Daddy Cool (21 page)

Seething from an unknown anger, he turned on his heel and walked away from her, never bothering to glance back at the vision of loveliness he left behind.

4FTER FULFILLING TWO-thirds of his contract, the professional assassin made his way back to his car. Daddy Cool felt better now. After sparing Buddy's life, he believed he had done the right thing. He promised himself that he would make a call and explain it to Big Jack. Then it would be out of his hands. He wouldn't plead for Buddy's life though; he would leave that decision up to Jack. Maybe it would have been better if he had collected Big Jack's money, but since Big Jack owed him for the contract, he would just write it off as even.

It would be nice to have breakfast with Janet, he thought, and instantly began to consider how he could contact her. She hadn't given him any address, but it still wouldn't be hard for him to find out where she stayed. A few calls would solve that problem. At the first pay telephone, he stopped and got out. After three calls he had her address written down with the number of her apartment.

He would surprise her this morning. He glanced at his watch. It was still early, but since she had gone in early she should be getting up around now. It was just a little past nine, a good time for them to go and find a restaurant that served good pancakes, something both of them liked.

As he drove slowly back across the city, events were taking place that would involve him directly.

Earl, still waiting in the hallway, was about to give up. The old woman down the hall had glanced out of her apartment twice, each time seeing the huge man lurking around. The last time she saw him, her imagination got the best of her.

She believed the huge man was just waiting for the chance to break into her place. She went to the telephone and dialed the nearest police station. When she got the dispatcher on the line, she told him that there was a big man hiding in her hallway and acting strange.

Before Earl could make up his mind to leave, the door he had watched at night came open and Ronald walked swiftly down the hall. Earl pressed himself against the stairway, waiting in ambush for the younger man.

Ronald was almost upon Earl before he saw the huge man standing there. Instantly, fear leaped into his eyes. He stopped and stared at him in horror. Earl stepped away from the wall. Two more steps and he was in front of the frightened Ronald. His huge hand shot out and gathered some of Ronald's shirt in his grip.

At first, Ronald attempted to struggle, but his young strength was impotent against the huge man. Without hesitation, Earl balled his hand up into a fist and struck Ronald viciously against the head.

"Wait, man, wait," Ronald began to plead, "I'll give you back the money he gave his daughter. I was just takin' it to put in the bank for her!"

The man's words made no sense to Earl. He had a job to do and speed was the best thing. Before he could wrap his huge hands around Ronald's neck, the boy managed to scream. It was a high, piercing sound that carried the fear he felt. He knew he was facing death.

He struggled against the hands that held him but it was useless. It was as though he was in the grip of an iron machine. Nothing he did could make the animal-like man in front of him let go. Ronald tried to kick, but again his action was in vain.

Earl lifted the smaller man off his feet as he applied pressure to the boy's neck. The kicks that Ronald used against him just seemed to bounce off Earl's legs. He twisted his body around so that Ronald couldn't kick him between the legs.

The high scream that Ronald had let out put a cold block of fear in Janet's heart. From her apartment she knew at once that it was Ronald. It was a feeling she had. Grabbing up a housecoat and tossing it around her shoulders, she ran to the door of her apartment and flung it open. As she ran down the hallway, she saw the two men struggling, moving as though they were in slow motion.

"Earl," she screamed at the top of her voice as she came near. The sound of her voice only added strength to the giant's hands. He gave one final shake of the boy's neck and was rewarded for his trouble by hearing a snap. He knew he had succeeded in doing what he had come to do. He had broken the boy's neck.

Ronald was like a doll in his arms. He tossed the useless body away from him as Janet came running up. At the sight of the mutilated body, she let out another scream. This one began on a high note and seemed to swell.

Earl took one quick glance over his shoulder at her and ran. He hadn't wanted her to see him, but it was too late now. Either way, it was over and done with. He took the stairway down three steps at a time. Before he reached the first floor, the outer door opened and two blue-uniformed policemen came walking in.

The first thing they heard was the screaming from Janet, then the next thing they knew, a huge black man came roaring down the steps. With one sweep of his huge arms, Earl knocked one of the officers completely off his feet. The other policeman just took a glancing blow, then he came back off the wall clutching at his gun.

