New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by Ramsey Campbell Page B

once and
    within four cars of it, he lay down and bellycraw~tø ú .
    oped the lobby cautiously Nonetheless, as soon as he
    until he was alongside its left rear door. From wh~c . . ú .
    rv ~ut h~s key m the latch, he reahzed that he had
    he lay, he could see the latch was up. He su eyed~~
    surrounding cars as best he could. No one was in si~~)lundered. _
    The door of the opposite apartment burst open, and
    In one fluid movement, he unsprung his butterfly bl~ '
    and jerked open the door. ~o men pounced on him, shoved him into his rooms.
    There was a black man inside who was peer through a drillhole on the opposite door. Ralf burst in and the man swung around with a Walther automatic in his right hand.
    Ralf was quicker. He chopped the gun out of his hand with a slash of his arm, then pulled him into a sitting position and boxed him on the side of the head.
    h nrn cocked low He was carrying a shopping bag In
    With a fierce tug, he dragged him out of the car, wa~~
    One of them handcuffed him immediately. The other bolted his door and led him by the nose to the bathroom. They were big, wild, mongrel blacks with natty lenims, their hair twisted into spikes.
    One had a beard and was missing half of his left ear. The other wore wraparound glasses and a pink hat.
    In the bathroom, they knelt him down before the toilet the butterfly under his nose. 'All right, rughead, any more surprises. Who put you on me? Hey cool out, Ralf pleaded. I m clean with Gusto.
    The bearded one laughed, said, 'My name's Duk Parmelee. And that's Hi-Hat Chuckie Watz. We the boys goin' to take your face apart.'
    Hi-Hat Chuckie Watz took four cans of drain cleaner and a bottle of Clorox out of the shopping bag and emptied them into the bowl. The Duke continued 'Gusto wants you to know, he's hurt you ignored him.'
    Hi-Hat grabbed Ralf behind the neck and shoved his face towards the fuming water in the bowl.
    The acid vapours seared up into his sinuses and scalded hi eyes.
    'Yaww? Ralf bawled. 'Don't! Please! Don't! I got the stuff!'
    Hi-Hat eased up, and Ralf pulled back with a gaq
    His face was slick with tears, and he was quaking. 'Where is it?' the Duke asked.
    'My touch has it stashed. Tomorrow, I'll lift tomorrow.'
    Hi-Hat steered Ralf's face towards the blue burnit water. Ralf screamed, but the fumes gagged him, and he went into a glide.
    The Duke pulled him back and slashed him across the face with a sharp-ringed hand. 'Cry for me, man - cry and I won't make you drink that soup.'
    Ralf was crying, his whole body was shuddering.
    Henley Easton took a cab from St Vincent's to Pennsylvania Station. From there he rode the train to Garden City where he rented a car. After eating at a McDonald's, he had fifty dollars left. The nightmare hadn't recurred, and he was beginning to feel confident. It was his plan to get to his cache and head west.
    He didn't want to burn Ralf, but he felt that he had no choice. The coma he had been in changed everything. No doubt Gusto and his black mafia felt ripped after a nine-day delay. They would be too suspicious to make him a good deal. It would be best now, Henley figured, to find another market and leave Ralf behind to answer questions.
    Henley spent the night in a motor inn where he nspected his foot for the first time since leaving the Hospital. There was no swelling, but the lips of the wound were a scaly black. Just looking at it made him feel drowsy. He put his sock on, lay back, and slid off into a dark sleep.
    The next morning he went down to the stream early. After he uncovered his cache and secured it inside the cat's spare tyre, he got behind the wheel to go, but something stopped him. He stared through the windshield at the larkspur, the myrtle, and the great bellowing fireweed that dotted the slopes like embroidery. He felt woozy suddenly, as if he were swaying with deep sea rapture out over whispering distances -
    with
    sobs. , ~
    'Just you remember,' Duke Parmelee said, you ~
    juke and everybody knows you a