Chapter Forty-Two
Martillo threw the Buick into reverse and burned back to the bus, already cursing as he saw Doc’s trick. The men piled out, waving guns, and Ramos barked at the bus passengers to shut up. He was ignored until he ripped a line of bullets across the road, then there was no sound but the yowling of pigs, chickens and babies. The bus had completely blocked the road and Ramos and Martillo had to climb over the hood to investigate. The driver came out, bleeding from the nose with his hands over his head. He took one look at Martillo and pointed to the spot where Doc and Dancy had disappeared into space. Ramos scanned the spot, even shuffling down the slope a few steps, but Martillo had already turned back to the car. The fugitives could only go down to the river, then they could only go downriver. Any other direction would be too steep, too crazy. He knew where to wait for them. Ramos was especially dour as he got back in, Maldonado and Regalado were chattering excited gibberish in the back. Martillo looked back at the bus once as he put the car in gear and caught Santiamen’s eye. He grinned, as much to himself as at the big man. Whoever this guy was who had stolen his woman and killed his friend, he was started to get really interesting. He said softly, “I can’t wait to meet this guy.” Ramos gave a choked murmur, “Yeah, me neither.”
He thought of posting a man at the bus, in case his wily prey tried to double back, then realized that there was no need. In blocking the bridge, his quarry might have done things a little too well. He had cut the only road out of here and left the rest of it in Martillo’s control. There would be no cars to grab. They wouldn’t even have to worry about checking out vehicles coming out–there wouldn’t be any. It had also dawned on him that they should stop all cars going uphill and send them back down. Their prey was on foot and would stay on foot. Martillo grinned to himself. He couldn’t wait to meet this guy.
They took a beating getting to the bottom of the gorge, but things were a lot better at the bottom. A slow, shallow creek provided them a sort of scrub-free tunnel for walking and as they followed it downward there were occasionally flat areas beside the stream where they could walk without wading. Strong and agile, they’d gotten over five miles downstream by the time it got dark.
Doc spotted a large flat rock and called a halt. “We’ll get a little rest and wait for moonrise. Good thing it’s fairly full. Of course it’ll help them, too.”
“Why? You think they’re going to make out a little, too?” Dancy asked, but she squatted down with her back against the rock. Doc quickly emptied his pockets out on top of the rock, and picked over the inventory. Dancy twisted around to see what they had on hand. A pocket Maglite, a keyring with a can-opener/screwdriver device on it, the knife Dancy had already found out about, and a large bore derringer that surprised her. He also had a big wad of money and a multi-tool pliers in a pouch on his belt. Better than nothing, but not all that hot. Dancy was very interested in the derringer.
“So you have a gun, after all.”
“I always have it. It’s been extensively modified so I can break it down and stash it in luggage without a giveaway X-ray profile.
“For a small gun, it’s sure big.”
“Made by American Derringer, chambered for .45 caliber ACP or .410 shotshell. I load both, one up, one down. I’ve got no extra ammo.”
“Did I mention that this isn’t the most together rescue I’ve ever heard of?”
“And not for the last time, I’m sure.” Doc had replaced everything in his pockets after checking the derringer’s loads.
“I’m kidding you, silly. I’m impressed.” Dancy made a little moue, unseen in the dark. “And I don’t say that to all the guys. Plus you’re a great fuck.”
“You’re not bad yourself. But next time I muzzling you. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that years ago.”
“Lighten up, willya? You just got me excited. I never had a man knife me on the first date.”
“Well I was a little shocked.”
“Not used to risking your precious parts around cannibal queens?”
“Nah, I just always considered myself an acquired taste.”
“I’d consider you an off year and pretentiously overdone, but I’ve been amused by your presumption and bouquet. But you know what? I’m thinking that a guy like you is just what I need. Or at least, you might do.”
“I’ll have my agent call your people.”
“Hey, now. I’m doing serious and vulnerable here, okay?”
Doc sat down beside her and leaned back against the rock, “This I gotta hear.”
“I mean it. I think I just realized I need somebody who can handle me. Who’s in my league and can push me right back.”
