She paused, gauging the effect her words were having on the hired killer.
“Now, you ready to answer up good, or you wanna wait until nightfall an’ mebbe have a rougarou, or some big ole ‘gator come find you? ’cause that real likely right now; see them drag marks over to the bank? That where a real big mama ‘gator, looks like mebbe a ten-footer, come up out the bayou regular like ever’ night, prolly because she got a nest somewhere ’round hyah, mebbe that big ole mound o’ leaves an’ such over there, an’ if that the case, then she ain’t too far ‘way t’all right now, watchin’ an’ waitin’ for you to leave so she can check her nest. I reckon that there snake was lookin’ for that nest, too; them things smell real good, so it prolly know there a nest hereabouts, jes’ packed full a’ eggs an’ young, an’ if the nest here, then mama-gator not too far away, neither. If you look over there a ways, see that log? See how it floatin’ agin the current? That’s ’cause it ain’t no log; that’s mos’ likely mama-gator, watchin’ her babies an’ waitin’ an’ bidin’ her time.”
The killer began to sneer at her for trying to scare him with such a childish ruse when the floating ‘log’ swivelled an eyeball and looked straight at him; anything he might have said died in his throat. Melette sat down Indian-fashion on a pile of leaves and began collecting her stuff together.
“Daddy-gators get up to sixteen feet hereabouts, mebbe more; one o’ them come looking for a easy meal an’ you toast boy. Then, o’ course, there’s that there mama-gator out there, she find you still here tonight, near her nest, where her eggs ‘n young ‘uns is, she ain’t gonna question why, you just gon’ be easy meat fo’ her, so you wanna wait fo’ her, or you wanna talk to me…?”
She watched his expression of horror widen, while she grinned to herself, and prodded him again with the alloy shaft.
“Answer up, boy, an’ don’ you go an’ try lyin’ to me. What you doin’ slinkin’ around out here like a animal, aimin’ guns all sneaky-like at innocent folks? Jes’ remember; I don’ know you, an’ I already don’ partic’larly like you; if’n I leave you out here for the ‘gators, ain’t no-one gon’ know ‘cept me, and I ain’t losin’ no sleep over you, so you better start, an’ if you ain’t real convincin’ real quick, weeelll…” she started nonchalantly tossing twigs and pebbles at the enormous drag-marks on the bank of the bayou.
“I reckon now’s about time to start doin’ your Christian duty an’ confessin’ all for the good o’ your ‘mortal soul… or, you could jes’ keep your mouth shut, and, come nightfall, you-all can try and talk momma ‘gator out o’ tearin’ you in half like a syrupy biscuit; good luck with that.”
She stood, and brushed leaf litter off her jeans.
“Now you can talk to me, or I’m leavin’, I got things to do…”
The thug’s mouth clamped shut, obviously terrified of his masters, in spite of the fact he was tied half-naked to a tree in alligator-country, something Melette saw, so she changed her tack.
“Look at it this way, boy; whatever your bosses gonna do, it gonna be sometime in the future; me, I’m here an’ now, and I’m real immediate when I do somethin’; way I see it, you can tell me ever’thin’ an’ save yo’ skin, then run where no-one ever gon’ find you, let them people you works for think you-all dead, or you c’n be loyal an’ stay shut an’ momma ‘gator gonna be all fat ‘n satisfied tonight after a real good meal; I be long-gone, and there ain’t no-one for miles aroun’ to hear you screamin’. Think ’bout it.”
Melette grinned widely and chomped her teeth several times, the thug twitching in time to the clicking of her teeth, and when she had his full attention, she looked up at the sun.
“You got the rest o’ the day to do some thinkin’, boy; I mo leave now, I for real got things to do an’, an’ when I gone, I ain’t a-coming’ back this way, so I reckon it’s time to make a choice; me or mommy-gator, ‘cos come dark, you jus’ a stain an’ a coupla drag-marks.”
She’d slung her pack and picked up her bow when the man decided to speak.
“Please… don’t leave me out here; I’ll tell you anything you want to know, I swear!”
Melette listened in growing disquiet as the hired killer told her everything she needed to know, and more.
“There’s four teams working this area,” he told her, “me and Rico were supposed to take our shot if we could, otherwise we were supposed to link-up with at least one of the other teams and hit wherever Bastine and the girl are hiding-out, take him out, grab the girl, and take Bastine’s head. ”
He looked up in alarm when Odelie appeared from behind a tree, her rifle pointed right at him and her finger quivering on the trigger, but he carried on at Melette’s nod.
