“Okay. Notso and George,” Lou said. “Pleased to make your acquaintances. I’m Lou Welcome.”

“That’s Dr. Lou Welcome,” Cap corrected. “So behave or he’ll take out your liver.”

“Fat chance,” George mumbled, turning to face front again. “Yo! Yo!” he cried out. “You’re losing ’em, Cap. Hell, man, you need me to drive?”

“I didn’t even want you to come.”

“Yeah, sure. You know you can’t separate me from my car.”

“That’s right,” Notso chimed in, “or me from my Glock.”

He pulled his handgun from a shoulder holster beneath his black Windbreaker and set it on his lap.

Lou’s heart stopped. Then, with utterly unpleasant slowness, it began pumping again. Two decades in the ER had featured far too many gunshot wounds, and far too many deaths of all ages. He could count the number of times he had held a gun on the fingers of one hand, and could not even stand being this close to one.

Handguns and beets, he had said on more than one occasion, enumerating the two things in the universe he hated most.

“Jesus, Notso, put that thing away!” he snapped.

“Easy, Lou,” Cap said. “The muscle we’re tailing are almost certainly packing. Notso just wants to be prepared. Stow it, big fella.”

Notso looked at Lou queerly and slipped the Glock back into its holster.

“Who the hell are these guys, anyway?” George asked.

“I have no idea. Did you get a look at them?”

“A couple of white guys with thick necks and bulges in their jackets. One of them has a cheesy mustache.”

“Meet any thick-necked white guys lately who’d want to tail you?” Cap asked, making another turn.

“What are they driving?”

“See that Caddy a few cars up ahead?” Cap said.

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s them.”

Lou leaned forward to get a better look. “Don’t know the car,” he said. “Thanks for putting your piece away, Notso. I work in an ER and I’ve seen too many holes in too many people.”

“Don’t worry about my cousin,” George said. “My aunt got it right about him. The only thing we’re going to be shooting with on this trip is my digital camera.”

“What’s the camera for?” Lou asked.

“Information, my friend,” George answered as he snapped a couple of pics of Lou without triggering the flash. “We don’t know what we’re going to find, so this way we can capture the memories.”

“Where’d you get that camera from anyway?” Notso asked. “Yo mama’s so poor, she can’t even pay attention.”

“Funny,” George said, feigning a laugh. “I got it from school, blubber belly. It’s for a project I’m doing.”

“You’re in school?” Lou asked with more incredulity than he had intended.

“Yeah, college,” George said.

“Community college,” Notso corrected.