Part 41 (1/2)

CHAPTER 12

I could still hear the Cadillac. I could hear its lumpy V-8 whisper and the faint liquid burble from its tailpipes. I could hear drive belts turning slowly under the hood. I could hear the m.u.f.fler ticking as it adjusted to a new temperature.

”Rules,” Paulie called. ”You get past me, you get the guns.”

I said nothing.

”You get to them, you can use them,” he called.

I said nothing. He kept smiling.

”You understand?” he called.

I nodded. Watched his eyes.

”OK,” he said. ”I won't touch the guns unless you run away. You do that, I'll pick them up and shoot you in the back. That's fair, right? You got to stand and fight now.”

I said nothing.

”Like a man,” he called.

Still I said nothing. I was cold. No coat, no jacket.

”Like an officer and a gentleman,” he said.

I watched his eyes.

”We clear on the rules?” he said.

I said nothing. The wind was on my back.

”We clear on the rules?” he said again.

”Crystal,” I said.

”You going to run?” he said.

I said nothing.

”I think you will,” he said. ”Because you're a p.u.s.s.y.”

I didn't react.

”Officer p.u.s.s.y,” he said. ”Rear-echelon wh.o.r.e. Coward.”

I just stood there. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

And I doubted he knew any words I hadn't heard a hundred thousand times before.

Military cops are never very popular. I tuned his voice out. Watched his eyes and his hands and his feet instead. Thought hard. I knew a lot about him. None of it was good. He was big and he was crazy and he was fast.

”d.a.m.n ATF spy,” he called.

Not exactly, I thought.

”Here I come,” he called.

He didn't move. I didn't, either. I just stood my ground. He was full of meth and steroids.

His eyes were blazing.

”Coming to get you,” he sang.

He didn't move. He was heavy. Heavy, and strong. Very strong. If he hit me, I would go down. And if I went down, I would never get up again. I watched him. He came up on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet. Moved, fast. Feinted left, and stopped. I stood still. Held my ground.

Watched him. Thought hard. He was heavier than nature intended, maybe by a hundred or a hundred and fifty pounds. Maybe by more. So he was fast, but he wouldn't be fast forever.

I took a breath.

”Elizabeth tells me you can't get it up,” I said.

He stared in at me. I could still hear the Cadillac. I could still hear the waves. They were cras.h.i.+ng in, way behind the house.

”Big guy,” I said. ”But not big everywhere.”

No reaction.

”I bet my left-hand pinkie is bigger,” I said.

I held it out, halfway curled into my palm.

”And stiffer,” I said.

His face darkened. He seemed to swell up. He exploded at me. Just launched himself forward with his right arm scything around in a giant roundhouse strike. I sidestepped his body and ducked under his arm and bounced up again and spun around. He stopped short on stiff legs and whipped back toward me. We had changed places. Now I was nearer the guns than he was. He panicked and came at me again. Same move. His right arm swung.

I sidestepped and ducked and we were back where we started. But he was breathing a little heavier than I was.

”You're a big girl's blouse,” I said.

It was a term of abuse I had picked up somewhere. England, maybe. I had no idea what it meant. But it worked real well, with a certain type of guy. It worked real well with Paulie. He came at me again, no hesitation. Same exact move. This time I crashed an elbow into his side as I spun under his arm. He bounced straight off of locked knees and came right back at me. I dodged away again and felt the breeze as his giant fist pa.s.sed an inch above my head.

He stood there, panting. I was warming up nicely. I was beginning to feel I had some kind of a chance. He was a very poor fighter. Lots of very big guys are. Either their sheer size is so intimidating it stops fights from ever starting in the first place, or else it lets them win every one directly after their first punch lands. Either way, they don't get much practice. They don't develop much finesse. And they get out of shape. Weights machines and treadmills are no subst.i.tute for the kind of urgent, anxious, breathless tight-throat high-speed high-adrenaline fitness you need to fight on the street. I figured Paulie was a prime example. I figured he had weight-lifted himself right out of the frame.

I blew him a kiss.

He swarmed through the air at me. Came on like a pile driver. I dodged left and put an elbow in his face and he connected with his left hand and knocked me sideways like I weighed nothing at all. I went down on one knee and got back up just in time to arch around his next crazy lunge. His fist missed my gut by a quarter-inch and its wild momentum pulled him past me and downward a little which put the side of his head right in line for a left hook. I let it go with everything I had from my toes on up. My fist crashed into his ear and he staggered back and I followed up with a colossal right to his jaw. Then I danced back and took a breather and tried to see what damage I'd done.

No damage.