blue. 357 Colt Python appeared under his right arm, the sound as it cocked like breaking knuckles. DeNice floundered off balance as Joe Pike lifted him backwards, Pike's voice a soft hiss.
'Picture this.'
Fontenot clawed under his own jacket. Pike snapped the .357 across Fontenot's face. Fontenot staggered. The woman down the street glanced over, but all she saw were six men on the walk with one of them clutching his face.
I said, 'Richard, we don't have time for this. We have to find Ben.'
Pike wore a sleeveless gray sweatshirt, jeans, and dark glasses that glittered in the sun. The muscles in his arm were bunched like cobblestones around DeNice's neck. The red arrow tattooed across his deltoid was stretched tight with inner tension.
Myers watched Pike the way a lizard watches, not really seeing, more like he was waiting for something that would trigger his own preordained reaction: attack, retreat, fight.
Myers spoke calmly.
'That was stupid, Debbie, stupid and unprofessional. You see, Richard? You can't play with people like this.'
Richard seemed to wake, as if he was coming out of a fog. He shook his head.
'Jesus Christ, Lee, what does DeNice think he's doing. I just wanted to talk to Cole. I can't have something like this.'
Myers never looked away from Joe. He took DeNice's arm even though Pike still held him.
'I'm sorry, Richard. I'll talk to him.'
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Myers tugged the arm. 'We're good now. Let go.' Pike's arm tightened.
I said, 'Richard, listen. I know you're upset, but I'm upset, too. We have to focus on Ben. Finding Ben comes first. You have to remember that. Now go get into your car. I don't want to have this conversation again.'
Richard's jaw popped and flexed, but then he went to his car.
Myers was still watching Pike.
'You going to let go?'
DeNice said, 'You better let go, you motherfucker!' I said, 'It's okay now, Joe. Let him go.' Pike said, 'Whatever.'
DeNice could have played it smart, but didn't. When Pike released him, DeNice spun and threw a hard straight punch. He moved a lot faster than a thick man should and used his legs with his elbow tight to his body. DeNice had probably surprised a lot of men with his speed, which is why he thought he could do it. Pike slipped the punch, trapped DeNice's arm in a joint lock, and hooked DeNice's legs from under him in the same moment. DeNice hit the sidewalk flat on his back. His head bounced on the concrete.
Richard called from the limo.
'Goddamnit, Lee!'
Myers checked DeNice's eyes. They were glassy. He pulled DeNice to his feet and pushed him toward the Marquis. Fontenot was already behind the wheel, holding a bloody handkerchief to his face.
Myers considered Pike for a moment, then me. 'They're just cops.'
He joined Richard at the limo, and then both cars drove away.
When I turned to Joe, I saw a dark glimmer at the edge of his lip.
'Hey. What's that?'
I looked more closely. A red pearl colored the corner of his mouth.
'You're bleeding. Did that guy tag you?'
Pike never got tagged. Pike was way too fast ever to get tagged. He touched away the blood, then climbed into my car.
'Tell me about Ben.'
Boy Meets Queen
Help!'
Ben pressed his ear to a tiny hole cut into the top of the box, but all he heard was a faraway shush like when you hold a seashell to your ear.
He cupped his mouth to the hole. 'Can anyone hear me?' No one answered.
A light had appeared over Ben's head that morning, shining like a faraway star. An air hole had been cut into the box. Ben put his eye to the hole, and saw a tiny disk of blue at the end of a tube.
'I'm down here! Help me! Help!' No one answered. ''HELP!'
Ben had ripped the tape from his wrists and legs, then freaked out during the night: He kicked the walls like a baby having a tantrum, and tried to push off the top by getting on all fours. He thrashed around like a worm on a hot sidewalk because he thought that bugs were eating him alive. Ben was absolutely and completely
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certain that Mike and Eric and the African had been T-boned by a speeding bus on their way to the In-NOut
