"Back in the circle!" "In five... four..." "Three... two..." "One!" "North wins!" "Back in the circle in five... four... three... two... one!" "South wins!" "Who the fuck tries to fast draw with a Desert Eagle, huh?" "Just admit you've got a small dick, save yourself pain and money." "Colt." " John." " John." "Kind of ballsy giving him a breath after that first shot, huh?" "He might've knocked one back at you." "He didn't." "You know her?" "She picks Zorringer's fights." "Zorringer, huh." "Which one is she looking at?" "North." "So, do you know this guy named Red Dolan?" "North fouls!" "Match to South!" "So you know a guy named Red..." "Fuck me." "I'm not here for you." "You saw me fight." "But I'm not here for you." "What do you want?" "What do I have to do?" "Unbutton your shirt." "Pristine t-zone." "I don't get hit." "You're not ready for Zorringer." "There's only one way to know for sure." "Knowing for sure, that's everything, isn't it?" "I'll be in the Old City next week." "And what will be different in a week?" "That's up to you." "Are you pregnant?" "Come again?" "Red Dolan isn't much to look at." "If you're that intent on finding him, he must owe you something." "Wow." "Now you know, you didn't look like the kind of guy who'd say something that stupid." "Every now and then, I like to expand my horizons." "Well, couple of people have said you know him?" "We liked some of the same matches for a while." "I don't have a car, so I kicked him some gas money." "Ever fight him?" "I didn't have to..." "but he's better than you are." "Could be." "Being that he killed my brother, I don't think I have a lot of choice in the matter." "Slipped him a Teflon." "Bullet carved straight through the vest and tore his heart open." "Now Red's an asshole, but I've never heard anyone call him a cheater before." "So write down the date." "Happened in Chihuahua last April." "You've been looking for a while." "Yeah." "Just missed him in Quinatana Roo... right before the Mexicans decided to shut it down, too." "Took me a while to find out where everybody went." "Red got beat in Mendoza." "Then he got sulky, and then he got drunk and boring." "He was in El Valle last week." "Although he's probably gone by now." "So what is this conversation about?" "I wouldn't know Red Dolan to look at him." "Traveling alone and armed is challenging enough." "Asking questions in strange cities gets outright treacherous." "I gotta be in the Old City." "Next week, I heard." "So, I'm on your way, right?" "Kick me your gas money." "We can pick up a fight or two." "What makes you so sure we're gonna get along?" "Let's see." "I'm polite about my smoking and open-minded about radio stations." "Hey, look, when the time comes, all I want you to do is tell me... that I've found who I'm looking for." "And after that?" "After that?" "I don't foresee there being an after that, John." "Yeah." "So, what did you do?" "You know, before this." "Waited for someone to invent it." "You ever see Zorringer shoot?" "By the time I started, he'd already stopped showing up." "You have to go to him." "You know anyone who has?" "I know people who said they were going to." "Then they either didn't, or never came back." "Shit." "That's got to get in your head." "Got into North's." "Red's not here." "You sure?" "Which one of you do you figure I'd be protecting?" "Who do you know?" "I don't." "My partner knows Red Dolan." "I was actually hoping to meet Red myself." " You're that crazy bitch." " What?" "He knows you're looking for him." "Cinco!" "Cuatro!" "Tres!" "Cinco!" "Cuatro!" "Tres!" "Dos!" "Uno!" "How about a side bet?" "I'm open." "You win, I'll tell you where Red went." "I win, you suck my dick." "Why not?" "Closest a guy like you gets to laid, is the remote possibility, no?" "Cinco!" "Cuatro!" "Tres!" "Dos!" "Uno!" "Ganador la dama con el Smith." "Oh, boy, that was close." "A mental mistake and I would have shot off all of your possibilities." "You gonna tell me what happened?" "When?" "When you were clear, and Cyclops was still looking for his gun." "If I didn't know any better, it looked like you waited for him to shoot." "I wanted to know what it felt like." "What did it feel like?" "Like taking a punch... something