Page 7 (1/2)

1

In a blues tune from the twenties Billie Holiday, ould one day discover the truth for herself, sang: "Doctor tole onna be your last" Henry Dean&039;s last rocket went up just fiveTower and his brother was herded inside

Because he was on Henry&039;s right, George Biondi�Dknown to his friends as "Big George" and to his ene Nose"�Dasked Henry&039;s questions Now, as Henry sat nodding and blinking owlishly over the board, Tricks Postino put the die in a hand which had already gone the dusty color that results in the extre-term heroin addiction, the dusty color which is the precursor of gangrene

"Your turn, Henry," Tricks said, and Henry let the die fall fro into space and showed no intention of ame piece, Jimmy Haspio ot a chance to score a piece of the pie"

"Reese&039;s Pieces," Henry said drea "Where&039;s Eddie?"

"He&039;ll be here pretty soon," Tricks soothed hiaa on me"

"Don&039;t lean on him," Kevin Blake said to Jimmy

"Okay, I won&039;t," Jiave the others an enormous wink as Henry&039;s chin floated down to his breastbone and then slowly rose once ive in and sink for good

"Yeah," Henry said "Bring it on"

"Bring it on!" Ji that fucker!" Tricks agreed, and they all roared with laughter (in the other rooain, but did not fall)

"Okay, listen close," George said, and winked again Although Henry was on a Sports category, George announced the category was Arts and Entertainer had hits with &039;A Boy Named Sue,&039; &039;Folsos?"

Kevin Blake, who actually could add seven and nine (if you gave hi his knees and nearly upsetting the board

Still pretending to scan the card in his hand, George continued: "This popular singer is also known as The Man in Black His first nao to take a piss and his last naot in your wallet unless you&039;re a fucking needle freak"

There was a long expectant silence

"Walter Brennan," Henry said at last

Bellows of laughter Jimmy Haspio clutched Kevin Blake Kevin punched Jimmy in the shoulder repeatedly In Balazar&039;s office, the house of cards which was now becoain

"Quiet down!" &039;Cimi yelled "Da Boss is buildin!"

They quieted at once

"Right," George said "You got that one right, Henry It was a toughie, but you cah"

"Always do," Henry said "Always coh in the fuckin clutch How about a fix?"

"Good idea!" George said, and took a Roi-Tan cigar box from behind him From it he produced a hypo He stuck it into the scarred vein above Henry&039;s elbow, and Henry&039;s last rocket took off

2

The pizza van&039;s exterior was grungy, but underneath the road-filth and spray-paint was a high-tech uys would have envied As Balazar had said on more than one occasion, you couldn&039;t beat the bastards unless you could compete with the bastards�Dunless you could match their equipment It was expensive stuff, but Balazar&039;s side had an advantage: they stole what the DEA had to buy at grossly inflated prices There were electronics co to sell you top secret stuff at bargain basement prices These catzzaroni (Jack Andolini called them Silicon Valley Coke-Heads) practically threw the stuff at you

Under the dash was a fuzz-buster; a UHF police radar jah frequency radio transmissions detector; an h-r/hf ja to track the van by standard triangulation methods decide it was simultaneously in Connecticut, Harlem, and Montauk Sound; a radio-telephoneand a sot out of the van

In Balazar&039;s office the intercole short buzz

"That&039;s them," he said "Claudio, let them in &039;Cimi, you tell everyone to dummy up So far as Eddie Dean knows, no one&039;s with o in the storerooentle left, Claudio Andolini going right

Calmly, Balazar started on another level of his edifice

3

Just let ain as Claudio opened the door

Yes, the gunslinger said, but remained alert, ready to come forward the instant it seeer was very aware of odors�Dold sweat froht, some sharp, almost acerbic aftershave from Jack Andolini on his left, and, as they stepped into the di of beer

The snized This was no tumble-down saloon with sawdust on the floor and planks set across sawhorses for a bar - it was as far frounslinger reckoned Glass glealass in this one room than he had seen in all the years since his childhood, when supply-lines had begun to break down, partially because of interdicting raids carried out by the rebel forces of Parson, the Good Man, buton Farson had been a syreat movement, not the cause

