after all my trouble.
Inés, beside me, breathed quaveringly in my ear, and shivered.
“Don’t touch me,” I growled at her as she tried to cuddle against me.
She was shaking my arm.
Glass broke in the next room.
Silence.
The luminous patches on the watch burnt my eyes. I couldn’t afford to blink. A foot could pass the dial while I was blinking. I couldn’t afford to blink, but I had to blink. I blinked. I couldn’t tell whether something had passed the watch or not. I had to blink again. Tried to hold my eyes stiffly opened. Failed. I almost shot at the third blink. I could have sworn something had gone between me and the watch.
The Kid, whatever he was up to, made no sound.
The dark woman began to sob beside me. Throat noises that could guide bullets.
I lumped her with my eyes and cursed the lot—not aloud, but from the heart.
My eyes smarted. Moisture filmed them. I blinked it away, losing sight of the watch for precious instants. The butt of my gun was slimy with my hand’s sweat. I was thoroughly uncomfortable, inside and out.
Gunpowder burned at my face.
A screaming maniac of a woman was crawling all over me.
My bullet hit nothing lower than the ceiling.