you get back up from." "Can I see it?" "Oh, for Christ's sakes, I'm not gonna compromise you." "I just want to look at your war wound." "Okay?" "You know about blunt force trauma, right?" "Yeah, I heard the stories..." "broken bones, heart failure." "Vest keeps the bullet from breaking the skin... but these waves, they run through your body." "Shock waves." "Moving everything around." "You said you weren't gonna compromise me." "Well, it's a lonely lifestyle and... you're a fit, young man." "Don't read into it." "You know, you drive the way you shoot?" "How do you think I shoot?" "A lot of anger, no finesse." "Oh... then, yeah." "Fuck!" "Okay, okay, okay, okay, I can lose 'em." "Yeah, but why?" "I dunno." "We're in South America with a carload of guns and money?" "Hey, you ever see those car chases on YouTube?" "Um... maybe?" "You ever seen anyone get away?" "Shit." "This car isn't stolen, right?" "Not to the best of my knowledge." "Salga del carro." "Mantenga las manos donde pueda verlas." "No hablo Español." "Bullshit." "Get your ass out." "Okay, okay, okay, officers, I know that looked really bad, but..." "Hands on the hood!" "Right now!" "The hood!" "Where is your license and registration?" "Well, here's the thing..." "I guess what I'm trying to say is... that I have a license, but I lost it, but, sir, not my driving privileges, right?" "Arma!" "Hands behind your back!" "Both of you!" "Hands behind your back." "Oh, fuck me." "How well do you know this man?" "I picked him up hitchhiking." "But, sir, he's been a perfect gentleman." "A gentleman with guns and a bulletproof vest." "Are you any good?" "Yeah, what are we doing?" "He's in." "Yeah..." "I don't think so." "You say that like you have a choice." "Which one?" "Which one?" "Okay... this one, then." "This vest took a hit." "So." "Once a vest takes a bullet, it tears, bends the Kevlar fibers, it's no good." "You better be faster, then." "Probably he's gonna hurt the fuck out of you." "Probably." "You know what?" "He's right." "It was a bullshit arrest." "We don't help petty criminals..." "they don't fucking learn anything." "Over time, it starts to..." "it starts to wear on your soul." "And this won't?" "He gets a chance." "Is something more to this?" "Your money gives you freedom." "What could be more than that?" "Huh?" "Cinco." "Cuatro." "Tres." "Dos." "Did you mean my money for my freedom?" "Or my money and my freedom?" "Damn, you're fast... and accurate." "Good thing." "John?" "Yeah." "Are we cop killers?" "Just cop wounders." "Shit." "We, uh... gonna need new vests." "What happened here?" "I drink a lot." "Might've fallen down." "On a claw hammer, maybe." "Look like more bullet wounds." "Well, there'd be more bullets." "You get a hole in your arm, you go to the doctor." "You wear a bulletproof vest, maybe you don't think you're hurt." "This time, a few cracks." "Next time, the ribs break, the pieces cut up your lungs." "Want more money?" "Up north, they wear vests, and shoot at each other." "But the idea is they don't die." "They just come down here, find people to make money from them." "Doctors, even." "Old City's on the boards..." "tomorrow night." "You drive." "I can sleep in the car." "John, she just told you another hit could hand you some serious damage." "I won't take another hit." "Fine." "Fuck it, not my responsibility." "It's different now." "You've picked up some dings." "I had to, didn't I?" "To get my fight?" "You don't want the fight." "You want the ten seconds before the fight." "$20,000 buy in, he gives five-to-one odds." "I don't want them." "You get them anyway." "There's a roadhouse down behind the mountain." "Get there before the end of the month." "Guy says Red was in the Flats four days ago." "So I can get you that far." "After that..." "I can give you a few extra days to look around." "I owe you that much." "You "owe me"?" "For what?" "Not the sex." "The looking out." "You owe me for the sex." "Asshole." "You intend to kill Red or fight him?" "I don't know." "Guess that's the kind of thing you can't know until you're there." "There's a fight Thursday nights by the dam." "Doesn't show up on the board, 'cause it's mainly locals." " Mainly?" " They won't run you