“Because he’s an idiot,” Gary LeMond said.
53
I whirled around.LeMond was standing in the doorway to the other bedroom.He wore a pair of sweats, a battered sweatshirt and a pair of black shoes that looked like slippers.His face still bore a nice bruise from when I punched him in his hot tub.
Behind me, Kris slammed the bedroom door. I heard the doorknob lock click into place.
“Kick his ass, Gary!Get him out of my apartment!” she shrieked.
LeMond regarded me calmly.“Well, you found her,” he said, simply.“I don’t know how, but you did.”
“Yes, I did.”
“What are you going to do now, hero?”
“Take her home.”
LeMond shook his head, clucking his tongue.“No, I don’t think so.She’s emancipated now.She’s a woman.”
“She’s sixteen.”
“Age is irrelevant,” LeMond said in smooth tones.“She is of the age of reason and can make her own choices.And she chooses to stay and to become a star.”
It was my turn to shake my head.“You’re finished, LeMond.”
“How do you figure that?”
“The promise I made to you at your house is kaput.”I pointed my finger at him.“You broke your word.I’m taking Kris and I’m turning you in to the police.”
“Ah, but I never made a promise, did I?I merely said I understood your terms.”
“You’re a liar and a pervert.”
LeMond smiled humorlessly.“It doesn’t matter.How do you think the police will feel about your trespassing on my property and assaulting me?”
“Probably give me a medal.”
“Will they give you a medal for trying to rape a sixteen year old?Because that is the story Kris will tell them when they get here.How you tried to get into her knickers and how I got here just in time to stop you.”
I didn’t bite.“Tell them what you want when they get here.”
I started toward the telephone in the kitchen.LeMond moved to intercept me, gliding across the carpet in two shuffling strides.His grace and speed surprised me, but they also told me something.He had training of some kind.I didn’t know what, but-
His foot shot out and connected with my bum knee, sending a bolt of pain up my leg.I cried out in surprise and pain, lifting my leg up to keep weight off of it.LeMond dropped into a crouch and spun, his opposite leg sweeping around and catching my heel.
I fell over backward, landing with a thud on the carpeted floor.
LeMond threw another kick, trying to punt me in the groin.An image of Leon flashed in my mind as I rolled to my left.LeMond’s kick grazed my buttocks.
I tried to get to my knees and stand up, but LeMond snapped another kick at me.His foot crashed into my hip and I sprawled into the wall.
LeMond’s next kick came toward my mid-section, but I managed to get my arm in the way to block it.He pivoted and sent the kick toward my head instead.I tried to roll away from the kick, but it still struck a glancing blow, raking across my ear.
I looked up and saw LeMond’s knee right in front of me.I reached out and grabbed on, jerking his leg toward me.It was his turn to fall over backward.His breath whooshed out of him when he landed.
I scrambled forward on all fours.As soon as he started to sit up, I lashed out with my fists, hitting him twice square in the nose.He grunted and shook his head.Blood sprayed out in a fine mist and I felt some of the warm droplets land on my cheek.
LeMond reached for me and I reached for him.We rolled over twice on the living room floor, jockeying for position.I kept my forehead tucked in tight to his neck as we rolled.He locked up my right leg with both of his legs, clamping them together like a vise.I pushed off of my left knee and bit back a cry when pain, old and new, exploded there.
“Hurts?” LeMond growled.
I reversed directions and rolled us over again.Once on top, I broke away and dropped an elbow into his gut.He grunted, but flicked out his fingers, raking across my eyes.I closed them as fast as I could, but felt a searing pain in my left eye just as my lids slammed shut.
I pulled in close to him again, feeling for his arms and hands.He was trying to get some sort of chokehold on me, but I kept his hands at bay.My eye burned, but when I opened them, I found I could still see out of my right eye.The left was watery and blurred.
LeMond tried a sudden violent rocking motion, but I used my weight to keep him under me.I slid my left hand up against his throat and pushed his face away.His hand snaked downward and flailed for my groin.
I let go of his arm with my right and reached for my gun.LeMond immediately wrapped that arm around my neck, searching for a chokehold.I drew my.45, made sure my finger was off the trigger so that I didn’t shoot him until I meant to do so, and jammed the gun into his ribs.
He gave another grunt and I felt his entire mid-section tense with the exhale.
“That was my gun,” I said, my voice muffled against his chest.“Let go.”
LeMond hesitated. I pressed the barrel into his ribs a little harder until he let go.His arms pulled away from me and flopped to the floor.He unraveled his leghold and lay still.
I pulled away, keeping the gun trained on him.Once I was out of striking range, I rubbed my eye, clearing away the tears and a little bit of blood.My vision was still blurry in that eye.
“Sit up,” I told him.“Keep your legs out straight and put your hands on your knees, palms up.”
LeMond obeyed.
We sat there in Kris’s living room, breathing heavily and staring at each other for a long while.I dabbed at my eye.The bleeding was minor.
I watched LeMond and wondered what he had planned for me if he’d won the fight.The logical part of my brain was telling me that he didn’t have a whole lot of options other than killing me.
“Kris,” I called.
There was no answer.
I waved the gun at LeMond.He shook his head and mouthed Fuck You.
“Kris!” I called again.“Come out here!”
No answer.
I wondered if she had gone out the window, even though the apartment was on the third floor.I struggled to my feet, keeping my eye on LeMond. I opened my mouth to call a third time, but at that moment, the doorknob lock jiggled. Kris Sinderling walked slowly out of the room, holding a knife to her throat.
Gary LeMond smiled.
54
“Kris…” I started to say.
“Put your gun away,” she ordered, her voice wavering.
“No.”
“Do it,” she said, “or I’ll cut my throat.”
She was less than seven feet from me, the thin knife pressed against her throat. I could rush her, but there’s no way I could get there before she hurt herself.
I kept my gun trained on LeMond.
“I’m not kidding,” she said, staring at me.
“I believe you,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and soothing.“But if I put this gun down, he will kill me with it.”
“No, I won’t,” LeMond said softly, but without any real conviction.
“Sure he will,” I said to Kris.“Because he knows I’m going to tell everyone about this operation. Not only will his cash disappear, but he’ll be headed for prison.He has to kill me.”
Kris’s eyes flashed to LeMond and then back to me, looking like a rabbit caught in her own trap.
“Mexican standoff,” LeMond said, and I was reminded of RogerJackson.
I watched Kris.She’d let up on the knife’s pressure against her neck.I focused on the blade of the knife, watching LeMond out of my peripheral vision.My mind was whirring, searching for options.
“Maybe we can all walk away from this,” I said.
“Make everyone happy?” LeMond’s voice was filled with sarcasm.
“No,” I said.“Nobody’s leaving this situation happy.But we can all three walk away alive.”
Neither one of them answered, so I forged on.
“Let’s start with this,” I said, meeting Kris’s eye.“You are going home to your parents.”