The Long Day of Revenge by D. P. Adamov Read Free Book Online Page B

was as if the animal had the mind of a human and knowing the damage he had done, was satiated. Gaditano ignored the capes being hurled before him and on his own accord, went to the other side of the ring to watch the action like a curious spectator.
    Manolo pulled himself to his knees, with his hands on his abdomen, feeling certain he was holding back his intestines from the mouth of the wound. Suddenly he was flying.
    “Manolo!”
    It was Lucinda’s cry in the distance, but muffled.
    “Manolo...”
    He was not airborne like a bird as he thought, but in the arms of others on the sand, who were rushing him out of the ring, but to where was uncertain. Someone had thrown a towel on him to help compress the massive wound as best as possible.
    “Get him out of here!”
    “Up to where, God damn it!”
    “Hermosillo! Throw him in the back of my truck! Go! Go! Go! It’s the best we can do! Drive like the devil!”
    “He’s got one like Joselito! His fucking guts will be coming out! Get him to a damned doctor!”
    “Lucinda,” he managed to gasp out, but there was only the whirl of motion and the panic-stricken male voices surrounding him.
    “To your right from the ranch property! There’s a hospital on that road into the city! Damn it! Move!”
    “Is he gonna make it?”
    “Not if we keep fucking around! Didn’t anyone think to have a fucking doctor here today?”
    “Piss on that! Go! Go!”
    Manolo was hurled into the back of the pickup truck and someone, he thought Rafael Something-or-other, was in there with him, taking charge.
    “I’ve got him! Let’s go! Drive like the stinking devil is on our ass! Now! Go! Move!”
    In the midst of the madness, Manolo managed to gasp out one request just in case it was his last and Rafael heard. It was not a farewell to Lucinda or a prayer for life, but the most unlikely request of all.
    “Tell Don Eliseo not to destroy the bull. Don’t send it to the stockyard.”
    “What?” Rafael asked, holding the towel over the wound with his hands as the truck jolted down the road, shaking both of them. “What?”
    “Tell him I want the bull. I will be back, and I will kill it.”
    “Sure you will,” the banderillero mumbled, trying unsuccessfully to keep the injured man as still as he could. “I’ll tell him.”
    Though he should have been concerned with whether he was even getting out of this alive or not, Manolo was more angered than afraid. Gaditano had extracted a heavy price from him. If the tienta wasn’t cancelled outright due to what had happened, he would miss his chance to shine with Esmeralda the cow. Instead, she would most likely go to Gomez and if he had any luck at all, would be the one to catch the interest of the important people watching. He, on the other hand, had shown only the grand ability to fall in the path of an oncoming bull and come close to being gutted.
    “Damn that little bastard,” he muttered as he started to slip into unconsciousness. “Damn that little bastard.”
    If a demon had entered the body of Gaditano when he charged into the bullring that day, it had left and found a new host, in the form of Manolo Garza.

Chapter Five
    The goring had been a blessing in disguise, just like the old cliché said, for word of a young man being badly injured by a calf at a tienta had spread thanks to the miracle of the internet. News of the injury even reached Spain and South America where bloggers and journalists rushed to find out everything about the wounded bullfighter.
    Now everyone was strung to find photos or video of the few professional actions Manolo had. YouTube was suddenly receiving multiple hits for clips from his action in Ciudad Obregon alongside Gomez, and some prick had even posted the Manzano ranch goring as well. These provoked a number of controversial responses, with the aficionados all wishing him a speedy recovery and those against the bullfighting wishing him to die. Yet he did not die, regardless of the pros or cons. He