Tommy gave me a sour grin. "So what are you offering? A bridge loan if I never call my bookie again? You're out of your mind."

He turned and strode away from me, but I caught up with him and put my hand on his shoulder.

I had fought with Tommy so many times that I saw the roundhouse punch coming almost before he threw it.

I ducked, put my shoulder into his gut, and knocked him down. We both hit the pavement, but my fall was cushioned by the paunchy body of my well-fed twin.

He got an arm free and tried to get me into a headlock, but I rolled him over and hiked his right arm behind his back. Then I got his wrist up between his shoulder blades.

"Owww. Listen, stupid," he grunted. "Any of my guys see you doing this, they'll pound your head to a pulp. I won't stop 'em either."

"I'm taking you somewhere," I said. "And you're going to come with me and be a good sport about it."

"You're crazy. Owww."

"I'm the best chance you have, asshole. Always have been."

"Bastard," he grunted. "I wish you were dead."

It came to me in a flash. How had I not seen this-or had I just blocked out the obvious? "You've been calling me, haven't you, Tommy? Day and night, calling me and wishing me dead."

"What? Ow, damn it. Never. I never fucking call you, you fuck." And then the starch went out of him and he started to cry. "The bastards killed my dog."

"Who? Who did that? Your dog? Ned's dog?"

"Boys from the Mob."

I said, "Okay. I'm sorry, Tom. I'm letting you up now. Don't fight me, okay?"

"You want me to say thank you? Don't hold your breath."

"I want you to come with me-and don't give me any trouble."

"Fine. Whatever you want."

I didn't let him up just yet.

"Pinkie swear?" I said, looping my left pinkie around his. It took a couple of seconds, but then he squeezed my finger.

"Pinkie fucking swear," he said.

Chapter 35

MARGUERITE ESPERANZA TOLD her grandmama she'd be back in a few minutes, all right? She let the screen door slam behind her as she left the small brown stucco house with the red tile roof on St. George Street, a five-minute walk to the video store, where she'd gone a hundred thousand times before.

She was listening to her iPod as she turned onto Rowena. The four-laner was bright with storefronts: Pizza Hut, Blockbuster, Sushi-to-Go. Busy and totally safe.

No problems on the horizon. Besides-Marguerite could handle problems. For sure.

Marguerite waved to a couple of kids she knew and kept going toward the Best Buy sign blinking at the end of the next block. Her phone buzzed, signaling that she had a text message.

She didn't recognize the number, but only one person called her Tigerpuss. That would be Lamar Rindell. Lamar was a supercute senior, a basketball player who'd been flirting with Marg both in person and on the phone. She'd hung out with him and a bunch of other kids after school, but Marg was hoping for more.

Lam: Wassup Tigerpuss.

Marg: getting a video. New Moon. I vampires.

Lam: Video World?

Marg: yeh. it's close, right?

Lam: want to get pizza after?

Marg: I can't.

Lam: ok. Never mind.

Marguerite leaned against a mailbox while she weighed her options. It was Grandmama versus Lamar, and she shouldn't have to choose. Pizza Hut was only one block down. It wasn't even dark out yet.

She typed to Lamar: "OK. C U soon."

Then she called home, said, "I'm stopping for a slice and a Coke. You can practically see the place from the kitchen window. I'll have Lamar walk me home, okay?"

Marg rehearsed her attitude, her mind focused on how she'd remember everything she and Lamar said to each other so she could tell her BFF Tonya all about it when she got home. She grinned to herself just thinking about that.

She headed to get her vampire movie. She started off walking, but then she began to skip.

Chapter 36

A BLACK HYUNDAI van with a cable TV logo on the side cruised the streets of Los Feliz.

"I've got your pigeon on the grid," Morbid said to the guy sitting next to him in the back. "She just left her house. She's going to bite. She's going down."

"I'm ready," said Jason Pilser in his role as Scylla. A freakin' Greek monster. Six heads. "Let me do this. She's all mine, right?"

Morbid gave the keyboard to Scylla, who watched the tracking icon that stood for Marguerite Esperanza as it traveled across the GPS map.

Scylla tapped on the keys, sending a text message to Marguerite using the name of this guy, Lamar, who'd been texting Marguerite for a couple of weeks.

And Marguerite was answering.

After some dialogue and a change of mind, she said yes. She'd meet "Lamar" at Pizza Hut.

Scylla felt the sweat gather at his hairline. He patted his jacket pocket, put on his fresh gloves.

He listened in on Marguerite's call to her grandma over the speaker, and when she'd told her good-bye, Steemcleena parked the van on Rowena. Maybe twenty yards from the pizzeria. No more than that.

Scylla watched Marguerite's icon on the GPS grid close in on the icon for the van. He looked through the dark glass of the side window as the girl came up the sidewalk past the stationery store.

"She's a babe," he said.

"And she's all yours, Scylla. She's your babe. Think you can handle her?"

For a few seconds Marguerite would be between the dry cleaner and the van, like an eclipse of the moon.

"Scylla. Go," Morbid said. "Go now."

Scylla pulled open the van door and got his first good look at the target. The girl was bigger than he'd thought.

She was at least five ten and looked ripped. With only seconds to make his decision, Scylla leaped to the sidewalk, came up behind her, and threw a cloth bag over her head, cinching the drawstring.

She screamed incredibly loud, and she fought back too.

Scylla clapped his hand over her mouth. He was so filled with adrenaline, it took nothing for him and Morbid to lift her off the sidewalk and throw her into the back of the van.

Morbid slammed the doors closed and slapped the divider to signal Steem to go, go. Then he and Scylla threw their bodies on top of the struggling girl.

"Gotcha," Scylla said. "Now be a good girl."

Morbid yelled at her, "If you shut the hell up, we'll give you a chance to win."

Scylla's mouth was dry. He was so pumped. Even if he wanted to, there was no backing out now.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Give me a chance to win what?"

Chapter 37

THERE WAS A screech of brakes as the black van jerked to a halt. The doors ground open, and Scylla and Morbid hoisted the girl out by her long arms and legs. They carried her quickly away from the street and tossed her to the ground.

Suddenly she was a blur as she pulled off the hood and got to her feet in one startlingly fast movement. She lashed out to clear the space around her and faced Scylla, who was in a wrestling crouch only a body's length away.

He grinned, a ski mask covering most of his face. She was nothing like the combatants he'd faced on Commandos of Doom. Her reality was startling and exciting, but most of all, it was a challenge.

"Hey, Tigerpuss. Here, kitty kitty," he said to the girl.

"Who are you?" Marguerite screamed back at him.

"I'm the one who's going to test you," Scylla said. "It's me against you, Marguerite."

The girl looked around, and Scylla saw her take in the scene. They were on Rowena, past the strip malls and stores, right on the bank of the reservoir, a place as desolate as the dark side of the moon. Cars zoomed by beyond the fence that walled off the reservoir from the road.