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"Okay," Jererabbed hold of one beefy shoulder There was no need to try to haul Eugene erect The bigthrough the air

Nick ducked the blow and slaene'sa very solid pillow The ie Nick stepped back hurriedly, shaking his numbed hand

Okay, ene was off balance, thanks to too ed a second tily tripped and went doith a crashing thud that shook the floor

Dwayne squealed, grabbed the nearest pool cue, and launched himself at Nick Jeremy snatched the stick out of his hands as he went past

"You know," Jeremy said, "if you'd ever bothered to read one of Nick's books, you'd know he never gets into a fight without his trusty sidekick, Bonner"

Robbed of his ersatz rapier, Dwayne scrambled to a halt and turned to throw a short punch at Jereht one of the other pool players on the shoulder, instead

"Hey, watch it, you little creep" The player took a swipe at Dwayne and sent hi into one of the men who had come from the bar area to see what all the excitement was about

Abehind Nick chuckled "Man, the little redhead must be one hot number, huh? So what's the deal? Is she, or isn't she a natural--"

Nick swung around and punched the coainst a table His cue stick went sailing and struck someone else

The poolroo fists

Nick turned back, searching for Eugene a bodies

"Son of a bitch, Harte" Eugene had et up off the floor He threw hiainst Sandy Hickson, who had wandered into the poolrooether and rolled under a table

Jeremy bent over to look at the pair beneath the table "Everyone okay down here?"

So at him Jereainst a table

Nick untangled himself from Sandy and came out from under the table in a low rush He tackled thein a small river of spilled beer

Fred picked up the phone Sean Valentine and two other officers arrived ten ht Nick and Jere lot that fronted the Eclipse Bay Police Departotta say, this is a real red-letter occasion for ht theht I'd see the day when a Madison had to bail one of you fine, upstanding, pillar-of-the-co of a Seaton"

"If you're looking for undying gratitude, try the Yellow Pages" Jere I really hate," Nick loats"

"You two are going to look very colorful tomorrow," Rafe said, amused

"You know, neither of us is in theant froht now is a lift back to the Total Eclipse so that we can pick up our cars Think you can e that without further coot to put up with the witty relances with Jeremy "We could beat him up noe could do it later"