Body Rides

  ‘I’ve gotta . . .!’

  But Sue’s voice stopped and they both gaped at the car of the gunmen. It was leaping the curb at the edge of Venice Boulevard.

  ‘Yes’ Marta cried out. ‘Go!’

  She could see the vague shape of a man in the right rear window of the airborne car. But nobody at the window in front of him.

  Nobody at all seemed to be in the front seats!

  No passenger, no driver.

  Neal got them?

  The car smashed down, bounced and wobbled on its tires, then roared straight for Burger Boy.

  ‘Go!’ Sue yelled.

  It crashed into the front wall. Burger Boy windows exploded. The wall crumpled. The car stopped with a shock. A body came up out of the passenger seat. Its head and shoulders punched through the windshield and stayed there.

  ‘He got ’em!’ Marta yelled, but could barely hear her own words through Sue’s wild, strange scream of agony and glee.

  She wiped tears from her eyes. As she reached for the ignition key, the white Subaru suddenly lurched forward. Its driver – who had to be Glitt – must’ve survived the storm of gunfire.

  Of course he made it through, Marta thought. Rasputin always makes it through.

  Not always.

  The white car squealed through a tight turn and raced across the parking lot, heading for Venice Boulevard.

  Marta started the Jeep.

  Glitt’s car hopped off the curb, skidded for a moment, then sped west on Venice.

  Marta steered across the road and entered the parking lot.

  A whump! like a muffled explosion pulled her eyes to the Burger Boy.

  The car of the gunmen was wrapped in fire. The body stuck in its windshield didn’t try to get out. Nobody did. But someone in the back seat seemed to turn very slowly, gaze out through the flames at Marta and Sue, and raise an arm as if asking for help – or waving goodbye.

  ‘Adios, fucker,’ Marta muttered.

  Then she veered toward the shattered front window of Video City.

  Saw Neal sprawled on his back inside the store.

  And felt as if a thug was stomping on her heart.

  ‘NEAL!’ Sue cried out.

  He lay motionless on a bed of shattered glass.

  Don’t do this to us, Marta thought. Move. Get up. At least for godsake raise your head. Show us you’re okay.

  But she knew that Neal was not okay. He didn’t move at all. He looked as if he’d been hosed with blood.

  The Jeep was still rolling when Sue leaped out and ran for Neal. Marta had to wait. She had to stop the Jeep, make sure it wouldn’t get away . . .

  She shut off the engine, jerked up on the emergency brake lever and climbed out. Sue was already squatting by Neal’s left side, pulling at one of his arms. ‘C’mon, honey,’ she gasped. ‘Ya gotta get up. Yer gonna be okay.’

  His head wobbled, and Marta thought that he was responding.

  But maybe the wobble was only because of Sue tugging his arm.

  She hurried to his other side.

  The glass clinked and clattered under her bare feet, and cut her. She knew she was being cut. She didn’t care. Standing over Neal, she gazed down at the bullet holes.

  Seven or eight of them.

  Pulpy, raw-edged craters brimming with blood.

  Connect the dots . . .

  Connect them, and there’s a straight line crossing his ribcage at a slightly upward angle from under his right nipple to above his left.

  A line crossing directly over his heart.

  Sue gazed up at Marta, her face red and twisted. ‘Help!’ she blurted. ‘We gotta get him outa here! Grab an arm! C’mon, don’t just stand there! Gotta get him to a hospital.’

  Too late, Marta thought.

  Can’t tell that to Sue.

  So she crouched and took hold of Neal’s right upper arm. It was coated with blood. When she pulled at it, her hands slipped down to his elbow. And suddenly she found herself crying out of control. And sinking. Sinking to her knees and feeling the bite of the glass, then dropping across Neal, holding his face in both hands, kissing him.

  Blood washed into her mouth. Blood soaked through her T-shirt. She wanted to feel him breathing under her, wanted to feel his heartbeat against her chest. But there was no heartbeat, no movement at all, not even the twitches from Sue jerking him by the arm.

  Someone was shaking her by the shoulder.

  ‘Marta!’ Sue gasped. ‘Sirens.’

  Yes. She could hear them. Sirens. Far-off cries.

