‘Start what again?’
‘I told you before. I don’t want to know right now. For one thing, I’m sore.’
Billy subsided again. Darlene pulled on a dirty housecoat.
‘If you want something to do, you could go down to Nancy’s. You might find yourself some work down there.’
‘You been hanging round with Nancy? You know I don’t like you getting in with her.’
‘Afraid I might go to work for her?’
‘No, it’s just …’
‘Listen, Billy. I don’t care what you like. Nancy’s useful. She knows what’s happening. She passes on tips to me.’
Billy became sullen.
‘I bet she does.’
‘If you got yourself down there, you might pick up a fair bit of credit.’
‘Why? What’s happening?’
‘I don’t know for sure. She’s getting a team of guys together for something. She asked if you could handle a gun.’
‘What did you tell her?’
‘I said I didn’t know.’
‘You know I can handle a gun.’
‘You can’t handle walking half the time.’
Billy struggled to sit up.
‘Listen, you bitch. I killed a man in a shoot-out when I was on the road with Reave. Shit, we got involved in a whole fucking war.’
Darlene turned on the hot plate under the coffee pot.
‘So you say.’
‘Damn it, it’s the truth.’
‘Even if it is, there’s no saying you could do it now. You’ve gone downhill ever since I met you.’
Billy scowled.
‘I can do it.’
‘Go do it then.’
‘I will.’
Billy swung his legs over the side of the bed. His stomach lurched, and he had to sit still for a while. Darlene laughed.
‘See the fearless gunman.’
‘Shut the fuck up.’
Billy had another try at standing up. He stood in the middle of the room, swaying slightly.
‘I need some duramene.’
Darlene snorted contemptuously.
‘Since when could we ever afford duramene? You live in a dream world, Billy boy.’
Billy looked round helplessly.
‘I need something.’
‘We don’t have anything.’
‘Some funaids might help.’
Darlene shook her head.
‘They’ll just make you stupid.’
‘I’ve got to get myself straight.’
‘A shower and a lot of coffee would take care of you as well as anything else.’
Billy started to fumble with the fastenings on his shirt.
‘Why do you always want me to do things the hard way?’
‘I like to see you suffer.’
For the next hour Darlene filled Billy with black coffee, pushed him into alternately hot and cold showers and massaged the back of his neck. He was sick a couple of times, but by the end of the period he was zipped into his best suit and walking steadily, if a little stiffly, towards the lift.
He rode down to Nancy’s floor and walked down the corridor. He paused for a moment in front of her door, then stretched out his hand and knocked.
‘Who is it?’
‘Billy.’
‘Hold on.’
There was the rattle of security bolts being shot back, and the door opened just wide enough for Nancy to peer out. It was still secured by a chain lock. She confirmed it was really Billy, and then shut it again. He heard the sound of the chain being removed. Before letting Billy in Nancy looked carefully up and down the corridor. Billy wondered what could be going on that merited so much caution.
The room was crowded with at least half the hoods who hung round the hotel. Billy nodded to a few of them. Most of them seemed to be armed, and everyone had the air of waiting for something. On the far side of the room, setting crosslegged on the bed, was a young girl in a metallic blue one-piece jump suit. Beside her was a man. Between them they produced a flash of violent recognition in Billy.
‘Reave!’
‘Billy!’
‘How are you, my man?’
His one-time partner looked thinner and more haggard than when they had parted company in the city of Con-Lee, when Reave had stayed with A.A. Catto, and Billy had continued with his wanderings. Reave clutched at Billy’s arm.
‘It’s good to see you.’
‘You too, what’s been happening?’
Reave frowned.
‘We’re in a bit of trouble.’
‘You and A.A. Catto?’
‘Yeah, there’s …’
Before Reave could tell his story, Nancy interrupted him.
‘Why don’t you leave the reunion till later? It seems like everyone’s here, so we might as well all hear the tale at once.’
There were murmurs of assent from the men grouped around the room. It seemed as if nobody really knew why Nancy had got them up there. She stood in the middle of the room and slowly turned round.
‘You’ll be pleased to know that each of you has been left a day’s credit at the front desk.’
There was general approval for this statement. Only one of the men didn’t join in the loud reception. His name was Monk. He was a thickset individual. He wore a collarless striped shirt, a black waistcoat, and his face was half hidden by a light grey fedora. Under one armpit a heavy, vicious-looking needle gun hung in a patent Speed-Draw shoulder holster. He leaned forward in his seat and looked suspiciously at Nancy.
‘What are we supposed to do for it?’
Nancy grinned.
‘Nothing. Nothing at all.’
Monk shook his head.
‘I don’t get it.’
‘It’s a token of goodwill. Look at it as a payment for coming here.’
‘Seems to me that there’s a lot of credit behind whatever this thing is you’re cooking up.’
Nancy nodded.
‘You can believe that.’
There was a chorus of questions. Nancy raised her hands and waited until they subsided.
‘I’ll get straight down to the reason I’ve got you all up here. I need to put a team together. This lady here …’
She pointed to the girl on the bed.
‘Her name’s A.A. Catto, and this team’s being hired to protect her. There’s a couple of guys in the city who are going to try a hit on her. We’re going to stop them.’
Monk interrupted.
‘Why can’t she just hire a team of guardians? It sounds as though she can afford it.’
‘They won’t deal with her.’
Monk raised a slow eyebrow.
‘There’s only one reason I can think of why the guardians won’t protect her.’
Nancy nodded.
‘I ain’t going to hide anything. There’s a claim out on her.’
There was an immediate ripple of conversation. Monk seemed to be slipping into the role of spokesman for all the men present. He minutely examined his fingernails. There was a pause while everyone waited to see what he would say. He sucked in his breath and looked up.
‘That means that the guys who are after her are professionals.’
Nancy grinned.
‘They looked that way.’
‘You’ve seen them?’
‘They came here yesterday asking a lot of questions.’
Billy looked up sharply, but said nothing. Monk went on voicing the men’s queries.
‘What did they look like?’
‘One was tall and thin, dressed in black and carrying a bundle of hardware. The other was shorter. Seemed to be only carrying a set of knives.’
She picked up a bundle of papers and began to pass them round.
‘I put the descriptions down on these fax-sheets’
There were a few moments of silence while everyone in the room studied the papers. Then Monk tapped his with his forefinger.
‘It says here that the tall one’s name is Jeb Stuart Ho.’
Nancy nodded.
‘That’s right.’
‘Sounds to me like a brotherhood name.’
‘Could be.’
‘So you seriously expect us to try stopping a brotherhood killer?’