know yet.? "Let's do it," he said.???
?
* * *
?
"You've gotta get out of there!" Smoke shouted.? "You gotta get out of there right this minute."? It made no sense.
Lola stood with the phone to her ear.? She was distracted momentarily as Pamela came in from work - she had just this moment walked in the door with a bag of groceries from Micucci's Italian Market at the bottom of Munjoy Hill.? She was in her neat work attire.? Slacks, a blouse, and a sports jacket.? It was neat, but hardly sparkling.? She wore sneakers for the long walk up the hill.
"Hey babe," Pamela said.? "You left the door open downstairs again."? She began to put the food away.
"I'm pretty sure I locked it," Lola said.
"Listen to me!? Will you listen to me?"? Smoke was babbling, almost incoherent.? Something about she had to get out of the house.? He was insistent, he was raging, he was out of his mind.? She had never heard him like this before.?
"Wait a minute," she said.? "Wait a minute.? What are you saying?"
"I don't have time to explain," came his voice.? He sounded like he was outside somewhere, next to a highway.? Cars were going past him in the background.? "Some men attacked me today."
"What?? Some men attacked you?? Are you all right?"? She thought of Mr. Shaggy and Mr. Blue Eyes.? Had they attacked Smoke?? Why would they attack Smoke?? They could have been following her, seen Smoke, and decided to take out their revenge on him because they knew they couldn't harm her.? Jesus!?
"Who were the men?? What did they look like?"
"Lola, shut up and listen to me!"
She stopped.? She hated that.? She hated when any man thought he could end the conversation just by being louder, or by putting on his man-authority voice.? If he had been attacked, he needed to tell her about it.? But he didn't have to tell her to shut up.? She wouldn't stand for that.? He knew as much, too.
She heard her voice go cold.? "I'm listening, but it had better be good, and it had better come with a box of chocolates and some roses."
He didn't take the hint, or even stop to comment on it.? That, more than anything, made the skin on her back tighten into gooseflesh.? He spoke slowly, as if to an imbe
cile or a child.? There was something in his voice?
"Lola, I need you to trust me.? Can you do that?"?
"Yes."
"Okay, there's a lot I can't get into right now.? I've been meaning to tell you, but I never did, and now you just have to do what I say.? Some very dangerous men are in town.? They want money from me.? I got away from them, but I'm worried they're coming to get you.? You have to get out of there."?
"Smoke, come on.? What is this, a game?"
"Go out the back way.? Right now.? GO!"
Pamela came out of the bathroom, in stocking feet with her shirt unbuttoned halfway down from the collar.? She headed back into the kitchen.
A knock came on the door.? Lola looked at it.? So what?? Somebody was knocking.? But how did they get in the building?? Pamela changed directions and headed for the door.? She reached out for the lock and the knob simultaneously.? She wasn't even going to glance through the peephole.
Suddenly, Lola was afraid.
"Lola, you've got to get out of there right now.? If Pamela is there, you have to take her with you.? It's not safe."???
Pamela's hand was on the knob.
"Don't open it!" Lola screamed.
Too late.?
Pamela turned to look at Lola, her eyes puzzled by the sudden outburst.? She had unlocked the door, but hadn't opened it.? The door burst open, knocking her backwards.? Lola watched Pamela take two stagger steps backwards and fall to the floor.?
A man came in.? He walked with a swagger.? He was huge, with impossibly muscular arms.? The hand at the end of one of those arms held a gun.? The gun had a large silencer attached to the end of it.? He looked down at Pamela sprawled on the worn carpet near the door.? Then he looked up at Lola.
He smiled.
Lola dropped the phone.??
?
* * *
?
Cruz followed Moss up the narrow stairway.? Moss's bulk barely fit between the walls.? His head nearly scraped the low ceiling.
Moss burst through the door and Cruz padded in behind him, moving fast, moving quietly.? Moss backed the black girl, Lola, into the living room with the gun.? The other girl, a slim, bookish white girl, was lying on the floor in a daze.? Cruz pulled the door shut and locked it.
The girl on the floor stared up at him.? Pretty girl, gone numb.
"If you do anything, I'll kill you," he said to her.? He held up his gun for her to see it better.? "It has big bullets.? It'll put big holes in your body.? Understand?"
She nodded.? Her eyes were wide and hollow like those of a Japanese cartoon.
"Is anyone else here?"
She gazed at him and didn't answer.? Couldn't answer.???
Cruz did a quick sweep of the apartment.? He already had one extra witness.? He hoped nobody else was in here.? God, the bodies were piling up.? He didn't want to think about it.? He went into a room.? It was a bedroom with a double bed, the headboard against the wall.? There was a poster of a black girl in tennis whites on the wall.? Black girls played tennis?? So much Cruz didn't know.? He picked in the closet.? Nothing here, except some clothes, skirts and such.? The room was clean.? He went back outside.
He paused in the doorway and glanced over at Moss, who had Lola at gunpoint.? She wore a pair of black tights and a belly shirt.? Her body seemed to defy gravity.? Her hair hung down in wild curls.? She was something.?
Moss looked at Cruz.
He grinned, and gestured at her with the gun.? "Whaddya think?" he said.
Just then, Lola kicked out.
Amazingly, she knocked Moss's gun right up into the air.? Her kick - it finished high, nearly as tall as Moss's head, and the gun flew back up and over his head, into the room Cruz was standing in.? It slid across the floor.? Moss watched it go.? The girl followed up with a punch at Moss's throat. ?Moss stepped back just before getting the brunt of it.?
He laughed.?
"Girl, I never saw anyone kick that high.? Not in real life."
Then she came for him.?