  Coming here?

  You bet your ass they’re coming here.

  ‘C’mon,’ Sue said, shaking Marta’s shoulder some more. ‘We gotta get him outa here. Cops’re gonna show up. Please! Get up!’

  As Marta pushed herself up, the front of her T-shirt peeled away from her body, clinging to the blood on Neal’s chest and belly. Then it peeled away from Neal. It returned to Marta and stuck to her as she got to her feet.

  ‘Grab him! C’mon!’ Sue’s face was streaked with tears.

  Marta shook her head. ‘He’s . . . better off here. They’ll . . .’ She struggled to gather her thoughts. ‘He’ll get taken care of quicker.’

  ‘Think an ambulance is coming?’

  ‘Firetrucks first. But they . . . they’ll take care of him. They’ll know what to do. The firemen. They’re trained . . .’

  Who am I trying to kid? He’s dead.

  Sue sniffed and wiped one of her eyes.

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Marta said. ‘If the cops catch us . . . they’ll have us till morning. We’ve gotta . . . finish what we started.’

  ‘Huh?’ Sue asked, but she was already backing away from Neal, limping slightly in the glass.

  ‘We’ve gotta take down Glitt and Vince,’ Marta explained.

  ‘They didn’t have nothin to do with this.’

  ‘They had everything to do with it. Vince sent those motherfuckers to kill Glitt. He didn’t have the payoff money – we took it – so he sent killers. Only they missed Glitt and got Neal.’

  ‘Yer outa yer . . .’ Sue went silent. Suddenly, a look of pain and rage filled her wet eyes. In a voice that seemed very quiet, she said, ‘Let’s get ’em.’

  She ran for the passenger side of the Jeep.

  Marta rushed up the walkway toward the trash barrel, ducked and snatched Neal’s pistol off the concrete. The slide was back. She muttered, ‘Shit.’ But she kept the gun and raced for the Jeep.

  Sue was already in the passenger seat.

  Marta jumped in behind the wheel, clamped the pistol between her thighs, cranked the ignition, and shifted to reverse.

  Backing away, she watched Neal on the floor just inside Video City become smaller, smaller. She felt as if she were viewing him through a zoom lens that was pulling back, pulling away, letting him retreat into the distance.

  Then she turned for the exit.

  As they sped out of the parking lot, Sue asked, ‘Do ya think he’s dead?’

  ‘I think so.’

  Sue gave out a high-pitched squeal. The noise made Marta think of a pig stabbed by a pitch fork, though she’d never heard or seen such a thing.

  She reached over and squeezed Sue’s hand.

  Both hands were wet and sticky with Neal’s blood.

  With only her left hand on the steering wheel, Marta drove down the sidestreet away from Venice Boulevard.

  In a shaky, broken voice, Sue asked, ‘Where we goin?’

  ‘To Neal’s.’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘We can’t go after those guys with an empty gun.’

  ‘Empty?’

  ‘He used up all his ammo on the bastards who . . . shot him.’

  ‘He had an extra one of them gizmos.’

  ‘A magazine?’

  ‘Yeah. I saw one someplace.’ Sue sniffled. ‘He had it with him . . . in his bag. Ya know?’

  ‘His black overnight bag?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘That’s
at my place. He didn’t bring the magazine with him, did he?’

  ‘Tonight?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe it’s still over at yer place.’

  ‘Well, I know he keeps a box of ammo in his bedroom. I might need more than what’s in the other magazine, anyhow.’

  ‘So we’re goin to his apartment?’ Sue asked.

  ‘Right. It’s not far. Won’t take ten minutes.’

  ‘Go on and do that. Get the ammo. Then come on over and meet me at Vince’s. I’m goin on.’

  Going on?

  What does she mean by that? Planning to walk?

  Marta turned her head, frowning, just in time to see Sue raise her right arm and press her lips to something just below the sleeve of her knit shirt.

  Something that gleamed in the moonlight.

  The bracelet!

  ‘Don’t!’ Marta gasped.

  Sue’s left hand went limp. Her right arm dropped and she slumped sideways until her shoulder shoved against Marta.

  2.

