"Sure, bub," he said, patting my arm. "It won't hurt."
7
Flaggery drove; Bat and I sat in the back. "How's it feel to take your last ride?" Bat asked, looking at me with simple curiosity. "All right," I said. "I got good nerves." "You have, at that, bub," he said admiringly. "But don't think you're going to skip out on this. You ain't."
"Doesn't look as if we'll find out who's the better man, does it, Bat?" I said after a while.
"I don't have to find out; I know," Bat said, grinning. "I can take you any time."
"Not you," I said. "I'd rather meet you in a gun fight than a paralysed old lady in mittens."
He clouted me in the face with his fist.
"Shaddap," he snarled. "I could take you blindfolded."
"You haven't the nerve to try, have you?" I said.
"He ain't going to," Flaggerty broke in. "We're not taking chances with a snake like you."
"See?" I said to Bat. "Even your pal thinks I'm better than you. Hear him?"
Bat breathed heavily.
"You ain't so good," he said, struggling with his fury. "I could take you. To hell with that lousy flatfoot. I could take you with a guy hanging on each of my arms."
"Pipe dreams," I said, and jerked my head out of the way as he slammed a punch at me. His fist hit the rear window of the car and smashed the glass.
Flaggerty cursed him.
"Cut it out, will you ?" he snarled. "You're going to plug this rat the way I tell you."
"The tough egg from Detroit taking orders from a small-time cop!" I jeered, digging Bat in the ribs.
Flaggerty slowed down and stopped.
We had arrived at a lonely stretch of beach. The lights of Paradise Palms were fading in the light of the dawn. It still looked a nice spot, but to me, it looked a long way away.
"Come on out," Flaggerty said. He sounded worried.
We got out.
Bat's face was purple in the yellow light.
"I'm going to show him," he snarled to Flaggerty. "I'm faster than he is, and I'll make the
punk admit it!"
"You'll do what I tell you!" Flaggerty bawled.
"Tell him to jump into a lake," I said to Bat. "He thinks you're a sissy."
Flaggerty's hand whipped inside his coat, but Bat grabbed his wrist.
"Make a move like that and I'l l blast you too," he raved, "I don't like coppers, see ? I'm going to prove it to this punk, and a yellow shamus like you ain't stopping me."
"You're crazy," Flaggerty spluttered. "Suppose he beats you? He'll kill us both."
Bat grinned. "No, he won't," he said. "I ain't as nutty as that." He took Flaggerty's gun and broke it open. Cartridges spilled on the sand. "See?" he went on, leering at Flaggerty. "He has an empty rod. I have a loaded one. He still gets it even if he beats me to the draw, but he won't."
"Get it?" He looked over at me. "Suit you, bub?"
"Sure," I said. "I'll go happy showing you a turn of speed."
Flaggerty backed away. He didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"Well, get on with it," he said angrily.
Bat tossed me the gun. It was a blue Colt -45. It balanced sweetly in my hand.
"How's that, bub?" he asked, grinning at me.
"Swell," I said, and stuck the gun in the waist-band of my trousers.
"Okay," Bat said, squaring up. "You ready?"
"Don't rush it," I said. "Like to make a bet on it?"
"Haw! Haw!" Bat doubled up with laughter. "You'll kill me, bub. How you gonna pay after I creased you?"
"Cut this out," Flaggerty stormed. "Get on with it. Kill the punk."
"Yeah," Bat said suddenly scowling. "Well, bub, this is curtains for you." He crouched, shuffled his feet in the sand. I patched him, but even though he knew my gun was empty, he still hesitated.
"I'll give you time to go for your gun, Bat," I said, smiling at him. "A guy always has the drop on me before I kill him."
He snarled at me. "Only this time, I'll do the killing," he rasped.
Then he went for his gun.
If he hadn't loosened his holster, he'd have got me. But his gun stuck for just a fraction of a second, and it gave me time to yank out the Colt. I had it out by the time his hand was tugging at his gun butt.
"Beat you," I said, and flung the Colt in his face. I put everything I had into that throw. The Colt whizzed through the air, hit him a hell of a belt between the eyes. He went over backwards with a startled curse.
I jumped him, grabbed his gun, twisted away as Flaggerty threw himself at me. I kicked Flaggerty in the face, turned and hit Bat behind his ear with the Colt as he floundered to his knees.
Both of them stretched out flat in the sand, their arms flung wide and their faces turned to the morning sky.
That's the way I left them.
8
Strong sunlight was trying to force its way through the wooden shutter as I woke to find Hetty Duval standing over me. I sat up in the bed, blinked at her.
"I guess I must have slept," I said, running my fingers though my hair, exploring the lump on my head tenderly.
"I've brought you some coffee," she said. "Davis is waiting to see you. Shall I send him up?"
"Sure," I said, sniffing at the tray she had put on the bamboo table at my side. "What time is it?"
"Twelve," she said, and went out of the room.
I yawned, poured coffee, reached for a cigarette. I was lighting it when Davis lumbered in.
"Hi," I said, grinning at him.
"For crying out loud!" he said, staring at me. "I didn't expect to see you again."
"Nor did I," I said, waving him to the only chair in the little room. "Got any whisky on you?"
He produced a half-pint bottle from his hip pocket and handed it over.
"I was sure worried," he said, sitting down and mopping his face. "I'm getting cast-iron arteries through you."
I poured a couple of inches of the Scotch into my coffee and gave him back the bottle. He took a swig, sighed, shoved the bottle back into his pocket.
"Well, come on," he said impatiently. "Give. You ought to be dead."
I told him.
"I'll be damned for a Red Indian," he exclaimed when I was through.
"What happened to you?" I asked.
He puffed out his cheeks. "Brother, I thought it was all up with me. It certainly did me no good when Flaggerty blew in."
I laughed. "I saw you," I said. "You looked like a fugitive from a nightmare."
"You telling me," Davis said, shaking his head. "What a moment Flaggerty and Sansotta got together, and Sansotta mentioned you. He said I'd brought in a guy who was a stranger to him. Flaggerty was on me like lightning. He wanted to know where I'd picked you up. I acted like I thought he was crazy, and told him I'd found you in a bar, and that you wanted a poker game. I swore that was all there was to it, and I had no idea who you were, and it was phoney enough to sound true. Flaggerty wanted to know what you looked like, and Sansotta supplied a detailed description. That tore it. 'It's Cain!' Flaggerty bawled, and you should see the way the crowd gaped. I acted surprised, but I needn't have bothered. They'd forgotten about me, and they made a dive for the stairs. I drifted. There seemed no sense in hanging around. I wrote you off as a funeral debt."