Control (30 page)

…
“
Well these
are
different,
”
Haggerty said, touching the leather, and a few minutes earlier he doubted he would have been able to sound as convincing. But Winslow was a believer now, so his voice was fine.
“
I
’
ve never seen boots quite like this before.
”
He started to get up, slowly, keeping the sentences flowing, throwing in the
“
innocent
”
now, a weighted word, one you had to use carefully when you were into the high point of your sell. That was all this was, really. A sales job. He had to convince Winslow and he
’
d done it. Not the best work of his career, but nothing to skulk about either. You had to have an honest face and a sincere tone —Haggerty had developed his working with jumpers—he
’
d lost the first one years before because he
’
d rushed it, been too pushy, but now he was older and not as dumb as in days of yore.

“
Older
”
definitely, but not a
“
washed-up old bum
”
as Eric had so recently termed him. When this was done he was going to have to retaliate for the insult, even though Eric was doing it in a good cause; i.e. his life. Maybe forget the retaliation, he decided as he was almost all the way up. He had zapped Eric good enough with
the beer tasting so even Steven is fair enough, nobody needed more than that, nobody needed—

—then came the push—

—and even as he was flying backward Haggerty knew it was all a mistake; he understood human nature and Winslow believed him, believed the George Slocum story, believed—

—Haggerty tried to grab to the edge of where the door had been—

—and he was successful.

But not for long.

Not for long enough.

His body began to arch out into the air now, and he caught a glimpse of the thick cables that supported the elevator, and he tried to grab tight hold of the cables—

—and he was successful.

But not for long enough again.

His scream began then and it surprised him, he had never thought he would go into the good night that way. But for all his years on earth, he seemed to have learned nothing, for he went out as he entered, screaming, helplessly screaming like a baby
…

… Eric had never entered battle knowing he was going to kill the enemy, but as he took the stairs three at a time it was clear that that was the situation now, and it bothered him because when you were blood crazy your brain could take a powder and he had been in enough violent confrontations over the years to know the wilder you were the less chance for survival, and Eric was wild now, as he streaked to the fifteenth floor corridor then out the door onto the roof and he was halfway across it by the dark shadows of the elevator housing when he heard Billy Boy move in the corner ahead of him and he fired, fired again, was about to make a third attempt before he realized the sound was not Billy Boy but something metallic, a paint can maybe, thrown from somewhere and that somewhere was probably behind him and Eric instinctively went into a roll as Billy Boy charged from the elevator housing and they closed, and as his arms caught Eric, Eric realized that
Jesus,
he had never felt such power, and he went limp, then sprung taut, almost breaking the grip, except Billy Boy would not let go of Eric
’
s gun so they spun around in the darkness both of them clinging to the weapon and Billy Boy was much the stronger,
Eric the more quick, and their attention was totally on who would control the pistol, until Eric did a stunning thing.

He simply let go.

Billy Boy stood still for a moment, surprised, holding the gun and that moment was enough for Eric to kick him hard in the wrist and the giant hand opened, the gun fell and Billy Boy went for it but Eric tripped him up and then Eric made a move but Billy Boy shouldered him away and finally Eric kicked again, sending the goddam gun across the roof into total darkness.

Now their only weapons were their bodies.

Eric backed away, taking off his topcoat, tossing it aside, ripping his sportcoat the same way, throwing it blindly behind him, the same with his shirt, and it was cold as hell on his skin but if you were a nightfighter what you didn
’
t want was anything someone could grab hold of, you wanted your body free, and yes, he would probably bleed badly when they went to ground as they would, there were bricks on the ground and nails and broken glass too but it didn
’
t matter, nothing mattered if your body was free, not to a nightfighter, and Eric had spent too many hours learning, to lose now.

That was the theory anyway …

… As the pistol skittered away from them, Billy Boy felt like it was his birthday and the whole world was bringing him cakes. No one had ever come close to him, except when they had guns and all he had was his fist. Even then sometimes it was even.

But with the gun gone, with just him against the pretty boy, it was strictly no contest. The only thing was, he had to be sure to make it last, to really take the pretty boy
’
s face away nice and slow.

