chapter sixty-six

Antonio 

Damian 

Mike and Janet stumbled along, closely sandwiched between David and John. They both had their wrists tightly bound.


Damian. Answer me boy. I can hear you thinking.

Antonio?

Yeah...And I've got a proposal for you. Maybe not really a proposal but a demand. You do what I fucking tell you or I'm going to kill me two Civs. You know how they taught us to kill at the school of the Americas don't you boy?

Look, cut the chatter. You're not nearly as entertaining as you think you are. What do you want us to do?

First, I want you to change course. Turn left and start walking. After about a quarter of a mile you'll come to a clearing. Go there and wait to die. And Damian...

What?

Drop all your weapons, right now. If my advance man shows up and sees so much as a toothpick, Janet and Fathead dies the hard way.

What's the matter? We're just a bunch of Civs. You afraid of us, Antonio?

Damian sensed that he hit a soft spot.

You have four combat Veterans with you and more people than I do.

You are seven elite of the elite... Are you going to fight without weapons?

The man screamed in Damian's head, his rage as red and hot as fire.

You, just be there like I told you!

Antonio shut his mind to Damian. He turned to Bruce.

"Run ahead to the spot, and wait to see if they arrive unarmed like I told them too."

Antonio knew that what he was about to do was stupid but he couldn't get Damian's voice out of his head

Are you afraid of us, Antonio?

The truth is, he was afraid. All his life he'd acted to face his fears. When he was younger every Nigger scared him. So as he got bigger and stronger, he started going to Bars with his buddies and picking fights with the biggest Niggers he saw.

He was afraid of Mustafa, but he still would have carried out his threat if Mustafa had tried him. He saw what Damian did to Mustafa in their fight. He was afraid of Damian. That's why he had to fight him. He had also been afraid of Lee. And he was afraid of losing this upcoming fight. That's why he had to prove to Damian, and himself, that he wasn't afraid--come what may.

What he often called acting with honor was nothing more than him acting to face down his myriad of fears.

Damian?

I'm through talking Antonio

Well, I'm not.

Damian waited.

How many people do you have?

Why?

Answer my questions goddammit and don't question me!

There's twelve of us.

Who joined you?

A native girl from one of the Islands.

She trained in fighting?

Yeah.

How about the others? And don't lie to me, boy. I swear if you do--just once--I'll cut your friends to pieces.

" We've all been trained.

I'm not afraid of you, Damian.

Damian didn't respond

I'm a warrior...you hear me, boy?

Yeah.

Good. Now listen up. I live by the warrior's code and you can trust my word. You leave Jane, Chandra, Ada, Feifong, the new girl and the old woman behind, and me and my unit will fight you without weapons. That's five trained men against five. And two women against two. How about that, Damian...you and me...man to man.

Damian couldn't believe his luck or Antonio's stupidity. He believed his crew could defeat the Drakes--with or without weapons--but until that moment of reading Antonio's emissions, he was afraid that when they started losing, Antonio would try to use Mike and Janet like he used the Iowees against a full-strength, Lee. With no weapons around, he had a much better chance of  preventing that. He answered Antonio:

Sounds honorable to me, but how do I know you're coming unarmed? Damian asked the question only for the sake of asking. He understood Antonio, even if he couldn't read his honesty in his emissions. In his perverted, sick way, the guy was an honorable man. He was a murderer, a torturer, a rapist and a psycho, but he would kill himself before he went back on his word in a fight. Fighting is what defined his existence. Warriors are who he worshiped. He was like a 15 year old video junkie, living in a fantasy world. He lived, breathed and believed every utterance of the military fairy tale glop that so many young men grew up being fed on. Damian already knew he was coming unarmed like he promised.

Warrior's code of honor, Antonio said in Damian's mind, answering his question just the way Damian knew he would. Still think I'm afraid, Damian?

No Antonio, I definitely don't think you're afraid, now. Damian answered, as he tried to come to grips with a  feeling he suddenly got from Antonio's emissions--a feeling that Antonio, knew he was going to lose in their fight...which was the same thing as death for a man like Antonio. The man will fight to the death, but he knew he was going to lose.
Damian recalled how Antonio had literally begged Lee to kill him when he was laid up and defenseless with a severely strained neck. The man just simply could not live with physical defeat--at the same time--he couldn't resist facing up to every single thing that made him afraid of just such an outcome.

Damian turned his thoughts back to Antonio, and realized he had been tuned out.

"You can stop worrying now, Moose." Antonio said to Mustafa. " None of the Civs are going to be on the battlefield."

Tameka cursed loudly.