Djibouti (24 page)

“In Arabic, with French subtitles, or English.”

“Bobby De Niro speakin Arabic.”

“It looks real.”

Xavier said, “Dara…?” and saw Jama's eyes shift and his hand go to his gun. He didn't pull it. “You want to offer Jama Rus
sell
a glass of port?”

“No, I don't,” Dara said. “He comes here to shoot us 'cause we know his name.”

“Everybody knows his name,” Xavier said. “He's got to think up a new reason to shoot people.”

“We have to watch him pose and swagger, act like an ass
hole,” Dara said, “and I want to hit him with something.” She turned looking around and picked up a sculpture from a lamp table: two girls sitting on a toadstool back-to-back, a brass piece six and a half inches high, but heavy. Dara raised it looking right at Jama.

And Xavier said, “Why don't you throw it at him?”

 

I
T WAS THE SAME
way he pulled it on Buck: drew the Walther as he sailed the flight bag at him like a Frisbee. Only it was aimed at Jama this time. Jama saw the brass statue coming at him and threw up his hand and rolled his shoulder the same way Buck did—giving Jama time to shoot him—giving Xavier the moment he needed to come at him with bare hands and take the Walther by the barrel sliding out of his pants and twist it hard and shove it into him, Jama pulling on the gun and it fired. Xavier held on to him face-to-face and said, “Boy, I think you just killed yourself.”

Dara came over as Xavier laid him on the coffee table and pulled on his legs so his head would lie flat on the glass.

She said, “He's still alive.”

“Can't believe it happen to him.”

“Look at his eyes,” Dara said. “He's thinking, But I was holding the gun.”

Xavier said, “I didn't mean it to happen this way.”

“What do we tell the police,” Dara said, “he committed suicide?”

“He's been tryin to all his poor-ass life,” Xavier said. “It finally took.”

Dara said, “Is this how it ends?”

“What, your movie?”

“Djibouti.”

“We must be close to it.”

ELMORE LEONARD
has written more than forty books during his highly successful writing career, including the bestsellers
Road Dogs, Up in Honey's Room, The Hot Kid, Mr. Paradise
, and
Tishomingo Blues
, and the critically acclaimed collection of short stories
When the Women Come Out to Dance
. Many of his books have been made into movies, including
Get Shorty, Out of Sight
, and
Be Cool. Justified
, the new hit series from FX, is based on Leonard's character Raylan Givens, who appears in
Riding the Rap, Pronto
, and the story “Fire in the Hole.” Leonard is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife, Christine, in Bloomfield Village, Michigan.

www.elmoreleonard.com

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Jacket illustration based on a photograph by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher