Dick by Law (24 page)

But he was struggling.

"I
'
m going to do it
now
!" bellowed Mobai. "Enjoy the show
, powerless Pussy pawn
!"

For all Mobai's shouting, he put no pressure on the machete. It was up to Simon to move in for the kill.
To add torrents of blood to the single drop crawling down Horne's throat.

So now, Simon had to make a decision. He could refuse to kill Horne, which would probably lead to his own
untimely
death.

Or he could kill
Horne Shaw,
the dick he hated more than anyone in the whole world
, and get away with it.

 

*****

130 Million Years Ago

China

The
killer
ebon dinosaur ro
ared as the black muck
sucked
him
deeper. He was already sunk up to his chest; his arms and clawed hands had disappeared beneath the
glossy obsidian
surface.

Which meant he would be even easier for Grip to kill.

The dinosaur roared again, casting the rancid mist of his breath over the banked rim of the pit
,
carrying with it the trace scents of Grip's murdered mate and pups.
The smell reminded Grip of his reason for being there.

He hadn
'
t come in search of a new family or
a
fresh start with another dog-thing's pups.
He hadn't come to watch his enemy die a slow death
brought on by a natural, impersonal phenomenon.
He
'
d come to kill the last killer of his family
in a very personal way
, to pay him back for the tragedy he'd caused.

He'd come to get revenge.

Growling, Grip turned his back on the orphaned pups and faced the pit.
Mind made up, he paced the bank, gathering steam for the last
act
of his quest.

His heart pounded as he built toward the jump.
The killer's roars and howls increased his excitement and resolve.
He gnashed his teeth and snarled as he thought about ripping open the
killer
dinosaur's throat.

Finally
. He
'
d finally arrived at the end of the road. Any minute now, he would leap across the pit, land on the
kill
er's head, scamper down his long neck, and tear it
to ribbons
.

He could already taste the blood on his whiskers.
He could imagine his final revenge in great detail.

Grip stopped pacing
the bank
at the closest point to the dinosaur. He let off one long, ululating howl, a battle cry, and then he crouched. His tail curled, and every muscle in his body tensed.

Grip kicked up
mud
with his back paws...first one and then the other. His red-tipped ears peeled straight back
against his brown and white neck
, and his eyes
glittered with hatred and rage.

Breathing
deep and fast,
he prepared
to leap. The dinosaur roared in the pit,
barely
ten feet away
, well within range.

Grip's muscles coiled, about to release
.
Night birds cried and insects chirped in the forest around him, a prelude to his final burst of revenge.
The moment had
come
for
his
lea
p into action.

 

*****

Chapter
50

130 Million Years Later

Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda

"Time for the killing!"
Mobai
shook Simon, making the machete in his hand twitch
.
The shaking knocked Mobai's leopard-skin fez
off his head
, sending it tumbling down
ov
er Simon to land
on the sandy floor of the cave.
"I am forcing you to kill him, and there is nothing you can do to stop it!"

Simon's pulse
boom
ed like thunder in his ears. He hung suspended in time
,
the machete poised at Horne's throat, awaiting the slightest push.

Horne had caused him many months of frustration, but the end was in sight. Simon could kill him
, get away with it, and never look back. He could get what he'd been craving since Horne had screwed him
over
on the damage claim.

Revenge.

"I'm doing it!"
Mobai
raised his voice for the benefit of the audio pickup in Poppa Free's cell phone
.
The phone's video camera continued to capture every second of the drama for posterity.

Simon watched the point of the machete hover at Horne's throat, and he considered his choices
once more. The thought of getting rid of Horne was tempting. It should have been a real no-brainer.

For a
dick
.
Was that what he'd become? Had his crusade turned him into the very thing he'd been trying to fight?

And if he took this one last step, could he ever possibly turn back?

Suddenly, his choice was clear to him
.
"Forget it."
Simon
let his arm go limp in Mobai's grasp. "I won't kill him."

Simon expected some kind of angry outburst from Mobai, but nothing happened. Everyone
--Horne, Poppa Free, the soldiers--
waited silently in the cave. The sound of the crashing surf on the beach outside swelled to fill the space.

Then
,
Mobai gasped. "What are you
doing
, old
pal
?"

"I told you," said Simon. "I'm doing
nothing
."

"Quit forcing the knife toward that man!" As Mobai said it, he tightened his grip on Simon's
arm
, pretending Simon was pushing the knife forward after all
. "Please stop! I was only joking when I said I'd make you kill him! Now
you're
forcing
me
!"

"No!"
Simon
choked on the cloud of Mobai's B.O. and cologne as it seemed to close in around him
. "Stop!"

Even as he said it, he felt Mobai's muscles flex, and he knew it was too late.

All it took was
a twist of the wrist. Mobai flicked the machete, with Simon's hand around the handle, across Horne's throat.

And a crimson line appeared, a single red thread from
Horne's
earlobe to
his
Adam's apple.

"
No
!" Simon fought to break away, but Mobai held him in place.
He f
orced him to stand close as the red thread split open, and blood sp
urt
ed out.

