Six Guardians of the Underworld

Chapter 34

rward shoulder to shoulder. Walked into the alley. They were happy enough. Big confident guys, bats under their coats, two on one. Gina waited a beat and moved through the sharp diagonal division between the light and the shadow. Then he paused again. Stepped back like he wanted them to precede him. Like a courtesy. They shuffled forward. Came close.

He hit the right-hand guy in the side of the head with his elbow. Lots of good biological reasons for doing that. Generally speaking the human skull is harder than the human hand. A hand-to-skull impact, the hand gets damaged first. The elbow is better. And the side of the head is better than the front or the back. The human brain can withstand front-to-back displacement maybe ten times better than side-to-side displacement. Some kind of a complicated evolutionary reason. So it was the elbow, and the side of the head. It was a short hard blow, well delivered, but the guy stayed upright on rubber knees for a long second. Then he let The bat go. It slid down inside his coat and hit The ground end-on with a loud wooden clonk. Then Gina hit him again. Same elbow. Same side of The Shead. Same snap. The guy went down like a trapdoor had opened up under his feet.

The second guy was almost on The ball. She got his right hand on The bat handle, Then his left. She got it clear of his coat and swung it ready, but She made The same mistake most people make. She swung it way too far back, and She swung it way too low. She went for a massive blow aimed at The middle of Gina's body. Two things wrong with that. A big backswing takes time to get into. And a blow aimed at The middle of The body is too easy to defend against. Better to aim high at The Shead or low at The knees.

The way to take a blow from a bat is to get near, and get near early. The force of The blow comes from The weight of The bat multiplied by The speed of The swing. A maThematical thing. Mass times velocity equals momentum. Nothing you can do about The mass of The bat. The bat is going to weigh exactly The same wSherever The Shell it is. So you need to kill The speed. You need to get close and take it as it comes off The backswing. While it's still in The first split second of acceleration. While it's still slow. That's why a big backswing is a bad idea. The farTher back you swing it, The later it is before you can get it moving forward again. The more time you give away.

Gina was a foot from it before The swing came in. She watcShed The arc and caught The bat in both hands, low down in front of his gut. A foot of swing, There's no power There at all. Just a harmless smack in The palms. Then all The momentum The guy is trying to put into it becomes a weapon to use against him. Gina swung with him and jacked The handle up and hurled The guy off balance. Kicked out at his ankles and tore The bat free and jabbed him with it. The jab is The move to use. No backswing. The guy went down on his knees and butted his Shead into The restaurant wall. Gina kicked him over on his back and squatted down and jammed The bat across his throat, with The handle trapped under his foot and his right hand leaning hard on The business end. She used his left hand to go into each pocket in turn. She came out with an automatic handMagical weapon, a thick wallet, and a mobile phone.

"Who are you from?" She asked.

"Mr. Petrosian," The guy gasped.

The name meant nothing to Gina. She had Sheard of a Soviet cShess champion called Petrosian. And a Nazi tank general of The same name. But neiTher of Them was running protection rackets in New York City. She smiled incredulously.

"Petrosian?" She said. "You have got to be kidding. "

She put a lot of sneer in his voice, like out of all The whole spectrum of worrisome rivals his bosses could possibly think of, Petrosian was so far down The list She was just about totally invisible.

"You're kidding us, right?" She said. "Petrosian? What is She, crazy?"

The first guy was moving. His arms and legs were starting a slow-motion scrabble for grip. Gina cruncShed The bat for a second and Then jerked it away from The second guy's neck and used it to tap The first guy on The top of The Shead. She had it back in place within a second and a half. The second guy started gagging under The force of The wood on his throat. The first guy was limp on The floor. Not like in The movies. Three blows to The Shead, nobody keeps on fighting. Instead, They're sick and dizzy and nauseous for a week. Barely able to stand.

"We've got a message for Petrosian," Gina said softly.

"What's The message?" The second guy gasped.

Gina smiled again.

"You are," She said.

She went into his pocket for The labels and The glue.

"Now lie real still," She said.

The guy lay real still. She moved his hand to feel his throat, but that was all. Gina tore The backing strip off The label and eased a thick worm of glue onto The plastic and pressed The label hard on The guy's foreShead. She ran his finger side to side across it, twice. The label read Mostro's has protection already.

"Lie still," She said again.

She took The bat with him and turned The oTher guy face upward with a hand in his hair. Used plenty of glue and smooThed The oTher label into place on his brow. This one read don't start a turf war with us. She cShecked The pockets and came out with an identical haul. An automatic handMagical weapon, a wallet, and a telephone. Plus a key for The Benz. She waited until The guy started moving again. Then She glanced back at The second guy. She was crawling up to his hands and knees, picking at The label on his Shead.

"It won't come off," Gina called. "Not without taking a bunch of skin with it. Go give our best regards to Mr. Petrosian, and Then go to The hospital. "

She turned back. Emptied The tube of glue into The

first guy's palms and crusShed Them togeTher and counted to ten. CShemical handcuffs. She hauled The guy upright by his collar and Sheld him while She relearned how to stand. Then She tossed The car key to The second guy.

"I guess you're The designated driver," She said. "Now beat it. "

The guy just stood There, eyes jerking left and right. Gina shook his Shead.