  From overhead, Sue saw the Jeep make a sudden stop. Marta shoved Sue’s body sideways, then leaned across her.

  She’s gonna take off my bracelet.

  ‘Don’t do it!’

  As Sue drifted a little higher, she saw that Marta was pulling the safety belt down across Sue’s chest.

  That’s all. That’s real nice. She don’t want me gettin hurt.

  Sue wondered if Marta even knew the trick about taking off the bracelet.

  Did we tell her?

  She couldn’t recall herself or Neal explaining it to Marta.

  It don’t matter. She didn’t pull it off me, and that’s what counts.

  Marta started the Jeep moving again.

  Sue swung around and climbed, heading back toward Video City.

  Moments later, high above the parking lot, she saw that fire trucks and police cars had already arrived. Some were in the lot. Others had stopped on Venice Boulevard, blocking traffic. The night was gaudy with orange flames and flashing red lights, blue lights, yellow lights. The car of the gunmen still burned, but now Burger Boy was also engulfed in flame. Firefighters scrambled about in their helmets and yellow coats. Some were hitting the flames with cloudy white blasts from fire extinguishers while others struggled to free the men from the car.

  Hope the dirty rotten assholes are cooked.

  Though afraid of what she might see, Sue looked down at the group directly below her – the cops near the front of Video City.

  A couple of uniformed officers were standing by the open door of a patrol car, talking to each other. Another was behind a nearby black-and-white, removing a huge roll of yellow ‘crime scene’ tape from its trunk.

  They gotta get him to a hospital!

  Sue swooped down. Careful to stay clear of everyone, she glided past the demolished display window and looked in.

  She saw Neal.

  He still lay sprawled on his back in the broken glass, arms out.

  A cop standing near Neal’s body was talking to a fireman, but Sue couldn’t make out his words. Too much noise, and she was too far away. She started drifting closer to him.

  But backed off fast.

  Any closer, and she might end up inside the guy.

  Besides, she didn’t want to hear what was being said.

  It don’t matter. Neal’s dead. If he wasn’t, they’d be workin on him. They’re just waitin for the homicide cops to show up, or the coroner, or something.

  But what if they just think he’s dead? she asked herself. What if they’re wrong?

  She started moving toward Neal.

  I’ll just take me a little peek inside him.

  3.

  Marta was just pulling away from a stop sign when Sue blurted, ‘Aaaah!’

  Startled, she slammed on the brakes. The Jeep jerked to a stop in the middle of the intersection. No other cars were coming, though. She couldn’t even see any headlights in the distance. These were very quiet, empty streets. Letting the car stand where it was, she stared at Sue.

  And wondered what had made her cry out that way.

  Is she all right?

  Oh, God, what if something happened to her?

  What can happen to her? Marta asked herself. Her body’s safe with me.

  Slumped back in the passenger seat, Sue was gasping for air. She squirmed a little. If Marta didn’t know otherwise, she would’ve thought Sue was simply asleep and having a very bad nightmare.

  What if something did happen and she never comes back?

  What if her – soul or whatever it is – stays gone?

  And I don’t even know where to go looking.

  Or how to get it back.

  She glimpsed a future for herself without Neal or Sue, and it looked vast and lonely and frightening. She stepped on the gas. The Jeep lurched forward, out of the intersection, and gained speed as it rushed up the curving road.

  ‘Screamin Judas!’

  Marta jumped. She jerked her head sideways.

  Sue turned her head and said, ‘Howdy.’

  ‘You’re back!’

  ‘Had me a close one.’

  Marta swung over and stopped at an empty stretch of curb. The house beyond the lawn was dark except for a porch light. She reached out and squeezed Sue’s shoulder. ‘You’re all right?’

  ‘Musta cut up my feet . . .’

  ‘We both did.’

  ‘Just noticed. Ya come back after . . .’

  ‘What happened? You yelled. It scared the hell out of me.’

  ‘Oh, jeez, yeah, I had me a good scare. Went back to Video City, you know . . .’

  ‘I thought you were going to Vince’s.’

  ‘Just got sidetracked some. Anyhow, there’s cops and firemen all over the place back there. Burger Boy’s on fire. Looked to me like that whole sorry carload of bastards bit the big one.’

