I said, ‘I think I’m entitled to at least see it. Wouldn’t you agree?’
She made a face, like she didn’t understand.
She said, ‘I don’t see why you’re entitled to see it.’
‘You don’t?’
‘No.’
‘Because I’m involved here. And maybe I can check it’s fixed right. For later. Because you need to do this later. Not now.’
‘You said you were a cop.’
‘We can work this out,’ I said. ‘I can help you.’ I glanced over my shoulder. The train was creeping along. White light up ahead. I turned back. The woman’s right hand was moving. She was juggling it into a firmer grip and slowly shaking it free of the bag, all at once.
I watched. The bag snagged on her wrist and she used her left
hand to free it up. Her right hand came out.
Not a battery. No wires. No switch, no button, no plunger.
Something else entirely.
FIVE
THE WOMAN HAD A GUN IN FIER HAND. SHE WAS POINTING IT straight at me. Low down, dead centre, on a line between my groin and my navel. All kinds of necessary stuff in that region. Organs, spine, intestines, various arteries and veins. The gun was a Ruger Speed-Six. A big old.357 Magnum revolver with a short four-inch barrel, capable of blowing a hole in me big enough to see daylight through.
But overall I was a lot more cheerful than I had been a second before. Many reasons. Bombs kill people all at once, guns kill one at a time. Bombs don’t need aiming, and guns do. The Speed-Six weighs north of two pounds fully loaded. A lot of mass for a slender wrist to control. And Magnum rounds produce searing muzzle flash and punishing recoil. If she had used the gun before, she would know that. She would have what shooters call Magnum flinch. A split second before pulling the trigger her arm would clench and her eyes would close and her head would turn away. She had a decent chance of missing, even from six feet. Most handguns miss. Maybe not on the range, with ear defenders and eye protection and time and calm and nothing at stake. But in the real world, with panic and stress and the shakes and a thumping heart, handguns are all about luck, good or bad. Mine and hers.