So I shove the plywood out of the way, step onto the sidewalk, shove it back and head for home. I get about two steps before Hurley clobbers me again.
– I fucking knew it.
Oh, hell.
– Fucking knew it. Consorting. Consorting and poaching.
I keep my eyes closed. I know who I'm gonna see when I open them and I'd just as soon put it off for another minute.
– Mr. Clean. Mr. Shit Don't Stick on Me, and there he is, consorting with the Coalition and poaching that chick.
– Don't say chick.
– Yeah, yeah. Poaching that woman. I told Terry, told him and told him, but he coddles this guy. Knows he spooks for the Coalition and he lets him stay down here anyway. Well not anymore. Wanted evidence?
I open my eyes. Closet. Dark. Dank. Dim cracks of light sneak in around the edges of an ill-fitting door.
– I got evidence.
I'm lying on my side. I go to push myself up and realize that my hands are cuffed and my ankles are shackled. I squirm into a sitting position. The brick wall behind my back sweats moisture.
– What kind of evidence?
– Well I saw him, didn't I? Me and Hurley both saw him.
– But doing what, Tom?
– We saw him take that Coalition chick… woman into his place, and we saw him poach that other ch… woman.
– How do you know she was Coalition? Are they wearing uniforms now?
– Trust me, you saw this one, you'd know she was Coalition.
– How?
– How? The way you always know. Had that attitude, that the world belongs to me attitude. Talk about a bitch who thinks her shit doesn't stink. This one-
– Don't call women bitches.
– Yeah, right.
I scoot closer to the door and put my eye against one of the cracks. I'm back at Society headquarters. Squares of carpet sample are spread around on the floor and handmade anarchist protest posters that look like oversized ransom notes cover the walls. I can see Tom Nolan's back. He's standing at a hot plate, stirring a big pot of something steaming and smelly.
– So you saw him with a woman who might be Coalition. And what else?
– She was Coalition. But even if she wasn't? He poached. Right on the street, just whacked that girl.
– Was she a child?
– What?
– Was she a child?
– In her twenties or something.
– So she's not a girl, right?
– Right, yeah. He whacked this woman right on the street and dragged her into a construction site. Tapped her right there for anyone to see. A total fucking abuse of Society policies. On our turf. A slap in the face to our beliefs and methods. That can't be disputed, period. And besides, you're the one who's always going on about how more women are tapped than men.
Lydia comes into view and stands next to Tom.
– I'm not going on about anything. There is a huge imbalance in the number of women victimized by Vyrus-incited violence.
– That's what I'm saying.
– So you just had Hurley knock him out and carry him down the street to here?
– Hey, I had to take action. There's no telling what he's plotting with his bosses up there, what kind of trouble they have him stirring up. It was time to deal with it. He's a Coalition stooge and the time has come.
– Uh-huh.
She turns from Tom and faces someone I can't see.
– Hurley, did you see the woman he took into his apartment?
– Yeah.
– Was she Coalition?
– Don't know. Coulda bin.
– You think she was?
– Don't know. Tom said she wuz. Coulda bin. Nice lookin' lady.
– Uh-huh.
Tom turns from the hot plate.
– Hey, don't say lady.
– Why?
– Because it's demeaning.
Lydia looks at Tom.
– Get off him, Tom.
– What the hell, you just gave me shit for-
– Because you know better. Hurley's an old dog. Let him talk how he wants.
– Jesus! Fucking double standards. That's, you know what that is? That's counterrevolutionary. We're all equals. We're all equals or we're not. I don't like rules, but if we're gonna have them they have to apply across the board.
- Get off it, Tom.
She turns back to Hurley.
– What about the woman he tapped?
– S'a pretty good tap, all tings considered like.
– But was it by the book?
There's silence and I can hear Hurley's brain grinding away on that one. Probably trying to remember what a book is.
– Not da way Terry likes it done. Dat's why I sapped 'im.
– OK.
She turns back to Tom.
– So now what?
– Now what? Now we question the cocksucker.
– Tom!
– Sorry, sorry. You know me and my anarchists are sympathetic to the gay and lesbian community. It just slipped out.
– Slip it back in.
She walks out of view. Tom starts stirring his stinky pot again.
– Anyway, when he wakes up we put a rubber hose on him and see what starts to pour out.
– I'm awake, Tom.
He spins around.
– How long, asshole, how long you been spying?
– You mean, how long have I been awake and trying to get back to sleep so I don't have to listen to your crap?
He comes over to the closet, close enough so that all I can see through the crack is the leg of his crusty jeans.
– That's right, smart-ass, keep fucking jerking my chain. See what it gets you.
– Hey, Tom, I'd never jerk your chain. That's Terry's job.
– OK, that's it. You fucking asked and now you're going to fucking receive.
He starts unlocking the door.
- Please, man, have Hurley knock me out again so I can get some fucking rest.
The lock snaps open and I hear a chain rattling. I roll onto my back, knees tucked up against my chest.
– Hurley's not gonna do a goddamn thing, smart guy, I'm gonna take care of business myself this time.
– You planning on taking off my cuffs?
– Whatever way you want it.
The door swings open. I jackrabbit him, kicking out with both feet, and catch him in the gut. He woofs and stumbles back into the room. A spindly chair catches him across the back of the knees and splinters under his weight as he crashes on top of it. I shove myself back up on my ass and lean out the door of the closet and hold my cuffed hands out.
– Hey, Tom, I'd help you up if I didn't have these things on.
– That's it, cocksucker.
He comes at me fast. The only thing I have time for is to regret that I have such a big fucking mouth.
I try kicking him again, hoping to knock his legs out and get him down on the floor where I can wrap the cuff chain around his neck and maybe crush his windpipe. It doesn't work. He dodges the kick easily, grabs the front of my jacket, lifts me off the floor, and starts pummeling my face. Lydia grabs him and pulls him off of me almost immediately, but he's already jackhammered me ten or eleven times. I fall in a heap. Blood I can't afford to lose runs from my nose and mouth. Tom lunges at me again and Lydia easily shoves him back.
– Fuck do you think you're doing, cunt?
Her bodybuilder shoulders bunch, but her voice is calm.
– Watch the language.
– Stop telling me how to fucking talk, dyke!
– Tom, if you say girl, chick, lady, bitch, cocksucker, fag, lesbo, dyke, queer or cunt one more time, not only am I going to beat the sperm out of you, I'm going to have a couple shemale Vamps I know find you in an alley some night and open your back door. Wide.
He makes his move, and bounces off Hurley who is suddenly between them.
– Terry would'nae want yous two fightin'.
I'm on my side, spitting and snorting blood.
– Yeah, guys, dad's gonna be mad when he gets home and sees you can't get along.
Tom just about jumps out of his shoes trying to get at me, but Hurley puts a hand on his shoulder and he freezes. Hurley turns his head and looks at me.
– Maybe you best oughta shut yer trap, Joe.
I'm looking at the little puddle of blood on the floor in front of my face and thinking about sucking it up.