out." "You might have trouble finding a fight, though." "Why's that?" "Crossdraw Python..." "Nickel Smith with a mouth?" "There's some video of you floating around... from the Old City, some other matches." "A story you took out two policia." "I can't get a fight?" "I have to give odds." "Three-to-two or two-to-one on the outside." "I'm trying to get a stake together." "For Zorringer?" "Cost of getting known." "Speaking of which, Red Dolan been through here?" "He's been." "Can't say he made it through." "Am I missing something?" "He's dead." "She had something going with Red?" "Yeah... something." "That him?" "Yeah." "Red didn't cheat." "Didn't sound like him." "My brother, Sonny, he could walk into a bar... piss on the floor." "Guys three times his size wouldn't say shit." "Move to the States, Sonny gets it in his head he can shoot." "Yeah... what's gonna make him more American?" "Yeah, but they'd already shut down the games by then." "So, like every other asshole, he wanted to follow them down here." "Red was faster..." "by about a million times." "It turned out the blunt force crushed his kidney." "The perfect right spot with the perfect right bullet... and the perfect right soft spot in the vest." "By the time it occurred to anyone to take him to the hospital." "A stupid, pointless death." "And all I felt was disgrace." "My brother, toughest guy in the world... killed by his own fucking kidney." "You think killing Red would've fixed that?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "I know that I never really missed Sonny... because I turned him into revenge and I carried him with me." "The closer I got to Red, the emptier I'd feel." "I could see the other side of it." "The other side?" "Mm-hm." "When it was over, however it was gonna happen." "When the revenge left and..." "I was all alone again." "Do you ever thought what's on the other side of Zorringer?" "There is no other side." "Just a moment of... unambiguous perfection." "Yeah." "Yeah." "No one can say you aren't what you are..." "John." "What are you doing?" "Achieving intimacy." "Don't tell me you haven't wondered." "Not really." "I'd win." "If it's just about speed, sure, you'd win." "But it's never just about speed." "You think I won't shoot, because we spent some time together." "I'm willing to pay to find out." "Look at me, I can't be responsible for my aim." "Then I'm leaving my life in your hands." "I'm gonna head north." "North, where?" "In the general direction of home." "There." "Hey..." "Colt." "Yeah." "I was wrong." "You would have beaten Red Dolan." "I hope it all works out for you, John." "Python in a cross draw." "No one's gonna give you any odds you're gonna like." "Well, Gordo... you might get some bets going there." "He's fast?" "Slow as justice, but nothing knocks him down." "I've seen him take a lead pipe in the stomach, bar stool across the back... about a million beer bottles broken on that big head of his." "It's kind of like wrestling a crocodile, except no one ever wins." "Let's go wrestle a crocodile." "Diez!" "Nueve!" "Ocho!" "Siete!" "Seis!" "Cinco!" "Cuatro!" "Tres!" "Dos!" "Diez!" "Nueve!" "Ocho!" "Siete!" "Seis!" "Cinco!" "Cuatro!" "Tres!" "Dos!" "Diez!" "Nueve!" "Ocho!" "Siete!" "Seis!" "Cinco!" "Cuatro!" "Tres!" "Dos!" "Gano visitante." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Easy, easy, easy." "Hey, you gonna put that away?" "No doctor." "Of course not." "You wouldn't be you." "Hungry yet?" "I should be, shouldn't I?" "Try this." "Here you go." "You sure you're not hungry?" "You gonna answer the obvious question?" "Boards were on fire, passing around video of Crossdraw Python... and this plus-size campesino killing each other." "We didn't kill each other." "It's the Internet." "I started where I left you, followed the mountain about 20 miles, recognized the stable." "That wasn't the obvious question." "You're not gonna hear the obvious answer." "Not out loud." "Okay." "Okay, let's get you on your feet." "See what kind of leaks you spring." "Come here." "Anything hurt?" "Yes." "Okay, anything in particular?" "My arms and legs are working." "Couple busted ribs probably." "How about the internal stuff?" "Well, I'm pissing less blood." "Good... it's