“You find him, you tel him Tex wants to talk to him, but first, Lee Nightingale wants to talk to him,” Tex said.
They looked at each other again, then they looked at Indy.
“Thought I recognized you,” the tal er one said.
“Get your f**kin’ eyes off her.” Tex got in between them and Indy and me, which put him dangerously close to the tal er guy.
“Back off, old man. And tel Nightingale to keep his f**kin’ nose out of this. Those friends of his too, the wetback cop and the f**kin’ dealer.”
Looking back, perhaps I should maybe have counted to ten.
Then again, until recently, I’d been mild-mannered and boring, so who would have ever guessed I would have lost my mind like I did. Though, words like the “N-word”,
“raghead”, “wetback” and the like always set my teeth on edge, so I guess my reaction to them cal ing Eddie one of those words wasn’t that surprising.
I launched myself at the tal guy. I must have taken him off guard because he staggered back and we both went down amongst the tables at Einstein’s.
I landed on top of him and he went “Oof!” and I’m pretty sure I knocked the wind out of him. This was to my good fortune because in any other circumstance, he could have probably kicked my ass.
I took advantage and we were rol ing around, a tangle of limbs. I heard shouting and we rol ed into and upset a bunch of tables. I think Tex got into it with the shorter guy because I heard a scuffle but couldn’t pay that much attention because my guy got his wind back and began to kick my ass.
I heard Indy shout, “Knee him in the nuts!” This sounded like a good plan, I found my opening, and pul ed my knee up with al my strength and connected, solidly.
My guy made a noise that made even me feel sorry for him. I was lifted up by my waist, set on my feet and then I heard Tex shout, “Run!”
We hightailed it to the Beetle and Indy peeled out of the parking lot but we could see a cop car, sirens blaring, approaching the light at the corner of Alameda and Logan.
Indy didn’t even slow down.
We went back to Fortnum’s, which was only a few blocks away. Without a word, we al got out of the car and walked in the store.
Duke and Jane both looked up when we walked in.
Duke’s eyes narrowed. Jane started to smile.
“If anyone asks, we’ve been here al day,” Indy said immediately.
Duke dropped his head in his hand.
“If you want to go with that story, you might want to brush the potato chips out of Jet’s hair,” Jane remarked.
My hand flew to my hair. I’d lost my ponytail holder and so I ran my hands through it. Chips flew out everywhere.
“I’l get the broom,” Indy said.
“You might also want to wipe that… is it cream cheese?
off your shirt too,” Jane suggested.
I stared down at my shirt.
Tex’s hand settled on my head.
“Now that’s more like it, Loopy Loo,” he said.
Dear Lord.
Chapter Seven