Don Winslow - Way Down on the High Lonely

It was just a nip, but it was a nip that hurt, goddammit, and Neal was just pissed enough to get up, dig his foot into the stirrup, and swing back up into the saddle.

Midnight stood still during all of this and then headed out at a tame walk when Neal nudged him. After a while, Neal got brave enough to take the horse to a little trot, and eventually cantered back into the corral as the boys reassembled to watch his triumphant return.

“Just a matter of showing the animal who’s boss,” Neal announced as he brought Midnight to a stop.

That’s when Midnight started whirling in a violent circle, sending Neal spinning off the saddle like a Frisbee and skipping across the ground like a stone on water.

So Neal was a little sore when he met Karen that night, and she had some questions as to why he was learning to ride at Hansen’s.

And, of course, the crime wave was the talk of the town. Over beers at Phil and Margie’s, or coffee at Wong’s, or cheap whiskey at Brogan’s, people talked about the robberies that were starting to become the stuff of legend. It seemed like everyone knew about the holdup at the Filly Ranch, and suddenly it seemed like there was a gang sticking up every drug dealer in the Great Basin, and most folks heartily approved. And there was talk that the police were turning a blind eye to these activities, and there was even talk that it was off-duty cops who were pulling them off. And there was titillated talk that the Mafia down in Las Vegas-which most people considered a colony of California and not part of Nevada of all-was getting a little unhappy and was out hunting the robbers themselves.

And Hansen’s boys heard the talk too. They started walking with that little extra swagger when they came to town and started smiling smug, knowing smiles when the robberies came up in conversations and people started to joke about the James gang and the Daltons. Neal about choked on a green chili when that bone-stupid David Bekke said something about this gang being more like Robin Hood, “robbing from the Jews and giving to the poor.”

Soon the whispering started. A few fingers discreetly pointed at the backs of the boys as they walked through town, and there were murmurs beneath the music at Phil and Margie’s; Neal even imagined he heard his name spoken as he sidled to the bar to get another pitcher for the table. And maybe it was his imagination that Steve looked at him a little funny from time to time, or that Peggy’s “hmms” took on a more serious tone. And maybe it was only in his head that Karen was getting a little reserved, would start to say something and then stop, as if a question was caught in her throat.

Neal thought that his life was like one of those drawings of railroad tracks stretching out over a horizon. The illusion is that the tracks stay separate, but in reality the lines come closer and closer until, at some point over the horizon, they have to meet.

They absolutely collided one cold Saturday night at Phil and Margie’s.

Neal and Karen had gone with Steve and Peggy to drink and dance, to chase away the blues that came with the first snowfall of the season. The snow had hit the valley that morning, not an honest-to-goodness kick-ass storm or anything, but enough of a dusting to let them know that the long winter was on them.

So Neal had crowded into the pickup’s cab with Steve and Peggy and they had no real trouble rattling into Austin. They met Karen at Phil and Margie’s. The place was already crowded with like-minded celebrants, including Cal Strekker, Randy Carlisle, Dave Bekke, and Craig Vetter-the whole gang.

The trouble didn’t start right away. Like a lot of trouble, it needed to get fueled up by alcohol, so for the first couple of hours Neal danced with Karen, Steve spun a few with Peggy, and the boys stayed bellied up to the bar. Steve was refreshing himself liberally between dances though, so the alcohol level rose steadily to the point where all it needed was a spark.

Which happened when Steve and Cal scraped together.

Steve was turning away from the bar with a fresh beer in his hand and he happened to slosh some on Cal’s boots.

“Sorry about that,” Steve said.

“If you can’t hold your liquor, Mills, you shouldn’t be here,” Cal answered.

Cal’s boys turned from the bar to look, other heads turned at that, and then it seemed like the whole crowd was watching.

“What’s going on over there?” Peggy asked as she looked toward the bar.

Neal got up and made his way through the crowd.

“Well, now,” Steve was saying, “I never knew of a cowman who got too upset over a little beer on his boots. Then again, you’re not a cowman, are you? You’re the shithead of security.”

“Let it go, Cal,” Vetter said, seeing the murderous look come into Strekker’s eyes.

But Steve Mills was interested in pouring a little more gas on the fire.

“And I told you before,” he said, “to call me Mr. Mills or Steve. And while you’re at it, you don’t tell me where I should or shouldn’t be, you jailhouse punk.”

Neal grabbed Steve by the elbow and tried to pull him away. “Come on, Steve,” he said.

“You better go with him, old man,” Cal smirked.

Steve tried to yank free of Neal’s grip. “Don’t let age stop you,” he said to Strekker.

“Let him go, Neal,” Cal said.

Steve turned to Neal with a surprised look. “Are you guys buddies now?”

Neal tightened his grip. Steve pulled free easily this time, just to show he hadn’t been trying before. He set the beer back on the bar and then launched a wicked roundhouse right at Strekker’s head. Strekker stepped back easily and the punch whooshed two inches in front of his nose.

Strekker smiled his psycho smile. “You all saw it,” he said. “He swung first.

He brought his hands up and stepped back into a fighting stance.

Strekker will kill him, Neal thought.

“Get out of the way, Neal,” Randy Carlisle said. He was grinning like the sycophantic fool he was, eager for his dominant half to shed somebody’s blood.

Peggy Mills sat frozen at the table. She was helpless. If she let the fight go on, her husband might get hurt bad. If she intervened, she would hurt him worse. When Karen started to get up, Peggy took her wrist and pulled her back down.

The music stopped. The crowd made a circle around Steve, Cal, and Neal. Steve took another swig of beer and put his hands up.

“Get out of the way, Neal,” Randy repeated.

Neal stood for a long second between the two would-be fighters. Then he shrugged, got out of the way, and walked over behind Cal. Randy and Dave slapped him on the back. Karen gave him a look of astonishment and outrage. Neal shrugged again, picked up a barstool, and smashed it over Cal’s head. Strekker dropped like he’d been poleaxed.

“Fight’s over,” Neal announced.

“Whose side are you on?” Carlisle yelled. He grabbed Neal by the front of the shirt.

“My side,” Neal answered.

Carlisle punched him in the eye, threw him to the floor, and hit him twice more in the side of the head. Steve jumped on Carlisle and hit him with a tremendous right uppercut that sent him sprawling unconscious into Vetter’s arms. Vetter set him down, stepped up, and punched Steve in the jaw. Dave Bekke jumped Steve from the side.

Neal got to his knees, saw Bekke hanging from Steve’s back, and tackled Bekke’s legs, pulling the man down on the floor with him. Bekke rolled him over, got on top, and started punching. Neal got a leg between Bekke’s legs and drove his knee up into Bekke’s balls, which discouraged the punching.

Steve and Vetter were holding each other with one hand while exchanging haymakers with the other when Bob Hansen walked through the door.