a start." "Aren't you supposed to wait until the flame goes down?" "You cook them off of the coals." "Want to do this?" "Yes." "Just sit there and eat what I give you, okay?" "I, uh, I sold..." "I sold computers." "Big-screen TVs, stereos." "Well, you asked what I did before." "About 100 years ago." "Yeah... that's about how long it takes." "I went to watch, at first." "Because that's who I was... a spectator." "And this kid, maybe 20, he had this look on his face... like this was one more thing he was gonna fail at." "And he did." "Two hits, one between left pec and shoulder, one side abdomen... and the fight went right out of him." "And after, he was out in the parking lot... selling the Python with a cut-up, leather drop leg." "And I bought it, without thinking, without skills, without a plan." "That's not exactly right." "I walked into the circle that first time..." "I was hoping to find something..." "You know... feel something." "Did you?" "That seems to be the problem." "Zorringer?" "Not here." "Maybe an hour." "Maybe tomorrow." " All right, two beers." " All right." "We're gonna need a room, too." "Making you wait in line like you're at the fucking deli." "Fucker's so fast, why play games?" "Hmm?" "What, you want me to shut up, tell me to shut up." "What?" "No, no, coffee, some breakfast." "Huevos?" "Okay, huevos." "Save you a trip." "Bourbon chaser next time." "Hey." "Feel different today?" "How?" "Want to take a walk around?" "See the sights?" "I haven't had much luck sleeping." "Maybe I'll go back up." "Fuck." "John!" "You all right?" "No, I'm not all right." "We're not fucking all right!" "We gotta get the fuck out of here!" "It's okay." "It happens sometimes." "People come here with money." "What about the police?" "It's okay." "Yeah, sure it is." "Shit happens sometimes, right?" "Okay." "That was me watching your back." "This is getting out of your way." "Because..." "If I stick around, I'm gonna see you die." "Yeah." "I'm not gonna die." "Fuck." "You're so fucking wrong!" "I'm not gonna die." "Fuck." "You're wrong." "Get in the car with that bitch, win or lose... who you are now is gone..." "is gone after that." "Okay... bye." "Why are you gonna go?" "Stupid, stupid man." "She's not coming?" "I fucked it up." "Maybe you're not giving her enough credit." "This is Joe." "I don't know his real name." "We were... we were never formally introduced." "These guys live to be about 80 years old." "He'll be around a lot longer than both of us." "He's a very strange bird." "He's very... he's very independent." "Some dude came by years ago, looking for... you know, I guess the same as you." "He, uh..." "left him with me." "Beautiful, isn't it?" "Yeah." ""Ad caelum et angustam."" "Caelum..." "Caelum, heaven." "All the way up to heaven." "There's a constellation Caelum." "It means "The Chisel."" "One word, two meanings, huh?" "You know there was a saint, St. Perpetua." "She dreamt that there was a ladder... a ladder straight to heaven." "But to get there, she had to step on the head of a dragon." "That make you the dragon?" "I don't want to be no fucking dragon." "Hmm." "They say the game has gone to shit." "It's not the way it was." "The way it was?" "Let me tell you something." "You know how it got started down here?" "The drug dealers, they wanted to know, just for kicks, which vests would work." "They paid the poor peons 100 bucks apiece to shoot at each other." "They got two fellas two feet apart, guns already drawn..." "It was more like a goddamn game of chicken." "You know, it was artless." "So a few of us who were down here, we gave it some rules... a little bit of form, a little bit of grace." "We were just a bunch of crazy boys dressing up... playing with real men's toys." "Raising the stakes where no stakes existed." "It was just an illusion." "Except when it's not about stakes." "Well, then what?" "The moment of form and grace." "Yeah, well." "Let's make it sunrise." "Come on, Joe, let's go to bed." "I don't want this." "Well?" "What do you think?" "I think the same thing I think every time." "You know, we weren't meant for this." "The things we're meant for, they're not very interesting after a while, either." "Stupid, stupid man."