He saw their reflections everywhere�Don the walls, on the glass-faced bar and the long mirror behind it; he could even see theraceful bell-shapes of wine glasses hung upside down above the barglasses as gorgeous and fragile as festival ornaments

In one corner was a sculpted creation of lights that rose and changed, rose and changed, rose and changed Gold to green; green to yellow; yellow to red; red to gold again Written across it in Great Letters was a word he could read but whichto him: ROCKOLA

Never mind There was business to be done here He was no tourist; helike one, no ht be

The man who had let them in was clearly the brother of the uard, Roland supposed), although he was un in a shoulder-rig

"Where&039;s Henry?" Eddie asked "I want to see Henry" He raised his voice "Henry! Hey, Henry!"

No reply; only silence in which the glasses hung over the bar seee of a human ear

"Mr Balazar would like to speak to you first"

"You got hied and tied up somewhere, don&039;t you?" Eddie asked, and before Claudio could do hed "No, what aot him stoned, that&039;s all Why would you bother with ropes and gags when all you have to do to keep Henry quiet is needle hiet this over with"

4

The gunslinger looked at the tower of cards on Balazar&039;s desk and thought: Another sign

Balazar did not look up�Dthe tower of cards had grown too tall for that to be necessary�Dbut rather over the top His expression was one of pleasure and warlad to see you, son I heard you had some trouble at Kennedy"

"I ain&039;t your son," Eddie said flatly

Balazar esture that was at the same time comic, sad, and untrustworthy: You hurtlike that

"Let&039;s cut through it," Eddie said "You know it co or the other: either the Feds are running o You know they didn&039;t sweat it out of me in just two hours And you know if they had I&039;d be down at 43rd Street , answering questions between an occasional break to puke in the basin"

"Are they running you, Eddie?" Balazar asked o They&039;re following, but I&039;"

"So you ditched the stuff," Balazar said "That&039;s fascinating You must tell me how one ditches two pounds of coke when that one is on a jet plane It would be handy information to have It&039;s like a locked room mystery story"

"I didn&039;t ditch it," Eddie said, "but I don&039;t have it anymore, either"

"So who does?" Claudio asked, then blushed when his brother looked at him with dour ferocity

"He does," Eddie said, s, and pointed at Enrico Balazar over the tower of cards "It&039;s already been delivered"

For the first tienuine expression illuone He smiled politely

"Yes," he said "To a location which will be revealed later, after you have your brother and your goods and are gone To Iceland , o?"

"No," Eddie said "You don&039;t understand It&039;s here Delivery right to your door Just like we agreed Because even in this day and age, there are so up to the deal as it was originally cut A at hi, Roland? Eddie asked

I think you are doing very well But don&039;t let this erous

You think so, huh? Well, I&039;erous Very fucking dangerous

He looked at Balazar again, and dropped him a little wink "That&039;s why you&039;re the one who&039;s gotta be concerned with the Feds now, not me If they turn up with a search warrant, you could suddenly find yourself fucked without even opening your legs, Mr Balazar"

Balazar had picked up two cards His hands suddenly shook and he put them aside It was minute, but Roland saw it and Eddie saw it, too An expression of uncertainty�Deven momentary fear, perhaps�Dappeared and then disappeared on his face

"Watch your mouth with me, Eddie Watch how you express yourself, and please remember that my time and my tolerance for nonsense are both short"

Jack Andolini looked alarmed

"He made a deal with them, Mr Balazar! This little shit turned over the coke and they planted it while they were pretending to question him!"

"No one has been in here," Balazar said "No one could get close, Jack, and you know it Beepers go when a pigeon farts on the roof"

"But�D"

"Even if they had ed to set us up soanization we could drill fifteen holes in their case in three days We&039;d knohen, and how"

Balazar looked back at Eddie

"Eddie," he said, "you have fifteen seconds to stop bullshitting Then I&039; to have &039;Cimi Dretto step in here and hurt you Then, after he hurts you for awhile, he will leave, and fro your brother"

