Pete came up behind him. Fulo flashed his brights and bacidit Crüz plain as day.
Pete swung the bat full-force. It ripped into Cruz and snagged on his ribs.
Cruz screamed.
Fulo piled out of his car. His high beams strafed Cruz, spitting blood and bone chips. César Salcido piled out of the spicmobile, wet-your-pants scared.
Pete yanked the bat free. The Molotov hit the pavement AND DID NOT SHATTER.
Fulo charged Salcido. The taco wagon idled at a high pitch– good cover noise.
Pete pulled his piece and shot Cruz in the back. The high beams caught Fulo’s part of the show.
He’s duct-taping Salcido upside the face. He’s got the tacowagon trunk wide open. There’s dervish-quick Fulo, uncoiling the parking lot hose.
Pete dumped Cruz in the trunk. Fulo nozzle-sprayed his entrails down a sewer hole.
It was dark. Cars cruised up and down Flagler, oblivious to the whole fucking thing.
Pete grabbed the Molotov. Fulo parked his Chevy. He was lipsyncing numbers over and over–Salcido probably spilled the safe-house address.
The taco wagon was metal-flake purple and fur-upholstered–a cherry ‘58 Impala niggered up.
Fulo took the wheel. Pete got in back. Salcido tried to scream through his gag.
They hauled down Flagler. Fulo yelled an address: 1809 Northwest 53rd. Pete turned on the radio full-blast.
Bobby Darin sang “Dream Lover,” earsplitting loud. Pete shot Salcido in the back of the head–exploding teeth ripped the tape off his mouth.
Fulo drove VERY VERY SLOW. Blood dripped off the dashboard and seats.
They gagged on muzzle smoke. They kept the windows up to seal the smell in.
Fulo made left turns and right turns. Fulo made nice directional signals. They drove their coffin wagon out to the Coral Gables Causeway–VERY VERY SLOW.
They found an abandoned mooring dock. It ran thirty yards out into the bay.
It was deserted. No winos, no lovebirds, no late-night fly casters.
They got out. Fulo put the car in neutral and pushed it up on the planks. Pete lit the Molotov and tossed it inside.
They ran.
Flames hit the tank. The Impala exploded. The planking ignited kindling-quick.
The dock whoooshed into one long fireball. Waves lapped up and fizzed against it.
Pete coughed his lungs out. He tasted gunsmoke and swallowed blood off the dead men.
The dock caved in. The Impala sunk down on some reef rocks. Steam hissed off the water for a solid minute.
Fulo caught his breath. “Chuck lives nearby. I have a key to his room, and I know he has equipment we can use.”
o o o
They found suppressor-rigged revolvers and bulletproof vests. They found Chuck’s Tiger Kab parked at the curb.
They grabbed the guns and vested up. Pete hot-wired the cab.
Fulo drove a hair too fast. Pete thought of old Ruth Mildred all the way.
o o o
The house looked decrepit. The door looked un-breakdownable. The place was bracketed by palm groves–the only crib on the block.
The front room lights were on. Gauze curtains covered the window. Shadows stood out well defmed.
They crouched beside the porch, just below the windowsill. Pete made out four shadow shapes and four voices. He pictured four men boozing on a couch FACING THE WINDOW.
Fulo seemed to pick up on his brainwaves. They checked their vests and their guns–four revolvers and twenty-four rounds total.
Pete counted off. They stood up and tired on “three”–straight through the window.
Glass exploded. Silencer thunks faded into screams.
The window went down. The curtains went down. They had real targets now–Commie spics up against a blood-spattered wall.
The spics were flailing for guns. The spics were wearing shoulder holsters and cross-draw hip rigs.
Pete vaulted the sill. Return fire hit his vest and spun him backward.
Fulo charged. The Commies fired wide; the Commies fired near-death erratic. They got off un-suppressored big-bore pistol shots–tremendously goddamn loud.
A vest deflection sent Fulo spinning. Pete stumbled up to the couch and emptied both his guns at ultraclose range. He notched head hits and neck hits and chest hits, and took in a big gasping breath of gray viscous something–
A diamond ring rolled across the floor. Fulo grabbed it and kissed it.