George Pelecanos - Shame the Devil

This is not a card game that’s happening here tonight, thought Farrow. This is something else.

Wilson fanned off to the left of Otis. A looked passed between Farrow and Otis and they stopped walking.

“Who are you?” said Farrow to the gray-haired man.

“Dimitri Karras.”

Farrow shifted his weight. “That supposed to mean something to me?”

“Jimmy Karras was my son.”

Farrow spread his hands. “So?”

As Farrow’s coat opened, Karras saw the butt of Farrow’s gun holstered at his waistline.

No one spoke. Their breath was heavy and visible in the buzzing light.

“What is this?” said Otis, looking from Karras to Wilson, who stood facing him now on his left. “Y ’all lookin’ to take us off?”

“It’s not a robbery, Roman.” Farrow looked down at the tarp beneath his feet. “It’s a slaughter.”

“That’s right,” said Karras. “Like you slaughtered those people in the pizza parlor. Like you slaughtered my son.”

Farrow nodded slowly. “That boy in the road. That’s what this is about.”

Karras drew the. 45 from behind his back. Wilson drew the. 38.

Farrow and Otis did not move their hands. Otis turned his head and saw the revolver in Wilson’s hand. He’d shoot the white man with the blank eyes first. He knew that Wilson would never have the courage to use the gun.

Karras raised his gun and pointed it at Farrow’s face. Bernie’s voice entered his head.

Always aim for the body.

Karras lowered the barrel of the gun.

“Kill him, Dimitri,” said Wilson.

Karras watched Farrow move a step to the right.

Lead that body a little if it’s moving.

“Your son,” said Farrow very quietly. “That was an accident.”

“It’s all an accident,” said Karras.

“Kill him!” screamed Wilson.

Otis looked over at Wilson and laughed. The revolver was shaking wildly in Wilson’s hand.

Farrow looked into Karras’s eyes, the light winking on his face. Now he knew what had seemed familiar to him. It was as if Farrow were looking at his own eyes in the mirror. There was nothing in the man’s eyes, nothing at all.

Karras stared back.

And keep firing your weapon until you’ve accomplished what you set out to do.

“I guess they got us, Roman,” said Farrow.

“Yeah,” said Otis. “Guess we oughtta just go ahead and surrender.” Otis raised his arms over his head. He rotated his right hand at the wrist as if he was waving good bye. The ID bracelet dropped beneath the cuff of his shirt.

His right hand flashed down to his waist.

Wilson squeezed the trigger of the. 38.

The slug blew through Otis’s armpit and punched out of his back. The force of it spun him around. He drew his. 45 and fired. Wilson felt his cheekbone rip away. He fell back screaming, still firing his weapon, as he took a second bullet in the groin.

Karras fired his gun. The. 45 jumped in his hand and he fired again and the weapon bucked. He saw the blur that was Farrow through the ejecting shells and the gunsmoke that had exploded into the room.

Wilson was falling. He fired and saw blood erupt from Otis’s neck as he drifted back. Wilson’s last shot blew lights from the ceiling as he hit the concrete.

Karras saw flame spit from Farrow’s gun. The roar of the gun was deafening, and Karras kept firing and felt something graze his scalp and it burned. The Colt’s receiver slid open as the final shot was expended, and Karras tumbled over the desk as rounds blew through particle board and bits of pressed wood bit sharply at his face.

He dropped his gun and covered up. A bell sound vibrated in his ears. Through the sound, he heard the door open at the front of the warehouse.

Karras stood and waved smoke from his face. The smell of cordite was heavy in the room. His feet crunched copper casings as he went to Thomas Wilson. He kicked the gun from Otis’s hand and kept on walking for Wilson.

He knelt over Wilson. The left side of Wilson’s face was ruined, a stew of blood and bone. There was blood in his lap and on his thighs and blood had pooled beneath him.

“I’m going to get help,” said Karras. “You’re going to live, Thomas, you hear me?”

Wilson blinked his eyes and squeezed Karras’s hand.

“You came in a car,” said Karras. His eyes felt wild and jittery, and he squinted to make them small. He didn’t want Thomas to be afraid.

Wilson’s eyes shifted in the direction of Otis.

“I’ll be back,” said Karras. “You’re gonna be okay. You did good, Thomas, hear?” His words sounded hollow coming from his mouth.

Karras went to Otis. His white shirt was soaked red and it flapped beneath the left arm. He had taken another bullet in the throat. He was dying. A wheezing noise came from his open mouth.

Karras searched Otis’s pockets and found the keys. Karras stood and sprinted for the warehouse door.

Frank Farrow pulled his fingers away from his stomach, where he had been pressing them at the point of pain. There was a black hole ripped in his shirt, and blood leaked freely from the hole.

Farrow started for the Mustang and realized Roman had the keys. He stumbled toward the alley. He’d get to the main road, hijack a car up there.

He made it to the alley. He heard his name called and turned. The gray-haired man had come from the warehouse. He had yelled his name and now he was walking toward the Mach 1.

Farrow ran into the alley as the Mustang’s ignition cut the night.

Karras fastened his seat belt. He put the transmission in reverse to back out of the spot. The car went back and he pushed down on the brake pedal, but the car did not stop, and he slammed the trans into drive to make it stop. The Mustang caught rubber as he blew across the lot and steered it into the alley.

Farrow was running down the alley, bent forward and holding his stomach, up ahead. There was no protection in the alley, and he was running to get through to the other side.

Karras accelerated. He reached Farrow quickly, and Farrow turned and leaped up onto the hood of the car. Farrow was on the hood and he began to slide down the hood, and Karras could see that he was confused and afraid. Farrow grabbed the inlay of the scoop as he slipped down the hood of the car and Karras gave the Mustang gas. He pinned the accelerator and the car lifted as the speedometer climbed and Farrow’s face through the windshield was all fear. His legs slipped down over the grille and his hands were white, gripping the scoop on the hood.

Past Farrow, Karras saw the Dumpster at the end of the alley, and he pressed down on the brake so he could swing wide of it, but the car did not slow and now they were heading straight for the Dumpster as the alley walls bled off at their sides.

Karras screamed over the screams of Farrow and they hit the Dumpster doing fifty. Karras saw a one-legged torso spin away from his field of vision and everything compressed at once. He met a wash of blood at the windshield and then he was showered in glass and black sleep.

Stefanos and Boyle heard the sonic collision of metal on metal as they entered the industrial park. Stefanos drove quickly, straight into the park, as Wilson had directed. They found the red Mustang, its front end totaled and smoking against the green Dumpster. They saw the body of Farrow, facedown and bled out on the asphalt nearby. One of Farrow’s legs had been amputated at the thigh.

Stefanos skidded to a stop. He and Boyle got out of the Dodge. Stefanos jogged to the Mustang and went around to the driver’s side. He opened the door and cradled Karras in his arms. Karras’s forehead was cut and bleeding, and it had darkened and begun to swell. Stefanos brushed glass off his face.

“He dead?” said Boyle.