Then the striptease started and Billy Boy wondered what the fuck. Off came the coat and then the next coat and then he ripped his shirt away and was that an Apple stunt, did New York cops get taught to fight in the nude in the winter because if they didn
’
t, why was he doing it?

Then the cop stopped with the clothes act and stood facing him. For a minute nothing. Then the cop spun suddenly all the way around and Billy Boy felt the kick hard on the shoulder. Japanese crap, it meant nothing. He
’
d whipped the shit out of those guys before.

But he
’
d have to keep watching for it, keep a sharp eye out for it. And the next time it came he
’
d be ready. The next time he
’
d grab the foot and twist it till it came off
…

… Eric had no interest in karate, knew only the one move, the spin kick, which he executed with only a fair amount of speed. But he tried to use it at the beginning if he could. It always surprised, and beyond that, once it was in their minds that that was his form of attack, they always were on the alert, waiting for the next spin. You had to divide their brains. You had to win with your intelligence. Sometimes your power could leave you—an arm could be broken, a leg cracked—but as long as you thought, as long as you were in command in the mind, the battlefield was yours.

That was when Billy Boy said,
“
I
’
ll have you fucking screaming too before I
’
m done,
”
and for a minute Eric didn
’
t get it. For a minute they just circled. Then Eric realized the giant was mocking Frank Haggerty
’
s death and his mind abdicated leadership, he lost control.

And he charged.

Blindly.

Billy Boy was waiting with open arms. Then the arms closed and began to squeeze and Eric felt himself being lifted off the ground and then he was slammed against the brick wall of the elevator housing and the blow stunned him, and the hard brick ripped into the skin of his back and blood started there and he struggled to get free but again he was slammed against the elevator housing and this time his head took a solid shot and the next time he thought he could feel a rib going and again he was slammed back and this time his hip took the brunt and his right leg felt numb and he was hurting all over now and he was bleeding too, but that had happened before, and he had fought strong men before, brought them down. But what made this different, what made this bad, was his mind was gone, his brain had taken a walk, his body was in charge and it wasn
’
t good enough, not against giants, not against this giant anyway.

Billy Boy went for a knee in the nuts but caught Eric
’
s thigh instead and for an instant lost his balance and in that instant Eric slipped away, slipped free—

—free
—

—and then he charged again.

And again it was slaughter. Billy Boy grabbed him easily, took him by one arm, spun him across the roof and down. Eric tried to rise but too slow, Billy Boy kicked him in the stomach and it wasn
’
t a solid blow but for an instant the air was out of him and Billy Boy picked him up again, lifted him high, pitched him across the roof and he landed on some paint cans and they jammed into his skin and now it was leaving Eric. He saw Billy Boy lumbering for him and he tried getting up but the paint cans tripped him and he fell again, fell all by himself.

Then Billy Boy brought him to a standing position with his left hand and slowly, as Eric watched, he turned his right hand into a fist and more slowly turned his arm into a club and slower still raised it high and Eric thought, I think he
’
s going to kill me, but that
’
s wrong, that
’
s all wrong, I was going to kill him.

He was thinking again.

The blow started down as Eric jumped into Billy Boy, jumped right inside the blow and when they were very close he brought his head way over to the left and then snapped it up into Billy Boy
’
s face and even before the cry he knew the giant
’
s nose was broken. Billy Boy stepped back, tearing, and while he was still having trouble seeing, Eric grabbed the sleeve of his coat and jerked it forward and kept hold of it while Billy Boy tried to keep balance and then Eric spun the giant around and around, the coat sleeve his weapon, and when he let go, Billy Boy stumbled and fell and as he got up Eric drove his knuckles deep into Billy Boy
’
s neck.

Then when Billy Boy stood up Eric dropped down and drove his heels into the other man
’
s kneecaps and when Billy Boy was down again Eric got up and used his elbow on the damaged nose and this brought a shriek of pain.

M
ove, move, move, Eric thought, circling, in with a kick, then an elbow into the stomach, then he grabbed the sleeve of the coat as Billy Boy pulled free but that was fine, Eric didn
’
t want the coat anymore, he wanted the nose again and he got it with the palm of his hand, drove the palm dead into the broken tissue and again Billy Boy could not keep silent.

