Potshot

Chapter 59

I WAS ALONE on the front porch when Dean Walker pulled his cruiser up in front of the house. Hatless, he got out and came up the front walk, his eyes masked behind his aviator shades.

"Holding the fort?" he said.

"Valiantly," I said.

"You still got troops?"

"Yep."

"Handy?"

"Yep."

"Good," Walker said. "You'll need them."

"Because?"

"Because today's the day," Walker said.

"For?"

"For the Dell to come down on you."

"How many?"

"All of them."

"When?"

Walker smiled.

"Can't say for sure," he said. "But they aren't early risers."

"But you know it's today."

"Yeah."

"How would you know that?" I said.

"I'm the police," Walker said.

"And where do you stand?" I said.

"Out of the way," Walker said.

"So why'd you warn me?"

"Civic duty," Walker said.

I nodded. We looked at each other for a moment. Then Walker turned and walked back to his car and got in and drove off. I watched him go. Then I picked up my Winchester and walked up the hill behind the house. The desert was empty, sprawled in harsh metallic silence under the oppressive sun.

Bobby Horse was on lookout with binoculars around his neck and his BAR leaning in the shade of a rock.

"Where's Hawk?" I said.

"Down near the road. They're running things through."

I said, "The Dell's on its way."

Bobby Horse scanned the landscape with his binoculars.

"Don't see them," he said.

I picked up the walkie-talkie from the shade beside the BAR.

"Hawk," I said.

He answered.

"Bring everyone back up to the lookout," I said. "Dell's coming."

"'Bout time," Hawk said.

"After Bobby Horse spots them with the glasses," I said when we were gathered, "it'll take them about fifteen minutes to arrive."

"What if they come another way?" Bernard said.

"There isn't another way," I said, "except over the mountain behind us. They're not that industrious."

Hawk nodded.

"We put Vinnie on the right, Chollo in the center, and Bernard Whosis on the left."

"Fortunato," Bernard said. "Goddamn it, Bernard J. Fortunato."

"Right," Hawk said. "You on the left. Me and Sapp and Bobby Horse start in the center, behind Chollo, and bust our ass left or right, depending on what's going down."

"Like in Zulu," Sapp said.

"Tha's where I learned all my military tactics," Hawk said. "Spenser?"

"I'll freelance," I said.

"I sort of guessed that," Hawk said. "We already have water and ammunition stashed at each firing position."

He had forgotten his jive accent again.

"Drink a lot of water," I said.

"That way," Chollo said, "we run out of ammunition we can piss on them."

"What you gonna do freelancing?" Vinnie said.

"I thought I'd hide under the bed until you guys won," I said.

"We'll let you know," V'mnie said.

"But in case I'm not under the bed," I said, "I'll be down below the house, behind them if they come in."

"And?" Sapp said.

"And I want to be the first one to shoot."

"If possible," Hawk said.

"If possible."

I turned and started down the hill. After ten steps I turned and said to Hawk, "Good hunting."

To my ear I sounded amazingly like Stewart Granger.

Hawk grinned and gave me a thumbs-up.

"Gringos watch too many movies," Chollo said.

"African Americans, too," Hawk said.

"Si."

I went on down the hill.