“There’s a bounty on the big guy, a million dollars; he musta really burned the Ribeiro’s, they’re a pair of crazy fucks and right now they’re foamin’ at the mouth; they’re madder’n shit, and they got a real hard-on for John Bastine; they want him dead, now, and they want his head as proof of death; both brothers were real definite about that; John Bastine’s gotta die. We have to bring the girl back alive, though; the brothers were just as definite about that, too; alive and unharmed; she’s some kind of looker, and Joao Ribeiro’s got plans for her; he likes ’em young.”
Melette scowled angrily, jumping to her feet and unsheathing her huge Bowie knife.
“I was kinda feelin’ almos’ sorry for you, boy, I thought mebbe I could let you go and you jes’ run, you ain’t actually done nuthin’ yet, but now I know for sure you a murdering scum-bag sonuvawhore, so now you bosses gonna get theyselves a head; I mo’ carve you like a Halloween pumpkin, boy, an’ them gators out there gettin’ a free feed! You fucken’ dead, boy, you-all just made my mind up for me…!”
The man cowered back from the sheer venomous fury distorting the little blonde’s face, but the brunette girl stepped in front of her, blocking her way, without once taking her bead off the hired killer’s forehead.
“Back off Mel, this piece o’ shit got more talkin’ to do! An’ you!” she barked at the trembling man, “the rest of it, start talkin’ or I mo’ put a . 22 Accu-Tip slug through yo’ face, jes’ like I done with yo’ frien’. You talk, or you die, now!”
The thug’s face paled at the fury glowing in the little brunette’s eyes.
“Where… what… Rico…” he stammered, making a spirited attempt to dig his way into the tree with his shoulder-blades when Odelie pushed the rifle’s muzzle up against his forehead.
“Yo’ frien’ tried goin’ fo’ his shoulder-holster, which was kinda stupid, what with me pointin’ this big ole thing at him an’ all, mebbe you Noo Yawk killers all stupid as that, so I guess I gave him what he knew was comin’. You wanna make a stab at doin’ sumthin’ stupid, boy?”
The thug gulped.
“What did you do to him…?” and Odelie grinned bleakly at him.
“He face down in the bayou with a hole in back of his head you can shove your foot in; he takin’ a slow trip to the Gulf, ‘less the ‘gators get to him first, an’ you gonna join him if’n you-all don’ start talking real fast an’ detailed.”
The man knew when to give up; these two girls might look like pretty little things, but they’d just proved how merciless they could be, and so he talked, because he wasn’t stupid, and he wanted to live.
*
Johnny crouched behind the Cottonwood at the side of the house, Justine flat on the ground behind him as he scanned the area carefully; they’d both heard the sharp crack of a small calibre rifle several hundred yards away to the North and West, and his first thought was that Odelie had fired that shot. If that was the case, trouble was up; she never wasted ammo, so she would have had a definite target in sight.
Nothing further had transpired, but caution had seemed in called-for, so now Justine and he were concealed away from the house, ready for whatever showed up.
A movement away up in the underbrush caught his eye, followed by a glint of light reflected off a binocular lens, and a piercing whistle. Johnny grinned and straightened up, patting Justine on the shoulder as he did so.
“Let’s go, Minou; looks like them two li’l gals got themselves a new friend! Let’s go be neighborly, what you think?”
Justine smiled back bravely, but Johnny saw the white knuckles, the lines etching themselves at the corners of her mouth, the hunted look in her eyes, and realized just how frightened she was. His elation died away, and he cursed himself for bringing all this down on her, for dragging his baby sister halfway across the country because his rage and lack of self-control had broken through yet again.
“Baby,” he drawled softly, “I’m sorry for this, I’m sorry for ever’thin’, for draggin’ you ’round like all this your fault, mebbe I should jest get you to Dallas an’ on a flight outta here, somewhere safe they can’t find you, an’ me an’ my folks take care o’ business here once’t an’ for all; this ain’t your fault, honey, an’ it ain’t yo fight, I jes’ drag you into it, and I’m purely sorry I did, but I can make it right, Minou, I can make you safe, and keep them scum a long way an’ a painful road away from you. I ‘pologize most sincerely for endangerin’ you, if I send you somewhere I know you safe, I can clean this up for good, then I’ll come get you, I swear on mama’s heart.”
Justine smiled at his solemn expression, and reached out to prod him gently on the tip of his nose.