Eddie stiffened

Easy, the gunslinger ht, All you have to do to hurt hi an open sore with a stick

"I&039; to walk into your bathroom," Eddie said He pointed at a door in the far left corner of the room, a door so unobtrusive it could al in byto walk back out with a pound of your cocaine Half the ship Henry in here where I can look at hiive hi to ride hoentlemen While he does, me and"Roland, he alot here can watch you build that thing When Henry&039;s houn in his ear�Dhe&039;s going to call and say a certain word This is so orked out before I left Just in case"

The gunslinger checked Eddie&039;s mind to see if this was true or bluff It was true, or at least Eddie thought it was Roland saw Eddie really believed his brother Henry would die before saying that word in falsity The gunslinger was not so sure

"You must think I still believe in Santa Claus," Balazar said

"I know you don&039;t"

"Claudio Search hi"

"Is there any place in there I wouldn&039;t know about?" Andolini asked

Balazar paused for a longAndolini carefully with his dark brown eyes "There is a small panel on the back wall of the s in there It is not big enough to hide a pound of dope in, but maybe you better check it"

Jack left, and as he entered the little privy, the gunslinger saw a flash of the saht that had illue Then the door shut

Balazar&039;s eyes flicked back to Eddie

"Why do you want to tell such crazy lies?" he asked, alht you were smart"

"Look in "

Balazar did as Eddie asked He looked for a long time Then he turned away, hands stuffed in his pockets so deeply that the crack of his peasant&039;s ass showed a little His posture was one of sorrow�Dsorrow over an erring son�Dbut before he turned Roland had seen an expression on Balazar&039;s face that had not been sorrow What Balazar had seen in Eddie&039;s face had left him not sorrowful but profoundly disturbed

"Strip," Claudio said, and noas holding his gun on Eddie

Eddie started to take his clothes off

5

I don&039;t like this, Balazar thought as he waited for Jack Andolini to co not just under his arms or in his crotch, places where he sweated even when it was the dead of winter and colder than a well-digger&039;s belt-buckle, but all over Eddie had gone off looking like a junkie�Da smart junkie but still a junkie, so fishhook in his balls�Dand had corown in soed

It&039;s like souts down his throat

Yes That was it And the dope The fucking dope Jack was tossing the bathrooh ferocity of a sadistic prison guard; Eddie had stood with a stolidity Balazar would not previously have believed possible for him or any other doper while Claudio spat four times into his left palht hand, then rammed it up Eddie&039;s asshole to the wrist and an inch or two beyond

There was no dope in his bathroom, no dope on Eddie or in him There was no dope in Eddie&039;s clothes, his jacket, or his travelling bag So it was all nothing but a bluff

Look in

So he had What he saas upsetting What he saas that Eddie Dean was perfectly confident: he intended to go into the bathroooods

Balazar almost believed it himself

Claudio Andolini pulled his arers ca sound Claudio&039;s mouth twisted like a fishline with knots in it

"Hurry up, Jack, I got this junkie&039;s shit on rily

"If I&039;d known you were going to be prospecting up there, Claudio, I would have wipedlast time I took a dump," Eddie said mildly "Your hand would have co like I just got raped by Ferdinand the Bull"

"Jack!"

"Go on down to the kitchen and clean yourself up," Balazar said quietly "Eddie and I have got no reason to hurt each other Do we, Eddie?"

"No," Eddie said

"He&039;s clean, anyway," Claudio said "Well, clean ain&039;t the word What I odda his dirty hand in front of him like a dead fish

Eddie looked calain of Harry Houdini, and Blackstone, and Doug Henning, and David Copperfield They kept saying thatwas a superstar and the Copperfield kid had blown the croay the one tiht his act in Atlantic CityBalazar had loved icians fro card-tricks for pocket-change And as the first thing they always did beforethat would asp and then applaud? What they did was invite someone up from the audience to make sure that the place from which the rabbit or dove or bare-breasted cutie or the whatever was to appear was perfectly eet anything inside

I think maybe he&039;s done it I don&039;t kno, and I don&039;t care The only thing I know for sure is that I don&039;t like any of this, not one dae Biondi also had so to be wild about it, either

George was pretty sure that at some point after &039;Cimi had cohts, Henry had died Died quietly, with no muss, no fuss, no bother Had siht breeze George thought ht around the time Claudio left to wash his shitty hand in the kitchen

