...spot on his neck. He got out, his legs looking like rubberbands. The bag hung from his left hand. I got out and joined him. Lisa also got out.
"Go ahead," she said to him, her voice shaking with contempt. "Do Nicky's job."
"You stinking bitch!" he swore. He lunged to hit her. I shot him in the hip. Lisa giggled. Brendon turned towards me, his eyes wide with terror. His mouth tried to work, but no noise came out.
"Brendon," I said. "If you had levelled with me and asked me to do it, I would have. But you shouldn not have done it this way. You shouldn't've treated me like I was stupid. There's a difference between being stupid and not giving a damn."
He was wobbling on his feet like a fighter in the tenth round who had taken too many shots to the head. He turned from me, and then staggered back. He pulled a locker key from his pocket and handed it to me. "At the airport, Nicky. Please, forgive me," he half-said, half-sobbed. He held out his arms as if he expected a hug. I pushed the gun into his chest. "We don't have time for this," I said. "Get moving."
He nodded, and turned again towards the building. He moved as if he were an automaton, as if his legs were disconnected from the rest of his body. As if he were a corpse. He got to the door, stepped through it, and closed it behind him. The explosion came ten seconds later. The windows shattered, flames seared through them. There couldn't've been much of Brendon left.
Lisa gave me a funny look, half appraising, half scared. "You're not as dumb as you act, are you? What other tricks do you have?" I showed her a bare-fanged smile. "Get in the car," I ordered. I pulled Big Mike from the back seat and left him in the street. It was going to be a while before he woke up. I had enough time to do what I had to before he talked. As we drove to the airport, neither of us said a word. I found the locker that matched the key. There were two briefcases inside. I opened them. You wouldn't think five million dollars would've been able to fit in them, but it did. I took a large chunk out of one of them and counted half a million dollars. I closed the locker. I put the key back in my pocket.
Lisa grabbed my arm. "Let's take the money, Nicky. We'll get on a plane and go somewhere where they'll never find us. We can do it right now."
I laughed. "Yeah, just the three of us. Just you, me and five million dollars. When were you planning on cutting my throat, the first night I'm asleep?"
She took a step away from me, her face hardening. "That's right, the first chance I get I'm going to cut your throat. And while I'm at it, I'm going to cut out your dirty, stinking heart. You dirty bastard, you dirty ..." And she started sobbing. I grabbed her wrist and jerked, almost pulling her off the ground. All the way to the car it was like that, me dragging her as if she were a rag doll. Inside the car she started laughing, a weird hysterical laugh, kind of like nails on a blackboard.
"You're dumber than I ever gave you credit for," she swore at me. "You're a bright light, alright. A big twenty watt bulb."
It went on and on like that, but I ignored her. I could understand how she was feeling. I drove to Brendon's house. Marge and the kids were out, and I was thankful for it. I left the half million in one of her dresser drawers. Brendon probably had life insurance, but I had to make sure Marge and the kids would be taken care of. I left a note and signed Brendon's name. I found the suitcases hidden in Brendon's workroom. I brought them back out to the car. Lisa was sitting there with hate in her eyes. I put the suitcases in the trunk and got back behind the wheel. "You and Brendon were planning on taking a trip?"
"You were able to figure that out all on your own? You better give it a rest before something inside pops."
She stopped talking. She looked so white, so pale, as if all the blood had drained from her body. After a while she asked where I was going.
"We're going to your place." I could feel her body cringe. "You got bags to pick up, don't you?"
"We don't have to, Nicky." She waited for me to say something, but I didn't. "Please, Nicky. Let's go back to the airport?" There was a pleading in her voice. I didn't want to look at her, I knew I'd change my mind if I did.
"Who says," I sneered, my throat beginning to tighten. "That I want to go anyplace with you? Maybe I only want to get you alone. Maybe I want to take my knife and carve you up a little. I had a lot of practice with that in Nam, and I miss it."
