The Living End (Daniel Faust #3)(41)

Eventually there was nothing left to do but wait. Eric bummed a cigarette off of the doc, and he and I went outside to wait for the final verdict. A jumbo jet cruised overhead, coming in for a landing as the late afternoon sky turned to soft violet.

“You can take off if you need to,” I told Eric. I watched as he paced and stress-smoked. His worn-out sneakers crunched on the loose asphalt.

“Nah, I’m good. It’s funny. Barely know the guy. I mean, we just met in that f*ckin’ cell. But when you go through something like that, with somebody…I’m not leaving till I know he’s all right.”

“Then what?” I said idly, just killing time. “Heading back down into the tunnels?”

He stared up at the airplane in the distance and thought it over. Then he looked at the stub of cigarette left between his fingers and tossed it down, snuffing it out under his heel.

“I been gone a long time,” he said. “Gone from the world. Didn’t think I really had anything to live for. But after what happened back there? Now I know I sure as f*ck don’t wanna die. I don’t know, maybe I could get myself clean. Make it stick this time. Do something different.”

I nodded and gestured to the service entrance. “You’ve got some demons to wrestle. I bet Leroy does too. Maybe you two could help each other out. Easier than going it alone.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe so.”

Doc Savoy came out a little later, rubbing a crumpled paper towel along his freshly washed fingers.

“It’s all good,” he said. “He’s sleeping like a baby. Just make sure he keeps it clean, changes the bandages, and takes antibiotics to stave off infection. I’ll send him off with a little goodie bag.”

“You’re the best, Doc,” I said and shook his hand. He might have been pushing seventy, but he shook hands like a twenty-year-old prizefighter.

“Now,” he said, “not to be vulgar, my old friend, but we’ve come to that time-honored part where payment is due for services rendered.”

“How do you feel about barter today?” I said.

“I do prefer cash,” he said. “But let’s see if I feel what you’re selling.”

Eric’s and Leroy’s stolen rifles lay on the backseat of the car. I checked the fence to make sure nobody was watching before taking one out and holding it up for the doc to take a good look. He whistled as he ran his wrinkled hand along the sleek barrel.

“Hoo,” he said. “Where’d you get this, robbing a spaceship? Tell me the truth now, Dan, you didn’t mug ol’ Buck Rogers, did you?”

“It’s called a Tavor,” I said. “I’ve got two of them here, and I can’t imagine they’re cheap. Take them over to Winslow at the Sunset Garage. He’ll pay top dollar.”

Doc Savoy grinned like a kid on Christmas morning as he cradled the rifles in his arms.

“I do believe we have a deal, old friend, yes I do. Huh. Way this neighborhood’s going, I might just keep one of these for myself.”

While he took his bounty inside, I offered Eric my hand.

“Good luck,” I said, “wherever you end up. And listen, if you really want to get cleaned up, go over to St. Jude’s and ask for Pixie. She’s a good person to know.”

“Thanks, man,” he said, squeezing my hand. “For everything. We’d be dead if you hadn’t shown up, or worse.”

I got into the car, fired up the engine, and leaned out the window as I put it in reverse.

“You’ve got your life back,” I said as I rolled on past. “Just remember that it’s worth something.”





Twenty



I had smoke on my mind, and not the kind that comes from a cigarette. The smoke-faced men had appeared to me while I was neck-deep in Clark’s zombie powder, and I got the impression they’d been trying to reach out and touch someone for a while now. He can hear us now, they had said when the drug took hold and knocked me senseless.

I had a pretty good idea of how I could get back in touch with them. Did I want to? That was the trickier question. The faceless men had manipulated Lauren as part of a twenty-year plan to destroy the entire world, and that put them pretty firmly in the “not my friends” column. The enemy of my enemy was still my enemy. Still, if they were willing to dish the dirt on Lauren’s new game, it could be worth hearing them out.

I made up my mind in the space of a slow red light. They were treacherous bastards, but they were also the only lead I had left. I’d do it tonight. The faster I worked, the faster I could throw a wrench into Lauren’s gears. I dialed up Caitlin on the go, to bring her up to speed and find out how Melanie was doing.

“Happy jelly,” she said, sounding smug. “Emma came back in time for dinner, and I left them to it. Emma’s…not doing so well. Putting up a brave front, but Ben cut her where it hurt.”

I’d been there for the final showdown. When Ben told her that he’d hated her for years, his words had hit Emma like a punch to the gut. Even when we knew he was a traitor, none of us realized how deep his loathing ran until he poured it all out in a river of bile. He’d played the loving and dutiful husband card until it was time to pull the rug out from under her in one fell swoop.

Ben had been paid in full for his betrayal, but that didn’t lessen the sting.