'Pm sure,' she scoffed. 'Maybe I should just drop your car and fly back to Austin.'
'That sounds like a great idea,' I said, tired of trying to convince her that I was doing what I had to do. 'Just let me know where the fuck it is.'
'Or you could come get me, Milo,' she whispered, changing tunes. 'We could go home.'
'We're in a ton of trouble, and a long ton of other people's futures depend on me working this out,' I reminded her.
'You don't even know any of those people,' she hissed, angry again.
'It doesn't make a damn bit of difference,' I said, then paused a long moment to catch the anger in my throat.
'Well, it fucking should!' she shouted. Then whispered hoarsely, 'Just give it up, Milo. Give it up.'
'How many drinks have you had?' I asked after a long pause.
'Three. And I'm going to have three more and a turkey sandwich,' she said flatly, 'and call it Thanksgiving.'
'Sounds good to me,' I said. 'I think I'll do the same. I'll meet you at the casino tomorrow night.' Then I switched off the phone, and dug a granola bar out of the pack. When I finished it, I had a nip of brandy and a small toot. I didn't have either the time or energy to deal with a jealous woman as she dithered between anger and whining, or even time for a turkey sandwich. I had another granola bar, then waited again.
Betty called me back shortly, the ringing of the phone loud in the desert night, but I told her I was on a stakeout, that I couldn't talk, to please not call me. I promised to call her. She called me an idiot, then hung up. She called me back twenty minutes later to tell me that a good-looking cowboy was giving her the eye. We had Words, the kind of words that are hard to take back, even if you want to catch them as soon as they're out of your mouth. This time I hung up on her. A sliver of the waxing moon tried to peek through the ambient glare of seductive neon hanging over Las Vegas.
When the short woman brought a turkey to the dining room table, I called Red again and caught him just as he was going through Blue Diamond. Jimmy cracked the second bottle and refilled the flutes as the short woman brought the rest of the trimmings to the table. She said something to Jimmy, but he just waved her away.
A few minutes later she came out the kitchen door wrapped in a short jacket, said something to the man, then they walked slowly around the house to the battered pickup. I moved the spotting scope and the bipod to focus it on the end of the driveway. I could see the interior of the pickup cab clearly in the outdoor light at the gate. The man took a remote out of the glove box and pointed it at the gate. When the gate began to trundle sideways, he tossed the remote back into the glove box. Red was waiting for them when the pickup rattled over the cattle guard. I hoped they didn't live twenty miles away or something. But it didn't matter. They stopped at the first bar down the road. Red said he'd call back when he had the remote.
It took a lot longer than it should have. I hoped he hadn't been caught. Jimmy and Molly picked at their Thanksgiving meal for a while, then moved back to the living room. He went over to the armoire to fetch a silver tray heaped with cocaine with a silver straw sticking out of the pile like a dagger. He cut a couple of lines as big as snakes, but Molly only did part of hers. I said to hell with it and joined them for a brief snort of my own. She switched the television to a black-and-white movie I didn't recognize, while he put half a dozen CDs into the rack, then proceeded to boogie. He waved at Molly to join him, but she didn't seem to want to. She sat down on the hearth again and poked the fire. He took her by the hand, tugging at her, until she waved the poker at him. He laughed and gave up, decided to dance alone, pausing only to gun champagne and snort a line. He strutted his stuff like a bantam rooster in front of her, but Molly seemed more interested in the movie. Like some short, pudgy men, Jimmy had quick feet and an odd grace. He was probably stronger than he looked, I thought, but didn't keep the thought in the front of my head.
I was cold, my nose was running, the brandy in the half-pint had almost disappeared, and I was worried about Red. I couldn't call him. I'd probably catch him with a slim jim down the pickup window as the phone rang in his pocket. In the blind canyon the faux-adobe walls gleamed like teeth. Jimmy had gone back to trying to get Molly to dance, but she kept refusing. It looked as if it was going to get rough. But there wasn't anything I could do until Red called. Finally, the phone rang.
'Where the hell have you been?' I said.
'None of your damn business,' Betty said.
'Goddammit,' I said, 'will you please stop calling me? You're going to get me killed.'
'You seem to be doing a fine job by your own damn self,' she mumbled, then hung up on me. Which was probably the reason she had called.
The night went on, completely out of control.
When Red finally called, I asked him where he'd been. The man had gone in the bar while the woman sat in the pickup listening to Mexican music. Red had sat in the parking lot, turning away drunk fares, until the woman stormed into the bar to drag her husband out. The only good news was that she hadn't locked the pickup, and Red was on his way. I dug a flashlight out of the bag, stuffed my gear back in, then headed down the hogback toward the road, When I reached it, the dark bulk of the Checker cab loomed beside it. Even in the dark I could see how cherry it was, the hand-rubbed black paint job gleaming even in the night. I fancied I could see stars shining in the finish.
'You sure he won't recognize my car, man?' Red said as he handed me the rest of my kidnapping gear.
'Right now, kid, I don't think he would recognize his own mother,' I said. 'Assuming he has one.'
'I guess I could repaint it,' he said. 'Go back to the original yellow.'
'Nervous?' I asked as I pulled on the surgical gloves and checked the loads of the Glock.
'Just about my car, man.'
'Let's do it,' I said. 'There'll never be a better time.'
'Then I guess it's now, man.'
I climbed into the Checker. When Red stopped at the gate, I climbed out, then crawled under the cattle guard where I wrapped a bundle of det cord around the supports. Red had a homeboy who was a supply sergeant out at Nellis. For a price he was happy to provide the det cord, a straitjacket, and a cache of 'twilight sleep' ampules from an Air Force nurse with a habit. I didn't know what I was getting into with this woman but I intended to get her out of the house and keep her one way or another.
'Should I leave the lights on?' Red asked as I climbed back into the Checker.
'Let's act like we're supposed to be here,' I said as I punched the remote. 'We don't want anybody to think we're sneaking in.'
Red drove through the open gate, then up the driveway. He parked beside the porch facing down the driveway for a quick exit. I slipped out of the cab, checked my weapons, got out my badge, and went up the low steps to ring the doorbell, then stand aside.
Even through the thick door and the roar of music crashing into the still night, I could hear Jimmy Fish curse loudly and wonder who the hell was at the door. The porch light came on and the door swung open. He stormed out on the porch, saw the cab, and muttered 'How the hell -'
I stepped in front of him. 'Mr. Fish, I have an arrest warrant -' I started to say, my badge in one hand, a makeshift sap in the other. In case he wasn't impressed by the badge. He wasn't. He had a shiny automatic hanging in his hand. He started to lift it, so I laid the sockful of ashtray sand just under his ear. He went to his knees, confused but not out. I kicked the pistol out of his hand and off the side of the porch and stuffed the badge back in my pocket.
'Stay down, asshole!' I shouted at him. 'And I won't tell your wife.'
Behind him I could see Molly stretched out on the couch. She looked unconscious, her sweatshirt bunched around her neck, her hair down and disheveled. I slammed the sockful of sand against the side of Jimmy's head again. A little harder this time, and he rolled over on his side, moaning.
This wasn't working exactly the way I had planned it.
'Duct tape!' I shouted at Red, and he tossed me a roll. I lashed her hands together, then to the hand grip above the door. It didn't seem to take too long, but the little bastard had obviously gotten to his feet, dashed back