"Henry?" George muttered in Henry&039;s ear He put his irl&039;s ear in a ross, especially when you considered that the guy was probably dead�Dit was like narcophobia or whatever the fuck they called it�Dbut he had to know, and the wall between this office and Balazar&039;s was thin

"What&039;s wrong, George?" Tricks Postino asked

"Shut up," &039;Ci truck

They shut up

George slid a hand inside Henry&039;s shirt Oh, this was getting worse and worse That iirl in a movie theater wouldn&039;t leave hi her up, only it wasn&039;t a her but a hiot narcophobia, and Henry&039;s scrawny junkie&039;s chest wasn&039;t oing thump-thump-thua Wasn&039;t nothing ticking but his watch

He arlic that surrounded &039;Ciht have a problee whispered

7

Jack came out of the bathroom

"There&039;s no dope in there," he said, and his flat eyes studied Eddie "And if you were thinking about the , you can forget it That&039;s ten-gauge steelabout theand it is in there," Eddie said quietly "You just don&039;t knohere to look"

"I&039;etting just a little too full for me"

Balazar studied Eddie as if he hadn&039;t even heard Andolini He was thinking very deeply

Thinking about ot a guy from the audience to check out the fact that the hat was eed? That no one saw into the hat but theto walk into your bathrooic trick worked was so spoiled the fun

Usually

This, however, was a trick he couldn&039;t wait to spoil

"Fine," he said to Eddie "If it&039;s in there, go get it Just like you are Bare-ass"

"Good," Eddie said, and started toward the bathroom door

"But not alone," Balazar said Eddie stopped at once, his body stiffening as if Balazar had shot hiood to see it For the first ti to the kid&039;s plan "Jack&039;s going with you"

"No," Eddie said at once "That&039;s not what I�D"

"Eddie," Balazar said gently, "you don&039;t tellyou never do"

8

It&039;s all right, the gunslinger said Let him come

But but

Eddie was close to gibbering, barely holding onto his control It wasn&039;t just the sudden curve-ball Balazar had thrown hi steadily ascendant over all else, his need for a fix

Let hiht Listen:

Eddie listened

9

Balazar watched hiestion of the junkie&039;s typical cave-chested slouch, his head cocked to one side, and as he watched Balazar felt some of his confidence evaporate It was as if the kid was listening to a voice only he could hear

The sah Andolini&039;s mind, but in a different way: What&039;s this? He looks like the dog on those old RCA Victor records!

Col had wanted to tell hi about Eddie&039;s eyes Suddenly Jack Andolini wished he had listened

Wish in one hand, shit in the other, he thought

If Eddie had been listening to voices inside his head, they had either quit talking or he had quit paying attention

"Okay," he said "Cohth Wonder of the World" He flashed a smile that neither Jack Andolini or Enrico Balazar cared for in the slightest

"Is that so?" Andolini pulled a gun from the clamshell holster attached to his belt at the sonna be amazed?"

Eddie&039;s sonna knock your socks off"

10

Andolini followed Eddie into the bathrooun up because his as up

"Close the door," Eddie said

"Fuck you," Andolini answered

"Close the door or no dope," Eddie said

"Fuck you," Andolini said again Now, a little scared, feeling that there was so on that he didn&039;t understand, Andolini looked brighter than he had in the van

"He won&039;t close the door," Eddie yelled at Balazar "I&039;ot six wiseguys in this place, every one of the batshit over a kid in a crapper Ajunkie kid"

"Shut the fucking door, Jack!" Balazar shouted

"That&039;s right," Eddie said as Jack Andolini kicked the door shut behind him "Is you a man or is you a h of this turd," Andolini said to no one in particular He raised the gun, butt forward,to pistol-whip Eddie across the un drawn up across his body, the snarl that bared his teeth slackening into a slack-jawed gape of surprise as he sahat Col Vincent had seen in the van

Eddie&039;s eyes changed frorab hih the voice came from Eddie&039;s mouth, it was not Eddie&039;s voice

Schizo, Jack Andolini thought He&039;s gone schizo, gone fucking schi�D

But the thought broke off when Eddie&039;s hands grabbed his shoulders, because when that happened, Andolini saw a hole in reality suddenly appear about three feet behind Eddie

