Down from the hill came about twenty men, some skinhead types, others military types, heading right for the Deuce. They didn't look happy.
"Hey Karl," I yelled, "I thought you said about 10 guys worked here."
Karl looked at the men running toward us.
"I was wrong," he said.
44
"Showtime!" Shony's cousin yelled.
"I was hopin' we were gonna get some action," his friend with the tooth pick said.
Billy Cramer rolled his shoulders to loosen up and his buddy Timo just smiled out of the side of his mouth. Shaquon cracked his neck, Angel hopped from foot to foot, and Jamal cracked his knuckles. I felt that twitch in my neck. Rocco got the Louisville slugger from behind his seat. The two Jerrys and TC looked nervous and stayed with the dogs. It looked like they had us by about 10 men.
They were still at a disadvantage.
The first two to engage were Shony's gang-bangers. The three of them took on five skinny pale guys with shaved heads and tattoos. Two skinny bastards went down and out quick and the other three found themselves in big trouble. Flurries of other punches flew and in seconds the skinheads went down on their backs desperately trying not to get stomped to death. Over on the knoll to the right, Billy and Timo faced off against four body-builder types with flattops. Two charged Billy, who swung his left arm in a tight circle, wrapped up one guy, and turned him, using his bald head as a weapon. The head hit the other guy right in the face and blood exploded from it. Meanwhile, Timo had both guys down and screaming, as he had broken their pinkies with some sort of sick Brazilian Jujitsu shit. Karl tangled with two guys and had his hands full. One guy had him wrapped up while another got off the ground from Karl's kick to work him over. The guy paused and reached into his pocket to slide on some brass knuckles. Karl was going to get really messed up. I headed over to try to get between him and the on-coming punch. I wasn't going to make it in time. Karl was going to take one hard and right in the face and I felt sick not being able to get there.
The skinhead smiled with his rotten teeth, and wound up to throw a haymaker right in Karl's face. He cocked his arm, putting everything he could into it. Suddenly he froze, his face turning into mask of horror. He collapsed to the ground. Al had affixed his jaws to the guy's nads and he wasn't letting go. The guy screamed bloody horror. Al growled a sound I had only heard once before. His jaws bear-trapped on the guys' privates. Al's eyes bulged out of his head while he let out that horrible growl. The sound came from hell and Al let the world know he would not stand for Karl being fucked with. The guy holding Karl got distracted just for a second and that was enough for Karl's training. Karl slammed the back of his own head into the bridge of the guy's nose, breaking the grip. Karl followed up with an elbow strike to the guy's temple. The guy crumbled face down.
To my left, the guys from the gym stood in a semi-circle. In front of the three of them, I counted seven guys on their backs. It looked like all held their faces or their midsections. I surveyed the landscape, and it looked like the crew had done its job. Rocco should-to-shoulder with me, yelled, "Let's load 'em up, and get out of here!"
The hounds in the truck, the opponents finished off, and everyone was in the process of running to the Deuce. That was when the shotgun blast almost deafened everyone.
45
Ten feet in front of me, holding a shotgun, stood Luther Campbell.
"You piece of shit, what the fuck do you think you're doing, comin' in here and messin' with my hounds?" He looked down the barrel of his shotgun.
AJ's Army grew silent. Though we won the first battle, Luther held the great equalizer.
"I ought to blow your fuckin' head right off," Luther said.
"I-" I had no idea what I to say.
"Point the gun at me you fat piece of shit," Karl said.
"Who you callin' a-"
"I'm calling you a piece a shit." Karl had a smile on his face and smiled, looking as calm and relaxed as I was tense.
"Karl! Take it easy," I said.
"Duff, this is it man. This is where it stops. This is where the score gets evened. I'm stopping it right here."
"Karl, what the fuck are you talking about?"
"Get ready, fat man. I'm going to shove that shotgun right up your ass." Karl started to walk right toward Campbell. He approached unarmed and it looked like it was an act of suicide.
"Karl!"
"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and I've had it."
"I swear to God I'll shoot you if you come any further." Luther's voice cracked.
"Fuck you!" Karl responded.
"Karl!"
Karl smiled, walking without hesitation toward Campbell's gun sites.
"Don't come any closer or I'll-" Campbell said. I sprinted toward Campbell screaming as loud as I could. Al charged with me and Campbell looked quickly toward us while Karl closed within five feet of him. He glanced back toward Karl and fired.
Karl went down.
The recoil sent Campbell backward and I tackled him a split second after the shot fired. The two of us rolled over and the fat bastard caught me in the temple with an elbow. I saw a flash of light and went a little woozy for a second, which gave him the time to get up and run toward the storage barn. Al was hot on his trail and I fell in behind Al. The bastard could run for a fat man. I ran, gaining ground on Campbell. He went through the doors and around piles of canned goods. When I came through the doors he had disappeared. Mountains of canned goods on pallets with a forklift filled the corrugated steel structure.
"C'mon out, asshole," I yelled but got no response. Al sniffed the ground and I could tell he was looking for a scent. He worked his way around the giant pile of Vienna sausages. Then he sat perfectly still and stared at the pile of cans.
"C'mon, Campbell, you fuckin' coward!" A can of Vienna Sausages whizzed past my head and slammed into the corrugated steel wall behind me. It missed me, but not by much. I looked in the direction from where it came and heard movement. I noticed a sour gasoline smell and, turning, saw the wall ablaze.
A second Vienna sausage can whizzed past my head. This one missed by a larger margin, but it made an explosion when it hit the wall. I heard Al bark and I had no idea what the hell was going on.
Three cans of sausage came from over the pile this time and I realized he wasn't even throwing at me. Al barked like a mad dog and starring at the mound of canned goods. Then it hit me.
Al recognized the explosives. The Vienna sausages were mini-explosive devices!
Al ran around the pile. I followed the barking as it went from behind the pile, figuring Al headed in Campbell's direction. I ran toward the corner of the cans where I could best estimate from Al where Campbell ran. Another handful of cans came over the pile and blew up where I had been standing. I dove as hard as I could over the corner of cans hoping Campbell would be on the other side.
I judged mostly correct and slammed into his side, but I didn't get him right on and he bounced out of my way. He threw more cans at my feet and I could feel the heat up my jeans as the fire climbed. I didn't stand around for them though and jumped Campbell and slammed him to the ground.
I hit the fat bastard with a closed fist right on the chin. I jumped on top of him and put both hands around his neck, choking him out. Campbell gagged from my hold and his eyes started bugging out. I've seen the face of a man dying before and this is what it looked like.
I squeezed tighter until I heard my name and a force knock me off Campbell. Campbell rolled over and puked down the front off himself.