The Death Hunter

by Lou Cameron

  “I never would have guessed. What you’re getting at is that you want a one-night stand, right?”

  She squeezed his arm and said, “Oh, we should be able to work in more than one night, but, well, I can’t afford to get involved in anything, uh, sticky. Do you follow me?”

  “To the ends of the earth. You picked up an obvious passing ship in the night because you don’t want anyone serenading under your window once hubby arrives.” Then he added, “Wouldn’t it be even safer if you held out another week?”

  She laughed and said, “Safer indeed, but not as much fun. I never betray my husband when he’s at my side where he belongs, but I must say a few discreet adventures when we’re apart adds spice to our life-She led him to a wall gate and opened it with her free hand to say, “This is the place.”

  “The patio is black as a bitch.”

  “I know. My comings and goings are not the business of my nosy neighbors. But, speaking of coming, let’s get inside and out of this ridiculous vertical position!”

  Captain Gringo let her lead him across the dark patio, but as she stepped away from him to unlock the heavy door with both hands, the hair on the back of his neck tingled a warning. He waited until she’d unlocked the door. Then he suddenly shoved it open, hard, and ducked inside low and fast.

  The man was by the door with his back to the inside wall and one hand held a blackjack aloft, as if he’d been posing for that new State of Liberty in New York Harbor. Captain Gringo dove headfirst and rammed the breath out of him with his hard angry skull as the blackjack came down to thud harmlessly on his rump. Captain Gringo had heard at least two ribs crack, but as he moved back from the ambusher, he kicked him in the balls for good measure. The man who’d been set up to club him slid down the wall without a sound. The big Yank kicked him in the head and whirled to see where Pattycake was. Pattycake was moving across the patio outside, as if her life depended on it. It did. Captain Gringo caught her at the gate, grabbed a handful of lace mantilla and dark red hair, and hauled her kicking and sobbing into the house. He stood her on her feet and shook her the way a terrier shakes a rat as he pointed at the man on the floor and said, “I figured you had to be setting me up. Now you’re going to tell me the whole story, aren’t you?”

  “You’re hurting me!” She protested. He drew his S&W .38 with his free hand and said, “Not as much as I may have to. Before you lie some more, let’s have a guided tour of the premises. I want to see how many other playmates you have.”

  “I swear I don’t know what’s going on, Dick! I never saw this man before. We must have surprised a burglar in the act!”

  “Oh, balls, I’ll slap the truth out of you later. What’s in that next room?”

  “Nobody, I mean, nothing. It’s the kitchen!”

  He half led, half dragged her through a doorway and said, “Give the little lady a cigar. It is a kitchen. I see the back door’s locked and barred. No burglar from that direction, eh?”

  He forced her through room after room of the bare-walled and one-storied house before he was satisfied they were alone. He said, “You have bars on every window. The guy out there in the hall had a spare key, right?”

  “I don’t know. Please let go of my hair, Dick. I promise I won’t run away again.”

  He let go, but waved the gun as he said, “That’s for sure. You try another break and I’ll put a slug in your pretty ass. Do you have any rope in this joint?”

  ‘Hope? There’s some clothesline in the kitchen. Do you want me to get it for you?”

  “No. There are knives in the kitchen, too. Just stay right beside me where I can keep an eye on you.”

  He led her back to the kitchen and got the coil of cotton rope from a peg in the stucco wall. He led the way back to the hall and handed it to her as he said, “Tie our friend up. It’s only fair to warn you I’ll be able to check the knots with one hand.”

  She looked relieved and said, “Oh, for a minute I thought you were going to tie me up.”

  “First things first. Tie that guy’s hands behind him and then lash his wrists to his ankles like a good girl.”

  Pattycake knelt by the fallen man and gingerly felt his neck before she said, “I think you might have killed him, darling.”

  “I hope so, but tie him anyway, and don’t be so informal. You can call me Captain Gringo, now that I’m apparently back in business.”

  Pattycake started to tie the unconscious man’s limbs with the rope as she smiled up at him and asked, “Captain Gringo? What an odd name.”

