The Chairman made no move to take it from his hand.
«Please,» said Moustache, holding the radio out to him.
«No,» the Chairman said.
«But you must.»
«No.»
We all kind of froze. Everybody except Little Lou. He stepped between Moustache and the Chairman and whacked the Chairman in the mouth so hard it knocked him out of his chair. Then he kicked him in the ribs hard enough to lift him right off the floor. He was aimin’ another kick when I went nuts.
I don’t know why, maybe it was like watchin’ a guy beat up on a kitten or some other helpless thing. I knew the Chairman was just gonna lay there on the floor while Lou kicked all his ribs in and none of these other clowns would do a thing to help him and I just kind of went nuts. I didn’t think about it; if I had I would’ve just stayed tight in my chair and minded my own [deleted] business.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Before I even knew I was doin’ it I jumped on Lou’s back, wrapped my legs around him, and started poundin’ on his head with both my fists. If I’d wanted to really hurt him I woulda taken out my blade and slit his [deleted] throat. I didn’t even think of that. All I wanted was for the big [deleted] to leave the Chairman alone.
So I’m bangin’ on Lou’s head, he’s yellin’ and swingin’ around, tryin’ to get me off him. And then something explodes in the back of my head and everything goes black.
When I wake up, I’m seein’ double. Two Chairmen, two Jades. But nobody else.
«That was a very brave thing you did,» says the Chairmen.
I’m lyin’ flat on my back. Jade is bendin’ over me, two of her kind of fadin’ in and out, blurry-like. The Chairman is sittin’ on the floor beside me, both his arms wrapped around his chest. Otherwise the car is empty. Everybody else is gone.
«What happened?» I said.
«Rollo knocked you out,» Jade answered.
I shoulda guessed that. Musta hit me like a truck. I tried to sit up but I was so woozy the whole [deleted] car started whirlin’ around.
«Lay still,» Jade said. Her voice was soft and sweet. I thought I saw tears in her eyes, but I was still seein’ double so it was hard to tell.
«You okay?» I asked the Chairman.
«Yes, thanks to you.» His lip was split and his face was kinda pale, like it was hurtin’ him to breathe.
«Where’d they go?»
«They are in the rear car,» the Chairman said. «More of them in the front. We are all trapped here. The Council’s security forces have sealed off this tunnel. American army troops have taken over the station and are patrolling the streets above us.»
«But they won’t make a move on us because Moustache says he’ll whack you if they do.»
The Chairman nodded. And winced. «We are their hostages. He is trying to convince them that he has not already killed me.»
«Why didn’t ya talk to your people on the radio?» I asked him. «Lou woulda beat you to death.»
He almost smiled, split lip and all. «They can’t afford to kill me. Your friend Lou is a barbarian. Even Moustache, as you call him, would have stopped him if you hadn’t.»
«So I got slugged for nuthin.»
«You were very brave,» said the Chairman. «I appreciate what you did very much. To risk one’s life for the sake of another—that is true heroism.»
«You’re a hero,» Jade said. And she really did smile. Like the sun shinin’ through clouds. Like the sky turnin’ clean blue after a storm.
I reached for her hand and she took mine and squeezed it. Her hand felt warm and good. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I busted my cherry when I was twelve years old. Had my first case of clap not much later. I ain’t no Romeo like Little Lou, but I got my share. But Jade, she was special. I didn’t wanna just screw her, I wanted to live with her, make a home with her, even have kids with her. Yeah, I know she was fixed so she couldn’t have kids. They do that to the pros. But I thought maybe we could find a doctor someplace who could make her okay again.
But first I hadda get her outta her life before she came down with somethin’ that’d kill her or got herself knocked off by some weirdo. Okay, it was crazy. Stupid. I know. But that’s how I felt about her. And I don’t give a [deleted] what you say, I know she felt that way about me, too. I know. In spite of everything.
Anyway, there I was, lyin’ on the floor of the train car and holdin’ on to Jade’s hand like I was hangin’ off the edge of a ninety-nine-story building. I asked the Chairman, «So what happens now?»
He started to shrug, but the pain in his ribs stopped him. «I don’t really know.»
«I still don’t see why you wouldn’t talk to your people on the radio.»
«We do not make deals with terrorists. I know that every government official of the past seventy-five years has said that and then gone on to negotiate when their own citizens have been taken hostage. You must remember that the World Council is very new. Our authority is more moral than military or even financial—»
«I don’t unnerstand a word you’re saying,» I told him. He looked kinda surprised. Then he said, «Let me put it this way: We do not deal with terrorists. That is the official policy of the World Council. How would it look if I, the Chairman himself, broke our own rules and tried to negotiate my way out of this?»
«Beats gettin’ killed,» I said.
«Does it?»
«Hell yeah! You want Lou to go back to work on you?»
He closed his eyes for a second. «I am prepared to die. I don’t want to, but if it comes to that—it comes to that.»
«And what about us? What about Jade and me?»
«There’s no reason for them to kill you.»
«Who the [deleted] needs a reason? Lou wants to whack me, he’s gonna whack me!»
«That … is unfortunate.»
It sure the [deleted] was. For a couple minutes none of us said anything. Finally curiosity got to me.
«What’s this all about, anyway? Why’s Moustache want to take you hostage? What’s in it for him? Who’re those other guys with him? What the hell’s goin’ on around here?»
So he told me. I didn’t understand most of it. Somethin’ about some country I never heard of before, in South America I think he said. Moustache is the leader of some underground gang that’s tryin’ to knock off their government. The Chairman told me that their president is a real piece of [deleted]. No freedom for nobody. Everybody’s gotta do what he says or he whacks ’em. Tortures people. Takes everybody’s money for himself. Sounds like Big Lou’s favorite wet dream.
So Moustache and his people want the World Council to get rid of this bastard. The World Council can’t do that, accordin’ to what the Chairman told me. «We are not permitted to interfere in the internal affairs of any nation.» That’s the way he put it. And besides, this dictator was legally elected. Okay, maybe the people had to vote for him or get shot, but they did vote for him.
And guess who Moustache wants to make president if and when the dictator gets pushed out? Good old Moustache himself. Who else?
So the Chairman tells Moustache he can’t do nuthin for him. So Moustache decides to kidnap the Chairman and hold him until the World Council does what he wants. Or somethin’ like that. Other guys from other countries who also want pretty much the same kind of thing from the World Council join Moustache’s operation. Arabs or Kurds or somethin’, I forget which. So they kidnap the Chairman. Big [deleted] deal.
So there we are, stuck in the train in the tunnel. They got him, but the U.S. Army and god knows what the [deleted] else has got us trapped in the tunnel. Standoff.
By the time he had finished tellin’ me this whole story— and it was a lot longer than what I just told you—I was feelin’ strong enough to sit up. At least the room wasn’t spinnin’ around no more and I wasn’t seein’ double.