Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [66]
The guy was agile. He was a short man but he had the traditional Filipino broad powerful shoulders, strong lean body. His hands were his weapon; they were lightning fast. He dealt Mann the first punch and followed up with three more before Mann got the message. He could already taste the blood in his mouth from two punches that had threatened to take out his teeth. Now he gauged not just the fighter’s range but also his preferred lead arm, his speed on his feet, and he gauged something even more vital. The fighter had a weapon concealed in his belt.
From the corner of his eye Mann was aware of Shrimp. Shrimp was going in fast and furious. Mann knew why that would be – he wanted to inflict the most damage on his opponent and the least damage on his suit. Slick had not expected it. He did not have Shrimp’s athleticism. Shrimp was hitting Slick with moves that Mann hadn’t seen him use before. He turned in the air and dealt a jump sidekick that landed in the centre of Slick’s chest and sent him crashing back against the wall just as another hit him to the side of the head. His head was brought down onto Shrimp’s knee and Slick didn’t recover. Mann could hear him moaning as he dragged his body away and out of Shrimp’s reach.
The fighter was flying around Mann with his arms in every direction like flick knives, looking for gaps in Mann’s defence. He rocked back and forth on his agile feet. Mann had seen enough. He let down his guard on his left side and waited for the punch. His opponent obliged with a left cross. When the fighter’s arm was full stretched, Mann caught his wrist and bent it back. He smashed the palm of his hand into the fighter’s knuckles and heard them crack. He dealt three fast blows, bent the wrist back, one, snapped it then he twisted the arm and smashed down, two, popping the elbow, then three, he punched down hard on the forearm to break it. Mann flipped him over, his broken arm behind his back, and locked his head. A knife dropped to the floor out of the fighter’s waistband. Mann picked it up and pressed it against the fighter’s throat.
‘Yeah…not now, old man. I’m too busy to play.’ He looked up – Rizal had legged it. Shrimp went to go after him. ‘Leave him, Shrimp, we’ll find him when we want him. He has nowhere else to go.’
Chapter 45
Ruby was satisfied. She opened the vent above the cooker to let out the steam. She had an urge to clean. She had washed the white tiles, scrubbed the bed, she had cut up Steven Littlewood’s body, stripped the flesh from his bones and now they were sawn into manageable pieces and boiling on top of the stove.
Ruby pushed her hair back from her face, she was sweating. She was naked. She had such a lot of work to do. Why were men always so messy? Did he have to get his blood everywhere? Ruby had worked for hours, cutting up his body. When she was finished she placed her dolls back on the shelves in the lounge. Some of them still had bits of flesh stuck in their hair. They had drops of blood on their faces but Ruby had decided she had better things to do than keep cleaning. Some things just didn’t matter any more. She mustn’t waste her precious time now.
She was going down to the government hospital that morning. She had been there many times. Ruby walked along the corridors and no one noticed her. Sometimes she wore a nurse’s outfit. Sometimes she wore a white coat. Now she could give a decent injection. She could keep someone alive long after they wanted to die. Today she wanted to see if any of the babies there needed her.
The government hospital. There weren’t enough beds. There wasn’t enough staff. They always needed another pair of hands.
Ruby smiled at the good-looking young doctor as she made her way along the corridor. It was late afternoon. It was a good time for her to visit,