No, not a hole Its dimensions were too perfect for that

It was a door

"Hail Mary fulla grace," Jack said in a low breathyin space a foot or so above the floor in front of Balazar&039;s private shower he could see a dark beach which sloped down to crashing waves Things were un down, but the blohich had been um-line did no more than mash Eddie&039;s lips back and bloody the out of hi

"I told you it was gonna knock your socks off, Jack," Eddie said, and then yanked him Jack realized what Eddie ht like a wildcat, but it was too late�Dthey were tu huht, so familiar and constant you never even heard it unless it wasn&039;t there any sound of the waves and the grating, questioning voices of di to and fro on the beach

11

We&039;ll have to move very fast, or we&039;ll find ourselves basted in a hot oast, Roland had said, and Eddie was pretty sure the guy meant that if they didn&039;t shuck and jive at da to be cooked He believed it, too When it caht Gooden: you could rock hiet away in the early innings he was going to stomp you flat later on

Left hand! Roland screah and he separated from Eddie Remember! Left hand! Left hand!

He saw Eddie and Jack stu down the rocky scree that edged the beach, struggling for the gun in Andolini&039;s hand

Roland had just time to think what a cosmic joke it would be if he arrived back in his oorld only to discover that his physical body had died while he had been awayand then it was too late Too late to wonder, too late to go back

12

Andolini didn&039;t knohat had happened Part of hione crazy, part was sure Eddie had doped hi like that, part believed that the vengeful God of his childhood had finally tired of his evils and had plucked him away froatory

Then he saw the door, standing open, spilling a fan of white light - the light froround�Dand understood it was possible to get back Andolini was a practical man above all else He would worry about what all this ht now he intended to kill this creep&039;s ass and get back through that door

The strength that had gone out of him in his shocked surprise now flooded back He realized Eddie was trying to pull his small but very efficient Colt Cobra out of his hand and had nearly succeeded Jack pulled it back with a curse, tried to aiain

Andolini hoisted a knee into the big abardine of Andolini&039;s slacks was now crusted with dirty gray beach sand) and Eddie screamed as the muscle seized up

"Roland!" he cried "Help me! For Christ&039;s sake, help me!"

Andolini snapped his head around and what he saw threw hi thereonly he looked uy Not exactly Casper the Friendly Ghost, either The swaying figure&039;s white, haggard face was rough with beard-stubble His shirt was in tatters which blew back behind hi the starved stack of his ribs A filthy rag rapped around his right hand He looked sick, sick and dying, but even so he also looked tough enough to

And the joker earing a pair of guns

They looked older than the hills, old enough to have couns just the saht even really work, and Andolini suddenly realized he was going to have to take care of the white-faced ht awayunless he really was a spook, and if that was the case, it wouldn&039;tabout it

Andolini let go of Eddie and snap-rolled to the right, barely feeling the edge of rock that tore open his five-hundred-dollar sport jacket At the saer drew left-handed, and his draas as it had always been, sick or well, wide awake or still half asleep: faster than a streak of blue suht, full of sick wonder Christ, he&039;s faster than anybody I ever saw! I&039;onna blow ed shirt pulled the trigger of the revolver in his left hand and Jack Andolini thought�Dreally thought�Dhe was dead before he realized there had been only a dull click instead of a report

Misfire

Sun

"I don&039;t knoho you are, but you can kiss your ass good-bye, you fucking spook," he said

13

Eddie sat up, shivering, his naked body pocked with goosebumps He saw Roland draw, heard the dry snap that should have been a bang, saw Andolini co, and before he really knehat he was doing his hand had found a ragged chunk of rock He pulled it out of the grainy earth and threw it as hard as he could

It struck Andolini high on the back of the head and bounced away Blood sprayed fro flap in Jack Andolini&039;s scalp Andolini fired, but the bullet that surely would have killed the gunslinger otherild

14

Not really wild, the gunslinger could have told Eddie When you feel the wind of the slug on your cheek, you can&039;t really call it wild

