Page 19 (1/2)

NINETEEN

The house was big and quiet after Marcie left

My ear hurt

My hand hurt

There wasn&039;t really ood

I kneasn&039;t in any shape to drive, not yet

I hobbled up the stairs, thought about calling Ma in Michigan, but let it go Okay I was exhausted Nothing much to do now except pop one of my delicious prescription pain pills and take a nap Funny, but it was my ear that hurt thethe bullet through lass without thinking I fumbled it It shattered on the bathroom tile It took me twenty minutes to sweep it up, because I couldn&039;t hold the brooht I looked at the hand with reneorry It wouldn&039;t be any good for a pistol, not until I got it back in shape

But for pain, there was no beating the ear It throbbed along withthe dose, but the doc had already ih to knock me on my ass I shucked my clothes As per instructions, I crawled into bed before taking the pill It took me a few minutes to adjust myself so ement of pillows and blankets

I slipped into narcotic dreaht with the bartenders and the badge-men I spun on my opponents with a pistol in each hand, but they weren&039;t the automatics I held a pair of revolvers The cha nowhere fast The pistols were slippery, and I had to concentrate to keep froers I was too weak, or they were jammed

Bullets riddleduns I laughed at them and threw my pistols down They were too hard to hold anyway My paluys behind the bar My plan: pull off their lile them like a circus act But they all cli behind the bar There was a lot of roo was painted like a clown car

My hands were sticky

I grabbed a bottle of scotch off the bar and tried to pour it overca bottles, looking for liquid Then I couldn&039;t grab the bottles I was all thurabbed for a bottle, it shot away and shattered until the whole bar echoed with the shriek of flying glass The glass-

My eyes opened

¨C broke

At least, I thought ht I had blinked I wasn&039;t sure My head was still heavy with painkillers The noise of glass I was still drealass It wasn&039;t a dreae of adrenaline Not a h to swing my feet over the side of the bed I shook my head, rubbed my eyes Wake up, asshole Sohtstand, knocked over the alarm clock A racket Loud Where were s? I&039;d told her to leave them in the car Brilliant My hand found htstand Okay Better than nothing I drew the blade, tossed the sheath aside I stood, went to

I remembered I was naked

It&039;s hard to repel a ho is hanging out I felt around on the floor until ers crept acrossmy balance That would have to do for wardrobe

I cracked open the door, took a look into the hall Dark I listened Quiet

I&039;d been drealass No one in the house Maybe if I hurried back to bed I could still get some of the benefit fro better than-

I saw the flashlight at the botto over the far wall and across the front door I froze, and realizing that I froze told me how screwed up I was Snap out of it, Charlie

I darted across the hall to Ma&039;s rooht turned the corner and headed up the stairs From there, I would be able to see if the intruder turned into my room when he came up the stairs, or if he went to Danny&039;s or Ma&039;s It would give et ready for hiet close to use the knife

They started up the stairs Two of them in dark pants and pullovers No masks, but too dark to ht The dark, heavy object in the other&039;s hand was obviously a piece I saw ed Ruddy complexions Black, thick, Omar Sharif ht they looked familiar, but it was still too dark

I kept track of theht eased intothe door open slowly The other one broke off towardcedar wardrobe If he went through the rooet him on the blind side I&039;d have to be quick with the knife If I didn&039;t get a hand over his ht away, he&039;d call in the other one I didn&039;t think I was up to taking both at once with only the knife

Ma&039;s door creaked open The hinges squealed, not so bad truthfully, but it sounded like screaht&039;s deep stillness The intruder moved into the rooht next to

He closed the wardrobe, and when he moved by with his back to me, I pounced I forced ht I brought the knife froet hiers over his un hand twisted down to block the knife thrust That was professional He&039;d knohere the blade would be cohborhood cat burglars Our wrists knocked together, and I gave up on putting the knife in hie and a little surprise left I spun hiainst the wardrobe, a little ainst the cedar until he dropped the pistol He found his feet and pushed back, pinned ainst the wall So wrong He twisted Caught my knife wrist with his free hand We pulled at each other

The skin between ed into his mouth He bit down Hard Blood spilled down my hand, between his teeth My blood I winced, flinched, jerked the hand away

The guy&039;s mouth was free "Eddie!"

