Straits of Fortune - Anthony Gagliano [72]
“Williams is coming here? Do you have a gun?”
I pulled back my shirt so he could see the butt of the .45 that Space had given me. “Sure,” I said. “Doesn’t everybody? Now tell me what kind of trouble the Colonel is in. I’m not going to ask you again.”
Nick glanced around nervously, like a cornered animal that didn’t know which way to run. “Please, Jack. For God’s sake. Let’s just get my sister and get out of here. Then I’ll tell you everything. I swear I will, please!”
“Where is she?”
“Down there, dancing.” Nick moved closer to the railing, but warily, as though he expected me to pitch him over the side. He took his glasses off and polished the lenses with a handkerchief. Then he put them on and looked down again. After a moment he pointed. Even in the dark, he looked scared and badly in need of a suntan, like someone who had spent too many years in an office without windows.
“See her? There, in the black dress. She’s dancing with another girl.”
I looked down and spotted Vivian. She was dancing, all right, and I very nearly got lost in watching her. It was not the kind of dancing you learn at any decent school. I watched her for a moment, horrified and at the same time completely transfixed by the way she moved. It was as though the music had melted every bone in her body. Then she and the girl exchanged a kiss. South Beach at its finest, I thought. Nick leaned closer to me and shouted in my ear.
“We thought you were dead!” he yelled.
“You said that already. Don’t act disappointed. Tell me this: Why is Williams after you and Vivian?”
“It’s a long story, but he thinks we’re out to double-cross him.”
“Double-cross him how?” I asked.
“Please, Jack. Can’t we just get out of here first? Aren’t you afraid of Williams?”
“If you’re so afraid of Rudolph, what are you doing here?”
“We thought we’d be safer in a crowd,” Nick answered.
“Is that right?” I said. “Think again.”
I took out the gun under cover of darkness and stuck it into his ribs. I looked around, but no one was watching us. The couples at the tables were leaning into their conversations, their faces aglow with candlelight and probably cocaine, which I could have used a bit of myself at that point, it having been a longish couple of days.
“What are you doing?” Nick said desperately. “Put that away!”
“Let me ask you a question, Nick. How crazy do you think I am?”
“What kind of question is that to ask a person? I don’t know. I have no idea. Personally, I never thought you were crazy. A bit stupid perhaps, but not crazy.”
“Did your sister ever tell you I was crazy? Did she?” I jabbed him with the barrel of the gun.
“No! Never! She never said you were crazy. I swear to God she didn’t!”
“Well, guess what? She lied! I am the craziest person here tonight! Next to me, Williams is a bishop. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? Do you? Repeat it so I can hear it: ‘You are the craziest son of a bitch I ever met.’ Go on!” I put the gun a little closer to his pancreas.
“You are the craziest son of a bitch I ever met,” he said meekly.
“You don’t sound convinced. Say it louder. Say it! Say it before I pitch you over the side!”
“You can’t do that. I might land on someone!”
“That’ll be their problem. They’ve got no business being in this hellhole anyway.”
“All right, okay! You are the craziest son of a bitch I’ve ever met! I mean it, Jack. At first I didn’t, but now I do. You’re fucking insane. I think you’re even crazier than Williams.”
“Right now I take that as a compliment.” I stuck the gun back under my shirt. Nick relaxed visibly, but I didn’t want him too relaxed, so I grabbed his elbow and pushed down on the ulnar nerve with my thumb. He tried to pull away, but I held him. “Walk ahead of me,” I told him. “We’re going down and get your sister. Try to run away and I’m going to kick a bone loose in your ass.”
I expected him to make a break for it, but he stayed just ahead of me as we edged past the tables and toward the carpeted stairs. Maybe it was the beginning of old age, and maybe it was the mileage of the last few days,