Divine Justice

So much for the Camel Club, he thought. That was over. Done. Dead. And he was reasonably certain he would never see Annabelle again.

So preoccupied was he that Alex never saw the two men watching him from their car. When he drove off they followed. Meanwhile, another pair waited outside Caleb's apartment. The hunt apparently had already started.

CHAPTER 8

AS THE TRAIN pulled out of the station that was basically a few planks thrown together and poorly lighted at that, Stone looked at the quarterback. Then he eyed the three punks, who were staring at them both with looks of unfinished business they wanted to jump right on.

Stone heaved up his duffel bag and grabbed the young man's arm. 'Let's go.'

He jerked back. 'I ain't going nowhere with you.'

'Then you can stay here and let them finish what they started,' Stone said, nodding at Beefy and his boys.

'They'll wanta jump you mor'n me. You kicked their ass.'

'Your ass, on the other hand, they were kicking pretty easy. So which road do you think they're going to pick?'

For the first time Stone saw some element of reason slide across the young man's features.

'Okay, now that I seem to have your attention, why don't you start by telling me where you're coming from?'

'Home. Just getting away. Make my own life.'

'I know the feeling. But as things stand right now it might make more sense to go back home, get patched up and then start your trip over. You got parents?'

'Got a mom.'

'Where's home?'

The kid looked angrily over at the gang of three, who hadn't moved a muscle.

'I don't want to go back there. I just got away from that damn place.'

Stone ran his gaze over the kid's jacket. 'Looks like you were some athlete.'

'Best ever to come out of that little shithole, and look what good it did me.'

'Not many people make it in professional sports. That doesn't mean it wasn't worth it, or that you're some kind of failure.'

'Thanks for the pep talk, changed my whole life,' the kid said scornfully.

Stone let out a heavy sigh. 'Look, son, I've got my own problems, so I'm about five seconds from leaving your ass to the hyenas over there unless we get an attitude adjustment real fast.'

'What do you want me to do?' he snapped.

'Tell me your name and where you're from.'

'Danny. Danny Riker,' he said grudgingly. 'Satisfied? And what's your name?'

Stone didn't hesitate. 'Ben.' That had been his father's name. 'From where, Danny Riker?'

'Divine, Virginia. Little coal-mining town just this side of hell.'

'How far from here?'

'About here to the moon.'

Stone sighed again. 'Is your mother still there?'

'That's right.'

'So you just left her in the little hellhole all by herself?'

'She's not alone, trust me.'

'You got money to get back home?'

'Maybe.'

'You sure, or did you lose it all in the poker game? They say you were cheating.'

'They just said that because they can't play cards worth shit.' He glanced over at Beefy and cracked a smile. 'Ain't that right, fat boy?'

'Where were you headed to on the train?' Stone asked.

'Where there ain't no coal to mine.'

'You worked in the mines?'

Danny looked around. 'I'm hungry.'

He walked off toward a greasy spoon visible about a block away. It had a neon sign spelling out 'restaurant' in cursive, with only the final 'T' still lighted. In his head Stone instantly dubbed it the 'One T.'

Stone glanced back at Beefy and his battered goons. Beefy had a knife in his hand. If Stone left Danny alone now he was certain the men would finish him off. He'd killed many men over the years. Perhaps it was worth a bit of a detour from his plans to save one.

They ate at the counter with Stone occasionally looking over his shoulder to stare at Beefy and his boys sitting at a booth gobbling up their burgers and fries and shooting nasty glances at them from over their beer mugs.

When Stone went to pay the check Danny dropped the cash on the bill and rose.

'Thanks for helping me out back there,' he said, without a trace of an attitude.

'You're welcome.'

'You fight pretty good for a geezer.' Somehow this statement did not come out as an insult.

'I might not be as old as you think. I've just had a tough life.'

'Ain't we all.'

'So where to now?'

'Gotta keep rolling or else you die. Think somebody important said that once.'

Not bad advice to live by, Stone thought. I'm a rolling stone right now.

As they left the One T Beefy confronted them outside the door, his two mates right behind him.

'Where the hell you two think you're going?'

'You know, I can set your nose back in place if you want,' Stone said amiably.

'You lay another hand on me, you son of a bitch, I'll cut you bad.' He brandished a knife. Well, it was technically a knife, but it was so small and the guy was handling it so awkwardly that Stone had trouble thinking of it as actually being a weapon.

'Okay. Good luck then.'

He and Danny started to walk past when Beefy slashed at them with the blade.

A second later he dropped to his knees holding his belly. Danny rubbed his fist and looked down at his attacker.

'Not nearly as much fun when it's just one-on-one, is it, chunko?'

Beefy weakly threw a punch at Danny, catching him lightly on the knee. Danny wound up to nail him again, but then just pushed him away. He grinned at Stone. 'Can't hit a man when he's down. Ain't sporting.'

Stone glanced sharply at Beefy's two friends, who seemed to be deciding whether to attack or run. He said, 'I'm done with you guys. So if you don't take your friend here and get the hell out of my life right now I'm going to beat both of you into a coma.'

He knelt down, picked up the knife, and with a flick of his wrist tossed it ten feet where it embedded neatly in the wooden faA§ade of the One T. Seconds later his two sidekicks were helping Beefy down the street as fast as they could go.

Danny was staring at the knife stuck in the wood, his mouth agape. He pulled it out and tossed it in a trash can. 'Where'd you learn to throw like that?'

'Summer camp. So what's it going to be, Danny? Home to get patched up, or running around on that gimpy leg watching your back for those a-holes?'

'Home. Couple days. No more.'

'Sounds like a plan.'