holster on my shin.
'Let's take him out of here,' Bucktooth said from behind me.
'We're going to take a little ride,' Manny informed me. He mopped at his streaming features with a soggy handkerchief. My Smith & Wesson was in his other hand.
I went over and knelt down beside Kaiser. He was still breathing. There was a ragged-looking, bleeding furrow between his ears alongside the half-healed one from the roadside ditch. I stood up and turned around. Bucktooth
had moved in right behind me. 'I suppose you hit the dog, you sonofabitch?' I blared at him.
'Just like I'll belt you if you make one more move like that without being told!' he snarled.
I walked right into him, swinging.
'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!' Manny bleated. 'He's got to talk first!'
Bucktooth reversed his gun and swung it at my head. It landed on my left shoulder just as I put my fist out of sight at his belt buckle. He doubled up as I staggered sideways. Manny clocked me on the back of my neck with my own gun before I could regain my balance. I found myself on my knees without knowing how I got there. The room whirled sickeningly.
'Cut it out!' Manny said sharply to Bucktooth, lunging at me with his gun upraised. 'You can have your fun later.' Bucktooth hesitated, red eyes slitted, but reluctantly backed away. 'Get up,' Manny said to me. I got to my feet shakily. 'Where's the money?'
'Fifteen, eighteen miles out in the swamp,' I mumbled.
'Didn't I tell you he'd say that?' Bucktooth growled.
'And didn't I tell you it didn't matter what he said?' Manny rebutted. 'If it isn't where he takes us, then you get to exercise that gun butt.' He waved the Smith & Wesson at me. 'Let's get going.'
'Can't find—the tree—at night,' I said.
'We'll go in the morning. Right now you're coming to our place. Less chance of an interruption.' Manny sounded pleased with himself.
'The dog goes with us,' I told him.
'Now here's a type practicing' to be a character,' Bucktooth said in a wondering tone. He shoved his bristled chin against my face. 'The dog goes nowhere, jerk!'
'I'll show you where to leave him,' I said.
Bucktooth made a sound deep in his throat. Manny caught his arm as he started to swing the gun at me. 'We can't leave the dog looking like that in an empty room for the maid to find,' he said. He looked at me. 'What's your play?'
'I know someone who'll take care of him,' I said. '()pen the door and I'll carry him.'
'No!' Bucktooth said violently.
'Pick him up,' Manny said to me. 'The dog will be a good excuse if we run into anyone,' he shut off his angry partner. 'Stop your bitching, will you? Rudy Hernandez told me years ago the guy was like this about animals.'
1 picked up Kaiser—a hell of a lift for the shape I was In. My ears were still buzzing. Bucktooth was right beside me. 'Pretty soon I'm gonna ask you what happened to Red, pal,' he said softly. 'An' I hope I don't like your answer. Right now you make one wrong move an' you've had it. I won't kill you, but you'll wish I had. I'll break every bone in your stupid face.'
'Open the door,' I said.
He leveled the gun at me again. 'I'll cover you from the doorway till you get him in the car,' he said to Manny.
Manny opened the door. It was black night outside. I carried Kaiser out. Manny pointed to a big station wagon parked on the rim of the driveway. There wasn't a soul around. Manny opened the front door on the passenger's side, and I straggled in with Kaiser on my lap. Manny got under the wheel, waved his arm, and in seconds I heard Bucktooth crawling into the seat behind me. I could visualize his gun three-quarters of an inch from the back of my neck.
Manny drove out of the motel parking lot. 'Where to?'
he asked.
'Right. Toward town.' I waited until we were across The street from Jed Raymond's office. 'Pull in anywhere here.' There was a light on in Jed's office.
Manny curbed the station wagon. 'What's the play?' he said to me again.
'See that light up there? I'll carry the dog up one flight of stairs and leave him outside the door of the real estate office.'
'An' I suppose you'll okay that, too?' Bucktooth rasped at Manny.
'We got to get rid of the dog, anyway,' Manny said defensively. 'I'd just as soon humor this guy till we get our hands on the money. This is one stubborn sonofabitch.'
'I'll unstubborn him or anyone else in three-an'-a-half minutes, guaranteed,' Bucktooth snapped, but he opened his door and got out. He opened my door. 'Come on, you. Sometimes I think the whole damn world's crazy.'
I lugged Kaiser up the stairs and laid him down gently outside Jed's door. Bucktooth stayed a yard behind me all the way. I knew if Kaiser came to before Jed found him, the big dog would smell Jed inside the office and wouldn't leave.
We were back in the wagon in two minutes. I felt a lot better. Jed would take care of Kaiser, and I knew Kaiser liked him. Now I could concentrate on getting rid of these Mongolian idiots.
Manny headed north on US 19. He turned into a second-rate motel a few blocks out of town. 'No noise,' Bucktooth warned me when we got out of the wagon. When Manny's back was turned, Bucktooth slammed me viciously in the ribs with his gun butt. I nearly went down, but when I stumbled inside the motel room, I began to make plans for Bucktooth.
Manny turned to me when the door closed. 'How do we get to the money?'
'Airboat,' I said.
Manny nodded.
'Air what?' Bucktooth wanted to know.
'Airboat,' Manny told him. 'They use them in swamps. An airplane engine on a plank, practically. They'll float on a heavy dew. I've seen movies of them.'
'What's the arrangement about the cash, Manny?' I asked him, not wanting him thinking I was going too easily.
The pair of them exchanged looks. 'A three-way split,' •Manny said. 'IT it's all there.' Bucktooth turned his head, but not before I saw his ugly grin. Not that I'd ever been in doubt about their ultimate plans for me.
There was only one bed in the room. Bucktooth motioned me to a chair. 'Squat,' he said to me. He produced
a length of manila line and efficiently roped me to the chair, arms, legs, and waist. Manny tested the job, then stretched out on the bed. Bucktooth soon joined him, taking off only his shoes. They left the light on.
The room grew quiet. I could hear my own breathing. My shoulder hurt. My neck hurt. My ribs hurt. My legs went to sleep. It was a long night, but my time was coming.
When I got these two city types out in the swamp, I'd leave them there, permanently.
I must have dozed off finally, because their stirring loused me. The light was still on, but I could see early- morning sunlight at the edges of the curtains. 'Where do we get the airboat?' Manny asked me while Bucktooth was unwrapping me from his diamond hitch.
'We rent it. There's a place about seven miles east on Main Street.' My arms weren't in too bad shape after my night in the chair, but I couldn't stand up. I massaged my legs. It was ten minutes before I could walk decently. Bucktooth glowered while I hobbled around the room.
When we got outside, I could tell from the sun and the haze that it was going to be a hot, humid day, a real stinger. We stopped for breakfast east of the traffic light in town. They took turns going inside while one stayed with me in the station wagon. Manny brought me out coffee and a sweet roll.
Outside of town I didn't have to say a word. Manny saw the shack with the hand-painted 'Airboat For Hire' sign that I'd noticed my first day in Hudson. He pulled the wagon under a tree. 'Bring him down when I signal to you,' he said to Bucktooth before he walked down to a little dock. We could see him talking to a slatternly-looking
