his head and chest. If anyone shot, everyone would shoot, and all of us would be consumed by gunfire.
Ibo shouted again, making himself small behind Ben's dangling body.
'EYE HAVH DEE BOY!'
Richard groaned.
Ben struggled to break free. He was oblivious to the knife or maybe past caring. His eyes were on Richard.
I aimed at Ibo's legs. I could cut off his leg with Fallon's shotgun, but that wouldn't stop the knife. I edged to the side, looking for a better angle. Ibo backed into the corner, holding Ben higher, a seven-foot nightmare peeking past Ben's ear.
'Eye keel heem!'
Pike and Fallon were locked on each other, holding their pistols with two-hand grips, arms tight.
Fallon said, 'Look at the knife. Shoot me, and he'll bleed out the kid.'
Pike said, 'He won't see it happen. Neither will you.' I said, 'Joe?' 'I'm good.' 'Eye do eet!'
'Can you get him, Joe?'
'Not yet.'
I swung the shotgun to Fallon, then back to Ibo. The little room was humid with sweat, and close as a crypt. I shouted at Ibo.
'Put him down. Put him down and walk out.'
Fallon edged toward the money, and Pike moved closer to Ibo. Pike was on one wall, me on the other; Ibo between us where the walls met. Ben struggled harder, and seemed to be reaching toward his pocket.
Fallon said, 'We want the money, you want the kid. We can both walk out.'
I swung the shotgun back toward Fallon.
'Sure, Fallon, good, let's do that. You and Ibo put down your weapons, then we'll put down ours.'
Fallon smiled tightly, and shifted his aim back to Pike. 'You should drop yours first.'
Richard tried to pull his legs under him but he slid in his own blood. I didn't know how much longer he would last.
Ben screamed then, his scream wailing and strange. 'Daddy!'
I edged closer to Ibo.
''Stay bahk!'
Ben struggled harder, and his hand slipped from his
33
pocket. I saw what he held, and knew what he was planning to do.
Fallon shifted his aim from Pike to me. Sweat dripped from his hair to splash on the floor.
'He'll do it. We'll both do it. Give us the goddamned
money and we'll give you the kid!'
'You'd kill him anyway.'
All of it happened in milliseconds, or maybe even faster. They had us and we had them, but Ben was caught in the middle.
I said, 'Ben?'
Ben's eyes were white with fear.
'I'm taking you home. You hear me, buddy? I'm going
to bring you home. Joe. You on Fallon?'
'Yo.'
I lowered the shotgun.
Fallon shifted his gun back to Joe, then came to me again. He didn't know what I was doing, and the not
knowing scared him.
'Mazi!'
'I keel heem!'
I held the shotgun with the muzzle up, showing them that I wasn't going to shoot, and placed it on the floor. I straightened, watching Mazi, then took one step toward him. Fallon shifted his gun again.
Fallon shouted, 'We'll kill him, Cole! We'll fuckin' kill you, too!'
I moved closer to Ben.
Ibo screamed, 'I do eet!'
'I know. You and Fallon would both do it. You're animals.'
