What Would Satan Do_ - Anthony Miller [121]
“It was pretty disgusting,” said Lola.
Raju shook his head. “Dude, whatever. It was awesome, and you all know it.”
The corner of Liam’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
“It was not awesome, Raju,” said Lola. “It was gross.”
“No, not the shooting. The hurling. It was like a nuclear reaction.” Raju immediately started a pantomime chain-reaction of vomiting. “Ralph, Ralph, Ralph…”
“Please shut up,” said Liam. He took a couple of double-time steps to catch up with Lola, who was striding ahead as they threaded through a group of military vehicles. “You didn’t tell me – what are you doing here?” he asked.
“Well,” said Lola, “I just figured I could help out.”
“By acting as a magnet for all the naked guys?”
Lola smirked. “Yes,” she said. “That was my plan exactly.”
“But I thought you needed to go back to your office,” said Liam.
“Well, Raju told me about—” she glanced around at the trucks and the soldiers and the naked guys, “well, about all of this.”
Raju scooted up right behind Liam. “Dude, she totally wants you,” he said.
Lola turned and smacked the palm of her hand into the side of Raju’s head.
“You witch! Don’t you know? I have a gun!” He waved the gun in her direction.
She took it, and smacked him again.
“That was my gun, you heartless witch!”
Lola checked the pistol, popping the magazine out and back in, and pulling the slide back to chamber a round. She stuffed it into the waist of her pants and then turned her attention back to Liam. The three men paused to stare with slightly shocked looks on their faces as they realized that, as disturbing as it sounds, watching an attractive woman tuck a gun into the front of her pants is a lot hotter than you might expect.
“That was my gun,” said Liam.
“I need one,” she said. “They took mine. Besides, you just got shot in the head. You’re in no condition to carry a gun.”
Liam smiled and nodded. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said.
She gave him a meaningful look. At least, it was probably a meaningful look. Liam wasn’t sure what it meant, or even if it meant anything at all. It just seemed like one of those looks that people give each other when they mean things. He had no idea what to do, so he smiled. Lola returned his smile with a half-smirk, half-smile of her own, and looked down at the ground. She ran her hand through her hair, tucking it behind her ear.
“Me too,” she said.
“Well, okay,” he said.
“I’m glad you’re here, too,” said Raju.
Lola ignored him. “Look,” she said, pointing out across the parking lot full of trucks and soldiers.
“What?” asked Liam.
“A whole fleet of limousines just pulled up.”
“Those aren’t limos,” said Festus.
“He’s right,” said Liam. “They’re Town Cars.”
“Whatever,” said Lola. “That one has something sticking out of its trunk.”
“It looks like a metal box,” said Liam.
“Oh,” said Raju. “That’s one of those frozen yogurt machines.”
“You know, I think you’re right.” Liam sighed and shook his head. It wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d seen today – not even close – but still.
The group enjoyed a moment of silence, there among the trucks and naked guys and soldiers and mayhem. They watched as soldiers scrambled this way and that – some charging toward the new arrivals, while others ran away. The soldiers closest to the Town Cars started attacking the cars and their occupants. At least one Humvee actually ended up on top of one of the Town Cars. Shots rang out periodically over the sound of men shouting. The gun fire was intermittent – almost casual in its sporadic report. One guy held down the trigger on his automatic weapon. He was too far off to tell whether he was shooting at the cars or just firing at random, but he quickly ran out of bullets – the clip on most automatic weapons holds maybe one tenth as many bullets as movie makers seem to believe – and the noise stopped.
“Is that—” asked Festus, moving his head this way and that and squinting. “Shit,