Laughing as they ran, Muffy and the engineer felt the elation of a very narrow escape.
"What great fun that was!", shrieked Muffy, "I don't think they'll wake up for hours!"
"Not if John the Bartender can stay awake himself!", hooted the engineer.
"I don't even know your name", Muffy said, still laughing. "But I bet you have one of those funny railroad nicknames, like Ginger Beer or Cross-Ties!"
"People call me Rear Admiral, for some damned reason I never understood."
"That's so funny!" giggled Muffy, "Can I call you Rear? Just until I get to know you better?"
"He won't be around to get to know better", said a voice from behind them. "Better kiss him goodbye while he still has lips, Muffy"
Startled, and suddenly chilled by the menace in the voice, Muffy shuddered and turned towards the speaker. The man's face was hidden by a comb-over loop of hair which had dropped over his eyes, and she could see he had a sawn-off baseball bat clutched in his right hand.
"Please, please, please!", Muffy prayed to herself, "If there is one thing I can't stand, it's a man with a comb-over. I hope this is really just a bad dream!"
There was a dull thud, and Rear pitched forward unconscious, blood streaming from his neck. Muffy screamed, and then saw that there was another man, a man who had just sunk a miniature sword into Rear's head.
"We don't need no stinking engineers!" said the man, pulling the sword from Rear's head. He wiped it on his sleeve, and slid it back into a scabbard on a bandolier wound around his shoulder and chest."Now, little senorita, it's time to taste the Spider's lips"
Muffy stared at him unblinkingly, and without knowing why, she counted 18 swords in the bandolier. Why would anyone wear 18 small swords? Her head began to feel fuzzy, and as the man grabbed her, she fainted.
"Damn it, Spider!", said the comb-over, "Why did you tell her your name? I told you I would do all the talking for both of us!"
"Don't get your knickers in a knot", said Spider laughing and sputtering, "I've got lots of names you haven't heard yet. I'm not one of your common little pheasants!"
The comb-over swung his loop of hair back into place, hefted the sawn-off baseball bat, and began slapping it purposefully against the palm of his left hand.
"Now they'll go for The Juggler" he snarled, "And who is going to explain everything to The Crusher? What are we going to do with this corpse, damn you!"
"Let's blame Mitchell Evans and all his people", said Spider, "I can spin a web of deceit faster than you can come up with a funny malapropism, so just say and do what I tell you to say and do, OK?"
Muffy groaned, and her eyes fluttered open, squinting against the lamplight. She saw two shadowy figures move to pick her up, and then everything started to go blurry again. She felt herself being dropped on to the back seat of a car, a new car smell assailing her nostrils, and then... |
