Chapter 203

"Oh see that black man over there, we are with him. I don't think he would take kindly to us playing anything but darts with you." I said.

"You think I'm scared of some jungle bunny in a suit?" he asked.

"I don't know what to think. But I will tell you this, he is one bad dude. We call him Daddy Evil," I said.

"You stay right where you are, we will go have a talk with Daddy Evil," the young man said with a laugh.

When they were out of hearing Lucy asked, "Why did you do that. He is not known as Daddy Evil. That's Lamar from the technical procurement section of the company. He oversees our contracts."

"He let me believe he is a field agent," I said smiling.

"No, no he is in administration. We have to tell those young men the truth. They may damage Lamar." she said it with the same tone she might have used to tell me it was raining outside.

"Lets just see how he does. It might be good to know how much help he will be in a shit storm." I said.

"I am not familiar with that term," Lucy said.

"Shit storm, you know like when the shit hits the fan," I said.

"Of course the fan blade would chop the shit. Then blow it out as in a stream, but instead of water it would rain shit. I see now," she said. "Then what you really want to know is what he will do in an emergency situation?"

"Like I said, what he will do in a shit storm," I replied smiling at her.

"You are a strange person Maxine. You could just ask him couldn't you?" she suggested.

"All men are heroes and have gigantic cocks," I said. "If you ask them."

"If you get out of that booth, you and I are going to go outside and I'm going to give you a proper beating," the kids said in that street cockney accent that only a British thug can manage.

I could see the panic in Lamar's eyes. I'm not sure what he would have done, if I had not stepped in, but he could have gotten hurt. "Okay my white knight, you have made your grand gesture. Now you need to move on."

"Oh why is that?" he asked.

"I think the bartender is about to call the police. I assume that since we are tourists, they will take your ass off to jail. I also assume that it won't be your first rodeo cowboy. So unless you enjoyed the last time behind those gray walls, you should move on."

"You and me are going to meet again," he said to me with an evil smile.

"Did your friends call you Kevin back at the dart board?" I asked.

"Yes they did," he said.

Kevin was leaning forward with his hand on the table of the booth where we had dinner, so I slid back into the booth before I continued. "Kevin you should not have threatened me hon," I said.

"What you going to do about it bitch?" he asked.

I quickly pinned his hand to the table with one of the darts. "Nothing, I'm just going to return your dart." He screamed like a teeny bopper on her first day of high school. Then his buddy pulled the dart from his hand. They wrapped his hand in a towel. His friend came to stand near me.

"Now. are you planning to threaten me as well?" I asked.

"No Ma'am, I'm going to tell you that Kevin is an ass, when he drinks too much, and he drinks too much quite often. He is going to get himself killed some night for that mouth of his." the young man said,

I removed the steak knife from tbe waist band of my jeans. I tossed it on the table, then said, "Tonight could very easily have been the night Luv."

"Don't worry, we won't be bothering you again," the friend said.

"You should get him to a clinic," I suggested.

"Yes I think that is an excellent idea," the friend said it as he walked away.

The pub was deathly quiet, then as if on cue everyone went back to what they were doing. It was Lucy who spoke first. "Why did you stab the young man?" she asked.

I thought about it a few minutes then answered as Gunny would have. "When people argue; they tend to escalate the rhetoric. By the time it reaches the level of violence, everyone is ready to kill or be killed. If you can, it is best to get ahead of the curve, way ahead. I just brought real violence into the argument early. If you bring enough force it will usually end it. Of course if it doesn't, somebody will most likely die. The truth is someone probably would have died anyway."

"You mean, you think they were going to kill me?" Lamar asked.

"Well, I don't think they wanted to take you out side for a dance in the moonlight and few wet kisses," I said. I laughed and noticed that Lucy was smiling. I thought at the time that she was taking her cues from me. I didn't think she understood that kind of humor but was learning the appropriate reaction by watching me.

"So Lamar how do we get out of here without getting our collective asses whipped?" I asked.

"We could call the cops," he suggested.

"We could also call the fire department and the boy scouts, but that is probably unnecessary. Let's call a cab. He will pull right up to the door, I expect. If we can make it from the restaurant into the cab we should be good." I suggested.

"Unless they follow us back to the hotel," he said.

"There is that possibility, but then it is a company hotel. Surely they have procedures in place for that possibility. " I pointed out.

"Yes, I'm sure they do." he admitted.

"So call us a cab," I said. Through all of it Priest said nothing. He was a scientist nerd, not a field agent.

When the cab driver came in, we left with him. It was all rather anticlimactic. But I prefer it that way.

Back at the hotel Priest said to me, "Do you think you and I can have a little talk before I go?"

"Of course, would you like to come to my room and have the talk there? I asked.

"That would be fine. Would you mind terribly if I bring Lucy along?" he asked me in reply.