A Hard Rain Part 14

Then, with a glance at Dix, Benny went back to the start and flipped through the ledger again.

Dix just waited, letting the total effect of the book hook Benny into helping him.

"Where did ya get this?" Benny asked after the longest time, slapping the book closed.

"That, my friend," Dix said, "is my secret."

"This is Slippery Stan Hand's, right?"

"It is," Dix said. "And now it is yours, to do with as you see fit."

"To help you get into Harvey Upstairs Benton's place?"

"Yes," Dix said. "And when we do, and get to search it for the object I am looking for, I will then give you the other book."

"And what book is that?" Benny asked, clearly not making fun anymore.

"Cyrus Redblock had a ledger much like that one," Dix said, pointing at the book in Benny's hand, "only thicker. I would think that anyone who had those two ledgers would control this town, don't you?"

Benny stared at Dix for a long few seconds.

"You have Redblock's ledger?" Benny said, his voice almost a whisper.

"I do."

Benny stared at him a moment longer, then turned and headed across the room, where he pulled back an ugly picture of a half-naked woman exposing a wall safe. He spun the dial a few times, then opened the safe, put the ledger inside, spun the dial again, and slammed the picture back into position.

"Joe, Frank, gather up all the boys and meet in front of the store in twenty minutes."

The men at the poker table jumped up like the chairs they were sitting on were spring-loaded. The cigars were stamped out in the ashtrays as they grabbed their coats.

The men were past Hill and Bev in a matter of seconds.

Benny walked across the room and looked up into Dix's eyes. "Mr. Hill, we have a deal. You just better not be double-crossing me."

Dix just smiled. "You get me and my people into Harvey Upstairs Benton's place and you have Redblock's ledger. That's our deal."

"Then we have work to do," Benny said, smiling. "Let's go."

Dix and Bev followed the little man out into the back room of the hardware store and into the alley. The cool, damp fresh air of the dark night felt wonderful. Bev coughed lightly, clearing out some of the smoke. Dix just enjoyed a few deep breaths before motioning for Mr. Whelan to round up the rest of the men and join them.

In ten minutes there were over thirty men, and one woman, standing in the empty street in front of the dark hardware store. Somehow, Dix had put together a small army to invade the last place the Heart of the Adjuster might be.

If they didn't find it in there, he didn't know what they were going to do in the last hours of their lives. But he did know he wasn't going to give up. Somewhere in this city was the Heart of the Adjuster.

Somewhere.

Clues from Dixon Hill's notebook in "The Case of the Missing Heart"

Benny the Banger's goon says he hasn't seen any golden ball.

Benny the Banger wants to rule the city and is just about to get his wish.

Time is running low.

Chapter Eight.

About Face Section One: Showdown Escape A CAT STREAKED ACROSS in front of them, ducking behind some garbage cans and then running down a dark alley, without interrupting their march. A stray dog dug in an overturned garbage can. They were the only things moving on the first four blocks of their dark walk toward Harvey Upstairs Benton's headquarters.

The rain was holding off, but the clouds and fog were swirling in low and fast, brus.h.i.+ng past the tops of the buildings. It gave the night a black and white feel, with the wet pavement, dark stone and brick buildings, and the white clouds catching what little light there was from the occasional street lamp.

Benny had told Dix that Harvey's headquarters were in the back of a large car showroom. It was well guarded and there was no way to sneak up on it. "Goin' ta be hard to get into without a good, nasty fight."

"You willing to fight?" Dix had asked the gangster.

"For Redblock's book, I'm willin' to do just about anything," Benny had said, which had made Dix shudder at the thought of what he might have started.

Dix glanced around at his people following him. Bev was on his right, her heels clicking on the pavement. Maybe joining forces like this hadn't been such a good idea after all. He didn't want any of his people getting hurt. But at this point, with so little time left until everything was destroyed, Dix supposed he shouldn't care how much fight was needed.

They had to find that gold ball and get it back inside the Adjuster. And Harvey was the last logical person who might have it, or know who did have it, that Dix could think of.

And that fact worried Dix more than any other.

Suddenly in front of them, six cop cars sped into sight, coming from both directions, their engines like thunderclouds rumbling through the still night, echoing between the buildings full of sleeping people.

"We have company, boys," Benny said.

Dix couldn't believe this was happening. They couldn't be stopped now, not so close to this last chance.

He motioned for his people to stop and stay back.

Benny didn't seem to notice that Dix had fallen back as he and his men all drew their guns and kept on going, slowly spreading out over the entire street and sidewalk.

"Not looking good for this plan," Bev whispered.

Dix could do nothing but agree. It didn't look good at all. The last thing he wanted was police involvement.

"How had they known and gotten such a force in front of us so quickly?" Bev asked, her voice just above a whisper.

"Clearly Benny's organization has a very large leak in it," Dix said.

"About the size of a drain pipe I would say," Bev said.

The cop cars slid to a stop, blocking the road, their flas.h.i.+ng lights covering the buildings and the fast moving clouds and fog overhead with blood-red warnings.

