Dino and four Chelsea warriors were standing in the hallway waiting for him. Somehow, Ron wasn’t surprised. He almost expected it.

“Lookin’ for somebody?” Dino was smiling. A nasty, yellow-toothed smile.

“Where are they?” Ron asked flatly.

Dino laughed. “Where d’ya think? Sylvia came lookin’ fer me yesterday. Th’ kid was sick an’ they both was starvin’. So now she’s my girl.”

“I’ll bet she’s thrilled by that.”

“You betcha.”

Ron jerked a thumb toward the staircase. “I’ve got medicine for Davey. He—”

“He won’t need it. He’s dead.”

“What?” Ron felt the breath catch in his throat.

With a sour face, Dino said, “Damn’ little brat coughed his guts out all night. Died jes’ about an hour ago. One less mouth t’ feed.”

Without even thinking about what he was doing, Ron growled like an animal and leaped at Dino. He got a glimpse of Dino’s face, suddenly scared-looking, and felt the solid shock of their bodies smashing together and hitting the floor. They rolled and thrashed around, and then Ron was on top of Dino, pounding him with both fists.

“Murderer! Butcher!” Ron screamed. Dino’s mouth and nose were filled with blood. “Killer! Filthy goddamned killer!”

The other guys pulled Ron off Dino. He fought back, hitting, kicking, screaming at all of them like a cornered wild beast until they clubbed him to his knees and kicked him unconscious.

Chapter 14

Ron came to slowly.

His head throbbed painfully. His body ached and felt stiff. He found that he was lying on the cold floor of a completely dark room. He couldn’t see anything at all. No window, no light. Only darkness.

He sat up, taking it easy, trying to see if anything was broken.

Not so bad, he said to himself. It hurt, but not as much as the first time Dino and his pals had worked him over.

He thought about that time for a moment. It was almost as though the past few months hadn’t really happened. Here he was again, stiff and sore from a beating by the same guys. Everything that had happened was like a dream. A bad dream. Al and Davey were dead. As if they had never lived. Nothing but memories now.

Sylvia. Ron frowned, then winced as a cut on his cheek pulled open. Sylvia. She never gave a damn about me at all. He almost laughed, but it hurt too much. Did she really love Al? Or did she do everything just to make sure Davey would get fed and protected? Maybe she went to Dino just to get help for Davey. Sure, that’s why she did it. I was gone for three days. She must have thought I wouldn’t come back. Maybe she thought I was dead. Dino would be the only one who could help her—and Davey.