hanging in the stall, grabbed it, and tried to push it into the horse's mouth. The animal reared up and spit the bit back at him.
'Nice horsey,' Shane said, sounding like a seven-year-old.
He finally wrestled the bridle on but decided he'd have to forgo the saddle. He'd wasted too much time already.
Shane pulled the stubborn bay out of the stall and led it out the back of the barn, where he tried to mount it. With his blown left leg, he was having no luck, so he pulled the horse over to a nearby stable rail and managed to get on by climbing up, then swinging aboard. He suddenly heard more sirens as additional sheriff's cars arrived.
He kicked the horse in the withers and it bolted out of the open corral with Shane barely aboard.
He was flying down the road behind the barn, desperately holding handfuls of the horse's coarse mane, almost dropping the reins and the Astra 9-all of them tangled in his white-knuckled grip.
The horse was galloping down the trail full tilt when Shane saw dark shapes coming at him fast. At the last second, he ducked and avoided being knocked senseless by a low branch. Soon he was away from the farm, galloping along the wet, sandy wash, the horse's metal shoes splashing water and ringing on stones. Shane's eyes were straining for any shape that resembled a man on horseback up ahead.
He was bouncing painfully on the horse's bony back, his nuts slamming mercilessly up between his legs.
Fuck this› he thought, reining in the horse and slowing him. The horse's footing was unsure in the rocky wash. He didn't want the animal to stumble and go down.
The wash narrowed, and Shane was forced to ride slowly down the center of the rocky stream. He was leaning down close to the horse's neck to avoid another low limb when a shot rang out and clipped a branch not three feet from him.
Shane lost his grip, fell off the horse, and splashed loudly into the stream. He lay still, the icy water flowing over him. The eight-shot Astra 9-millimeter was still in his hand. He'd managed to hold it high, keeping it dry.
He wasn't sure how long he waited there, but it seemed an eternity. He was freezing now; his whole body feeling as numb as his left leg.
'Who you think you're kidding, Hot Sauce? How long you gonna try and play dead?' his old friend called out to him from somewhere in the dark. Shane didn't answer. He tried to pinpoint the direction the sound was coming from.
'You were always a better catcher than an Indian.' Jody's voice came down to him from about forty or fifty yards away, up high and on the right. Shane didn't think Jody could see him, or he would have fired again. He was trying to lure Shane into a conversation so he could find him and end it.
When another shot rang out, Shane's suspicions were confirmed. The bullet thunked into a rock forty or fifty feet to his right.
'So, Hot Sauce, who woulda ever figured it would come to this, huh?' Jody called out. 'You an' me crawlin' around in the dirt. Cowboys and Indians.'
Shane began to move slowly away from the voice, being careful to not splash any water. He thought he might have a slight advantage because he now had a rough fix on where Jody was, while Jody was obviously still trying to locate him. Jody had always won these games of hide-and-seek when they were kids. It was uncanny the way he could tell what Shane was thinking, where he would try to hide next.
Then, true to that memory, Jody echoed that very thought. 'I could always find ya, Hot Sauce… And this won't be any different. Course, it doesn't have to end that way. We could make a deal.'
Shane slipped out of the water, up onto the bank on the east side of the wash. He managed to squirm up the slight incline in front of him, finally reaching a spot behind some scrub brush. Once he was there, he used the foliage for a screen and sat up slowly.
'So, Shane… Think it over. It doesn't have to end with you dead. Maybe we can still find some flex in the deal.'
Shane thought he could see Jody about twenty yards off to the left behind some rocks, lit by the faint quarter moon. His old friend was looking down and to his right, searching the stream. Shane started to travel in a counterclockwise circle, staying out of Jody's vision, being careful not to crack a twig or kick a pebble.
'Throw out your gun and stand up,' Jody called out. 'We'll work something out. There's plenty here for both of us.'
Shane kept inching slowly up the hill and around to his right. He finally worked his way to the flat ground behind Jody. He could now see the back of Jody's head and a piece of his right shoulder as his childhood friend huddled down behind a rocky outcropping. Shane edged closer, not sure if he could muster the courage to actually do what he now knew he had to.
And then, without any warning, Jody sensed him and spun around.
Something, God knows what, kept Shane from pulling the trigger and killing him in that instant when he had the chance. Immediately his advantage was lost, and now they were about ten feet apart, both holding handguns aimed at each other, the barrels glinting in the moonlight.
Shane could see the madness in Jody's eyes.
'Put the gun down, Jody.' Shane's voice was shaking.
'You can't win, Hot Sauce. I'll know a split second before you do, and I'll beat ya.'
'Put it down…'
'I'm sorry about what I told ya in Joe's desert house. That was a mistake. I never shoulda told ya I didn't care. I could see it in your eyes… I broke it between us when I told ya that.' He smiled weirdly. 'But when I said I never felt love, well… That's not exactly right, Salsa. There were a few times I felt it, but I was always inside your head. I felt it through you.'
'Put the gun down.' Shane's voice was weak.
'I'll give ya a piece a'my end.' Jody kicked the bag at his feet. 'Jose transferred the cash. Hundred-thousand- dollar bearer bonds. The whole fifty mil is in this gym bag. I'm not talking a fifty-fifty split or anything screwy like that, 'cause I been through too much… Been too far. But how 'bout ten percent? That's a good payday. Five mil. Then you and I go our separate ways. Least we don't end it this way… With you dead.'
'Why did you butcher Sandro Mantoor like that?' Shane asked, his voice still shaking.
'Felt like it,' Jody said without emotion. 'Matter of fact, there's something kinda sweet about it when ya do it slow like that.'
Shane knew he had to end this. He had to pull the trigger. He couldn't trust Jody to the courts. He was smart and handsome. He might find a way to O. J. his way out, just like he always had before.
'Don't do it, Hot Sauce,' Jody warned sharply. 'Don't even think about it.'
In that moment, Shane lost his resolve.
Even though he knew Jody was a sociopath, a monster, he couldn't pull the trigger. Jody must have sensed that, too, because he went on talking.
'I may not have loved you, man,' he said softly. 'But that was only because I couldn't. That piece wasn't in me… Just wasn't there. But, Shane, I respected you more than anybody I ever knew. That's why I'll cut this deal. I want us both alive. What's love anyway? It's just a buncha horseshit and a four-letter word.'
And then, as if a long-hidden door had opened, Shane was suddenly inside Jody's head, just as Jody must have always been inside his.
What Shane saw was indescribable and horrible-black, poisonous, and beyond all reason.
They fired simultaneously.
Chapter 51
ALL THE CHILDREN have their own beds and foot lockers,' she said. 'We have set morning bathroom times, and of course, we all eat together in Spring Hall. He'll be one of the youngest, but I think he'll be fine. '
Shane was looking up at her. She was pleasant-looking with a round face, but she had acne. She smiled at
