She was trained for this. She'd experienced it many times. Both here in Five Corners and so many light-years from here.
Abby took a step closer to the man, putting on the face. Abby's game face had been the last thing many a man had seen in life. If the guy was smart, he'd head back for his friends. ''I got no plans,'' she said, voice level. Deadly level.
''Whatdaya say I make them for you.'' His grin now got lopsided. Jack had a lopsided grin, but not like this one. There was nothing of a leer when Jack smiled.
''I'd have to think about that,'' Abby said.
Then closed the distance to him with one quick step.
Her right came up to wipe that grin off his face. Her knee took care of that other matter he had so much on his mind.
In half a breath, the idiot was withering on the ground.
His three friends had ambled around the corner to enjoy the show, maybe get involved if she was easy.
Abby raised a questioning eyebrow. You want some of this?
If all three of them jumped her, matters might get a bit exciting. For them, not her. Abby figured she could put all three down without breaking a sweat.
Still, fools had been known to get lucky.
They fled back around the corner.
Abby eyed her would-be assailant. His knife was out. She kicked it into the gutter. It rattled on a sewer grating before falling through. As for this optimistic dude, she didn't want to see him again for a long, long time.
She'd chosen her shoes for walking—maybe running—and for fighting. They were steel reinforced. She gave him a hard kick in the kidney.
He screamed.
Abby doubted she'd done permanent damage. But if she had, that was why he had two of them. Maybe he'd be more careful with the other one.
She crossed the street and took a right, not wasting a backward glance. If she heard footsteps, she'd turn.
She didn't hear anything. At least not for now. Maybe later she'd find out how bad an enemy she'd made.
16
The street ahead looked ready to be bulldozed. But there, waiting for Abby under the awning of the one place on the block not crumbling away, was the little girl she'd given the ice cream to. The kid was still licking sweetness from her fingers.
As Abby came alongside the kid, she fell in step with her.
''You put Promie down good.''
''He looked in need of it.''
''He's gonna remember you.''
''Maybe you shouldn't be seen talking to me,'' Abby said, not looking down. Those eyes were so huge. So dark. So full of untasted need.
Abby wanted nothing to do with them.
The kid kept walking beside her.
''Whatcha doing here?'' she asked.
Abby meant to say no more to this stray. Then found herself muttering, ''Looking for something. Or someone.''
Abby had just spotted a pattern when she'd been so rudely interrupted. At the moment, all she'd wanted to do was get out of Five Corners. At that moment, she'd noticed the pattern. Every move Momma Ganna made put her farther from Five Corners.
Maybe Abby wasn't the only one wanting out of this place.
Then again, Five Corners was pretty much rotting from the inside. Maybe Momma didn't have a choice. Abby doubted she'd get a straight answer to that question from Momma.
At that moment, the kid beside Abby stooped to pick up a passing cat. The cat allowed that she could be petted and suffered the kid to do so. It even purred.
''You want to pet her?''
Being mauled by a stray cat was very low on Abby's list of things to do. She declined softly. So the girl put the cat down and it proceeded to wrap itself around Abby's legs.
''I think the Goddess likes you,'' the girl opined. ''She don't like many people. You must be nice to lots of people. Not just me and giving me an ice cream you didn't like. Why'd you buy it if you didn't like it?''
Abby was glad the cat approved of her being in her part of town. The kid, however, was turning into a talker. Not something Abby needed.
''Once upon a time, I used to like that kind of ice cream. Guess I don't anymore.''
''Your glasses are nice. I see all the colors on them. You have a nice computer. You must be rich.''
Abby hadn't planned on anyone getting close enough to see her computer interface. This could go bad in so very many ways. ''Not rich,'' she said. ''Now, someone who has her computer jacked right into her head. That's rich for you. Or the ones that don't wear glasses, but contact lenses. Those are rich.''
''Yeah, I guess. But Bronc uses a reader. All the time he wishes he had a better one.''
''Who's Bronc?''
''A kid I know. He knows everything. If you want to find someone, he'd know them.''
''For a whole six blocks.''
''No, a whole lot more. All the gangs let him run in their territory. He helps them with their stuff. Not nothing that would help them against each other. He took their beatings and showed he didn't want nothing of that. But if they got music that ain't working, he can usually fix it.'' The kid seemed quite proud that she knew someone that even the gangs respected.
And who might know Mamma Ganna.
Or be a setup for an ambush.
You knew you were taking stupid risks when you left the embassy compound.
With a shrug, Abby took the next risk.
''Why don't you take me to Bronc and we'll see what we can do for each other that might make us all happy. Like this here computer. You think Bronc would like it? Or one like it?''
Not the actual computer. Too much data on it. But maybe one like it. Well, maybe a bit cheaper. Abby's computer wasn't anything like Kris's Nelly. Still, it was not something you got at the local drugstore, either.
To Abby's surprise, the kid just eyed her. If anything, her reaction got a whole lot harder. ''Bronc don't give no one up to be hurt. You a cop?''
''Nope, I'm not a cop.''
''Who are you?''
Stupid, stupid, stupid. That was one question Abby hadn't brought an answer for.
So she tried the best lie. ''I left here fifteen years ago. I'm wondering if I can find my mother.''
''And turn her over to the jawbreakers,'' the kid added.
''They still calling the antiterrorist squads jawbreakers?''
''I don't know. That's what we always called them as long as I've known.''
''All I can say is that there's no way I'd work for them.''
The kid eyed Abby, those deep brown eyes seeming to take all of her in. Weigh her. Decide her fate.
And Abby did a wipe of all her assumptions about the girl. Then she studied her again. Stringy hair needed washing. The dirty face and skinned elbows were part of a stick-figure body that looked to be years away from womanhood. Or could blossom tomorrow. Hard to tell, kids from Five Corners were so underfed. Maybe Abby had been low on the age. Ten, plus or minus one, might be closer.
But it was the eyes that gave the experienced maid pause. No way to tell what they'd seen. What they'd done. Abby started to credit them with what she'd known at ten or so.
Then shook that thought off.
Five Corners had been going to hell fifteen years ago. And it had gotten worse. No, this kid had seen worse than what drove Abby out of here.
There really was no reason to trust her. Certainly not her and a smart kid with connections to all the gangs.
It was time to walk…fast.
''You see that corner down the way,'' the girl said, pointing. ''The one with two stores on it and a couple of good-looking houses. One's even got some grass they cut.''
Abby looked and saw it.
''Uncle Joe and Auntie Mong don't allow no drug sales on their corner. No nothing. And they got shotguns to back them up. That's neutral territory. You go there. I'll bring Bronc there, so you can talk, and maybe Bronc will help you.''
''How about Uncle Joe. Could he help me?''
''Uncle Joe don't know nothing. You can ask him if you want, but all he ever says is that he don't know nothing.''