someone you love, are close to. When you hurt someone for a purpose you take the risk that the purpose wasn’t worth it. Because you have to hurt them before you know you can do what you hurt them to do. You might not be worth another person’s pain. You don’t know until you do it, and if you fail, it’s too late. It’s easier to let it slide, hurt yourself for the sake of others, and feel good and noble and loved. It’s harder to follow your own dream the way the old Vikings did.’
The cabin was quiet. I listened to the cars pass on the highway. Then Jo-Jo smiled. Not a smile of happiness or of triumph or of relief. A smile of simple recognition.
‘They did, didn’t they?’ Jo-Jo said. ‘The Vikings didn’t take handouts. My father even lets them call him Swede.’
It’s his life, Jo-Jo,’ I said.
‘Yeh,’ Jo-Jo said.
‘Win or lose, they have their own lives,’ I said. ‘They made their choice. You can’t live for them. The Vikings left their kids and old folks behind. Not because they were mean or cruel, but because they were honest; and it had to be that way.’
‘I guess it does,’ Jo-Jo said.
And that was all.
I called the police. Gazzo had been in touch, and they said they would start right out.
I borrowed Jo-Jo’s extra pistol, and together we waited for the two hard boys. With any luck the police would arrive first.
We didn’t have that luck.
Chapter 18
They came in a hired grey car, and they walked right up to the door of Cabin Three.
Why not? They expected to find only one unsuspecting boy who had never been known to carry a weapon. One scared boy on the run, supposedly even hiding out as a kind of favour to Roth, that was what they expected. I could almost see the smiles of secret anticipation on their faces as they thought about the surprise they were going to hand Jo-Jo.
I watched them get out of the car and check their guns before they came on. They put the guns loose in their suit-coat pockets and walked across the dusty courtyard to the door of Cabin Three. I went and started the water running in the sink. They knocked as easy as two men calling on a pal. We waited. They knocked again. Louder to sound above the running water.
‘It’s open,’ Jo-Jo called out. ‘Come on in.’
They stepped inside. They were that stupid. No, not stupid, arrogant. They had the arrogance of the man with the gun who has used the gun with success and not been stopped. They had that false security that comes to all dull men who have guns and think that having the gun makes them strong and bright. They were also young and inexperienced, and they had been unopposed so far; and they were near the end of the trail and already thinking of their reward.
I was behind the door when it opened. Jo-Jo was flat against the wall on the other side of the door, hidden by a kind of hat rack on legs.
The two men came in fast. They were past both of us before they saw the water running in an empty sink and started to turn to look around.
I hit the smaller one with the barrel of my borrowed gun before he turned an inch.
Jo-Jo had to hit the one with muscles three times before he went down to stay.
Neither of them got their guns out of their pockets. Jo-Jo bent to get the guns. I jumped to close the door.
The two shots hit the door frame just over my head.
Wood splinters kicked. The bullets whined away. There was blood on my face where a splinter had cut me so fast I did not feel it. I went down and inside the room, flat and backward. I hit my head a solid bump. My feet kicked the door closed. Jo-Jo headed for a window. I staggered up, a little groggy from the bump on my skull.
‘No!’ I shouted to Jo-Jo. ‘Below the window! Stay down.’
I went to the other window. I crouched low and peered out at the lower left-hand corner. I saw their grey car, and a kind of shadow behind it. There was a bright sun. Cars were passing on the road as jaunty as you please. The flowers and trees were myriad colours. The whole scene was as ridiculous as a battlefield in any war. Even the birds were singing.
The shadow behind the car stood up warily and still half hidden. A tall, thin shadow in a grey suit.
‘Roth,’ I said, as much to myself as to Jo-Jo crouched at the other window. ‘Watch the first two.’
Jo-Jo sat with his back to the wall and covered the two unconscious men. It was now clear why they had been so slow. They had waited for Jake Roth. They had called Roth, as the small man at the speedway had overheard them say, and Roth had told them to wait for him before they went out after Jo-Jo. It is amazing how many mistakes a smart man can make. Of course, Jake was smart only if you mean shrewd or cunning. He was not bright, and he was both too arrogant and too careful. He made his men wait, probably to make sure himself that they really got Jo-Jo and the ticket. That had cost him his last chance.
‘Listen, Jake,’ I called out.
I had just heard the first faint police sirens. Roth stood out in the clear. He held a revolver.
‘It’s over, Jake,’ I called out.
‘I’ll get you, Fortune,’ Roth said.
He was standing there to draw a shot. I did not fall for the invitation. It would expose me, and Jake Roth was a crack shot.
‘No you won’t,’ I said. ‘Not now, and not later. We’ve got your two boys, and they’ll talk. Olsen’s got the ticket safe. We won’t show ourselves. Run, Jake.’
Roth stood there. He seemed undecided. If I could keep him talking, maybe the police would arrive in time. I was not sure that that would be a favour to the cops. Roth would get someone.
‘All you had to do was sit tight, Jake,’ I called out into that bright sunlight. ‘It was a thousand-to-one against Andy finding out. You blew it, Jake. You panicked.’
Roth said nothing. I could see the cords of his jaw muscles. He was trying to decide if he could rush us. He was still hoping we would expose ourselves. A man like Roth always thinks he will somehow handle it all and come out smelling sweet. Maybe he hoped we would fail to watch his two boys inside with us or get careless some other way.
‘All you had to do was trust Jo-Jo, leave him alone,’ I called out to Roth. ‘You had to be sure. Just like the girl, right? You couldn’t trust her either, right? Did she know something? Did she say she’d tell Andy? Did she scare you, Jake?’
But I knew the answer, of course. Fear. The answer to all of it in the end. Roth had lived so long by the gun and fear that he could only act one way. He was too afraid of Pappas. He had to be sure. A violent animal who could think of only one way to be safe — to kill anyone who could harm him. The twisted mind. The mind of all killers. They kill to be safe from some danger that, in the end, was not half as dangerous as a murder charge. They kill and complicate the simple and so defeat themselves.
‘I’ll get you, Fortune,’ Roth said, out there in the sun. ‘I’ll get you, and the kid. Just like I got the others. You’re dead!’
The sirens were close. It was his parting shot. It did not worry me. Roth was going to be too busy to come for me or Jo-Jo. But he had scared me, and he had beaten me, and I’m human. I could not resist a parting word.
‘Run, Jake,’ I called out into the sunny open space. ‘Run fast, Jake.’
I saw Jo-Jo move. He was raising up to take a shot at Roth as the skinny killer got into the grey car.
‘No!’ I said. ‘Let him go, Jo-Jo. You couldn’t hit him now anyway. He can still get us if we try. Even if you hit him, he’ll get some of those cops who don’t even know he’s here. Let him run. There’ll be a better chance.’
We watched the grey car drive out of the yard and turn north on the highway. The police arrived a few
