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“You survived,” Dew said.

“I’m the only one who survived,” Perry said. “Because I fought. Because I’ve got discipline. You’ve got to have discipline.”

Dew laughed. “You want discipline? I’d like to give you some discipline.”

Perry smiled. “You want to shoot me? Shoot me. It’s the only way you can put me down. You ain’t jack s.h.i.+t without that gun, old man.”

Dew had him. A fight was a foregone conclusion at this point. He just had to keep pus.h.i.+ng b.u.t.tons, get Dawsey out of control. Put him in a rage.

“You mean this gun?” Dew pulled his old .45 from his shoulder holster. He ejected the magazine, c.o.c.ked back the slide and held up the gun to show there was no bullet in the chamber. He set the gun between them on the table. He held up the magazine with his right hand and used his thumb to flick out the first bullet. Then the second. He stared straight into Perry’s eyes as he emptied all seven rounds. He held the final bullet, then tossed the magazine away and bounced the bullet up and down in his palm.

“So now I don’t have a gun,” Dew said. “What do you have to say now, boy?”

“Right,” Perry said. “Like that’s the only piece you’ve got.”

Dew gave an exaggerated nod. The kid was smarter than he looked. Dew pulled up his right pant leg and drew his Taurus Model 85 .38 revolver from his ankle holster. He emptied the five-round cylinder and dropped the gun on the floor. From his left leg, he took a steel telescoping baton and tossed it across the room into a wastebasket. As soon as he did, he wished he’d kept it. A flick of the wrist would expand the baton from six inches to sixteen inches—instant steel billy club. The cat was out of the bag, though; he couldn’t exactly go back and get it. Dew then reached to the small of his back and extracted his Ka-Bar from its horizontal sheath. Finally he slid his hands into his crotch and removed a black switchblade. The switchblade and the Ka-Bar followed the baton into the wastebasket.

“What the f.u.c.k, old man? You going to war or something?”

“Every day, kid, every day. Now, unless you’re going to give me a body-cavity search for the frag grenade I carry up my p.o.o.p-chute, you’re gonna have to take my word for it that I’m disarmed. So are we gonna do this, or are you just gonna sit there w.a.n.kin’ your crank?”

“Are you serious, old man? Look at you. Gut hanging out. I see you sometimes limping and s.h.i.+t. I hit you half as hard as I can, I’ll probably kill you.”

“I’m not your little b.u.t.t-buddy Bill,” Dew said quietly.

Perry’s eyes widened, a combination of rage and shame.

“You’re a big man, Dawsey,” Dew said. “Killing someone who weighed all of a buck-fifty soaking wet.”

“Don’t you talk about him,” Dawsey said in a quiet voice that sent goose b.u.mps up Dew’s back.

Dew smiled his best a.s.shole smile. “What’s the matter, p.u.s.s.y? You don’t want to take a swing at me? Maybe I can find a midget around here somewhere. Maybe a baby, or a fat woman, or an eighty-year-old grandmother. But that won’t work, because those people wouldn’t be your friends. They wouldn’t be your best friend. Someone who trusted you, who tried to help you.”