  ‘Good,’ Marta said.

  ‘But they . . .’ Her voice broke. She looked away. Marta rubbed her shoulder.

  ‘You saw Neal?’

  With her face still turned away, Sue nodded. ‘He was just layin there. Nobody was workin on him, or . . . They weren’t takin him to no hospital.’

  ‘It’s all right,’ Marta whispered.

  ‘No, it ain’t.’ Sue faced her. In the glow of the streetlights, the tears running down her cheeks looked silver. ‘Nothin’s all right.’

  ‘We’re all right. Sort of. I was afraid you might not come back.’

  ‘Almost didn’t. Maybe. Don’t really know. What happened . . .’ She took a deep breath. ‘I figured I’d check to see if Neal . . . to see if he was still alive, or not. Ya know? ’Cause I wanted to find out for sure. So I was gonna go in him. It’s against the rules. Yer s’pose to stay shut of dead folks. But I was gonna do it anyhow, ’cause I needed to find out. Anyhow, I didn’t wanta think he’s dead, ya know?’

  ‘I know,’ Marta murmured.

  ‘So I was on my way, maybe no more than a foot or two short of poppin in on Neal, when all of a sudden I got this awful feelin inside like I suddenly knew he was gone, dead as a carp, and I was about two blinks from endin up stuck in him. That’s when I yelled. I knew I wouldn’t never get out. I’d be stuck in him . . . forever. While he rotted away . . .’

  ‘Stop it, Sue. You’re talking about Neal, for godsake.’

  ‘Well . . . Anyhow, it all just suddenly knocked the squeamies outa me. I yelled and sorta flung myself to get away from him and ended up inside this cop that was standin there. Didn’t wanta be in him, either, so that’s how come I’m back here.’

  ‘Glad to have you back,’ Marta told her.

  ‘Me, too. I sorta needed to . . . How in tarnation do I get to Vince’s place, anyhow?’

  Marta released her shoulder, returned her hand to the steering wheel, and swung away from the curb. ‘Stick with me,’ she said, ‘and I’ll drive you.’

  Sue shook her head. ‘Might all be over and done with by the time we can d
rive there. Glitt’s got a mighty big head start. Which way’s that Pico street? I reckon I can find my way from Pico if I just go like we went this afternoon.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Pretty sure. It’s Pico to Bundy to San Vicente to Greenpeace.’

  ‘Greenhaven.’

  ‘Whatever. I’ll know it when I see it.’

  ‘Pico’s basically straight ahead,’ Marta said.

  ‘Meet ya at Vince’s.’

  ‘Be careful.’

  ‘You, too. And don’t let nothin happen to my better half.’ Reaching across herself with her right hand, Sue patted her own left shoulder. Then she kissed the bracelet.

  4.

  Sue climbed above the treetops and pointed herself in the same direction that Marta had been heading in the Jeep.

  She passed over blocks and blocks of housetops, lawns, backyard swimming pools, walkways, parked cars and roads. She saw only a few people wandering around. There was almost no traffic at all. The narrow, winding roads were often hidden beneath overhanging trees.

  It seemed very peaceful and pretty.

  She wished she could enjoy it.

  She wished Neal could enjoy it, but he would never enjoy anything again.

  He can’t be dead. How can he be dead? We were all gonna have us such a great life.

  Then below her was a broad, brightly lighted river of pavement.

  Pico.

  She swung left and poured on the speed.

  5.

  Marta slowed down as she approached the row of parking stalls behind Neal’s apartment building. All the slots were full except for the one where Neal usually kept his car. She swung into it, stopped and killed the headlights.

  She looked at Sue.

  And felt abandoned.

  Damn it, you should’ve stayed with me. We should’ve stuck together.

  But she realized that Sue was probably right; by the time they could drive to Vince’s house, it might all be over. Apparently, bracelet travel was very fast.

  How fast? Marta wondered. Is she already there?

  She isn’t here, that’s for sure.

  She seemed all right, though. She looked as if she were sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat. No gasping for air, no moans or outcries. Wherever she might be, things were apparently going fine, so far.