One False Move

21

When Myron headed back to his car, the two goons from Bradford Farms were waiting for him. The big one and the skinny, older guy. The skinny guy wore long sleeves so Myron could not see if there was a snake tattoo, but the two looked right from Mabel Edwards’s description.

Myron felt something inside him start to simmer.

The big guy was show. Probably a wrestler in high school. Maybe a bouncer at a local bar. He thought he was tough; Myron knew that he would be no problem. The skinny, older guy was hardly a formidable physical specimen. He looked like an aged version of the puny guy who gets the sand kicked on him in the old Charles Atlas cartoon. But the face was so ferretlike, the eyes so beady that he made you pause. Myron knew better than to judge on appearance, but this guy’s face was simply too thin and too pointed and too cruel.

Myron spoke to the Skinny Ferret. «Can I see your tattoo?» Direct approach.

The big guy looked confused, but Skinny Ferret took it all in stride.

«I’m not used to guys using that line on me,» Skinny said.

«Guys,» Myron repeated. «But with your looks, the chicks must be asking all the time.»

If Skinny was offended by the crack, he was laughing his way through it. «So you really want to see the snake?»

Myron shook his head. The snake. The question had been answered. These were the right guys. The big one had punched Mabel Edwards in the eye.

The simmer flicked up a notch.

«So what can I do for you fellas?» Myron said. «You collecting donations for the Kiwanis Club?»

«Yeah,» the big guy said. «Blood donations.»

Myron looked at him. «I’m not a grandmother, tough guy.»

Big said, «Huh?»

Skinny cleared his throat. «Governor-to-be Bradford would like to see you.»

«Governor-to-be?»

The Skinny Ferret shrugged. «Confidence.»

«Nice to see. So why doesn’t he call me?»

«The next governor thought it would be best if we accompanied you.»

«I think I can manage to drive the mile by myself.» Myron looked at the big guy again and spoke slowly. «After all, I’m not a grandmother.»

The big guy sniffed and rolled his neck. «I can still beat you like one.»

«Beat me as you would a grandmother,» Myron said. «Gee, what a guy.»

Myron had read recently about self-help gurus who taught their students to picture themselves successful. Visualize it, and it will happen or some such credo. Myron was not sure, but he knew that it worked in combat. If the chance presents itself, picture how you will attack. Imagine what countermoves your opponent might make and prepare yourself for them. That was what Myron had been doing since Skinny had admitted to the tattoo. Now that he saw that no one was in sight, he struck.

Myron’s knee landed squarely in the big guy’s groin.

The big guy made a noise like he was sucking through a straw that still had drops of liquid in it. He folded like an old wallet. Myron pulled out his gun and pointed it at the Skinny Ferret. The big guy’s body melted to the pavement and formed a puddle.

The Skinny Ferret had not moved. He looked slightly amused.

«Wasteful,» Skinny said.

«Yeah,» Myron agreed. «But I feel much better.» He looked at the big guy. «That was for Mabel Edwards.»

Skinny shrugged. Not a care in the world. «So now what?»

«Where’s your car?» Myron asked.

«We were dropped off. We’re supposed to go back to the house with you.»

«I don’t think so.»

The big guy writhed and tried to suck in a breath. Neither standing man cared. Myron put away his gun.

«I’ll drive myself over, if you don’t mind.»

The skinny guy spread his arms. «Suit yourself.»

Myron started to get into his Taurus.

«You don’t know what you’re up against,» Skinny said.

«I keep hearing that.»

«Maybe,» he said. «But now you’ve heard it from me.»

Myron nodded. «Consider me scared.»

«Ask your father, Myron.»

That made him pull up. «What about my father?»

«Ask him about Arthur Bradford.» The smile of a mongoose gnawing on a neck. «Ask him about me.»

Icy water flooded Myron’s chest. «What does my father have to do with any of this?»

But Skinny was not about to answer. «Hurry now,» he said. «The next governor of New Jersey is waiting for you.»