Still running, Earl was at the outer door when the policeman's warning reached him. It had no immediate effect on the running man. If he had understood, he wouldn't have stopped. The first bullet caught him in his back but didn't even slow him down. He was out the doorway and on his way when the policeman took careful aim and fired again. His next bullet struck the fleeing man in the neck, hitting the huge main vein.

When the bullet came out on the other side, a gush of blood followed it.

Earl still remained on his feet. He fell against a car and balanced himself. As he started to run again, the policeman took aim and fired once more. This time the bullet struck him high in the back and staggered him until he fell.

After running back to her apartment intending to call an ambulance for Ronald, Janet heard the shooting and raced to her front window. She was in time to see Earl fall on his face. But she also saw someone else.

She saw Daddy Cool, who had just pulled up and gotten out of his car. When she looked out, her father was running toward the big man. She thought at once that he had been there all the time. More than likely he had put the huge man up to doing what he had done, she reasoned.

With tears flowing down her cheeks, Janet wished with all her heart that her father would have just waited. Now she could never forgive him. If only he would have let her work it out, she was sure he would have been happy.

Now, it was all over and she knew that Ronald was dead out in the hallway. And the responsibility for it was downstairs kneeling on the sidewalk, the only person to come out of this smelling like a rose.

It was something she couldn't allow him to get away with. With slow deliberation, Janet began to dress. When she finished, she opened the drawer and removed two of the long-bladed knives. After concealing them under her jacket, she started for the door.

Downstairs, Daddy Cool knelt beside the huge man. "Why, why, Earl, why didn't you wait for me, old-timer? Then none of this would have happened." Daddy Cool leaned down and held the huge man's head. Blood from the man's wounds soaked his clothes, but Daddy Cool didn't pay any heed to it. There were honest tears in his eyes as he held his close friend, staring down at the huge man as the last flicker of life left his eyes. At the last moment, Earl tried to say something, but he wasn't able to get the words out.

The policeman who had done the shooting approached the slain man. "You knew this guy?" he inquired as his partner came running up.

"Yeah," Larry Jackson answered, "he worked for me."

"Well, he killed a guy with his hands in the hallway," the other policeman said.

"Yeah, I know," Daddy Cool replied. He didn't have to see the body to know. He had seen Ronald's car, and had put two and two together. As he got up and straightened out his hurting knees from the concrete, he wondered how his daughter would take this. More than likely she would end up holding me responsible, Daddy Cool reflected.

"Say, we'd like to get a statement from you," one of the policemen said.

"From me?" Daddy Cool answered sharply, then laughed. "Hell, man, I'm not the one who shot him. See your partner there," he stated as he saw his daughter come out of the doorway.

She was staring straight ahead. Her eyes came to rest on his face, and she never looked away. Oh shit, Daddy Cool said to himself as he waited for her. It's like I thought. She thinks I'm responsible for this shit! He had to smile as he watched her close the distance between them. She's so much like I used to be, he thought as he looked at her with pride.

When her hand went under her jacket and she came out with the knife, he smiled again. He had known she would come up with it before she revealed it. The movement had been smooth and easy. He took pride in her experience.

I wonder if I could beat her from here, he reflected as he watched her hand go back. In a detached way, it seemed as if she was doing it to someone else, and he was on a stage watching. If she kills me straight out, he reflected in his last seconds, she'll end up facing a first-degree murder charge.

With that thought in mind, he decided to make his move. Not to hurt her, but only to protect her from the long arm of the law. He knew he still had three of his own weapons on him.

"You're wrong, Janet," he screamed loudly, then made his move. She had too much of a head start though, and he knew it. She was good, but he believed that it would have been easy for him to take her. He flipped the knife from out of his shoulder rig, but it was too late.

Already death was winging its way through the air. He didn't try to dodge the knife throw. He just hoped the police saw it as self-defense for his girl. She would need all the help she could get. But instead of throwing the knife, he held it in his hand.

At the last instant, he knew he would have had plenty of time to get his toss off.

If he had really wanted to.

available in paperback from Holloway House, the original publishers of Daddy Cool.

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