He pointed his pistol at Cade and said, "Okay, badass. Check this out. Muh
man Lolo, there, he only had a pissy little knife a while ago. Whatchoo gonna do
about this?"
Cade said nothing and let the guy blather on with his ghetto bravado as he
aimed the gun at Cade's head and pulled the hammer back for emphasis. The guys
behind Cade moved well to either side, apparently on general principles.
Letting his eyes follow the muzzle of the gun, Cade simply stood still and
waited. Sure enough, when he didn't get a response, the guy assumed that Cade
had changed his mind about being brave and stepped up to put the muzzle of the
weapon to Cade's right temple.
"Well?!" he screamingly demanded as he reached for Cade's Glock, "I axed you
a question, mufucka! Whatchoo gonna do?! Huh?! Huh?!"
Feinting toward the Glock with his left hand to distract the guy's
attention, Cade ducked slightly and swatted the Taurus upward with his right
hand as he turned his feinting left into a jab at the guy's eyes. Grabbing the
guy's gun hand, he twisted it downward and back so the Taurus pointed at the
guy's chest.
"Bye-bye," said Cade, putting his index finger over the guy's trigger finger
and forcing it to move.
The gun barked and the guy jerked, then sagged backwards in openmouthed
shock, clutching his chest. He landed hard on his left hip and when his elbow
hit the pavement, the gun fired once into the air above the parking lot.
Cade had drawn his Glock from its holster. He stepped back and indicated
that the men to his right and left should move back toward the car, then he and
they watched as the guy on the ground gasped and let go of the gun to use both
hands to clutch his chest. His eyes closed and his breathing was ragged.
One of the others suddenly jumped into the car's driver's seat, but Cade
pointed his Glock at the guy's face and said, "No, not yet. Get back out here."
Once the guy was again standing by the car, Cade indicated the guy on the
ground and suggested that they take their trash with them. After another stunned
moment, two of them moved toward the man on the ground.
Cade stepped over to put a foot on the guy's gun and said, "This stays. He
doesn't need it anymore."
Without argument, they stuffed their leader into the back seat of the car
and sped away. Cade put his gun away as Mandi seemingly flashed into existence
in front of him.
Looking at her, he ask