He thuain as he recoiled from Andolini&039;s shot This time the bullet in the chamber fired�Dthe dry, authoritative crack echoed up and down the beach Gulls asleep on rocks high above the lobstrosities awoke and fleard in screaer&039;s bullet would have stopped Andolini for good in spite of his own involuntary recoil, but by then Andolini was also insideways, dazed by the blow on the head The crack of the gunslinger&039;s revolver seeed into his left arht hi broken and useless, the gun wavering wildly about in his other hand, looking for a target

It was Eddie he saw first, Eddie the junkie, Eddie who had so there as naked as the day he had been born, shivering in the chilly wind, clutching hiht die here, but he would at least have the pleasure of taking Eddie Fucking Dean with hiun up The little Cobra now seeed

15

This better not be another ain Below the din of the gulls, he heard the smooth oiled click as the chamber revolved

16

It was no er hadn&039;t aiun in Andolini&039;s hand He didn&039;t know if they still needed this ht; he was important to Balazar, and because Balazar had proved to be every bit as dangerous as Roland had thought he ht be, the best course was the safest one

His shot was good, and that was no surprise; what happened to Andolini&039;s gun and hence to Andolini was Roland had seen it happen, but only twice in all the years he had seen uns at each other

Bad luck for you, fellow, the gunslinger thought as Andolini wandered off toward the beach, screa Blood poured down his shirt and pants The hand which had been holding the Colt Cobra was un was a senseless piece of twistedon the sand

Eddie stared at hie Jack Andolini&039;s caveain, because now he had no face; where it had been there was now nothing but a churnedhole of his mouth

"My God, what happened?"

"My bullet un at the second he pulled the trigger," the gunslinger said He spoke as dryly as a professor giving a police academy ballistics lecture "The result was an explosion that tore the back off his gun I think one or two of the other cartridges may have exploded as well"

"Shoot hi harder than ever, and noasn&039;t just the coht air, sea breeze, and naked body that was causing it "Kill him Put him out of his unslinger said with a cold indifference that chilled Eddie&039;s flesh all the way in to the bone

And Eddie turned away just too late to avoid seeing the lobstrosities swar off his Gucci loaferswith the feet still inside the his arms spasmodically before hireedily over hi him alive: Dad-a-chack? Did-a-chick? Dum-a-chum? Dod-a-chock?

"Jesus," Eddie et exactly as er said; cocaine Eddie heard)

as you promised the o back&039;&039; He looked levelly at Eddie "Only this tio back with you As myself"

"Jesus Christ," Eddie said "Can you do that?" And at once answered his own question "Sure you can But why?"

"Because you can&039;t handle this alone," Roland said "Co hump of clawed creatures on the beach He had never liked Jack Andolini, but he felt his stomach roll over just the same

"Come here," Roland said i for what II&039;ve never done before Never thought I would do" His lips twisted bitterly "I&039;s like that"

Eddie approached the scrawny figure slowly, on legs that felt liht What are you? And that heat I feel baking off you�Dis it just fever? Or soht be both

God, he needed a fix More: he deserved a fix

"Never done what before?" he asked "What are you talking about?"

"Take this," Roland said, and gestured at the ancient revolver slung low on his right hip Did not point; there was no finger to point with, only a bulky, rag-wrapped bundle "It&039;s no good to ain"

"I " Eddie sed "I don&039;t want to touch it"

"I don&039;t want you to either," the gunslinger said with curious gentleness, "but I&039; to be shooting"

"There is?"

"Yes" The gunslinger looked serenely at Eddie "Quite a lot of it, I think"

18

Balazar had beco They had been in there too long and it was too quiet Distantly,at each other and then a couple of rattling reports that were probably firecrackersbut when you were in the sort of business Balazar was in, firecrackers weren&039;t the first thing you thought of

A scream Was that a screa on the next block has nothing to do with you You&039;re turning into an old wons were bad Very bad

"Jack?" he yelled at the closed bathroom door

There was no answer

Balazar opened the left front drawer of his desk and took out the gun This was no Colt Cobra, cozy enough to fit in a clanum

" &039;Cimi!" he shouted "I want you!"