“Wait a minute. Lios Leyva wasn’t up to it? Martillo couldn’t handle you? Christ, the guy’s a young lion.”
“Armando, we’ll never know. And Martillo was a blast. Strong, hard, horny as a two-peckered billygoat. But he wasn’t…I mean, all he had was sheer drive. He didn’t use sex to make any other point, you know what I mean?
“Maybe. You put it that way.”
“But the main thing was, he worshipped me. Like a pet goddess.”
“He couldn’t dominate you.”
“God, no. That’s an interesting expression, though. Maybe that’s all I’m looking for. See, no matter how wound up he got, I could tell him to stop. And he’d stop.”
“Hey, this isn’t date rape around here. You can always Just Say No.”
“You’d love that. No, I mean…well…like he’d have stopped when I started crying.”
“You’re kidding. That’s when it starts getting good.”
“See, that’s what I mean. I’ve been needing somebody in my weight class.”
“I was just thinking the same thing. Somebody who can keep up with me.”
“Exactly. And you’ve got it all, Stud. Size, strength, mean streak, filthy mind. Too bad you’re so damn ugly.”
“And a bit of a boy scout.”
“At least that can be cured.”
“At last. Was there a mothers’ march?”
“Unwed mothers. And I think it was May.”
“Ah, of course. Mother May I.”
“As long as Simon says. Or Red Rover or whoever.”
“Let’s keep Rover out of this as long as possible.”
“The longer you are, the more possible it gets. Let Rover get a bone of his own.”
Doc lowered himself, stretching his legs out on the ground and resting his head on her thigh. He looked up at the trace of her face in the soft night. “Know what would be great? This. Just keep running through the jungle, dodging your boyfriend in the daytime and fucking our brains out at night and your daddy paying for it all. Tarzan and Sheena at large, naked, and considered dangerous.”
“Not a shabby idea, Doc. Or at least some version where we have hot water and evening gowns and tennis courts from time to time. Do you play tennis?”
“That’s the one where it’s always love-something, right?”
“Well, if it isn’t love at least it’s something. I mean it. You should stick around. I like having a guy around who can protect me from someone like Martillo. Or Stan, which is coming up before too long.”
“Protect you! You got Armando Lios Leyva killed, which I’d guess has been tried by experts, even armies. And you had Martillo tamed like a kitten.”
“Well, if he’s so damned tame, why are we running like rabbits? And where to? Back to my hubby? He’ll kill me in a New York second.”
“Well, being married to you he must have had plenty of opportunities. Not to mention motive.”
“He’s tipped his hand now, he has to get rid of me or his ass is out.” She grabbed his hand and pulled it to her breasts. “Stick with me, protect me. It’d be bitchin’. We’ll be rich, y’know.”
Doc raised his hand further, touched her lips with the back of his knuckles, “A woman like you shouldn’t mention money. Too bad you even have it, really. You’d have been glorious fighting your way up out of poverty.”
“Like Martillo? Yeah, that would have been interesting.”
“You handle men about as well as the average strong safety. Forgive me if I see all this sudden need for manly protection as a total scam. What’s going on?”
“Oh, you know. It’s nice to feel girlish and feminine now and then.”
“Should have brought your teddy.”
“Teddy can get his own bone, too.”
“You feel pretty girlish and feminine in this vicinity.”
“Ah, don’t I, though? Are you making a pass?”
“No this is my ground game. Just to keep you honest.”
“Well, as long as we’re on the ground…”
“It’s a game of inches, woman.”
“The little sudden death, as the French say.”
“Don’t mention French unless you can make the scene.”
“It may be a scene, Thriller, but it ain’t no act.”
She got hot in a hurry, swarming all over him and tearing his shirt off. Must be the deluxe surroundings, she thought. First that pigsty hotel, now rutting in the mud like weasels. He’ll have a hard time fucking me in a more degrading place than this. Her excitement boiling up under his rough grasp, she forced her hand down under his belt to get a grip on things. She was panting so hard she could barely breathe out, “Eh, what’s up, Doc?” Then things got starting getting really out of hand.