Coyote blue

taillights until they blended into a million other lights. Acid panic rose in his throat, then subsided, replaced by the resolved calm of the doomed.
    He turned and walked slowly back to the minimart to find his glasses. As he reached the door, the drunk, his gas card still in hand, stumbled through and Minty caught him by the shoulders to avoid a collision. The drunk looked up, then tore himself away and stepped back. "Jesus Christ, boy! What happened to your eyes? You been sittin' too close to the TV?"
    Minty raised his hand to cover his golden eyes, then dropped it and shrugged. "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," he said with a grin.
    ~* * *~
    Dawn was starting to break and the sky was turning from red to blue. Coyote sat in the limo, which was parked a block behind Calliope's orange Z, which was parked a block away from Nardonne's Harley-Davidson Shop. Lonnie's bike was parked outside.
    "Call Sam," Coyote said. Nothing happened. He pounded on the car phone. "I said, call Sam." Nothing happened.
    "Call Sam's room," Coyote said to the phone. Nothing happened and the trickster yipped with anger. "Call Sam's room or I'll rip your cord off." He picked up the receiver and beat it on the dashboard, then he saw a sticker with the casino's logo stuck to the receiver. "Call Camelot," he said. The phone lit up and beeped through some numbers.
    The phone rang once and a woman answered. "Camelot."
    "I want to talk to Sam."
    "Do you have a last name, sir?"
    "No, just Coyote."
    "I'm sorry, sir, we have no guest listed under Coyote."
    "Not me, I'm here. His name is Hunter."
    "We have no Coyote Hunter. There's a Samuel Hunter."
    "That's him."
    "One minute while I connect you."
    "I'll bet you're ugly in person."
    "What?" Sam's sleepy voice came over the phone.
    "Sam, I found the girl."
    "Where? Where are you? What time is it? Who's ugly?"
    "Morning. You have to come here. I'm at a place called Nardonne's Harley-Davidson Shop. The girl is here, and the motorcycle with her picture on it is parked outside."
    "Give me directions. I'll be there in a few minutes. Keep Calliope there. I have to check out and get the car."
    "Take a cab."
    "You didn't take my car?"
    "No, this car is better. You can talk to the phone. Your car is gone. I sold it."
    "You what?"
    "Take a cab. I'm in a big black car. Off."
    The phone clicked, cutting Sam off in the middle of a tirade. Coyote didn't know whether the girl had a phone in her car, but he decided to try. "Call the girl," he said to the phone.
    The phone beeped through the numbers. "This is Carla," a sexy woman's voice said. "Would you like this on your phone bill or your credit card?"
    "Phone bill," Coyote said.
    "If you like leather, press one," Carla said. "Twins, press two. For California blondes, press three. Big bottoms, press -" Coyote picked up the handset and pressed three.
    Another sexy voice came on, "Hi, I'm Brandy, who are you?"
    "Coyote."
    "Would you like to know what I'm wearing, Coyote?"
    "No, I have to tell the girl to stay here until Sam comes."
    "We'll take as long as Sam needs. Is Sam getting hard?"
    "No, he's pissed off about his car."
    There was a pause and the sound of her lighting a cigarette. Brandy said, "Okay. Let's start over."
    ~* * *~
    Minty waited for the second limo at the pay phone outside the minimart. He flipped through his address book until he found the detective's number, then dialed.
    The phone rang twice, then there was the sound of the receiver rattling and falling. Finally a sleepy, hostile man's voice said, "What?"
    Minty said, "Jake, this is M.F., at Camelot."
    "Fuck that. This is harassment. It's… it's five thirty in the morning. You said I could have all the time I needed to pay."
    "I'm not calling about that, Jake. I need a favor. One of the limos has been stolen."
    "Why call me at home? You guys have Lo-Jack beacons in those limos, don't you? Call the station. They'll track it and have it back in half an hour."
    "I can't call the station, Jake. This is delicate. I need to get it back without bringing the police into it."
    "You're fucked. The Lo-Jack trackers are installed in the cruisers."
    "Can you put one in one of our limos? Just until I find the stolen one."
    "No way. The tracking system takes hours to install."
    "Jake, I need a favor. Just a favor. I haven't mentioned what you owe us."
    "This strong-arm shit isn't your style, M.F."
    "But you can get use of a unit with the Lo-Jack tracker in it?"
    "Meet me at the station in a half hour."
    "What's the range