|
Ama tottered into the room. She was scowling and reached down to
haul Benny out of the bed.
“No, Mama,” Sue said. “It’s OK. JJ was here, and Benny
stopped him.”
“He’s a man,” the big woman said, but kept her voice low.
“Benny a good man, but he still a man, a wild thing.”
Sue giggled. “He’s mine, so lay off.”
Chortling, Ama settled one hip on the dresser. “You OK, baby? JJ,
he didn’t hurt you none?”
With a small shake of her head, Sue smiled at a snoring Benny.
“When I can, I’m going to give him the wildest night of his
life.”
“Well . . .” Ama straightened, a smile twitching at the
corners of her mouth. “I believe the boy done had a pretty wild life, from the
looks o’ him. Maggie says he had a rough un. Most o’ his scars, they inside,
and I prays they don’t fester none.”
In answer, Sue gave Benny a light kiss on the lips. He moaned in
his sleep, and the blanket tented.
Henri glanced into the rearview mirror to chortle at Harrison. A
car was following them. Not one of the jalopies that people built of spare
parts, but a sleek black thing that hung low over the road and depended on
magnetic airlifts to move.
He speeded up just a little. The car did, as well.
“You recognize them?”
Harrison’s hollow eyes pushed open. “Who?”
“Behind us.”
Harrison whimpered and slid down to the floor.
“Raiders.”
“Nah. New car.”
Harrison peeped over the back seat.
“I’ve no clue,” he said, slumping back to huddle on the
cushions. “Have you phoned them?”
“Nope. Why borrow trouble?”
They came to the first checkpoint at Huntingdon Valley. Henri
passed a note to the guard. Reading it, the man nodded.
The limousine rolled through and picked up speed. Frowning at the
mirror, Henri saw the car pull through without stopping.
“Got an official gov beam,” he said, but Harrison was fast
asleep on the seat.
Sympathy filled Henri. He squashed it. Too many children ended up
in the household cloaca and the digester’s grinder for that. There had to be a
way to remove the collars. When he found it, Harrison would join the tormented
spirits of those children.
All but his liver, said
the big guardian seat next to him. Watching for minor craters and logs in the
road, Henri smiled.
He set the beam and roared by the next three checkpoints, slowing
only because the road through the city was so bad. Over the road a route sign,
611, hung crooked and rusting, waiting for someone needing the steel to claim
it.
The limousine angled around a hole and water flashed up from the
airlifts. He scowled.
“Mud on the car. Now I got to wash it again.”
Still, it wasn’t as bad as trying to get out all that doggy pee
from the carpets. And Harrison’s clothes. Poor Alma. Henri grinned.
They slid into the safety zone behind the courthouse. Henri helped
Harrison from the car by dragging him out by one arm. The black car slid into
the parking lot. Pulling a heavy old-fashioned .357 Magnum with cop-killer
bullets, the chauffeur stilled until it moved by. Henri forced a grin on his
face.
In a low mutter, he said, “You straighten up and fly right,
Judge.”
“Please, don’t hurt me.”
“Ain’t hurt you yet, have I? Man, I’ve been an older, loving
brother to you.”
He put an arm under Harrison’s, and walked slowly. A guard ran
out to them.
“Sir, is this man accosting you?" A gun was thrust in
Henri’s face. “We’ve noted he acts in a perverted way.”
“Me?” Henri scowled at the gun. He tried to watch the finger
on the trigger, the nervous tremble of the hand, and the guard’s eyes all at
the same time, and was getting a migraine. “Why you bugging the judge? He’s
a baron now. Ain’t that right, Judge?”
Harrison whimpered.
The guard scowled back. “Why is a judge walking from the back?
He’s supposed to be taken to the front so the people can see justice will be
served.”
“Why are you stopping it from happening?” Henri tore off his
hat and almost lost his head to a bullet. He ducked, throwing the judge on the
ground and dropping on him. “You’re making them outlaws shoot at him! You
want to come up on charges? He wants to come ‘round back ‘cause it’s safer,
and he needs the exercise anyway.”
Harrison nodded and wiggled against Henri. An otherworldly joy on
his face, he gave a blissful sigh, and a shocked Henri leaped away, sniper or no
sniper.
©2004 StoriesByEmail.com
|
