Page 22 (1/2)

Part Three

The Last Days

Chapter 22

Felix slept hard and woke up late

He lay there a ht with this ugly motel Then he rolled his bare feet out onto the floor and sat up and thought: What if she won’t coirl had no fa Uncle Harley, was it? - and the Tea to her She and Annabelle were tight, very tight She loved Jack and she loved big Carl Joplin and Cat and

Shit

He went through hisritual and then he took a shower and then he sat naked and dripping on the edge of the bed and had a cigarette and thought: What have I got to offer her?

"Staying alive, for one thing!" he muttered out loud

But it didn’t sound as fine as he would have liked

So he stopped thinking about it He stubbed out the cigarette and put on soether and sat it on the little card table provided hiun were

He looked at it a second, then abruptly reached down and dragged the Browning out of its holster and it slid - as had every decent goddaun he’d ever known - so easily, so smoothly, into his palm

He knew, or at least had co was very rare That most people never felt this natural with a firearm Some people hated them and some who didn’t couldn’t see them and most always felt just a little aard and

But not hi felt just like

Just like the end of his hand

My Lord! he thought wearily, with at least some trace of wry humor, what if it’s all just as si terribly cheerful when he got to the suite, but that was okay Now that he hadmuch bothered hi around that faded coffee table scarfing down take-out fried chicken, reeking of Tea like the kind of people who got into this mess in the first place

But what the hell They deserved a couple of grins And Annabelle was there looking radiant as always And she was there, diood

And then Father Adam’s mass, after the meal - that felt okay, too Felix had never even seen a mass before these people and now now it felt perfectly natural Logical, ood mood remained for another twentyand Davette’s sketch of the basement in her Aunt Victoria’s house started to look too damn much like the Cleburne Jailhouse

Seems vaht and prying eyes away - looked like a bloody fort down there - and Davette hadn’t even seen it all

"You’re going to have to blow it," said Felix, standing over them as she drew "Just like the jail"

"Can’t," replied Jack Crow calmly

Felix stared at him "What do you arette and stared at hih the smoke

"Blow up a mansion worth maybe four or five million dollars in the center of residential north Dallas? Shit, I’d have every Dallas police car, fire truck, and SWAT teaers on my ass in two minutes"

Felix blinked "Well, do what you always do - call ’em all up ahead of tiht you knew people"

"Not thatup on me if I told them I wanted to blow up a mansion in the middle of their city"

"What did you do when you had one in a city before?"

"Never had one"

"Huh?"

Crow grimaced, leaned back in his chair "It’s true We’ve never had one inside a city, a major city, before"

Felix looked at the others

"It’s true," confirmed Cat

Carl nodded "Had ’em everywhere fro city Always in the country Some little town Or outside soe cities," offered Father Adam, the historian "Or at least they never have until now"