He sla thump Balazar didn&039;t even notice

&039;Cimi Dretto, all two hundred and fifty pounds of hiun out of the drawer, and &039;Cimi immediately pulled his own from beneath a plaid jacket so loud it could have caused flash-burns on anyone who

"I want Claudio and Tricks," he said "Get theot a problem," &039;Cimi said

Balazar&039;s eyes flicked froot plenty of those already," he said "What&039;s this new one, &039;Cimi?"

&039;Ci Da Boss bad news even under the best of circumstances; when he looked like this

"Well," he said, and licked his lips "You see�D"

"Will you hurry the fuck up?" Balazar yelled

19

The sandalwood grips of the revolver were so s it was to nearly drop it on his toes The thing was so big it looked prehistoric, so heavy he kneould have to lift it two-handed The recoil, he thought, is apt to drive h the nearest wall That&039;s if it fires at all Yet there was some part of him that wanted to hold it, that responded to its perfectly expressed purpose, that sensed its dim and bloody history and wanted to be part of it

No one but the best ever held this baby in his hand, Eddie thought Until now, at least

"Are you ready?" Roland asked

"No, but let&039;s do it," Eddie said

He gripped Roland&039;s left wrist with his left hand Roland slid his hot right arether they stepped back through the doorway, fro world to the cool fluorescent glare of Balazar&039;s private bathroo his eyes to the light, and heard &039;Ciot a probleht, and then his eyes riveted on Balazar&039;sopen In hisJack to search the bathroo if there was any place in there he wouldn&039;t know about Balazar had paused before replying There is a small panel on the back wall of the s in there

Andolini had slid the lected to close it "Roland!" he hissed

Roland raised his own gun and pressed the barrel against his lips in a shushing gesture Eddie crossed silently to the s - there was a bottle of suppositories, a copy of a blearily printedtwo naked girls of about eight engaged in a soul-kiss)and eight or ten saes of Keflex Eddie knehat Keflex was Junkies, prone as they were to infections both general and local, usually knew

Keflex was an antibiotic

"Oh, I got plenty of those already," Balazar was saying He sounded harried "What&039;s this new one, &039;Cimi?"

If this doesn&039;t knock out whatever&039;s wrong with hies and went to stuff them into his pockets He realized he had no pockets and uttered a harsh bark that wasn&039;t even close to laughter

He began to dump them into the sink He would have to pick them up laterif there was a later

"Well," &039;Ci, "you see�D"

"Will you hurry the fuck up?" Balazar yelled

"It&039;s the kid&039;s big brother," &039;Cies of Keflex still in his hand, his head cocked He lookedon the old RCA Victor records than ever

"What about him?" Balazar asked impatiently

"He&039;s dead," &039;Cimi said

Eddie dropped the Keflex into the sink and turned toward Roland

"They killed my brother," he said

20

Balazar opened his mouth to tell &039;Cimi not to bother his to worry about�Dlike this i to fuck him, Andolini or no Andolini - when he heard the kid as clearly as the kid had no doubt heard him and &039;Cimi "They killed my brother," the kid said

Suddenly Balazar didn&039;t care about his goods, about the unanswered questions, or anything except bringing this situation to a screeching halt before it could get any weirder

"Kill him, Jack!" he shouted

There was no response Then he heard the kid say it again: "They killed my brother They killed Henry"

Balazar suddenly knew�Dknew�D it wasn&039;t Jack the kid was talking to

"Get all the gentleonna burn his ass and when he&039;s dead we&039;re gonna take hionna personally chop his head off"

21

"They killedHe only watched and thought: The bottles In the sink That&039;s what I need, or what he thinks I need The packets Don&039;t forget Don&039;t forget

From the other roounslinger took any notice of this

"They killed my brother They killed Henry"

In the other roo Eddie&039;s head as a trophy The gunslinger found so in this world was different from his own, it see hoarsely for the others There was an ungentle feet

"Do you want to do so about it, or do you just want to stand here?" Roland asked

"Oh, I want to do soer&039;s revolver Although only o he had believed he would need both hands to do it, he found that he could do it easily

"And what is it you want to do?" Roland asked, and his voice seemed distant to his own ears He was sick, full of fever, but as happening to him noas the onset of a different fever, one which was all too familiar It was the fever that had overtaken hi only the need to stop thinking and start shooting