  He said, “Sure, I’ll bet you never heard it, huh? You and your boyfriend were just going to slug me for the hell of it.”

  “Damn it, I told you I was as surprised about him being here as you were! How do you know he was waiting for you? Everyone knows I’m a woman alone, here. He might have been waiting for me, to …well … rape me or something.”

  Captain Gringo stared soberly down at the man he’d knocked out. There was just enough light from the other room to make out his clean-cut features and muscular build. He was either a northern Spaniard or another gringo, like himself and the girl. He said, “If you were telling me the truth about your idea of fun, I don’t see why he’d have had to rape you.”

  “Pooh, he’s not as good looking as you, dear.”

  “Oh, sure, nobody’s as pretty as me. How are you coming with those knots?”

  She stood up, brushing her hands on her skirts as she said, “That’s the best I can do.”

  He motioned her over against the wall and covered her as he dropped to one knee to test the bonds. He nodded and said, “Pretty good.” as he rose. Then he barred the front door securely and said, “Bedroom.”

  She hesitated. Then nodded and led the way into the bedroom off the central hallway. She turned near the four-poster bed and stared wistfully at the gun in his hand as she asked. “Do you want me to strip before you tie me up?”

  He said, “Just throw your clothes over in that corner. I’ll decide my next move when I make sure you don’t pack a whore pistol in your garter. By the way, if you intend to tell any other sucker that you’re married, you’d better start wearing a ring.”

  Pattycake held her hands up to the light with a puzzled frown as she insisted, “Of course I don’t wear my wedding band when I go out for a paseo, Dear.”

  “You don’t wear one at all, doll. This may shock you, but I’ve bent the Seventh Commandment in my time. Your hands are suntanned, but the tan is fading, up here in the cloudy mesa country. If you’d worn a ring in the past few months, there’d be a pale stripe on that finger. Let’s shuck those duds and see what else you’ve lied about.”

  Pattycake fumbled with the buttons of her bodice as she blushed and said, “I feel so silly. Can’t we snuff the light?”

  “Hardly. I thought you were raring to go when you picked me up just now.”

  “I was, I am, but … I like to do it in the dark.”

  “Start peeling. Do you want me to hum a hurdy-gurdy number for you?”

  “You … bastard!” she swore, peeling out of the bodice as she glared at him in her chemise. She pulled the skirts over her head and threw them in the corner after the discarded bodice. He saw she still had on her chemise, knickers, and silk stockings. She had no weapons in either lace garter, so he nodded and said, “Keep going. You can leave the stockings on, if you want to be formal.”

  She licked her lips and said, “I’m not wearing anything under this chemise.”

  He said, “I noticed. Take it off, babe.”

  Pattycake bit her lip and suddenly pulled the thin silk chemise off over her head. She held the gathered folds over her breasts for a moment, then threw them after her other clothes to face him, bare breasted, as she snapped. “There, are you satisfied?”

  He said, “No. Take off the pants.”

  “For God’s sake, I don’t have a gun down there!”

  “Let’s see what you do have. Get ’em off, babe!”

  Pattycake closed her
eyes, took a deep breath, and dropped her knickers around her ankles. Captain Gringo’s own breath caught in his throat as she kicked the discarded under drawers out of the way and faced him naked, save for the silk stockings. She was even better, nude, then he’d imagined. Her tan only covered her arms and as far down as the tops of her milk-white breasts. He could see from the pink-ness of her nipples that she was aroused, too. But she kept her eyes down at the floor between them as she asked, “May I sit down and, well, cross my legs?”

  He said, “Sure.” and as she lowered herself to the bed he added, “Now that we can see you’re not packing any concealed weapons, I’m ready to hear your story. Let’s start with your partner out in the hall. Was he waiting for me in particular, or were the two of you just out to roll any tourist you could lure here?”

  She flushed a deeper shade and said, “He made me do it. It wasn’t my idea.”

  “It never is. Is he Australian, too?”

  “No. Sam’s a Yank, like you.”

