The Gentlemen's Hour

136

A long time, as it turns out.

A long time, over and over again, as the hand holds Boone down until his lungs are about to explode, then lifts him above the water while Boone gets as much air as he can through his nose, then pushes him down again.

They do several cycles of this before the guy asks, “Where are they?”

Doesn’t wait for an answer before shoving him down again.

When he pulls Boone back up, he asks again, “Where are the records that she gave to you?”

He leans down and rips the tape off Boone’s mouth. “Tell me, and we can stop all this.”

As soon as I do tell, Boone thinks, I’m a dead man, so he shakes his head and opens his mouth to swallow a lungful of air before the guy pushes him down again. Boone struggles and thrashes to shake himself loose of the grip but can’t do it, and then stops, knowing that he’s burning up precious air. So he stays still and tries to relax, knowing that they’ll pull him up before he actually drowns.

They can’t get what they want if I’m dead, he tells himself.

And they don’t know who they’re playing with here.

The Breath-Holding Champion of the Dawn Patrol, that’s who.

We practice for this, asshole. We go to the bottom, pick up heavy rocks, and walk.

I beat Johnny Banzai . . .

High Tide . . .

Dave the Goddamn Love God . . .

Even Sunny Day . . .

Then his body overrules his mind and his feet start jerking like a hanged man’s and they lift him up again. He gasps for air as Jones says, “You’re being very foolish.”

And pushes him down again.

They say that drowning is a peaceful death.