Outside the door and window, the constant sound of the unending party continued. Merchants still hawked their wares, visitors guzzled BeBop's Brew.
When she was done, Angel stood up and threw the pad into Blackjack's face. 'You black bastard.'
The wire binding left a slight welt on his cheek, but he ignored that as he studied the map, grinning. 'Just a couple days inland from here. No sweat.' He held the pad out to Eric. 'Wanna see?'
Eric shook his head. 'Let's get started. You go back to the ship and gather the crew. Tracy and I will go into the marketplace and pick up a few things for the trip.'
'Right.'
'What about me?' Angel said.
Eric pointed at the door. 'I'd head south. Rhino's bound to figure it all out sooner or later.'
She started to say something just as the door flew open, banging into the wall. A squad of five armed men crowded around the door, each wearing the Hearst Castle T-shirt that identified them as BeBop's security force. They were pointing an assortment of sharp weapons at Eric and the others in the room.
Behind them, hovering over their shoulders, Rhino rocked anxiously, thrusting an accusing finger at them. 'There they are. There!'
Angel's movements were explosive, like those of a bat discovered behind a shutter. She ran toward a second-story window, did a handspring onto the floor that propelled her feet-first through the glass and onto the stone terrace. Without hesitation, she vaulted over the side, leaping into the large tree nearby.
'Get her!' Rhino yelled, his voice trembling with rage.
Two of the security squad finally shook off their amazement long enough to race across the room and lean out over the balcony. A couple arrows were fired into the rustling tree, but they were swallowed harmlessly by thick branches and leaves.
Even inside they could hear the slap of Angel's bare feet racing away.
'Let her go,' a bearded member of the squad said, turning back to Tracy, Blackjack, and Eric. 'At least we still have these three.'
'Kill them!' Rhino ordered. 'Kill them now!'
17.
'I warned you,' BeBop smiled. 'I really did.'
They were standing amidst a crowd of people gathered around the elaborate indoor pool northeast of the Casa Grande. The room housing the giant pool filled with reflected orange light from the high arched windows along the wall. The floor and walls were completely covered in blue glass tiles imported from Murano, Italy, causing the room to shimmer eerily, as if they were all underwater rather than standing next to a pool.
Spaced around the pool were eight Carrara marble sculptures commissioned of Carlo Fre-ter of Pietrasanta, Italy, just for this room. Each was a reproduction of a famous classical work.
BeBop was leaning against 'Diana and the Deer.' Someone with a felt pen had vandalized the statue, drawing nipples where the breasts were covered by the white marble folds of her dress. Black pubic hairs were scribbled between her legs.
'Didn't I warn them, Tsetse?'
The young boy sat against the wall, balancing his blow gun on his knees. 'Yeah, BeBop, you warned 'em. I heard you.'
BeBop looked at Eric, Tracy, and Blackjack, then sighed like a parent disappointed with his children's behavior. With a grin, he strummed his guitar and began to sing, improvising an off-key tune. 'Oh, baby, I warned ya/Tole ya not to be no asshole/ When you visiting Hearst Cas-tle.' He laughed. 'Not bad, huh? The acoustics in this place are awesome.'
'Let's get on with it,' Rhino said, standing with what was left of his crew. His eyes were rimmed with red and his lumpish body trembled, even while standing still. Whatever demons had invaded his system after passing through the Halo seemed to have accelerated until Rhino jittered like a man standing on a live wire. It was as if his entire nervous system were disintegrating. Occasionally he snapped his rubber band, but more out of habit than to control himself. He was past that now. The flesh on the inside of his wrist was bruised and raw, but he didn't feel anything there when he snapped the rubber band and shouted, 'I want them executed.'
This brought excited murmurs from the early morning crowd. An execution would be an entertaining way to start the day.
Eric took a step toward BeBop, saw Tsetse shift his blow gun at the movement. Eric wasn't about to try anything, not with BeBop's security force fanned out around him. One of the T-shirted guards was holding Eric's crossbow, Blackjack's saber and gun, and Tracy's bow.
'Rhino's right,' Eric said. 'Let's get on with it. Starting with why we were brought here?'
'You know why you were fucking brought here!' Rhino shrieked, making a fist of his delicate fingers. 'You kidnapped Angel and murdered three members of my crew.'
'How do you plead, gang?' BeBop asked them with a dramatic strum of his guitar.
Eric shook his head. 'I don't know what he's talking about.'
'You know goddamn well what I'm talking about!' Rhino blasted.
'Except for a brief excursion to our boat and one for some peanut butter on Ritz crackers, we were in our room the whole night.'
'Yeah, I know the place,' BeBop nodded. 'Gino used to own a pizza parlor in Fresno. Now it's peanut butter on Ritz.'
Rhino reached for the.38 tucked in his waistband.
'Whoa,' BeBop said, holding up his hands. One of the guards with a shotgun stepped forward and nudged Rhino's arm. Rhino shoved the gun back into his waistband. 'No violence, Rhino. Not yet.'
'I think I can clear this matter up,' Eric said. 'Are there any witnesses to the crimes?'
Laughter from the crowd rattled the windows.
BeBop explained. 'Those who might have seen something, probably can't remember what they saw last night. And those who can remember don't want to get involved and get their throats slit some night.'
'But your own men saw Angel in their room,' Rhino sputtered. 'She'd been beaten.'
BeBop turned to the head of his security force. 'Tony?'
'Yeah,' Tony said. 'She was in their room. I only saw a glimpse of her, but she was banged up a bit.'
'I told you,' Rhino said. 'Now let me have them.'
'Mind if I ask a question?' Eric said.
BeBop shrugged. 'Your witness, Mr. Mason.'
'Tony, was Angel bound in any way. Hand cuffed or tied up?'
'Nope.'
Eric turned back to BeBop. 'The explanation is simple. Angel had a map to a cache of weapons left over from when the government was confiscating them after the first quake. She was trying to make a deal with us behind Rhino's back. He found out, sent his crew up to get her. Angel panicked, killed them, sustaining bruises in the struggle. Then she came to our room to try to sell us the map. That's why she ran when she saw Rhino.'
BeBop's eyes lit up at mention of the weapons cache, knowing what power the owner of that man would have. He nicked out a few notes from 'Stairway To Heaven,' trying to look casual. 'And where is this map now?'
'She took it with her out the window,' Blackjack answered.
'Pity.'
'It's all bullshit!' Rhino wailed. 'She didn't have any map. They kidnapped her and killed my crew.'
'If she didn't have any map,' Eric said, 'why would we want to kidnap her.'
'Because you wanted-'
'Enough!' BeBop yelled, banging on the strings of his guitar. 'I don't give a rat's ass who's right anymore. This ain't the fucking Supreme Court, Rhino, so don't come bitching to me. All I care about is that this place remains peaceful so business can be conducted so I can get my cut. I got overhead, man.' He hooked a thumb at his security squad. 'You think these guys follow my orders because they like my music? Hell, no. They get their cut of
