The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death - Charlie Huston [92]
He squatted and reached for the pistol near his feet and Gabe came out of the bathroom with the sap I'd seen in his glove box and smashed Harris' gun hand and the revolver dropped and hit the floor and Harris kept reaching for the pistol at his feet and Gabe kicked it clear and brought his knee up into Harris' face and Po Sin was up and moving and Gabe put the sap across Harris' knee and the cowboy went down and Gabe dropped and sat on his chest and took the sap and shoved it into Harris' mouth till it had to be at the back of his throat and Po Sin came over and looked down at me and Soledad.
—Get up.
We got up.
Harris gagged. Gabe took out the sap and forced Harris' head to the side and waited for the vomiting to subside before putting it back in.
Po Sin watched for a second then turned back to us.
—That the brother?
I looked at Jaime's feet sticking out from under the bed where he'd crawled to hide.
—Yeah.
He bent and grabbed an ankle and dragged Jaime squirming into the light.
—Get up.
Jaime stood, one big bundle of flinching muscles.
—Uh, hey uh.
Po Sin pointed at Harris and Gabe.
—See that?
Jaime nodded.
—Sure.
Po Sin shook his head.
—No you don't.
Jaime nodded.
—No, no I don't. I do not.
Po Sin looked the room over.
—Anything in here belong to any of you three? A hat? Keys? Phone? Check your pockets, make sure you have everything you came in with.
Jaime pawed his pockets.
—I got everything, sir, I have all my stuff.
Po Sin looked at me and Soledad.
—You two?
We nodded.
He pointed at the door.
—OK, get out.
Harris jerked and tried to knee Gabe in the back and Po Sin took a pillow from the bed and tossed it to Gabe and Gabe muffled Harris' face and Po Sin stepped on the cowboy's ruined gun hand and there was a noise from behind the pillow.
Jaime bolted for the door. I pushed Soledad ahead of me, detouring to unzip one of the duffels and pull out a thin Harbor Inn bath towel. Jaime and Soledad went out. I closed the door to a crack and stood just inside.
—Po Sin.
He looked up.
—Yeah.
—What are you gonna?
—We're gonna find out where my van is. I don't think it will take long. But you probably don't want to watch.
—And that's?
—What?
—That's all, just find out where?
Po Sin crossed the room.
—Go home, Web. Nothing's gonna happen here.
He opened the door and pushed me out.
I stuck my foot in the door.
—Hey man, just, you know. Not too much. I mean. I called for help, but.
—That's right, you called for help. Help came. Now we're just gonna clean things up a little.
And he closed the door in my face, cutting off my view as one of Harris' hands flailed and knocked Gabe's sunglasses from his face to reveal that single inked tear, dark beneath a raging eye.
WHAT SHE THOUGHT OF THAT
—I mean, is this how you think partners behave, asshole?
I flicked the blinker and shifted onto the exit ramp.
—We're not partners.
Jaime folded his arms a little tighter.
—Apparently fucking not. Partners let each other in on the plan. Partners have some trust between them. You think I could get anything done in the industry if I did business the way you do, just giving people half the information and not even telling them the details of what happens in the third act? I could not.
I came off the ramp and took a right.
—Seeing as you're a complete fuckup, Jaime, I thought it best not to tell you that what I really needed you to do was to get found sneaking around so they'd think they caught us messing with them and not be worrying about us trying to pull something else. Seeing as you have an obvious gift for doing the absolutely wrong thing, I figured that if I told you you needed to get caught doing something suspicious, you'd probably end up in the greatest hiding place known to man. If I'd told you to let yourself get caught, you'd probably still be hiding in some damn storm drain or something.
—Well no shit! What asshole lets himself get caught?
I pulled into