As
it
sprayed all over them both.

"Happy baptism!" said Mobai. "The dick is dead! Long live the
pussy
!"

The blood kept coming. Simon's screams mixed with Mobai's
booming
laughter. Poppa Free sang "Tears of a Clown" in falsetto
,
and
a soldier
clapped along to keep time.

Then
, suddenly,
the sound of barking dogs burst into the chaos from somewhere outside. There must have been two of them, three, maybe four.
Their voices were getting closer fast.

And then
a
nother voice broke in over top of them, much closer
.
"Freeze!" It was a man's voice, coming from the mouth of the cave. "Police!"

The soldier stopped clapping and swung his rifle
toward the voice. Gunfire crackled from the cave's mouth, and he was cut down instantly.

"I said
freeze
!" said the policeman
.

The second soldier, who'd been holding Horne's head back
, let go of Horne and
swung around
his own rifle. He did manage to get off a few shots before dropping, like the first soldier, in a hail of bullets from the mouth of the cave.

"Fucking
freeze
!" said the policeman.

This time, no one
made a hostile move.

"Don't shoot!" said Poppa Free. "I'm a hostage!
I'm a star!
This maniac took me prisoner!"

Mobai released Simon and raised his
massive
hands in the air. "Diplomatic im
p
unity, gentlemen
! I'm a foreign
head of state
, I'll have you know!"

The
male and female cops
who swarmed into the cave
in their bullet-proof vests,
white
shirts
, and ties
didn't seem to pay much attention to what anyone was saying. They disarmed
Poppa Free and Mobai and chucked them facefirst to the ground with equal brutality.

The police started to rough up Simon, too, when another voice cut through the cave. "That's him!"

Simon
's heart raced when he heard that voice. His eyes burned, and he got a lump in his throat.
"That's him! That's Simon!"

He saw her running toward him
through a whirl of cop flashlights
and barking bloodhounds
, arms extended. She pushed past the policemen and reached for him
, i
gnor
ing
his blood-soaked clothes, the body on the ground, ignor
ing
everything.

"I followed when they took you!
" S
he
threw herself against him and
wrapped her arms around him
. "I
brought the police, and we tracked you all the way here!"

At first, Simon stood stiffly, in shock. Then, slowly, he lifted his arms.
He w
rapped them around he
r, returning her embrace.

"I'm sorry it took me so long!" she said. "Oh God, I'm so sorry!"

"Ishi
.
"
H
e
kissed the silky black hair on top of her head
. "Ishi, I love you."

And then he cried. He couldn't stop the tears from running down his face.

 

*****

Chapter 5
1

130 Million Years Ago

China

Just as Grip was about to leap across the pit
at the ebon dinosaur sinking into the tar
, the pups started barking all at once, crying out in terror.
Calling for help.

He couldn't ignore them.

Whipping around, Grip looked down the slope
, away from the pit
. The pups were still clustered toge
ther around their dead mother
...
but now they were surrounded by predators. Three
white-
feathered dinosaurs encircled them, squawking
and waving their claws as they hopped
ever
closer.

Each
feathered dinosaur
w
as
over twice the size of Grip
...five times the size of a pup.
Grip instantly understood
that
the pups didn't stand a chance. Not on their own.

The dinosau
rs would tear the pups apart as if they were ripe fruit. One, two, three, and another family of dog-things would
disappear from the world.
Just like Grip's family.

Unless...

Grip spun and gazed at the ebon dinosaur sinking in the pit.
He was up to his shoulders in
putrid
black
sludge
, unable to free his arms, yet still
he
roared at Grip as if daring him to
attack.

That dinosaur was the whole reason Grip had come here
. He was the last of the killers who'd slaughtered Grip's mate and pups, and Grip wanted more than anything to kill him. To close the circle.

Soon, the ebon dinosaur would disappear completely under the ooze. Grip would lose his chance
forever to kill the killer with his own fangs and claws in the name of his family.

He had only moments to make the leap and finish his quest. If he chose to try it, he might not return
.
His survival wasn't certain...b
ut one thing
was
.
Even if he made it back, the pups would be dead by then.

Unless...

Grip kept watching the ebon dinosaur in the pitch black pit.
B
ehind him, the pups continued their panicked barking
, the white-feathered predators continued their fierce squawking.

Grip
's body tensed as
one last surge of revenge-hunger
cascaded through him. One last time, he thought of sailing through the air over the pit and killing his enemy with savage grace.

Then,
he
turned away.

Grip
made one last gesture
before he left.
Raising
his hind leg toward the pit
, he
sprayed
piss
at the ebon dinosaur. The wind was moving in the dinosaur's direction; with any luck,
the piss might
hit him
, forever marking Grip's territory
.

Then,
Grip dropped his leg and
raised his nose toward the moon
. He howled with all the power and fury he possessed, singing the song of a little dog
like creature
who had just killed five monsters much bigger than he
and left a sixth to
suffer and
die.

When he was finished, he charged
down the slope toward
the
pups
, teeth flashing in the moonlight, red-tipped ears rippling in the wind.

 

*****