  “Sam’s a good name for a Yank. Now you’re going to tell me he picked you up in San Francisco and that the two of you ran out of money down here when you found out how hard it is for a gringo to get a job in Bananaland, right?”

  She looked up at him in surprise and said, “That’s right! How did you know?”

  He said, “I’ve heard the story before. You can hardly find a decent cantina where some stranded Yank doesn’t sidle up to sell you a treasure map or offer to fix you up with a great little lay. I don’t mind the con men so much, but it sort of steams me to have another gringo trying to roll me.”

  She signed and said, “I thought it sounded mean, too, but what were we to do? None of the natives have any money!”

  Captain Gringo shrugged and said, “You could have been more honest if you really needed money that badly. You’re not a bad looking gal. I told you I didn’t pay, but plenty of guys would. Hell, most of these Latin Americans are crazy about gringas. A doll like you could pull down a couple of hundred a night, easy.”

  She grimaced and said, “That’s a nasty thing to say! I’m no whore, damn it!”

  “Luring suckers to be clubbed silly by old Sam is more respectable?”

  “That’s different. Sam said he’d never let me sell my body, no matter what. Can I get dressed, now?”

  Captain Gringo shook his head and said, “No, I haven’t made up my mind about your story.”

  “Good Lord, isn’t it bad enough? I’ve admitted we were trying to rob you, but you got the better of us and I’d like to have a doctor look at Sam. You really are a terribly rough sort, you know.”

  “Sam will keep just fine. He was breathing when I checked those knots. But you’re right about me being bigger than he was. Didn’t it occur to you that I wasn’t a very reasonable victim? Bringing me here was dumb, too. What was I supposed to do when I came to without my wallet and an address to give the police. Or, was I supposed to come to?”

  Pattycake looked horrified and gasped, “You don’t think we meant to kill you, do you?”

  “Lady, I’ve seen men killed for a pair of worn-out shoes. You set me up too neatly for rank amateurs. No pros would leave a rolled and robbed victim alive after telling him where they lived.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, we were leaving town in the morning in any case. If you must know, we’ve been asked to leave by the landlord. We owe a month’s rent and—”

  “Jesus, you sure think fast, don’t you, honey? If I point out that the two of you have a local witness who could identify you, you’d tell me tonight was the first time you set anyone up in San Jose and that good old Sam told you it would be my word against yours.”

  She smiled wanly, under her lowered lashes, and said, “As a matter of fact, you’ve guessed right again. I told you it was Sam’s idea. I didn’t want to do it, but he said it would be a harmless lark and, well, I did run away with him for adventure!”

  Captain Gringo holstered the gun, hung it out of reach on a wall peg, and started to undress as he said, “Well, far be it from me to spoil an adventure.”

  Pattycake looked up, her eyes widened, and she gasped, “Oh, no! I lied when I told you I wanted to make love.”

  He threw his shirt after his jacket and unbuttoned his pants as he nodded and said, “I don’t like to make a liar out of a lady, either.”

  Pattycake drew her knees up and started edging backward across the bed spread as she pleaded, “No, I don’t want to. Sam and I have an understanding. I … I’m in love with him and he’s in love with me!”

  “I sure hope so,” said Captain Gringo as he got in bed with her. As Pattycake ran out of bed and stared, wide-eyed, with her naked back against the rough stucco wall, he added, “I figure kicking the shit out of him and laying his girl ought to settle our score, don’t you?”

  “He’ll kill you if you rape me!” She gasped, as he took her in his arms.

  Captain Gringo said, “He already tried, and he wasn’t very good at it.”

  She started to struggle. He ran a soothing hand down her quivering flesh and said, “Easy does it, I don’t like to wrestle, even when I have fifty pounds or more on a gal. Look at it this way; you said you liked adventures and we know you’re a great actress. Let’s pretend we’re in the opera … Tosca … right?”

  She sobbed as his hand slid between her tightly pressed together thighs and gasped, “What are you talking about? This is no opera, this is outright rape!”

  “Oh, shit, don’t tell me you don’t like opera. Don’t you remember how Tosca had to give herself to the villain to save her lover’s life?”

