“No.”
“Double or nothing?” Red said to Hawk. Hawk nodded. He stood and I took his seat. Red and I locked left hands.
“I’ll call it,” Red said.
“Sure.”
Red said, “Go,” and I slammed his hand down onto the lit cigarette. The force scattered the cigarettes.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “Wait a minute. I wasn’t ready.”
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll do it again. You call.” We locked hands again. Red took in a couple of deep breaths.
“All right,” Red said. “When I say go.”
“Sure.”
“Go.”
Red’s grip tightened and he tried to turn my wrist.
“You ready?” I said.
Red nodded, straining against my wrist. “You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” I said and slammed his hand against the table.
The waitress arrived with a tray of beer bottles and there was silence while she distributed them and picked up the empties. She went away.
“Where the fuck did you guys come from,” Red said. “You guys got to be from another fucking planet.”
“It’s because our hearts are pure,” I said.
“I ain’t got the forty,” Red said. “I gotta owe it to you.”
“When do I get it,” I said.
“Tomorrow, you gonna be around. I get paid tomorrow.”
“Sure,” I said. “We’ll be around tomorrow.”
“I’m good for it,” Red said. “Ask any of these guys. I pay what I owe.”
“I believe you,” Hawk said. “But where you work, case we have to come find you, case you forget.”
“Transpan,” Red said, “but I won’t forget. Man, ask anyone. I owe you money, it’s like you got it in the bank. Tell him, Chico. He’s a brother, he’ll believe you.”
Chico nodded.
I ordered another round. “Winner buys,” I said. Red licked the back of his right hand where the cigarette burn was reddening.
“Another goddamned planet,” Red said. Hawk snagged a chair from another table and sat at the round one.
“You guys all work at Transpan?” I said.
“Yeah,” Chico said. “Sort of.”
The waitress brought the beer. “What do you mean, sort of?” I said.
“Contract work,” Red said. “We signed on to do training and weapons testing. Working on a two year contract. After two years we can sign on again or get out.”
“Like the army,” I said.
Red looked at me for a moment. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s like that.”
CHAPTER 29
THE NEXT NIGHT RED SHOWED UP AS PROMISED. Hawk and I had hung around Pequod all day, topping off the excitement with a five-mile run along the highway, and we were just sipping the first beer of the day when Red came in.
“Who gets the forty,” he said.
I put out a hand and Red put two tens and a twenty in it.
“Winner buys,” I said. “What will you drink?”
“Beer.”
I gestured at the bartender. He gave Red a beer, and a glass. Red ignored the glass and drank half the bottle from the neck.
“We’re looking for a place to live,” I said. “Got any ideas?”
Red shrugged. “Not much around,” he said. “I live out at the facility.”
He finished the beer. I ordered him another. “Want a shot with that,” I said. “Get a good foundation for the evening.”
