Spencerville

Keith said, "Maybe I should let you gut him alive."

Billy looked at him and said, "I don't need your permission to do that."

This sort of surprised Keith, but it was a good sign for Billy. Keith said, "We agreed that I give the orders."

Billy didn't reply.

Another hour passed, and it got cold. Keith looked at his watch. It was ten P.M. He was anxious to get moving, but it was too early. Baxter would be awake and alert, and so would the dogs.

Keith saw that the moon was in the southwestern sky now, and he figured he still had about two or three hours of moonlight.

Keith said, "Okay, here's the way we're going to do this. We take out the dogs in the moonlight, we wait until moonset, I charge across that clearing, you cover, I get onto the deck and put my back to the wall near the sliding glass doors. Okay?"

"So far."

"Now you have to draw him out. Can you bark like a dog?"

"Sure can."

"Okay, you bark, he comes out, just like he did last time, only this time I'm behind him with a pistol to his head. Simple and safe. You see any problems with it?"

"It sounds okay... they always sound okay, don't they?"

"Right. Sometimes, they even work."

Billy smiled. "Remember them chalkboard sessions in football? Every play was a touchdown play. Same in the Army. But they never showed what happened when some of your guys got taken out, and nobody ever knew what the other side was pla

"That's life."

"Yeah." He thought a moment and said, "I think I fucked myself up. I didn't need no bad guys." He added, "But I hung in there long enough to catch this break."

They waited in the cold dark, wrapped in their canvas ponchos. At midnight, Keith stood, dropped his poncho on the ground, and said, "Let's move."

Chapter Forty

Cliff Baxter put down his magazine and yawned. He finished his can of beer and scooped out a handful of pretzels from the bag and ate them. He looked at his wife in the rocking chair and threw a few pretzels on her blanket. "Don't say I never give you treats. Eat up."

She ignored the pretzels and didn't reply.

He said, "Ready for bed, darlin'?"

Still looking at the dying fire, she replied, "No, I just want to sit here."

"Yeah? All night?"

"Yes."

"Who'm I go

"Not me. I'm chained to the bed."

"Handcuffed, not chained."

"What difference does it make to me?"

"Hey, if I could trust you, you wouldn't be chained to the floor, or cuffed to the bed, or nothin'. Can I trust you?"

"Yes."

He laughed. "Yeah, I can trust you to blow my brains out."

She looked at him. "Are you afraid of me?"

His eyes narrowed, and he said, "I'm afraid of anybody who can pull a trigger. I ain't no fool."

A

"What?"

"You don't trust people, Cliff. Do you know how to trust?"

"Nope. Why should I trust anybody? Why should I trust you?"

"If I gave you my word that I wouldn't try to kill you, would you uncuff me?"

"Nope. Why you makin' such a big deal about bein' cuffed?"

"Why? Because I don't want to be chained like an animal. That's why."

"Oh, you ain't chained like an animal. Animals got more freedom." He laughed. "You're chained like a felon who got caught by the law. Them dogs outside never did nothin' wrong, so they can move a hundred yards or so. You fucked up, lady. Big-time. Maybe in a few weeks, I'll hook you to the dog run, then you can say you're chained like a animal and thank me."

A

"Yeah? But that ain't sayin' I won't wake up cuffed to the bed, and you'll be long gone. Right? Right? Hey, don't bother to answer." He leaned toward her. "That reminds me. Next time you got to take a piss, you can do it right where you are."

"Cliff... please..."

"Then clean it up." He added, "But not in the bed." He yawned again. "So you'd rather sleep in the goddamned chair all night than sleep with me?"

She shook her head. "No... I'm sorry. I don't want to sit here all night. I'll go to bed." She added, "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Yeah? I got a better idea. Stay here. Do you some good." He moved toward her and ripped the blanket away, throwing it across the room. "Freeze your ass off, and piss on your chair."

"Bastard."

He pinched her cheek hard. "You got ten strokes across your butt comin' in the mornin'. Think about that all night. And no breakfast. You can sit there in your own piss and smell the bacon and eggs cookin'."

He walked to his gun rack and unlocked it, taking down the AK-47, then relocked the rack. "I'd rather sleep with a rifle than you, anyway. Rifle's warmer than you ever was."

She sat in the rocker, her arms around her, looking into the glowing embers.

He asked, "You want me to throw a log on?"

She didn't reply.

"Wasn't go

She looked at him and said, "Cliff, please... I'm sorry. Don't leave me here. I'm cold, I have to..."

"You should've thought of all that before you opened your mouth. You remember that Doberman I had that used to bark at me all the time and bit me once? Lots of guys said I should've shot him. Well, anybody can do that. It took me about a month to show him who was boss, didn't it? Turned out to be the best damned dog I ever had. That's go

She stood. "I am not a dog! I am a person, a human being. I am your wife..."

"No! You was my wife. Now you're my property."

"I am not!"

Cliff pushed her back in the rocker and stood over her. He stared at her a long time, then spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Well, now, if you was my wife, you'd be wearing a wedding ring, and I don't see one on you."

She didn't reply.

"Now, if you can find your weddin' ring, we can talk about you bein' my wife. Where do you think you lost it?"

She stayed silent.

"Well, hell, you don't need a ring. You got leg irons and handcuffs. Fact is, that's what I shoulda put on you years ago. And one of them chastity belts to keep your hot twat outa trouble. God knows, you don't take your marriage vows real serious."

"You..."

"What? You go

She didn't reply.

He came closer to her, and she turned in the rocker. He said, "Look at me."

She forced herself to turn toward him.

He said, "You think I'm ever go

"No."

"No. Not ever."

Keith and Billy knelt at the edge of the clearing.

While Billy sca