"I want to go to war," Eddie Dean said calmly

"You don&039;t knohat you&039;re talking about," Roland said, "but you are going to find out When we go through the door, you go right I have to go left My hand"

Eddie nodded They went to their war

22

Balazar had expected Eddie, or Andolini, or both of theer, a tall ray-black hair and a face that looked as if it had been chiseled frood For a moment he was not sure which way to fire

&039;Cimi, however, had no such problems Da Boss was mad at Eddie Therefore, he would punch Eddie&039;s clock first and worry about the other catzarro later &039;Cier of his autolea and went into alike some kid in a disco contest, a kid so jived-up he didn&039;t realize he&039;d left his entire John Travolta outfit, underwear included, behind; he ith his agging and his bare knees first heating and then scorching as the friction built up Holes punched through plastic that was supposed to look like knotty pine just above him Slivers of it rained down on his shoulders and into his hair

Don&039;t letsuch a prayer was more than blasphemous; it was an absurdity Still he was unable to stop it I&039;ll die, but please, just let er&039;s left hand crashed On the open beach it had been loud; over here it was deafening

"Oh Jeez!" &039;Ciled, breathy voice It was a wonder he could screa a sledgehaan to turn red in patches, as if poppies were bloo on it "Oh Jeez! Oh Jeez! Oh J�D"

Claudio Andolini shoved him aside &039;Cimi fell with a thud Two of the framed pictures on Balazar&039;s wall crashed down The one showing Da Boss presenting the Sports kid at a Police Athletic League banquet landed on &039;Cilass fell on his shoulders

"oh jeez" he whispered in a fainting little voice, and blood began to bubble from his lips

Claudio was followed by Tricks and one of the e roouy froun sawed off so short that it looked like a derringer with a case of thewhat he called The Wonderful Rambo Machine�Dthis was an M-16 rapid-fire assault weapon

"Where&039;sneedle-freak?" Claudio screamed "What&039;d you do to Jack?" He could not have been terribly interested in an answer, because he began to fire with both weapons while he was still yelling I&039;ain Claudio Andolini was propelled backwards in a cloud of his own blood The automatics flew from his hands and slid across Balazar&039;s desk They thu cards Most of Claudio&039;s guts hit the wall a second before Claudio caught up with the "Get the spook! The kid ain&039;t dangerous! He&039;s nothing but a bare-ass junkie! Get the spook! Blow hier on the 357 twice The Magnum was almost as loud as Roland&039;s revolver It did not ainst which Roland crouched; the slugs s wounds in the fake wood to either side of Roland&039;s head White light froed rays

Roland pulled the trigger of his revolver

Only a dry click

Misfire

"Eddie!" the gunslinger yelled, and Eddie raised his own gun and pulled the trigger

The crash was so loud that for a un had blown up in his hand, as Jack&039;s had done The recoil did not drive hie arc that jerked all the tendons under his arm

He saw part of Balazar&039;s shoulder disintegrate into red spray, heard Balazar screech like a wounded cat, and yelled, "The junkie ain&039;t dangerous, was that what you said? Was that it, you numb fuck? You want to mess with erous! I&039;ll sh�D"

There was a booe room fired the sawed-off Eddie rolled as the blast tore a hundred tiny holes in the walls and bathroom door His naked skin was seared by shot in several places, and Eddie understood that if the guy had been closer, where the thing&039;s pattern was tight, he would have been vaporized

Hell, I&039;e rooes, then laying it over his forear His teeth were very yellow�DEddie didn&039;t think they had been acquainted with a toothbrush in quite soet killed by some fuckhead with yellow teeth and I don&039;t even know his naht dimly At least I put one in Balazar At least I did that much He wondered if Roland had another shot He couldn&039;t reot him!" Tricks Postino yelled cheerfully "Gimme a clear field, Dario!" And before theelse, Tricks opened up with The Wonderful Raun fire filled Balazar&039;s office The first result of this barrage was to save Eddie Dean&039;s life Dario had drawn a bead on higers, Tricks cut him in half

"Stop it, you idiot!" Balazar screamed