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and the armies disband and all the war-related jobs dry up.
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I'll step down off my box with the observation that, hell though the
Tenderloin is, and as vile, vicious, or degraded as its habitues may be, most
have some choice about being there.
"Garrett."
I think I jumped about four feet high because my sense of survival had gone
into hibernation. I came down so ready for trouble I had the shakes. "Maya!
What the hell are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you. I figured you'd come this way."
Was the little witch turning into a mind reader? "You didn't say why." I knew
why, though.
"We're partners, remember? We're looking for somebody. And there's some
places a man isn't going to get into no matter what he tries."
"You get hiking right back home. I'm going into the Tenderloin. That's no
place for "
"Garrett, shut your mouth and look at me. Am I nine years old and fresh out
of a convent?''
She was right. But that didn't make me like it, or incline me to change my
mind. It's weird how the symptoms of fatherhood had set in. But damn it, Maya
out of her sleaze ball duds and chuko colors wasn't anybody's little girl. She
was a woman and it was obvious.
And that was maybe two-thirds of my problem. "All right. You want to stick
your neck out, come on."
She joined me, wearing a smug smile filled with good teeth.
I said, "You snuck up on me, you know. You grew up. I can't help remembering
the filthy brat I found beat to hell all those years ago."
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She grinned and slipped her arm through mine. "I didn't sneak, Garrett. I
took my time and did it right. I knew you'd wait for me."
Whoa! Who was talking shit to who here?
Maya laughed. "If we're going to do it, let's go."
To understand the Tenderloin to even picture it if you've never been
there you have to get in touch with the seamiest side of yourself. Pick a
fantasy, one you wouldn't tell anyone about. One that makes you uncomfortable
or embarrassed when you think about it. In the Tenderloin there's somebody
who'll do it with you, for you, or to you, or somebody who'll let you watch if
that's your need.
Let your imagination run away. You can't think of anything somebody hasn't
thought and done already. Hell, somebody's thought of something even more
disgusting. And it's all available there in Wonderland. And not just sex,
though that's the first thing that jumps to mind.
At that time of day, late afternoon, most of the Tenderloin was just waking
up. The district worked around the clock, but the majority of its patrons were
like insects who shun the light. The district wouldn't get white-hot until
after sunset.
I asked Maya, "You been down here before?"
"Never with a gentleman." She laughed.
I tried to scowl but her constant good humor was catching. I smiled.
"Sure," she said. "One of our favorite games. Come down here and watch the
freaks. Maybe roll a drunk or kick the shit out of a pimp. We got up to lots
of stuff. Most of the people who come here don't dare complain."
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"You know how dangerous that is?" The people of the Tenderloin are solicitous
of their customers.
She gave me the look the young save for old farts who say dumb things. "What
did we have to lose?"
Only their lives. But kids are immortal and invulnerable. Just ask them.
It wasn't yet dark but we had plenty of company on the outer fringe, where
the offerings are relatively tame. Gentlemen were window shopping, barkers
were barking, my angels were lurking, and a dozen prepubescent boys were
trying to mooch copper. When I turned one down he took a big pinch of Maya's
bottom and ran off. I roared in outrage, as I was suppose to do, and took a
step after the brat, then the humor hit me. "You're on the other side now,
sweetheart. You're one of the grown-ups."
"It hurts, Garrett."
I laughed.
"You bastard! Why don't you kiss it better?"
There in the tamer parts the houses display their wares in big bay windows. I
couldn't help admiring what I saw.
"You're drooling, you old goat."
I probably was but I denied it.
"What's she got that I don't?" she demanded half a minute later. And I
couldn't answer that one. The delicacy in question was younger than she and no
prettier, but provocative as hell.
I needed blinders. My weakness was getting me into deep shit.
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"There she is."
"Huh? Who? Where?"
Maya gave me a nasty look. "What do you mean, who? Who the hell are we
looking for?"
"Take it easy. Where did you see her?" Grow up a little, Garrett. You got
somebody's feelings to consider.
"Right up ahead. About a block."
Her eyes were better than mine if she could pick somebody out of the crowd at
that distance.
I caught a glimpse of blonde hair in a familiar style. "Come on!"
We hurried. I tried to keep that hair in sight. It vanished, reappeared,
vanished, reappeared. We gained ground. The hair disappeared in the swirl near
the en- trance to a "theater" just opening for the first show. And it didn't
reappear.
I was as sure as Maya that we'd spotted Jill.
I tried asking questions of the theater's barker. He was a lean whippet of a
man, hide tanned from exposure to the weather. He didn't look like a nice guy.
He looked at me and saw something he didn't like, either. The promise of five
marks silver got me a look of contempt. This guy not only didn't know anything
about any blonde, he'd forgotten how to talk.
Maya pulled me away before I tried to squeeze something out of him. One must
be careful putting the arm on the help in the Tenderloin. They hang together [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]