A voice shouted from the crowd, “Strip the stuck-up cow!”
Semple’s lip curled. “You may find I’m not as easy to take as you imagine.”
Another seconded the motion. “Yeah! Strip her naked!”
A ripple of laughter ran through the spectators, followed by another shout. “Six to four on Suchep the Whore.”
Others picked up the phrase like a chant. “Six to four on Suchep the whore.”
Semple assumed Suchep the whore was the woman in front of her still eyeing the gold collar.
“Six to four on Suchep the whore.”
At the prospect of betting, men in the crowd were instantly galvanized. “I’ll take a piece of that.”
Some laughed at the double entendre, but the more serious gamblers eyed Semple with appraising eyes. The way Semple looked right then, in all her harem finery, straight from Anubis’s parade, she couldn’t imagine anyone giving six to four on her in a no-holdsbarred, straight fight.
“Who’ll give odds on the harem broad?”
“Four to one against.”
“I’ll double it if Suchep kills her.”
The bookmaking faltered for a moment as the trumpets sounded and the voice boomed. “Zero minus fifteen minutes and counting.”
Fifteen minutes was plenty of time. The mob’s attention returned to the fight at hand. “I got twenty says the aristo ain’t as soft as she looks.”
Semple was amazed. They were starting to exchange markers, getting bets down on the dragout between Semple in the god’s gold jewelry and Suchep with the big tits and purple nails. It was as if they were a pair of pit bulls or fighting lizards. Merely one more excuse for the movement of money. There was one consolation, though. A catfight might have been the last thing that Semple needed, but a crowd busy wagering wouldn’t so easily turn into a ravening lynch mob. Unfortunately, the two other women now standing a little behind Suchep the whore missed this point. Their lupine grins and clenched fists suggested they were eager to help take Semple apart, and maybe share in the proceeds. Semple knew her first move should be to put them straight. “You two better keep out of this if you don’t want to be blamed for screwing the odds.”
The two women laughed as though Semple were bluffing, but then Suchep shot them each a warning look and they got the point. As the two retreated, she turned back to Semple. “So you think you can take me, do you?”
Semple smiled sweetly. “Don’t be deceived by appearances.”
The woman smiled. “I’m going to rip your prissy fucking face off.”
Semple gestured to the scar on Suchep’s cheek. “Where did you get that from? A pimp?”
That was enough for Suchep the Whore. She lunged once more for the collar around Semple’s neck, and Semple jumped back again. This time, however, she came straight back, fully on the offensive, and punched her adversary hard in the face.
***
As the VC came at him, Jim’s muscles locked in panic. He found he could neither run nor completely submerge himself in the brackish water. Long seconds passed before he managed to regain his control, and by that point it was altogether too late. The dozen of them were so close that he could see their flat, stern faces, clear proof of the Nietzschean axiom of the Afterlife: “That which killed them also made them stronger.” He found he could make out the fine mechanical details of their AK-47s. He could even read the slogan, THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, on the T-shirt one of them wore under his black pajamas. Nearby a dinosaur coughed and snuffled and the VC column silently halted, instantly alert. With weapons at the ready, they carefully scanned the surrounding area. At least one of them looked directly at Jim, making what seemed to be complete eye contact, and yet he showed absolutely no reaction. It was as if the guerrilla couldn’t see him, as if he were somehow invisible to the man.
The dinosaur coughed and snuffled two more times and them started to move off, away from Jim and the Viet Cong. The swell created by its departure all but swamped Jim, his mouth and nose went under, and he rose spluttering, right in front of the VC with the TRUTH IS OUT THERE T-shirt. Again, the impossible happened. The man seemed to have no idea that Jim existed. He moved on past him as though he weren’t there, only missing him by a matter of inches, and the rest of the column went right along with him. Jim got back to his feet, wiping the water out of his eyes, wondering what the hell had just happened. He knew well enough that weird shit could come to pass in the backwaters of the Afterlife, but this brief encounter was more than passing strange. Perhaps the VC’s inability to see him had something to do with the time disturbances that had occurred earlier. If somehow the VC had been slightly in the past and Jim had been slightly in the future, it might just be possible that he could see them while they could not see him. He had to admit it was a pretty threadbare piece of reasoning, but it did cause him to wonder what would happen when he reached the mansion. Would anyone see him at all?
One thing Jim knew for sure was that he wouldn’t learn anything by standing around, up to his waist in dirty water. He had no real option except to press on, so he once again dragged one boot and then the other out of the glutinous sucking mud and toward the yellow lights.
***
Suchep went sprawling, then pushed herself up on one elbow and put a hand to her nose. Blood was on her palm. It also ran down her upper lip and into her mouth. “You broke my fucking nose.”
Semple wagged an index finger at her opponent. “Never judge a book, bitch.”
Without warning, Suchep’s legs flashed out in a scissors move, a sneak attempt to throw Semple to the ground, and Semple only eluded her in the nick of time. Semple’s sideways retreat also gave the woman the chance to scramble back to her feet, and she came at Semple half crouched, hands reaching, fingers clawed. Semple knew in an instant that she had no chance of besting Suchep in a fair fight. She had neither her adversary’s down-and-dirty skills nor her stomp-and-gouge reactions. Her only hope was to think of something tricky, and fast. If she couldn’t fake out this incarnate piece of lewd aggression, she’d be toast.
The two women circled each other while the crowd bayed, teeth bared, faces stretched and ugly. Markers were changing hands at a furious rate now that Semple had unexpectedly drawn the first blood and the odds had radically shifted. The more money that went down, the more the crowd’s natural bloodlust was amplified by personal financial involvement. “Go get her, baby! Kick her in the cunt! Rip her tits off. We’re counting on you, Suchep!”
Suchep looked for an opening and Semple thought furiously. As the woman lunged, hoping to twist her talons into Semple’s long hair, Semple again ducked out of the way; suddenly an idea occurred to her. Her hand went to the fastening on the jeweled collar and she yanked it free. She smiled nastily at the Suchep, holding the collar at arm’s length. “You wanted this, didn’t you? What was it you said? This thing could keep a family for a year or more? So why don’t you come and get it? Take a chance on a year’s pay.”
Suchep frowned. Her blood and makeup were blending with the dust of the desert, which had been trampled fine by hundreds of feet, and sweat was washing the mix into dirty rivulets that snaked from brow to cheek. Suchep knew Semple was up to something, and was trying to figure out what. Semple sensed she had the upper hand, and she liked it. “So, are you going to come and get it?”
The woman lunged and Semple sidestepped, laughing. The confrontation was taking on the aspects of a bullfight. “Better still, why don’t you run and fetch it like a dog?”
Semple tossed the collar so it landed a few yards from where the two of them were facing off. Suchep was transparent. She knew she shouldn’t take her eyes off Semple, but she couldn’t resist looking to see where the precious piece might be lying. She glanced around and Semple punished her by punching her hard in the side of the head, just below the ear. Suchep staggered but at least had the presence of mind to move closer to the collar. Unfortunately, this was exactly what Semple wanted. As she’d hoped, her throwing the collar had brought the two other women back into the picture. When the betting had started, they had wisely moved back to give room to the designated contenders. With the jeweled collar on the ground for the taking, the picture instantly changed. The pair were now eyeing the prize, wondering if it was worth interrupting the fight, and how they could beat the wrath of the crowd and make off with the treasure. Suchep also saw what was happening and, probably against her better judgment, jumped back and attempted to snatch up the collar.