Hard Candy - Andrew Vachss [48]
"Okay, but…"
"If the females reached orgasm faster than the males, they would pull away. Animals don't commit rape—the females must be willing. The mating wouldn't be completed. The orgasmic curve is longer. Much longer. Long enough for the first buck, long enough for the bucks to follow."
"That's why women take longer to…"
"Yes."
"So one day they'll get off as quick as we do?"
Something less than a smile ghosted on the Mole's lips. "Yes. In another half million years or so. You won't be around to see it."
I lit another smoke. Thinking about it. How Mercy said money was her lubricant. "Wesley…he adapted?"
"To something. I don't know what."
"How do you know…that he adapted?"
"He has many enemies. And he isn't dead."
87
THE PLYMOUTH pussyfooted its way through the maze of twisted little roads. I pulled to the side. Max's door opened. The interior light didn't come on. He vanished.
I parked where I had the last time. Got out nice and slow.
"Go ahead and light your smoke." A voice behind me.
I felt him next to me. Turned to look. His hands weren't empty this time.
"Tell the Chinaman to come out. Listen to my voice. I'm telling you the truth, Burke. You don't call him out, I'll waste you right here. Whatever happens, you're dead."
If this was the movies, I'd have heard the sound of the Uzi being cocked. This was Wesley—I knew it already was. They say Wesley files the safety off his guns. I pulled the white handkerchief out of my coat sleeve. Waved it high above my head in a circle, stopped the circle right in front of me. Max was coming whether Wesley killed me or not—this way there'd be two of us. Maybe…?
Wesley was on my right, the Uzi in my rib cage. Max came forward, making enough noise so we'd hear him. He kept walking. A lumbering, thug's walk, giving no hint of the speed and grace in the thick body. A locomotive that makes its own tracks. He stopped ten feet away, right in front of us.
"Close enough," Wesley said.
I held a palm out to Max to keep him where he was. The Mongolian dropped his left shoulder a fraction. If he went, he'd go to Wesley's left. I pushed my weight against the stubby barrel of the machine gun, ready to lock my elbow over it, hug my death close to me if it came. Wesley was right. Close enough. For Max. I'd go first, but Wesley would be right behind me.
"You wanted to talk?" I asked the monster.
"You think I didn't know the Chinaman was here last time?"
"I didn't know myself."
"I know. That's why you got to walk away. But you knew this time."
"Okay."
"Max the Silent, right? That's him?"
"That's him."
"Looks like a real bone–breaker."
"He's here for me, not you."
"I know. Tell him I got a gun on you."
"He knows."
"So why'd he come out?"
"He's my brother."
"Yeah. That's nice. I had a brother too."
"I never knew that. Where is he?"
"Dead."
Like you, I thought, taking the last puff of my cigarette, tossing it away. "What d'you want, Wesley?"
"You like the job on Sutton Place?"
"Why'd you do it?"
"They owe me money."
"I know. I met with one of them earlier tonight. They want you bad. They're going to get word out that they'll pay. They want me to deliver the cash."
"And blow me up?"
"No. They want you alive."
"That's the way I figured it. It takes the heat off."
"Off?!"
"Sure, off. They could have paid me. Like they should've. When I hit the first guy, they got scared. So they put out the word. Hit Wesley, right? Any asshole with a gun could do it, he got close enough. Now it's different. They're spooked. I made shit of the don—fucked him where he breathes right in front of everybody. They had an open contract out on me before. Now it's canceled, right? Now it's personal."
"There's more.
"What?"
"They