The Big Enchilada

good.
    “Domingo! Now!” he gurgled. The guy sure had a way with words.
    “But what about my plane reservation?”
    “Now!” Mountain brought a fist down on an end table, causing the legs to buckle and fly off.
    “Hey! Take it easy. That was antique Formica.”
    He made an impatient growling sound, and his hand went into his pocket and came out pointing a gun at me.
    “Okay, okay. I’m coming. Can I put my shirt on first?”
    He watched me closely as I took the shirt from the back of a chair where it was hanging and put it on. As far as the big ape was concerned I was unarmed. Slick, Hunter, very slick.
    On the way out I propped up the door as best I could, not that I thought-it would do any good. With the piranhas that lived in my neighborhood, the apartment would probably be stripped bare by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t care. Anything important of mine was well hidden, and the furniture belonged to the apartment, not to me. I was planning on moving anyway, and besides, unless things went right, I might not even be coming back.
    We went down to the limo, which seemed to require three parking spaces. Mountain made me drive, keeping his gun fixed on me the whole time. The only sound in the car was the wet, bubbling noise of Mountain breathing.
    I parked in Domingo’s driveway and was escorted into the big back room. The vault door was open and there were two suitcases sitting on a table. The fat man was in the process of taking things from the vault and putting them in the cases. One case held plastic bags that were full of white powder. The other was filling up with envelopes and folders that appeared to contain documents and photographs.
    “Packing a few things for a weekend in the country?” I said.
    Domingo looked up at me, his features contorted with an expression of contempt, anger, and hatred. His heavy lips were wrapped around the large cigar stuck in the center of his mouth. It had gone out.
    “You stupid schmuck,” he said, his heavy jowls shaking. “You thought you were going to be real cute. You thought you would fuck with me. Well, asshole, you can’t.”
    “What are you talking about? I was just about to leave town when your gorilla here came in my apartment without bothering to open the door. What’s going on?”
    “Don’t try to come on dumber than you are, Hunter. It won’t work. As though you didn’t know, I was hit last night.”
    “Yeah, I heard this morning. Too bad.” I paused for a second and then looked surprised. “You don’t think I had anything to do with that?”
    “Nice try, schmuck.”
    “Hey, you’ve got it wrong. I swear to you I had nothing to do with it. Man, I wouldn’t cross you. No way.” At this point Domingo was supposed to ask who would cross him.
    “You know, of course, you’re dead.” He said this as though he were announcing that the tonic water was flat. This interview didn’t seem to be going quite the way I had intended, and I started to get genuinely nervous. Mountain was only about two steps away from me, watching closely, and there was no way I could get the gun off my leg. Shit.
    “I could have had Mountain finish you in your apartment,” he continued, “but I wanted to see it. I guess I’m just a sentimentalist, but I wanted to be there when you were tom limb from limb and spread out thin around the room. You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Hunter, but no more.”
    “You’re making a mistake. I—”
    “My mistake was in not doing this long ago. Waste him!” Before I could even react, Mountain had closed the short distance between us. His giant arms went around me, pinning mine to my sides. He pulled me to him in a bear hug, lifting me off the ground. His immense stomach pressed into my rib cage, forcing the air from my lungs. The pressure continued to mount as he applied more force than I thought a human being was capable of. I wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer, and desperation must have given me extra strength. I started to squirm in his grasp and managed to pull an arm free. That didn’t help any. On the contrary, it served to increase the pressure on my chest. Pain shot through me as I felt several ribs crack. I started to club at his head with overhand blows. I did no damage, but I distracted him enough to get my other arm free. I-grabbed and scratched at his face, but he squeezed me all the tighter. I couldn’t draw breath. The pain in my chest was incredible. I knew I was very