'You can talk in front of Hawk,' I said.
'He's too dumb to remember what you said.'
'Lucky thing too,' Hawk said, 'Cause I a bad blabbermouth.'
Jocelyn couldn't tell if she were being kidded. Her glance shifted back and forth.
'Hawk's with me,' I said.
'You can talk to us.'
Jocelyn held her coffee mug in both hands, took a swallow, held the mug against her lower lip, and looked at me over the rim.
'I'm being followed,' she said.
Jocelyn waited, allowing the impact of her statement to achieve all it was going to.
'Lot of that going around,' Hawk said.
'Tell me about it,' I said.
'He's medium height and slender,' Jocelyn said.
'Black coat and a black slouch hat pulled low.'
'When did he start shadowing you?' I said.
'Two nights ago.'
'And why not go to the cops?'
'Well… I mean, Jimmy said you were here because someone was stalking someone. And then I was hurrying along the street and I saw you…'
'Sure,' I said.
'And I have such a kind face.'
'Yes,' she said.
'You do.'
'So what would you like?' I said.
'Like? I… Well, I guess I thought you'd want to look into it.
I don't know exactly, but… in truth, I guess I thought you might want to, ah, protect me.'
'Are you saying you want to hire me?'
'Hire?'
'Yeah. I do this for a living. Or I used to, before I came down here.'
'Well… of course, I… I don't have any money.'
'Lot of that going around too,' Hawk said.
He was looking out at the street. Suddenly he put out his left arm and swept Jocelyn off her chair and onto the floor. I dove on top of her and Hawk hit the floor beside us, the big.44 Magnum gleaming in his hand. Above our heads the plate glass window shattered and the bubbling chatter of an automatic weapon came with it. Glass fell on us. Jocelyn was screaming. Then there was stillness. I realized my gun was out too. I looked around the restaurant. It was as if the film had stopped. The kid reading his Want Advertiser, the old woman at the grill, the two geezers at the counter, were all frozen in silence and slow time. None of them seemed to be hurt. Hawk was up. He never seemed to get up or down; it was as if he just reincarnated in one position or the other.
I started to get up and found that Jocelyn was clinging to me in an embrace that seemed as much passion as fear.
'Stay down on the floor,' I said and shrugged loose from her and stood and looked carefully out the window. The street was empty. The rain was blowing in through the space where the window had been.
'Uzi,' I said.
'Un huh. Maroon Buick station wagon, maybe 1990, '91.
Coming slow, window down on the passenger side. Why somebody driving in the rain with the window down? Then he stuck the gun barrel out.'
'Too soon,' I said.
Hawk nodded.
'Shoulda come down the street at a normal speed, windows up,' he said.
'Shooter shoulda been in back. They should have pulled into the curb like they were parking. Driver shoulda hit the rear-window button and the shooter shoulda opened up as it went down. We be dead now.'
'Well, maybe they're young, and from another country,' I said.
'Was that a machine gun?' the kid behind the counter said.
'Assault rifle,' one of the geezers said.
'I'll bet it was one of them damned assault rifles.'
The old woman had gone in the back room without a word. I put my gun away and reached down a hand to
