Page 7 (1/2)

Chapter Six

I let the co to scare me Maybe he wasn’t Didn’t matter

I followed Murphy into the hall "I hear you’re called Cowboy"

He flinched, shoulders drawing in, backpack shifting "Nicknaet people killed"

"Not John Wayne," I muttered "He never died In his movies anyway"

"Sure he did The Cowboys How’s that for irony? I think he died in one of his war movies, too Green Berets maybe Or Sands of Iwo Jima"

"You’re a John Wayne fan?"

"Isn’t everyone?"

"I thought John Wayne was an American icon Don’t the Europeans consider him a sad co--trying to get Murphy to aded, and I was forced to try harder

"Why do they call you Cowboy?"

"They call ave the name a Creole twist

"Whatever," I snapped "Why?"

"They call all Aht What I said was: "Not aze wander fro boots to the top ofor risk sunstroke See, I knew a few things about the tropics

"You don’t look like a Cowboy," he said

I eyed him down and up, the way he’d eyedin his ear, he looked more like an Indian--even if he was nearly blond He’d taken off his ar After the bartender’s co, I wondered if that was more a brass knuckle than an adornment

"So you’re Aave ue was back, thicker than ever God, he was annoying

Without waiting forinto his backpack when he paused only a few steps down

"What--?" I began

He lifted a hand, silencing , or soh to shut up

"Upstairs," the bartender said "But he is with a woman"

I made a face, which Murphy, when he whirled and practically shoved o"

He pushed past ed me after hierous We burst out of the tavern and into the alley where a battered Jeep waited

Murphy let go of me and jumped into the driver’s seat I scooted around the hood and barely er door against the chain-link fence

We spilled onto the street He flicked a glance into the rearview mirror "Duck," he said, the tone so casual I could only stare at him dumbly

He reached over and shoved unfire erupted He didn’t stop, didn’t flinch, just kept driving, and in a h pressed against my cheek; his zipper scraped the back ofour backpacks and mine isted aardly betweenhi wheel

I sat up; he let me I removed the pack and tossed it backward, then helped him do the same Silence settled between us, a silence I couldn’t let stand "Friends of yours?"

"They didn’t seem very friendly"

"What did they want?"

"Me dead, I think"

"I can understand the sentiave a short bark of laughter and cast ?"

Southern accent this time

"Maybe not dead," I allowed

He was, after all, the only one willing, or perhaps able, to take me to the bokor

"If not dead, then what?" he asked

"Truthful"

Did he really kno to find the bokor? Or was he taking ns, if not on ers crept to the knife at my waist I really wished I could trust him, but I didn’t

"The instant you’re truthful with ar, I’ll be truthful with you"

I scowled He had a point; however, I wasn’t going to tell him what I was really after until ere too far away from Port-au-Prince for him to take me back and dump me at the nearest insane asyluives me a damn headache," I muttered

"A dalish "Which accent should I use?"

A hiet ine why, since you people invaded the place not too long ago"

Over ten years ago, but as counting? Probably the Haitians

"We do that," I said drily "Invade But we’re only trying to help"

Murphy snorted

His words-- you p eop le--made me rethink his nationality I wasn’t sure what he was all over again

He stared into the rearview mirror and frowned I turned around so fast my neck crackled, but the road behind us was empty

"I didn’t know them," he murmured

"Then why did we run?"

"I owe soot back"

"Sure you did"

"Stiffing people is not healthy in these parts"

I thought ofhusband and the enforcers he’d employed "It’s not healthy in any parts"

He cast lance Oops Must have let too h A mistake I rarely made anymore I schooled my face into the polite mask I’d perfected since I’d become Priestess Cassandra But I doubted the expression fooled Murphy

"Anyone who co for me is usually someone I owe"

"Until I showed up"

"Which was a refreshing change of pace"

"I bet Let’s get back to the goons with guns Who were they if not the people you owe or their rin was infectious I very nearly smiled back "Gotta love that word"

"Unless you’re a ht turn and avoiding a stray dog taking a nap in the middle of the road "They could have been after you"

"Except they asked for you"