"If that's what you want, go right ahead. You got all the answers, don't you?" She hesitated. Then in a soft voice. "So I'm just a dirty whore? Nothing but a dirty, lousy, heartless ..." and she let it die in her throat.
We drove in silence the rest of the way. A cold, harsh silence. It was something like death. I knew what was waiting for us at her apartment. Brendon should've known too, but I guess he just didn't look hard enough. I guess he was too busy being a wiseguy.
He should have known the whole thing was too easy, almost like Dreason opened the safe and handed the money right to him. It should've sounded funny to him. And Lisa. He should've known she wouldn't want anything to do with someone like him. He should've known Dreason would be waiting for the two of them to go back to Lisa's apartment. Waiting for them to pick up her bags.
Dreason was only a cog in the drug industry. Someone to hold the money and watch it pass from bigshot to bigshot. But he saw his chance to walk away with five million dollars.
Brendon would walk through Lisa's door and get his face blown off. I guess Dreason's wallet would be planted on Brendon's body, and he and Lisa would walk away free and clear. He'd have enough connections to make sure Brendon's body would be identified as his. No reason for the mob to ever look for him, not if they thought the five million dollars was blown up and Dreason shot dead. And ... and a thought startled me. Maybe Lisa never had any choice. Maybe she had to do what she did. She wanted us to go away together, but she must've known that Dreason would know she double-crossed him. She must've known he'd never give up looking for her. She'd always have to ... We got to the building. Doubt was working its way into my stomach. I tried looking into her face. It was hard, as if it were chiselled out of marble.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked, her voice defiant, challenging.
"N-nothing." I grabbed her and pulled her out of the car. She jerked herself free and walked in front of me, leading the way to her door.
She stared straight through me. "Okay, bright boy. You want the key?" And she held it out in front of me. I reached for it and she pulled it back. Then, she told me everything. She told me about Dreason waiting behind the door, how Dreason promised to kill her if she didn't do what he wanted, how sick inside she's been feeling. As the words rushed out of her, I realized she wouldn't've let me walk into the warehouse. She would've stopped me.
She gave me an uneasy smile. "Please, Nick," she almost begged. "Don't go in there." Her face was struggling to keep its composure, to hold back a flood of tears. Trying desperately to stay tough, but it wasn't working. "We can't leave it like this." I smiled at her. "He'll always be after us. It has to be taken care of now. Don't worry, it will be alright."
I took out the locker key and folded it in her hand. I still had Big Mike's gun. It was a magnum forty-four. Holding it made me feel like I was back in the jungle. I could feel my smile stretching, freezing into the same mask I used to wear over there.
She tried to reach for me, but her arms fell slack to her side. I took a deep breath and kicked the door open, rolling forwards as the door broke apart. I ended up on my knees with the magnum stretched out in front of me. Dreason was standing there, a shocked expression on his face. I waited just long enough to let him get a shot off before I pulled the trigger. The last thing I saw before the darkness was a piece of his brain splatter across the living room wall. The last thing I heard was Lisa screaming, and then her footsteps running towards me.
I read somewhere that the brain can keep functioning minutes after the heart has stopped. Dreason's bullet had cut my heart in half, so I guess that's true. It's funny though, my thinking now is crisp and clear, not scattered with random images and impulses like I would've thought. It had to be this way. Lisa needed some sort of chance. She didn't need to be saddled with a dead man, and that's all I've ever been since Nam. That's all I'd ever be, and now it's just complete. The body has caught up with the soul.
I know Lisa is no angel. I know she was going to double-cross my brother. But he would've deserved it, so I can't blame her much for that.
No, she's no angel, but she deserves a chance. She did what she could to let me walk free. She tried her best. With the four and a half million that's left she can start over. It's all up to her now.
There is nothing left of me but a few thoughts. And these probably won't last more than a minute. Even though I can't feel anything, I know Lisa is holding me. I know her tears are warming my face. Just for a minute it would've been nice to feel something.