Billy Boy backed away, started to pull his coat off, but Eric would not allow it, jumped in, then away, then in again, again
attacking the nose
and Billy Boy screamed,
“
I
’
ll fuckin
’
kill you,
”
and charged and Eric dropped, lashed out with both feet into the
side of the giant
’
s knees, sending him crashing against the elevator housing.

Billy Boy was panting now. He made a fist of his hand and a club of his arm and swung—

—Eric stepped inside the blow, slashed the side of his hand into the side of the giant
’
s nose.

Billy Boy made a fist of his hand and a club of his arm and swung—

—Eric stepped away, and when the force of the missed punch spun the giant past him, Eric brought his knee dead into contact with the base of the other man
’
s spine.

As Billy Boy began again to make a fist and then a club, Eric watched it because it was all the giant used now, all he had faith in, some mystic belief that somehow he would win with that single weapon. Eric watched in the darkness and Haggerty was dead for no good reason far below and on this roof, in this night, Billy Boy seemed to Eric like everything people had been trying to rid themselves of for eenturies, he was some throwback to the muck, when if you were a bigger Tyrannosaurus Rex, that carried with it triumph, and Eric realized he was not going to kill this creature, he was going to do something he hoped much worse.
I
am going to terrify you, Eric thought Vm going to make you feel fear.
I
’
m going to take your mystic weapon and destroy it.

The club blow missed, and Eric slapped Billy Boy with the back of his hand.

Heaving now, enraged now, the next club blow missed and another slap. A dainty slap, almost a feminine thing.

Billy Boy had his hand into a fist—

—and Eric stood there.

He made his fist into a club.

—and Eric stood there.

Billy Boy raised his right hand high.

—and Eric filled his mind with Haggerty, and what a pleasure. Just that day
’
s Haggerty. Haggerty telling the grieving Greek widow that life wasn
’
t necessarily
“
Byronic.
”
“
Definitely Bud
weiser.
”
“
Sake
quality.
”
“
Saline content.
”
“
You
’
re lucky they didn
’
t kick the shit out of you all over again.
”
And Eric replying,
“
it
’
s my fantasy, Frank, they didn
’
t stand a chance.
”

And now, in the darkness, in Eric
’
s reality, the club blow landed.

Eric just stood there. He felt nothing. The blow dropped away like water.

Billy Boy took a step backward. Eric watched him, thoughtfully. Billy Boy took another step. Eric spoke, voice very soft.
“
Now you suffer,
”
he said.

Billy Boy screamed and ran. He raced for the edge of the roof where there was a fifteen-foot drop to the next building, but Eric sliced the legs out from under him from behind and Billy Boy crashed into the wall. He got up and tried to run again and this time Eric caught him with a shoulder and Billy Boy crashed into the elevator housing, his head smashing into the bricks. He was making sounds now as he got up and ran again, this way, that way, panic controlling him and when Eric reached him he brought his elbow into contact with the giant
’
s Adam
’
s apple and Billy Boy went down, got up and ran blindly, bumping into things, slipping, falling, running like a waterbug, without direction.

When Eric caught up with him, he finished things quickly, a chop to the nose, an elbow to the stomach and when the giant doubled over, Eric brought his knee up sharp against his chin and Billy Boy fell semiconscious, and Eric took half a minute, got his gun back, then he dragged the giant from roof to the corridor and when the elevator came he threw Billy Boy in and rode down to the lobby where the guard was lying on the ground, moaning and rolling slowly around, and from the lobby Eric pulled Billy Boy out into the street and as they reached the sidewalk, a man in a blue suit came up alongside Eric and hit him a terrible blow to the side of the head and Eric gasped, let go of the giant, turned to his attacker when a second man in a blue suit struck him from behind at the base of the neck and the first one hit him with a pistol barrel across the forehead and Eric went down with his own blood in his eyes, and it was madness, it was all madness, he was going insane, helplessly watching as the two blue-suited men took the giant and placed him in a limousine and then a man who looked like Henry Kissinger was giving curt instructions, and then they were all in the limousine, driving quickly away and Eric on his knees tried for a look at the license plate but he was almost blind now, blind with blood, yes, and sweat, yes, that too, and saddest of all, tears
…