The entire world had turned red it seemed. Dix didn't like the look of that at all.

He glanced around and then motioned for his people to move toward the sidewalk on the right as more cop cars roared in behind them, blocking the intersection they had just come through as well.

"Nice move," Dix said about their retreat being cut off, more to himself than anyone.

The army he had formed to take down Harvey Upstairs Benton was now surrounded by police and split into two groups. One marching into sure death, the other retreating, trying to figure a way out.

Dix knew that they were going to be lucky to get out of this alive, let alone without being arrested and detained.

And they didn't have time to be arrested. That was also sure death.

"Get out of our way," Benny the Banger shouted to the police in front of him who had gotten out of their cars and were using them as cover, guns drawn. "We're just out for a peaceful walk. No need to be bothering us."

"Then you won't mind stoppin' and talkin', will ya?" a cop's voice answered back.

"Our fight's not with you," Benny said, his voice echoing like a bell of doom through the street, bouncing off the red-tinted buildings.

"But a fight with us is what you're going to get," the cop said, "unless you stop. Now!"

Benny and his men clearly were not going to stop.

"Yeah, Dix," Bell shouted from a car a half block behind where Dix had his people. "No fight tonight?"

"Follow me," Dix said to his people, just loud enough for them to hear. "And no guns. Get your hands in the air."

Everyone nodded and followed his lead as Dix put his hands up and moved toward where he could see Detective Bell standing in front of one of the cars.

"You're right, of course," Dix said, just loud enough for Bell and the other cops to hear.

He glanced over his shoulder. Benny and the twenty men who were following him were still walking right at the cop cars, spreading out more and more as they went. It looked like a gunfight in an old western between two rival outlaw gangs.

From what Dix could tell, Benny hadn't even noticed that Dix and his people were missing.

"Stop now!" a cop ordered, his voice carrying all the way down the street. "Don't be stupid, Benny."

Benny kept on being very stupid, as far as Dix was concerned.

"Why is he doing that?" Bev asked.

"I have no idea," Dix said, "but we need to get out of the cross fire and fast."

"This entire town has gone crazy tonight," Whelan said.

"You'll get no argument from me on that," Dix said.

Dix reached the corner building and turned, walked ten steps and stopped, making sure the rest of his people got around that corner as well. Safe, at least from the direct line of fire.

They were just in time.

Someone fired first, a single lone gunshot like the shot at the start of a race. The next instant there was so much gunfire going on it sounded like one continuous blast of sound, echoing and bouncing off the buildings.

Lights flashed on in every room as gla.s.s smashed and bullets thudded into the sides of the cop cars.

Display windows in a clothing store smashed inward, ripping apart a woman's dress in the window.

Lieutenant Bell, who had started toward Dix, suddenly dove for cover behind a car, then came up on the hood and started to return fire at Benny and his men.

"Let's get out of here," Bev said as a bullet bounced off a nearby building and smashed into a window over their heads, sending gla.s.s showering down on them.

Dix could not have agreed more. "Keep your hands in the air, like you are surrendering," Dix ordered his people over the roar of gunfire. "Follow me, slowly."

The fight went on, bullets pounding into police cars with the sound of a child hitting dull drums.

Gla.s.s smashed, one man screamed in pain.

Dix could see that Detective Bell was more than busy and very pinned down behind his car, both by the fire from Benny's men and the stray shots from the other cops down the road. There was no chance he could pay them the slightest bit of attention. And since they had stopped and surrendered, there was no point that he should.

Dix eased them all away from the fight, step by step along the dark side street.

Slowly the gunfire started to decrease. It was clear that Benny and his men had stood no chance in the middle of that road. And why Benny had even tried was beyond Dix. This world was just making no sense at all anymore.

"Okay, hands down," Dix said as they reached the middle of the block. "Let's go. Follow me."

With that he picked up speed, expecting to hear shouts to stop behind them at any moment, but the fight was still going on.

Another man screamed in pain, and more bullets bounced off stone.

The front window of one of the cop cars exploded. But the sound of the gunfire was now like a thunderstorm echoing in the distance, sometimes a full second of quiet between shots.

Clearly some of Benny's men had found cover along the middle of the block and were holding off the cops from both sides far longer than Dix would have thought possible. But he didn't want to see the blood running in that street right now. The gutters would have to be full of it.

Dix, with Bev right beside him, reached the corner, crossed the street, and turned away from the fight, going in the opposite direction from the one they had been headed in the first time.

The last of the gunfire still echoed behind them, but it was amazing how turning one corner could dim it, make it less intrusive and pounding.

At the next corner Dix turned again, the sounds of his, Bev's, and the others' footsteps now louder than the last few shots of the fight.

Finally the shooting stopped.

Dix halted right in the middle of the block, right in front of an alley opening.

The silence of the city clamped down on them like a vise. All of them were breathing hard.

"Everyone all right?" Dix asked.

"Shaken," Bev said.