I punched hirunted, spun away I aimed another blow at the side of his head He turned with that one too, and it glanced off

The other guy exploded into the rooht in ut I tried to exhale with the blows, but ht back into focus I took a shot on the chin, and sparks went off behind ooey The last blow on the side ofblackness The long, dark slide into nothing

Shag carpeting underneath

My head hurt

My gut hurt

Everything that had already hurt now hurt worse

My eyes popped open I was flat on my back in Ma&039;s room The bald one sat in a little wooden chair four feet from me, his pistol pointed lazily at my head His face looked like it had been spanked by a shovel, a nose broken and rebroken with regularity over the years I guess they didn&039;t want to risk the overhead light, but they&039;d snapped on the little lamp next to Ma&039;s bed The room was a shambles, drawers opened and dumped out, the entle searching floated in frouest

"Hello, Teddy I&039;d have had you in for coffee if you&039;d just knocked" I&039;d h

Teddy chuckled "You fucked up real good, Hookman"

Teddy And the other one- Eddie I&039;d heard him call out to Eddie The Minelli brothers Eddie was half of a set of twins, whicharound so watch

The boys were professional head busters and aluys, strictly freelance Once, Stan had sent e over to break up a picket line at Disney Stan figured we needed some extra help and had hired the Minelli brothers So I&039;d seen their work first-hand, knew they were tough customers

"Why don&039;t you tellwhat ain&039;t yours"

The books again

Teddy raised his voice, called out to his brother "He&039;s awake, Eddie"

Eddie caful relationship "Word up, Ted"

"Shut up talking like that You find it?"

"Naw Buncha regular house shit, clothes and whatnot One pretty fly set of golf clubs"

"I&039;ll fly you, idiot I told you, stop talking like a mooli"

"Get with the ti noup your brain" Teddy turned his ire on me "Okay, Charlie sport, you know the routine You either tell us, or we er, and then you tell us"

"I don&039;t knohat you&039;re talking about" Playing duh the steps

"He&039;s dissing you, Teddy," said Eddie

Teddy frowned at his brother Toyou one last chance"

I didn&039;t answer I was trying to think of so I could do or say to keep the Minelli boys fro my balls

Teddy nodded at his brother "Get his attention"

Eddie put the heel of his boot into the palm of ht, grinning like a sadistic moron

Pain lanced upsliced open with a laser Sweat broke out on ht hard to keep ht, didn&039;t show the hurt

"You should open an acupressure clinic, Eddie," I said, proud to keep irl&039;s"

Teddy chuckled "Now he&039;s dissing you, Eddie"

Eddie scowled at his older brother and kicked me in the head

"Never et the stuff out of the car, the extra battery and the clips We&039;ll put a few volts through hiue"

"Dope," said Eddie "Real dope"

"Just get the fucking stuff"

Eddie left Teddy leaned toward me, pulled a silencer out of his pocket, and screwed it on the end of his pistol "This is a damn shame," Teddy said in a low voice "How&039;d you let this happen? A pro like you Look at you You&039;re a mess"

"Stan know you&039;re here?" Half my brain carried on the conversation The other half started piecing together so would have to happen soon while Eddie was out of the house

"Nobody&039;s seen Stan Probably split town He don&039;t fuck up like you You should know better than to take so away froasps

"That kick Eddie gave you rattled your brains"

"Uh" My head rolled to one side My eyes rolled up

Teddy kicked my feet "None of that, asshole We need you awake, so we can find that stuff"

"Stuff is in the" My voice was barely a whisper

"What?" Teddy leaned closer, nudged ain with his shoe "Speak up for Christ&039;s sake"

I mumbled, an inaudible rasp between my lips

"Son of a bitch" Teddy knelt next to me, leaned over

I sat up as hard and as fast as I could, thrust my head forward and se snap, but didn&039;t spend any tiht the pistol around I blocked it with ony The pistol sneezed out a bullet, which shattered an antique perfume bottle on Ma&039;s dresser I aimed a kick at his balls but missed My foot landed in his belly, and he deflated like a set of bagpipes, fell on the floor next to ood hand around his throat and cut off his air I broughttwo ut He turned red, then purple Teddy&039;s struggles were perfunctory now I held on until he was done Then I rolled away gasping for breath,a mambo

Eddie carabbed the pistol off the shag before he processed as going on

"Shit" Eddie dropped his torture kit and h

He fell, rolled, his hand darting into his jacket and co out with some sort of atomic pistol the size of a rocket launcher If he pulled the trigger on that thing, he&039;d wake up the world Patrol cars would be here in two seconds

I squeezed the trigger three tih-pitched poot A little red-dot triangle sprung up across Eddie&039;s chest He fell back, his lifeless head knocking against the floor

I quickly checked both Minelli brothers

I checked thein the hall Nobody parked on the street I looked out Ma&039;s bedroo, dark sedan in the alley I couldn&039;t see if anyone was in it or not I watched for a e pinpoint flaring in the darkness on the driver&039;s side

Freddy

There was no good way to approach hiet sos first

I went back into my room, put on my robe, stepped into ht have stashed my pistols Clueless It ht I&039;d have to call her Later I&039;d call later