Halfway up the stairs to the Afterlife parking lot I pulled out my keys and called for the Merc mobile. Pacifica's a long drive and I want to get there fast. Five seconds later the black caliburn pulled up. Five seconds after that I was already on the freeway swerving around gonks like never before. I guess the gods fixed the handling on these things.
I called Mr. Hands. "V! Nice to hear from ya. Too bad I got no jobs." I said "The night is young, Hands. I need to ask you about one of your clients." He says "Come on! We got rules. You know that old fixer/client……" I interrupted with, "The one with the stolen BD." Hands changes his tone. "Well shit, V. Maybe we can do business after all. That client's a slick little bastard. It wasn't until after we gave him the merchandise we found out his cred chip was bunk. When I called him about it he started making threats. Something about cartels. So, if you find him be sure to break something like his leg or his nose and tell him to call me. And when I get what he owes I'll give you a cut. He's this chimpanzee looking weasel named….." I hung up mid-sentence. That was all I needed to hear. I did a 180 burn out on the freeway to Pacifica and headed back to Heywood. Kirk, you son of a bitch. What did you do?
The doors of the El Coyote blasted open like I was Bushido on a mission. Every wino, street kid and Valentino casually stepped aside clearing my path. Even Pepe and Momma Welles knew not to bother. I marched my way upstairs, around the bend, over to the corner table and there he was, him and his pathetic excuse for a bodyguard. "V! How's my favorite WHAT THE…." He was interrupted by Big Joe's teeth flying across the room. "Make this fuckin gonk pay, V." Finally! Johnny and I agree on something. I grabbed Kirk by his turtleneck and cocked back my gorilla arm ready to break his nose when I realized,wait. Why is it already broken?
His cheap shades couldn't hide the double black eyes and the bandage was a dead giveaway. Who did this to him? Was it the cartels? A little payback for his bullshit stories? Was he using the BD to pay them off? Was he using it for some kind of leverage? Were they the ones Rita was blackmailing? What did he do to her? What did THEY do to her? SO so so many questions but I could only scream one. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOIN ON!!!"
Kirk shrieked, "YOU TELL ME, V?!! You're the one acting all cyber psycho!!" I reached for my back. "I'll show you cyber psycho!" I cocked the Lizzie and put it to one of his monkey ears. A rather fitting weapon for the occasion. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!!" He screams, "WHO?!!" "RITA WHEELER! What kind of shit did you get her wrapped up in?" His jaw dropped. "Rita? Nothing!" I pushed the Lizzie to his eardrum. "Don't bullshit me!" He pleaded, "I swear! I'd never hurt an angel like her!" I paused. The space between my eyebrows raised. "Huh? Angel?" I've never been so fuckin confused and angry in my whole life. I shrugged it off and regained my composure. "Scroll. NOW!"
He pulled the shard out of his inventory and handed it to me but when I went to pull it away I could feel his fingers squeeze. I yanked it out of his hand and pushed him into the booth. As I walked away I told him, "Mr. Hands is waiting for your call." I figured I would take credit for the nose. I was afraid if I broke anything else I wouldn't stop until he was dead. Hands wouldn't like that. I slipped Pepe a big tip, told Mamma Welles to never let that fucker in again then hopped in the car headed for Watson. I thought to myself "I'm gonna close this case if it fucking kills me. That armadillo spec better not be common grade."