Don Pendleton - War Against the Mafia

"Goddamn I'm glad you're all right," Turrin declared fervently. "I came over to tell you about the helicopter, but damnit I couldn't find you."

"Who the hell you trying to kid?" Bolan asked, his tone clearly one of disgusted amazement.

Turrin held his hands straight out in front of his body and carefully sat on the ground. "Shit, I gotta give up cigarettes," he said. "I can hardly breathe."

"You gotta give up more than cigarettes, kid," Bolan told him.

"Can I take off one shoe?"

Bolan's shoulder was beginning to burn maddeningly. "Is that your last request?" he asked impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah, call it my last request. Can I take it off?"

The flare was growing dim and was beginning to disappear over the horizon of trees. Bolan moved closer and dropped to one knee, the.45-held grimly forward. "If you've been trying to delay me into darkness, you can forget it already," he said.

Turrin had the shoe off and was peeling out the insole. He withdrew a small plasticized rectangle and proffered it to Bolan. "Look at this first, will you?" he asked quietly.

Bolan studied the small card in the dying light of the flare, trying to keep one eye on his captive while doing so. Then he chuckled and returned the card. "You know how close you've been to being a dead undercover man?" he said.

"Shit, I've said so many prayers I'm about to get religion again," Turrin replied, smiling broadly.

"You not interested in arresting me?" Bolan asked whimsically. His fingers moved to the wound and pressed hard against the compress. The.45 remained steady in the weakening arm.

"I have no jurisdiction on this side of the canyon," Turrin said, still smiling. "God, did you unload on those bastards! Is there anything left for the law?"

"I doubt it," Bolan said. Another thought was forming in his mind. "About my sister, Leo..."

"I'm guilty," Turrin said matter-of-factly. 'It's part of my cover, of course. God, I feel like hell about those kids, kids like your sister. I tried to make it easy on them -you know-steer them into good dates their first few times out, but-well-I've been a lot of years into this case, Sarge. There are more important things than individual haywire kids. I just hope you can understand that."

"I can understand it," Bolan said tightly. "Okay. Get on back up the hill, and give my regards to the missus. Oh-by the way, Leo. These hot flashes I've been getting by way of Weatherbee. They come from you?"

Turrin nodded his head soberly. "And all the time you've been trying to toast my ass off."

"Hell, you should have gotten word to me," Bolan said grudgingly.

"There's just one thing I hold against you, Sarge," Turrin declared, his face going into a deep scowl. "I guess I'll never forgive you for tipping my wife. Now I'm going to have a worried female on my neck all the time, all the damn time."

"That's the only kind to have," Bolan said softly. He was thinking of another worrier, and he did not like the feel of his own blood trickling down his side. "Get on up the hill now. I have to blow this place."

Turrin slipped the shoe back onto his foot, stood up and tossed Bolan a military salute, and disappeared into the enfolding woods. Bolan grunted and moved painfully down the slope, back to his drop, and retrieved a few personally prized items, made another attempt to staunch the flow of blood from the old wound, then descended slowly to the canyon floor below.

Automobiles were racing around up topside on both sides of the canyon, and Bolan knew that the police were closing in to seal off the area and to pick up the pieces. A horse whinnied off to Bolan's right, and with a bravado born of bleeding desperation he called: "Over here. Hey! Over here!"

He stepped into a flowering bush and waited, and a moment later was rewarded by the appearance of a walking man with a horse in tow. Bolan smacked the.45 against the deputy's head and seized the reins, hoisted himself aboard, and headed out across the canyon. Day would be breaking in less than an hour. There wasn't much time to get back home to his worried woman. He knew he wouldn't make it all the way on the horse. All he wanted now was distance, and a little time, and a lot of luck. Maybe he would not be ingested this time, after all. Victory was not sweet for The Executioner. Victory was a burning shoulder and a nauseous gut and an ache in the heart for the tender woman who waited. But, at least, he had not been ingested yet.

Bolan awoke with a start and gazed up into the deep brown pools of Valentina's eyes.

"Gosh, you always wake up and catch me staring at you," she said lightly.

Bolan blinked. "Have I been dreaming?" he asked weakly. "Or has this all happened before?"

His shoulder was freshly bandaged and he was aware of the sheets against bare skin; he was naked. "Yeah, it's happened before," he said, answering his own question.

Valentina leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. "You passed out in the doorway," she told him. "Don't you remember that?"

"I just feel weak, weak, weak," he mumbled.

"Well, you should, and it serves you right," she said. She held up a newspaper which had been draped across her lap. "It says here that you killed twenty-three men last night, and seriously injured another fifty-one."

"It says that?"

"Uh- huh. Can't you see the headline?"

He focused his eyes on the bold black print atop the newspaper. "'Executioner rubs out Mafia,'" he read aloud, then closed his eyes and stretched an arm to grasp her hand. It felt warm, soft, and tiny-and Bolan's heart lurched. "God, Val, I thought I wouldn't make it," he murmured.

She lay down beside him, carefully arranging herself away from the wound, and placed her face against his. "I would have never forgiven you if you hadn't," she whispered.

"It's going to be okay now," he assured her.

"I know. The war's over, and you've won."

"Not the war, honey, just a battle. You have to understand that. The war is still on. All I've won is a battle."

She stiffened momentarily, then flowed back against him. "While you were sleeping, you kept groaning that there was no victory. What did you mean?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly.

"Well, don't you feel a sense of victory?"

Bolan cautiously positioned his weak arm about her and followed up with a tight clasp of the good one. Of course he felt a sense of victory-but not until this moment, not until right now. "A man fights for things-not against things," he said.

She drew back to gaze at him. He opened his eyes and returned the frank stare. "You're deep, you know," she told him. "You are very deep. Now just what did you mean by that?"

He smiled, ignoring the pain of his shoulder. "Freely translated," he replied, "it means, tender Val, that I love you nutty."

"That's s a victory?" she asked, the lights flaring deep in her eyes.

"It's the only victory a man can ever know," he assured her.

She moved away from him, got to her feet slipped off the simple housecoat, her only garment, drew back the sheet, and slid in alongside him, pressing herself in close conjunction. "As soon as you get your strength back," she told him, "I'll challenge you to demonstrate that victory."

"Hell, there's nothing wrong with my strength," he said, grinning. "My strength isn't in my shoulder, silly."

"I know where your strength is," she murmured. "The honeymoon wasn't that short. Anyway, it isn't even over. Is it?"

"Some things, like war and love, are never over," he said, folding her in closer.

"Which is this?" she asked tremulously. "This" he replied, "is victory in both." She sighed and lay her face in the hollow of his throat. "Victory is so sweet," she whispered.