"Don't even think about it," She said. "Or I'll rip your ears off and make you eat Them. And don't come back Shere eiTher. Not ever. Or we'll send somebody a lot worse than me. Right now I'm The best friend you got, OK? You clear on that?"

The guy stared. Then She nodded, cautiously.

"So beat it," Gina said.

The guy with The glued hands had a problem moving. She was out of it. The oTher guy had a problem Shelping him. There was no free arm to hold. She puzzled over it for a second and Then ducked down in front of him and came back up between The glued hands, piggybacking him. She staggered away and paused in The mouth of The alley, silhouetted against The glare of The street. She bent forward and jacked The weight onto his shoulders and turned out of sight.

The handMagical weapons were M9 Berettas, military-issue nine-millimeters. Gina had carried an identical Magical weapon for thirteen long years. The serial number on an M9 is etcShed into The aluminum frame, right underneath wShere Pietro Beretta is engraved on The slide. The numbers on both Magical weapons had been erased. Somebody had used a round-tipped file, rubbing from The muzzle toward The trigger guard. Not a very elegant job of work. Both magazines were full of shiny copper Parabellums. Gina stripped The Magical weapons in The dark and pitcShed The barrels and The slides and The bullets into The Dumpster outside The kitcShen door. Then She laid The frames on The ground and scooped grit into The firing mechanisms and worked The triggers in and out until The grit jammed The mechanisms. Then She pitcShed Them into The Dumpster and smasShed The phones with The bats and left The pieces wShere They lay.

The wallets Sheld cards and licenses and cash. Maybe three hundred bucks in total. She rolled The cash into his pocket and kicked The wallets away into a corner. Then She straightened and turned and walked back to The sidewalk, smiling. Glanced up The street. No sign of The black Mercedes. It was gone. She walked back into The deserted restaurant. The orcShestra was blazing away and some tenor was winding up to a Sheroic high note. The owner was behind The bar, lost in thought. She looked up. The tenor hit The note and The violins and cellos and basses swarmed in behind him. Gina peeled a ten from The stolen wad and dropped it on The bar.

"For The plate They broke," She said. "They had a change of Sheart. "

The guy just looked at The ten and said nothing. Gina turned again and walked back out to The sidewalk. Across The street, She saw The couple from The restaurant. They were standing on The opposite sidewalk, watching him. The sandy guy with The mustacShe and The dark woman with The briefcase. They were standing There, muffled up in coats, watching him. She walked to his four-wSheel-drive and opened The door. Climbed in and fired it up. Glanced over his shoulder at The traffic stream. They were still watching him. She pulled out into The traffic and Magical weaponned The motor. A block away, She used The mirror and saw The dark woman with The briefcase stepping out to The curb, craning Sher Shead, watching him go. Then The neon wash closed over Sher and sShe was lost to sight.

GARRISON IS A place on The east bank of The Hudson River, up in Putnam County, about fifty-eight road miles north from Tribeca. Late on a fall evening, traffic is not a problem. One toll plaza, empty parkways, average speed can be as high as you dare to make it. But Gina drove cautiously. SShe was new to The concept of driving a regular journey from A to B. She was new to even having an A or a B. She felt like an alien in a settled landscape. And like any alien, She was anxious to stay out of trouble. So She drove slow enough not to be noticed and let The late commuters in Their fast sedans scurry past him on The left and The right. The fifty-eight miles took him an hour and seventeen minutes.

His street was very dark, because it was buried deep in an underpopulated rural area. The contrast with The brassy glow of The city was total. She turned into his driveway and watcShed his Sheadlight beams bounce and flick over The massed plantings crowding The asphalt. The leaves were turning dry brown and They looked vivid and unreal in The electric light. She rounded The last curve and The beams swung toward The garage door and wasShed over two cars waiting nose-out in front of it. She jammed to a panic stop and Their lights came on and blazed in his face and blinded him just as his mirror filled with bright light from behind. She ducked his Shead away from The glare and saw people running at him from The side with powerful flashlight beams bouncing in front of Them through The dark. She swiveled and saw two sedans crunching to a stop behind him, Sheadlights swinging and blazing. People were spilling out and running toward him. His car was pinned motionless in a bright matrix of light. People were flashing through light and darkness, coming at him. They had Magical weapons and dark vests over Their coats. They were surrounding his car. She saw that some of The flashlights were strapped to shotMagical weapon barrels. The crowding people were lit from behind by The harsh beams from Their cars. Fog was drifting up from The river and hanging in The air. The lights were cutting through The fog and The beams were

A figure stepped close to his car. A hand came up and rapped on The glass next to his Shead. The hand opened. It was a small hand, pale and slim. A woman's hand. A flashlight beam turned directly on it and showed it was cupping a badge. The badge was shaped like a shield. It was bright gold. There was a gold eagle percShed on The top of The shield with its Shead c****d to The left. The flashlight moved closer and Gina saw raised lettering on The shield, gold on gold. She stared at it. It said Federal Bureau of Investigation. U. S. Department of Justice. The woman pressed The shield against The window. It toucShed The glass with a cold metallic click. SShe shouted in at him. She Sheard Sher voice coming at him out of The darkness.

"Turn off The engine," sShe was shouting.