Steele began to lose her patience. “Is your name Rocky?”
The man ignored her.
Steele looked at her watch. She suddenly felt like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight.
“Are you Rocky?” she repeated, a little louder.
He made no attempt to respond. It was obvious she had found the right man.
Steele reached into her purse and flipped open her credentials. She grabbed the man’s pool stick and shoved her creds in his face. “I’m an FBI agent. Tell me your damn name.”
The Indian stopped smiling.
Rocky yanked the stick free. “I don’t give a shit who you are, lady. This is a free country and I don’t have to talk to nobody I don’t want to.”
Steele stood with her hands on her hips. Randy Travis was now pining about missing an old flame. The music was loud enough to cover up most of the commotion, but the few patrons who were watching made Steele nervous. Or maybe it was the fact that she suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. She wasn’t dressed for an altercation.
Silk was lining up a shot at the table next to them. He drew his stick back with a short jerky motion and jabbed Rocky in the ribcage with the back of his pool cue. Silk turned and brushed off the man’s shirt.
“Sorry about that,” Silk said. “Hey, you’re kinda cute.”
Rocky squared up on him and his shoulders seemed to swell. Silk was a couple of inches shorter, but he looked up at the man with the practiced stare of a professional assassin. Rocky tried to keep up, but the best he could do was look menacing. Nobody spoke as the two men stared each other down.
Finally, Silk glimpsed down at the man’s belt buckle. “The fuck is that?” he said, pointing at the Confederate flag.
Rocky maintained his stare. He was trying out his best scowl, but Silk seemed immune.
“Didn’t anyone tell you?” Silk asked. “The South lost. What happened, you drop your subscription to the Redneck Daily News?”
Rocky’s eyes flared with fury. He gripped his pool stick with both hands and roundhoused a swing at Silk.
Silk ducked.
When Rocky came back with it, Silk deflected the shot with his right arm and grabbed the stick with his left. He pulled down with both hands, snapped the stick over his raised thigh and came up with two splintered pieces. Rocky stood startled at Silk’s agility. Silk wheeled and clocked the Indian who was now reaching for Silk from behind.
The Indian went to his knees. Blood trickled down the side of his face. Silk barked, “Stay down, Chief, I got no gripe with you.”
Rocky had grabbed another pool stick and was about to swing when Steele fumbled her gun out of her purse and pointed it at him. “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”
Silk looked at Steele as if she’d ruined his birthday party. “Aw, leave him be,” Silk said, with open palms. “He ain’t gonna hurt nothing.”
Steele held the gun steady and wondered what else could go wrong that night.
“Put it down, lady,” a man’s voice boomed from behind her. When Steele turned, she saw a large man with a dirty, white apron tied around his bowling-ball gut. He was holding a shotgun and leveling it at Steele. “Get out of my bar… now.”
Steele held up her credentials. “I’m an FBI agent here on official business.”
“I don’t’ give a shit who you are.”
“You don’t understand—”
The shot reverberated throughout the spacious room, followed by screams and a frantic rush for the exit. People nearby lunged to the floor and began scrambling for the door on their hands and knees.
Steele flinched for a moment, but when she regained her focus, she saw the bar owner on the floor clutching his leg. Silk holstered his revolver, kicked aside the shotgun that lay next to the bar owner, and crouched over the fallen man. “Sorry, pal. You just don’t know how serious all this stuff is.”
Silk unfastened the bar owner’s apron and tied it snug around his upper thigh as a tourniquet. He motioned to the Indian, who was getting to his feet, holding his hand up against his bloody ear. “Hey, Chief, get him to the hospital. Pronto. It looks like you could use a stitch or two yourself.”
The Indian stood expressionless.
Silk casually steered his revolver in the Indian’s direction. “What? I gotta shoot you too?”
The Indian moved toward the injured man.
The bar owner’s face was screwed up into a knot. He appeared to be fighting off the effects of shock.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Steele said, still breathing heavy from relief.
“You’re welcome,” Silk said, helping the bar owner to his feet and placing the man’s arm around the large Indian’s shoulder. The two of them shuffled off and Rocky started to follow them. Silk grabbed the back of Rocky’s shirt and pulled. “Where do you think you’re going, Sport?”
Rocky unleashed an elbow into Silk’s ribs and caught him by surprise. Silk took a step back, then regrouped and kicked Rocky in the crotch, like he was punting a football. Rocky curled over in pain.
Silk scowled. “What’s the matter with you, you don’t see me shoot that fat fuck with the apron? You think I’m like one of your cowfolk friends that carry around a six-shooter just to impress his girlfriend?”
The room was empty, but for the three of them now. Johnny Cash was singing about shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die; his voice resonated throughout the rafters of the elevated ceiling.
Silk lifted his foot and shoved Rocky to the ground. He landed on his back in between two pool tables and looked up at Silk. “Are you the law?” he asked in a breathy voice.
Silk opened the chamber of his revolver and dropped all five bullets into the palm of his hand. “More like an outlaw,” he grinned.
“What are you doing?” Steele asked.
“I’m not sure,” Silk said. “I think I’m trying to save the free world.”
Rocky squinted incredulously at what he was watching.
Silk slipped all but one of the bullets into his pants pocket. He waved the single bullet in front of the man, gently holding it between the index finger and thumb of his right hand. He eased the bullet into one of the six chambers, then flicked it shut with his wrist. He spun the cylinder. It clicked around like a roulette wheel. Rocky’s mouth opened.
“What are you doing?” Steele asked. Louder this time.
Silk spun the chamber again. He knelt next to Rocky and cocked the hammer. “You know what I’m doing, don’t you? I might have to put you to sleep, if ya know what I mean.”
Rocky sat frozen. He looked at Steele. His eyes pleaded for help, but his mouth only quivered.
“Silk, you’re not doing this,” Steele ordered.
“You see,” Silk said to the man, “I need to know something.” He stopped, then looked back at Steele. “He does know where this Angel guy lives, doesn’t he?”
Steele didn’t want it like this. Not her first big assignment. Not in the town she lived in. When everyone else had packed and gone home, she would still be there representing the Bureau. “This is not how we do things,” she said.
“Uh huh,” Silk said. “I’ll take that for a yes.”
He returned his attention to Rocky. He pressed the gun to the man’s temple and said, “I need to know where Angel lives. Can you tell me? Or do we start gambling with your life?”
“I don’t—”
Click.
Rocky screamed.
Steele aimed her pistol at Silk. “Stop it!”
Rocky’s face was drained white. He screamed incoherent words.
Silk cocked the hammer again and cupped his ear. “What did you say, I can’t hear you?”
Click. Silk pulled the trigger for the second time.
Rocky was convulsing. His eyes were saturated with tears.
Steele fired a shot over Silk’s head. The blast startled Rocky. It startled her. Silk didn’t flinch. “Stop it, or I’m going take you down,” she ordered.