Her movements were a blur.? Moss blocked her first two punches.? He was still laughing, the embarrassed laughter of a ten-year-old boy being attacked by a little girl in his class.? Then Cruz saw her knee go into his groin.? Moss grunted.? A fist connected with his face.? He barely moved.? It was almost as if he was watching it happen to him.? He couldn't get his engine going.? His eyes said that this sort of thing just didn't happen.? She hooked his leg, whirled and elbow smashed him in the face.?
He lost his balance, stepping backwards and sideways.? She kept coming.?
A punch, a kick and down he went.? Moss went down.
MOSS? WENT? DOWN.
It was like watching a building fall.? Cruz felt the floor shake.???
Incredible.
"Pamela!" Lola shouted.? "Pamela, get the gun."
The girl Pamela looked up from her stupor.? Her eyes brightened as she became aware of the situation.? She was four feet from the gun.? Cruz was half way across the room from her.? Ridiculous.? Imagine if that little girl actually picked up the gun and began shooting it?? She probably wouldn't hit anything, but then again she might.? In any event, a lot of shooting wasn't the answer in this small apartment building in this residential neighborhood.
She crawled across the floor and reached for Moss's gun.
Despite everything, Cruz felt calm.? Very cool.? He had seen worse than this.? A lot worse.? He had seen worse this very afternoon.?
He held up his gun again.? "Pamela," he said.
She looked up at him.? He pointed the gun at her and drew a bead down the barrel.? He didn't want to kill her.? That was the last thing he wanted.? Her face was perfectly centered in his iron sights.
There was no way he could pull this trigger.
"Pamela, if you pick up that gun I'm going to kill you.? What I want you to do is crawl right back to where you were."?
Long seconds passed.
She backed away from the gun.
"That's a good girl."
As Pamela crawled away, Cruz moved in and picked up the gun.? Then he backed into his doorway again, where he could get a better view of the whole apartment.? He looked back over at Lola and Moss.? Moss was up, circling in.? He was still laughing, but he didn't sound as enthusiastic as before.? Lola circled away from him.???
"Yessir," he said, almost to himself.? "I never seen anything like it."
She swung and he blocked it with his thick arm, but an instant later her other hand came around and caught him on the side of the head.? Then a foot shot up and kicked him in the balls.? She danced away, just out of his reach.
"Lola!" Cruz called.
She cast an eye at him, all the while minding Moss.?
"I want you to stop now," Cruz said.? "If you don't, then I'm going to have to kill Pamela.? Do you hear me?? We're here to see you.? Pamela is worth nothing to us.? If you don't stop I promise I will kill her.? If you do stop, I promise I'll let her live.? How does that sound to you?"
Lola faced Moss again.
"Lola, I'm going to kill her right now.? Do you understand?"
Sure, she understood.? She must have because she hesitated for moment, then let her arms go slack by her sides.? She was winded, and she had a fine sheen of sweat on her face.? Cruz pictured her dancing at a nightclub with a similar sheen on her.? For an instant, he pictured her moving in bed, her body glistening.
"All right," she said.? "You win."
Moss walked over to her.?
"My friend's going to give you some handcuffs to put on," Cruz said.
Instead, Moss smacked her hard across the face, an open hand slap.? She fell backwards onto the couch.?
"The bitch kicked me in the balls," Moss said.? He wiped his mouth with his hand.
Cruz watched as Moss took out the cuffs and slapped them on.?
Cruz looked at Pamela.? What to do about her?
Moss came over and stuck out his hand.? It seemed a foot wide.? He didn't look Cruz in the eye.? He doesn't like t
hat, Cruz thought.? Tangling with a little girl, and being rescued by me.? He doesn't like me.? Cruz had known this since yesterday, but it was the first time he actually thought the words.? Moss didn't like him.? Moss might look for a reason to kill him.?
"Gun, please."?
Cruz handed Moss his gun back.
Moss looked down at Pamela on the floor.? He toyed with his gun a moment, as if he were thinking everything over.?
"You serious?" he said.? "You plan on keeping this one?"? He pointed at Pamela with the gun.? It would take nothing, a few ounces of pressure, a mistake, and he would shoot her in the face.
"I gave my word, didn't I?"
Moss shook his head.? "Son, this is the most fucked up job ever."???
?
* * *
?
Hal and Darren sat slumped way down below the dashboard of Hal's Eldorado.? They watched as down the block, the two men came out with Lola and the other girl.? The smaller guy seemed to be leading Lola along by her elbow.? Oh, they weren't cops, these two.? Something deeper was going on.??
Hal felt that old tickle of curiosity.? This was even better than what they came for, maybe.? "Her hands seem to be cuffed to you?" he said to Darren.? "You catch a glint of metal there or anything?? Both the girls, they got handcuffs on?"
Darren was watching.? "I dunno.? Can't tell.? What did you think?"
Hal shrugged.? "I think I saw something."
He kept watching.? Now he really saw something.? Up ahead, the two men opened the trunk of the Taurus and helped the girls inside.? What the fuck?? They put the girls in the trunk!? And the girls went right on in there!
Unbelievable!???
"Did you see that?" Darren said.
"I saw it."
"What do you want to do?? Call the cops?"
Hal's wheels were turning like mad.? "I don't know.? And say what?? This girl we were trying to put into porno just got abducted by two other guys?? First off, I don't like to let two guys just walk off with my girl.? Second off, I don't want to just hand this over to the cops.? Could be something big here.? Could be money involved.? Could be Lola needs to be rescued, and we're the ones who need to do it.? What do you say?? You want to follow these guys?? I mean, if we let them go, what else are we doing tonight?? Aren't you the least bit curious about what's going on?"
Darren heaved a heavy sigh.? "Did you see the size of that guy?"
"I saw him.? Don't worry, partner.? I saw him, and we'll steer clear of him until we're good and ready."