RainStorm

was
    erupting, too.
    Even in his battered condition, Belghazi recognized what had
    happened. He was able to process it, and somehow to react. He
    spun and began to run. But something unseen knocked him
    down. He landed on his face, and immediately pulled himself to his
    feet. He staggered for a second, then got an unsteady foot in front
    of him. Something knocked him down again. This time he didn't
    get up.
    I looked out at the harbor again. Wherever I was going, I was
    already halfway there. All the commotion around me seemed trivial,
    even silly. I wished it 'would stop and leave me alone.
    I heard soft footfalls to my right. I sighed and looked over. It was
    Dox. He had approached through the hole in the fence and was
    moving smoothly toward us, the rifle shouldered and pointed downrange.
    Maybe he'd recovered the five million. If so, it would be time to
    tie up loose ends. Belghazi. Then, I supposed, me. Game over.
    I looked out at the harbor again, feeling myself slipping toward
    it, into it. The water was warm. The feeling was not at all unpleasant.
    "You all right?" I heard Dox ask. I looked over. I saw his eyes move
    to Belghazi's prone form, then scan left and right, then back again.
    I didn't answer. The question might have been cruel, given what
    he was about to do to me, yet somehow it struck me as almost
    funny. I looked at him and smiled.
    "That mean yes?" he asked, pulling abreast of me now. He
    raised the rifle to eye level. There was a soft crack and a flash from
    the end of the suppressor.
    I looked over at Belghazi. He was totally still. Dox had put a last
    round into his head.
    I felt tired, so tired. The ground underneath me was soaking wet
    and warm, and for a moment I thought I was back near the Xe
    Kong river, where I had killed that young Viet Cong. He, too, had
    been lying on earth saturated with his own blood, and in that instant
    it was as though I was seeing the world through his eyes. As though
    he was calling to me from across time, from across the grave.
    Dox was looking at me now. I saw concern in his expression. He
    had lowered the rifle.
    Suddenly I was confused.
    "I thought I was dead," I said, trying to explain. My voice
    sounded odd to me, slow and unnaturally low.
    "Well, you don't look so hot, but I'm pretty sure you ain't dead.
    I would say, though, that we ought to get out of here."
    "Mmmmmm," I said, looking past him at a dark and suddenly
    retreating shape that flickered at the edge of my vision. Only teasing, Death seemed to be saying over his shoulder with a rictus
    smile, with good humor and an oddly paternal affection. Take care
    of yourself, okay? We'll play again.
    Dox stooped and got his head under my arm, then straightened.
    We started walking toward the fence.
    "What about. . . what about the money?" I asked, not understanding
    what was happening.
    "Well, it was a heartbreaker, I won't deny it, but I had to abandon
    the big payday and come to your rescue. I meant to get here
    sooner, but there was a lot going on back at the ranch and I had a
    fair amount of ground to cover. Plus these PSG/1 's are heavy, even
    for musclemen like me."
    "You just. . . you just let it go?" I asked, trying to take it in.
    I felt him shrug. "I don't give a damn about money if my
    buddy's in trouble, partner, and I know you feel the same."
    I didn't respond. "What about . . . what happened in front of
    the gate? That other car?"
    I lost my footing for a second, but Dox's arm, tight around my
    waist, kept me going. "Now there's one nobody would believe if I
    were to tell 'em," he said. "I don't know who Belghazi's pal is, the
    white fella, I mean, but he's quite a shooter. He dropped one of the
    men in that Toyota, and then, when the two Arabs who came in
    the van got up from humping the ground, he capped them both
    point-blank. They seemed a bit surprised at the time. He and the
    other fella from the Toyota had each other pinned down after that.
    They both had good cover, and I couldn't wait for a shot 'cause I
    thought you might need my help. Too bad, too. If I'd been able to
    take them both down, that bag would be waiting for us right now.
    Well, it might be, still. We'll see in a minute."
    "Hilger ... he was shooting them all?"
    "Hilger? Ah, the white one. Yeah, he sure was. I don't think that
    boy wanted anyone around to contradict the story he was making
    up about how all this carnage occurred and his role in it. He's a resourceful
    one, and cold-blooded, too. Hell, Kanezaki ought