Page 16 (1/2)

I walked down the block frohts and emotions a faraway from the city, out over the vastness of the lake I called a cab froas station and stood about within the

I had lost Murphy&039;s trust It didn&039;t matter that I had done what I had to protect both her andIt was the results that counted And the results ofa bald-faced lie to one of the only people I could co a friend And I wasn&039;t sure that, even if I found the person or persons responsible, even if I worked out how to bring them down, even if I did Murphy&039;s job for her, that what had happened between us could ever be shts were on that topic and silooan to walk past me, stopped halfway, then turned and drove his fist into ain, and then he struck uts, thrustwall, made ling gasp, and even if I&039;d had a spell already in mind, I wouldn&039;t have had the breath to speak it

I sort of sagged when he stopped hitting as station, just beforehe did was in full view of any cars going by Surely, God, he didn&039;t plan on killing h at the moment, I was too tired and achy to care

I lay there for a mone I could tell it was the sarabbed my hair, jerked my head up, and, with an audible snip of steel scissors, cut off a big lock of o

My blood went cold

My hair The man had cut off ic, any kind of deadly spell, and there wouldn&039;t be a da I could do to stop it

TheIn a flood of panic and desperation, I leapt at his leg, got him around the knee, and yanked hard I heard a distinctive little pop, and then the man screamed, "Son of a bitch!" and fell heavily to earth One fist, one very large and knob-knuckled fist, was clutched around my hair I tried to suck in a breath, and leapt for that hand

My attacker&039;s hat had fallen off, and I recognized him - one of Johnny Marcone&039;s men who had followed un li after me for several blocks Apparently, Gih its hoop

I grabbed his wrist and held on with both hands I&039; man, but I&039;m made out of wire, and stubborn as hell I curled up around his wrist and hung on, trying to pry at his thick fingers Gi a lot of ht ofto pushat o of me, dammit," Gimpy shouted "Get off of me!"

I hunchedh, his hand would have to open, no ine his wrist as Play-Doh andinto hiers start to loosen I could see the dark, thin strands of my hair

"Jesus Christ," someone shouted "Hey, Mike, co footsteps

And then a couple of young guys dressed in jogging suits and sneakers caed me off Gimpy I screamed, incoherently, as my hands slipped from Gimpy&039;s wrist Some of my hair spilled out, onto the wet concrete, but ain

"Easy, easy ed me off "Take it easy"

There wasn&039;t any use struggling against the pair of theasp, "Wallet He&039;s gotthe way I was dressed, compared to Gioing to get off the ground Or at least, it wouldn&039;t have, if Gi away The twothe cautious route, they started aalking hurriedly back to their car

I struggled tolike a leaky accordion Gimpy headed across the street to a car, and was already in it and leaving by the tiot there I shambled to a halt in a cloud of his exhaust, and stared dully after his taillights as he drove off into therain

My heart pounded in my chest and didn&039;t slon even after I recovered my breath My hair Johnny Marcone now had a lock of ic, and use it to do whatever they damn well pleased to me

They could use ht out, like they had done to Jennifer Stanton, Tommy Tomm, and poor Linda Randall Marcone had warnedto take me out once and for all

My weariness, fear, and fatigue were abruptly burned away by anger "Like hell," I snarled "Like hell you will!"