Not ordinarily a praying fellow, Ernie prayed now. That none of the people fleeing the Town Hall would notice the old man behind the wheel of the idling van. That Jackie and Rommie would come out safe, with or without Barbara and Everett. It occurred to him that he could just drive away, and was shocked by how tempting the idea was.
His cell phone rang.
For a moment he just sat there, not sure of what he was hearing, and then he yanked it ofThis belt.When he opened it, he saw JOANIE in the window. But it wasn't his daughter-in-law; it was Norrie.
'Grampa! Are you all right?'
'Fine,' he said, looking at the chaos in front of him.
'Did you get them out?'
'It's happening right now, honey,' he said, hoping it was the truth. T can't talk. Are you safe? Are you at... at the place?'
'Yes! Grampy, it glows at night!The radiation belt! The cars glowed too, but then they stopped! Julia says she thinks it isn't dangerous! She says she thinks it's a fake, to scare people away!'
You better not count on that, Ernie thought.
Two more muffled, thudding gunshots came from inside the PD. Someone was dead downstairs in the Coop; just about had to be.
'Norrie, I can't talk now.'
'Is it going to be all right, Grampa?'
'Yes, yes. I love you, Norrie.'
He closed the phone. It glows, he thought, and wondered if he would ever see that glow. Black Ridge was close (in a small town, everything's close), but just now it seemed far away. He looked at the PD's doors, trying to will his friends to come out. And when they didn't, he climbed from the van. He couldn't just sit out here any longer. He had to go inside and see what was happening.
30
Barbie saw Junior raise the gun. He heard Junior tell Rusty to close his eyes. He shouted without thinking, with no idea of what he was going to say until the words emerged from his mouth.'Hey,fuckface! I got you, didn't I? I got you good!'The laughter that followed sounded like the laugh of a lunatic who has been ditching his meds.
So that's how I laugh when I'm fixing to die, Barbie thought. I'll have to remember that. Which made him laugh harder.
Junior turned toward him. The right side of his face registered surprise; the left was frozen in a scowl. It reminded Barbie of some supervillain he'd read about in his youth, but he couldn't remember which. Probably one of Batman's enemies, they were always the creepiest. Then he remembered that when his little brother Wendell tried to say enemies it came out enemas. This made him laugh harder than ever.
There could be worse ways to go out, he thought as he reached both hands through the bars and shot Junior a nice double-bird. Remember Stubbs, in Moby-Dick? 'Whatever my fate, I'll go to it laughing.'
Junior saw Barbie giving him the finger - in stereo - and forgot all about Rusty. He started down the short corridor with his gun held out in front of him. Barbie's senses were very clear now, but he didn't trust them. The people he thought he heard moving around and speaking upstairs were almost surely just his imagination. Still, you played your string out to the end. If nothing else, he could give Rusty a few more breaths and a little more time.
'There you are, f**kface,' he said. 'Remember how I cleaned your clock that night in Dipper's? You cried like a little bitch.'
'I didn't.'
It came out sounding like an exotic special on a Chinese menu. Junior's face was a wreck. Blood from his left eye was dribbling down one stubble-darkened cheek. It occurred to Barbie that he might just have a chance here. Not a good one, but bad chances were better than no chances. He began to pace from side to side in front of his bunk and his toilet, slowly at first, then faster. Now you know what a mechanical duck in a shooting gallery feels like, he thought. I'll have to remember that, too.
Junior followed his movements with his one good eye. 'Did you f**k her? Did you f**k Angie?' Dih-ooo fuh'er? Dih-oo fuh An'yee?
Barbie laughed. It was the crazy laugh, one he still didn't recognize as his own, but there was nothing counterfeit about it. 'Did I f**k her? Did I f**k her? Junior, I f**ked her with her rightside up, her upside down, and her backside all present and accounted for. I f**ked her until she sang "Hail to the Chief" and "Bad Moon Rising." I f**ked her until she pounded on the floor and yelled for a whole lot more. I - '
Junior tilted his head toward the gun. Barbie saw it and jigged to the left without delay. Junior fired. The bullet struck the brick wall at the back of the cell. Dark red chips flew. Some hit the bars - Barbie heard the metallic rattle, like peas in a tin cup, even with the gunshot ringing in his ears - but none of them hit Junior. Shit. From down the hall, Rusty yelled something, probably trying to distract Junior, but Junior was done being distracted. Junior had his prime target in his sights.
Not yet, you don't, Barbie thought. He was still laughing. It was crazy, nuts, but there it was. Not quite yet, you ugly one-eyed motherfucker.
'She said you couldn't get it up,Junior. She called you El Limpdick Supremo. We used to laugh about that while we were - ' He leaped to the right at the same instant Junior fired. This time he heard the bullet pass the side of his head: the sound was zzzzzz. More brick chips jumped. One stung the back of Barbie's neck.
'Come on,Junior, what's wrong with you?You shoot like wood-chucks do algebra. You a headcase? That's what Angie and Frankie always used to say - '
Barbie faked to the right and then ran at the left side of the cell. Junior fired three times, the explosions deafening, the stink of the blown gunpowder rich and strong. Two of the bullets buried themselves in brick; the third hit the metal toilet low down with a spang sound. Water began to pour out. Barbie struck the far wall of the cell hard enough to rattle his teeth.
'Got you now,'Junior panted. Gah-ooo d'now. But deep down in what remained of his overheated thinking-engine, he wondered. His left eye was blind and his right one had blurred over. He saw not one Barbie but three.