“We can take ’em. Running Braves and Warrior Angels.”
“There are no Warrior Angels.”
“Gotta be. I know there are Running Braves.”
“Too late. Can’t let ’em get me.”
“We got backup, Starkey. We got Alfred and Marty and Johnson. Dr. Gould. Even that slick-ass Hubbard can help us. All on our side, all down with the Warrior Angel.”
“Not enough. I got to do this, Sonny. The battle’s over.” The calm in Starkey’s voice was chilling. He’s decided, realized Sonny, to kill himself. Keep talking.
“Battle’s not over, Starkey, just started.” Sonny forced himself to breathe, to swallow down the fear. “Can’t quit now.”
Starkey drew another line of blood down his throat. “I got to do this before they take me.”
Sonny was close enough to grab Starkey’s razor hand, but he wasn’t sure he’d be fast enough to stop him from making that one fatal cut. Starkey had begun another line of blood, a little deeper this time.
Try something else. “One thing I don’t get, Starkey. You had to come all the way up here to kill yourself?”
Starkey’s voice cracked. “I came up to kill you, Sonny. You don’t know how bad it is when the Voices tell you what to do and you can’t stop it.”
“But you didn’t kill me. You’re fighting them right now.” Sonny touched Starkey’s knee. It was vibrating. “We can fight them together. We got to keep going. Hang on. It’s not like a boxing match, twelve rounds or less. This shit goes on and on forever. It’s life.”
This time it sounded like a laugh coming through Starkey’s nose.
“Sonny made a speech.”
“All I got. Come on, let’s get out of this hole.”
“So the shrinks can put me in another one?” It sounded like a real question to Sonny. And Starkey was listening for the answer.
“Whatever it takes.”
“Zap my brains?”
“I’ll be with you all the way.”
“Why?” He lowered the razor to stare at Sonny. His eyes jiggled in their red-rimmed sockets.
“You saved me, man. My turn now.”
“I let you down.” He started to lift the razor back to his throat. “I didn’t complete the Mission.”
Sonny fired the jab, open handed, and wrapped his fingers around Starkey’s. He felt the bite of the razor. But he had it.
“Warrior Angel came to save me and you did. You ever think what you saved me for?”
“What?” Starkey didn’t struggle.
“You saved me so I could save you. That’s how you complete the Mission.” Sonny reached in with his right hand and gripped Starkey’s wrist before he opened his left hand and plucked out the razor. He threw it out the window. “Let’s go, little brother.”
Starkey began to cry as Sonny pulled him out into the sunlight.
About the Author
Robert Lipsyte is an award-winning sportswriter for The New York Times, and was the Emmy-winning host of the public-affairs show The Eleventh Hour. He is the author of a number of acclaimed titles for young readers, including THE CONTENDER, THE BRAVE, THE CHIEF, ONE FAT SUMMER, and WARRIOR ANGEL. He is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring lifetime contribution in writing for young adults. Robert Lipsyte lives in New York.
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Also by Robert Lipsyte
THE CONTENDER
THE BRAVE
THE CHIEF
ONE FAT SUMMER
Copyright
WARRIOR ANGEL. Copyright © 2003 by Robert M. Lipsyte. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lipsyte, Robert.
Warrior angel / by Robert Lipsyte.
p. cm.
Summary: Native American boxer of the Moscondaga Nation, Sonny Bear must fight to retain his heavyweight championship title.
Sequel to: The chief.
ISBN 0-06-000496-7—ISBN 0-06-000497-5 (lib. bdg.)
ISBN 0-06-000498-3 (pbk.)
[1. Boxing—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.L67 War 2003 2002004551
[Fic]—dc21 CIP
AC
EPub Edition © November 2009 ISBN: 978-0-06-199733-4
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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