CHAPTER TEN - Holy Batz Trap
Before we ran out, I stopped Eddie for a second, "remember, she don't know we know what we know, so we gotta play it cool, get me?" "All the way, Boss-man" I slapped him on the back, "all right" and we sped off to my employer. I whipped out the number and buzzed her. "Yes?" "Hey, this is Batz, Mike Batz, Private I" "Oh, yes?" "I think I got somethin' on your case, I gotta meet up with youse". "Sure, I'll be home all evening. You do have the address." Holdin' up the paper and rubbin' my digits on it, "sure thing, got it right here", and hung up. "Hoo-boy, I got it here and she's gonna get it there". "Hoo-boy", Eddie responded.
We pull up to her place and take a peek. "Hit-lady lives purty damn good", I says. "You're tellin' me", says Eddie. We get out of the car and hit it. Knocked a couple of times. No answer. "Funny, she's expectin' us, ain't she?", says Eddie. I says, "you'd think" and knocked again. Damn. Still nothin'. I touched Eddie's shoulder and whispered, "maybe somethin's wrong. Let's just go in". "Right behind ya, Boss-Man".
I slowly opened the door and the two of us entered. "Good Jesus!", I said. There was a body on the floor. I knelt down on one knee to get a better look at his face. Eddie stayed in the back for a second, then joined me. "Oh, it's one of the guys on the tape", he says, half-whispering. "Why'd he get whacked, I wanna know." "Maybe he threatened to squeal". "Yeah, good point." We looked at each other, then back at the body. Eddie sighed, bowed his head for a moment. We both stood up slowly. When you see a body, ya tend to do stuff kinda slow. We both stood, staring ahead, then I heard that sound, that horrible, deathly sound that gives ya the feelin' that fire ants were let loose in your veins. It was the turning of the chamber in a revolver. "Make no moves until you're instructed. Now, turn very slowly and face me with your hands up." We put our hands up. We turned counter-clockwise. We both shifted back and forth a little on our feet, finally standing with our legs spread. Eddie's left arm brushed up against my right arm, his short sleeve slightly pushed up, my long sleeve touching the flesh on his arm. We did as we were told. When you hear the sound of a chamber of a revolver, ya tend to do stuff kinda slow. We looked at the revolver. It was silver and glowed in the dimly-lit living room. LIVING room, how freakin' ironic, huh? I swallowed, Hard. "So this is it, huh?" "What?" "There was never a hit out on you, was there?" "Well, yes and no" "I don't getcha" "Well, the no part means that I was not unaware of who was going to kill me. I knew. But, yes, I was going to be killed. If I didn't kill you first." Eddie started to whisper, "holy mother of....." then a shot rang out. Eddie freaked out and grabbed his arm, rubbing it, checking to see how badly he'd been hit. He wasn't. He rubbed underneath and found just a hole in his sleeve. At the angle he was holding his arms up at, his shirt sleeve hung about a centimeter or two from his arm, leaving room for a bullet to cut through the fabric without actually hitting him. As he poked his finger through the hole, he was awestruck. "Man, oh man!" "Sorry, I had to do that. I just wanted to startle you a little. I never met you before, who are you?" I interceded, "uh, this is my guy, Eddie Robinson". She nodded to him, and he to her. Meanwhile, I referred to the body in back of us. "Why'd ya do that?" "Self-defense. Look, I'm not sure what to do here. I don't want any of us to die, but I was having a fling with the guy behind you, he told my boyfriend. My boyfriend was then going to kill me, but gave me another chance, to prove I was sorry, so he said, 'get Batz'. I said, 'who's that?'. The dick who busted me. Get him and stay alive. Before you got here, I had a few words with the dead guy and it got ugly. He started shovin' me around, that kind of thing. In a scuffle, I grabbed his gun and let 'im have it. However, there's only one way I can stop my boyfriend from killing me, and, well, sorry to say, but you guys are the only way." A tear rolled down one cheek. Not mine. Not Eddie's. Hers. "Detective Batz, I'm so sorry" BANG! Right in the ribs. I grabbed the wound and was still standing, then POW, in the chest, right near the heart. I fell back. Eddie, showing no emotion whatsoever, said calmly, "ya gonna do that to me, too?" "Yes". Two seconds later, he was lyin' right next to me. I heard him grunt and land with a thud. Suddenly, there were sirens, the sounds of "the house is surrounded" Eddie muttered, "a dollar short and a day late". Thank God he was still alive. We both were, but who knew for how long. She dropped the gun, then bent down and kissed me on the cheek. I sneered, "don't do me any favors" and she left the house, surrenderin' to the cops. A couple of guys came in and checked the place out. One of them shouted to the other, "get an ambulance, at least a couple. Tape this place up! This is a crime scene." To us, he said, "hang tight, we'll getcha help in a minute." One officer stayed in the room, guarding us while some others went around the place, seein' if there was anything else goin' on. Eddie was also shot in the ribs, his hand was covered with blood, same as mine. He managed to get his hand free and put it on my shoulder, holding me. He propped himself up a little, whispering to me. Gruntin' in pain, he blurted out, "we'll be okay" (grunt) "we'll be okay - can't keep a good guy down...." then fell back, his hand still on me.