  “That’s ridiculous! Sam’s only tied up. He’s not dead.”

  He got his fingers going in the moist hair between her thighs and he noticed she was having trouble not responding as he said, “Well, maybe I’ll just have my wicked way with you and let old Sam live, and then, again, the motherfucker was trying to bash my skull in, so—”

  She gasped and pleaded, “Don’t hurt him! I’ll do anything you want if you’ll promise not to hurt him!”

  “I figured you might.” Captain Gringo grinned as he rolled his legs between her suddenly docile thighs. She grimaced and hissed as if in dismay as he entered her. Then her eyes opened wide and she wrapped her arms and legs about him to respond to his first teasing thrusts. He’d expected that, too, but he was too polite to say so. He kissed her instead. Her warm soft lips welcomed him as eagerly but, even after tonguing him, the first time they came up for air, she gasped, ‘This is terrible!”

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  “Of course ... I mean, I don’t know, you have me so confused and if Sam finds out I’ll die and … could you move a little faster, darling?”

  He did, and he’d been right about her already being aroused. She might have thought it was embarrassment when he’d first made her get undressed, but while Pattycake seemed to lie a lot, her body told the truth as she gave it all to him. She was great in bed as well as beautiful and he hadn’t had a woman since Nicaragua. So, though he tried to make it last, he knew he was coming. Her own contractions told him she was, too, but she gasped, “No, I don’t want to. Not all the way. I must be true to my lover out there and ... Oh, Jesus-s-s-s-s-s!”

  For a time, neither said anything as he lay there, soaking it to stay hard while he recovered his breath. Pattycake was breathing hard, too. She licked her lips and said, “That was horrid of you. You made me come and, worse yet, you made me like it!”

  He didn’t answer. He started moving again. Pattycake’s vaginal muscles clamped down hard, but she said, “No, really, I satisfied you as you asked, but we have to stop, now. Sam may recover consciousness and it would be just awful if he caught me in another man’s arms!”

  Captain Gringo said, “If you tied him right, he can’t get up to catch anyone doing anything.”

  “Perhaps not, but what if he hears us?”

  “He won’t, if you’ll just shut up and screw.”

  “You bastard, I’
m not used to being spoken to that way! I’ll have you know I was raised a proper girl!”

  He withdrew and rolled her over as she stammered, “What are you doing, you brute?”

  He rolled her on her breasts and belly to mount her from behind as he said, “Just turning your face away to save you from blushing so coyly, doll. Has Sam ever put it in the back door?”

  “Of course not! What a beastly thing to suggest! I’ll thank you to leave my bum alone, sir!”

  He guided his wet erection against her tightly pursed rectum and said, “Come on, Tosca. You said you wanted adventures!”

  She pleaded, “No, not in my arse! I’ve given you my pussy, damn you! What more do you want?”

  He said, “Revenge!” in mock ferocity as he forced the head in and added, “You enjoyed it in your front door too much to call it revenge. When you tell your boyfriend the sucker you lined up threw the shaft to you, I want you to let him know I even got the parts he’s missed!”

  She started to cry as she said, “I’ll never tell him about any of this, damn you! Sam loves me and he made me promise to be his alone forever!”

  “Yeah, well, forever won’t be all that long if you two don’t start picking better suckers. The little guy I was with at the cafe could have taken Sam. And speaking of taking, you’d find it hurts less, back there, if you relax and sort of try to fart.”

  “Oh, I hate you!” She sobbed, even as he felt her anal muscles open to welcome him all the way. He grinned and started pumping as she moaned and groaned that he was killing her. He decided to experiment by drawing back a little and, as her body had promised, Pattycake’s ivory rump rose to meet his thrusts. He got her up on hands and knees with his own feet on the floor and as he started really pounding, she said, “My God, I do think we’re committing sodomy!”

  “I noticed. How do you like it?”

  “It’s terrible. It’s disgusting. But as long as it’s what you want—”And then her legs stiffened and she fell forward across the bed, with a great sigh. As she rolled over he remounted her, normally, and she gasped, “Oh, my God, I thought I was coming and now I know I am!”