Alan looked around. Benny was still on his side of the fence. Mimi's face poked out from around the door. The sound of another hard punch made him look around as Link shook the ache out of his knuckles and made to lay another on Krishna's face. He had a forearm across his throat, and Krishna gasped for breath. "Don't," Adam said. Link looked at him, lip stuck out in belligerence. "Stop me," he said. "Try it. Fucker took a hammer to my *knee*." Natalie went to him, her hand over her face. "Don't do it," she said. She put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll call the cops." Krishna made a choking sound. Link eased up on him a little, and he drew a ragged breath. "Go ahead and call them," he rasped. Alan took a slow step back. "Brian, can you bring me the phone, please?" Link looked at his sister, blood streaming down her face, at Krishna's misshapen nose and mouth, distorted into a pink, meaty sneer. He clenched each fist in turn. "No cops," he said. Natalie spat. "Why the hell not?" She spat again. Blood was running into her eye, down her cheek, into her mouth. "The girl, she's inside. Drunk. She's only 15." Alan watched the brother and sister stare at one another. Blaine handed him the phone. He hit a speed dial. "I need a taxi to Toronto Western Hospital at 22 Wales Avenue, at Augusta," he said. He hung up. "Go out front," he told Natalie. "Get a towel for your face on your way." "Andrew --" she said. "I'll call the cops," he said. "I'll tell them where to find you." It was as she turned to go that Krishna made a lunge for the hammer. Billy was already kicking it out of the way, and Link, thrown from his chest, got up on one knee and punched him hard in the kidneys, and he went back down. Natalie was crying again. "Go," Alan said, gently. "We'll be okay." She went. Link's chest heaved. "I think you need to go to the hospital too, Link," Alan said. The injured knee was already so swollen that it was visible, like a volleyball, beneath his baggy trousers. "No," Link said. "I wait here." "You don't want to be here when the cops arrive," Alan said. Krishna, face down in the dirt, spat. "He's not going to call any cops," he said. "It's grown-up stuff, little boy. You should run along." Absently, Link punched him in the back of the head. "Shut up," he said. He was breathing more normally now. He shifted and made a squeaking sound. "I just heard the cab pull up," Alan said. "Brian can help you to the front door. You can keep your sister company, get your knee looked at." "The girl --" he said. "Yes. She'll be sober in the morning, and gone. I'll see to it," Adam said. "All right?" Brian helped him to his feet and toward the door, and Andrew stood warily near Krishna. "Get up," he said. Mimi, in his doorway, across the fence, made a sound that was half a moan. Krishna lay still for a moment, then slowly struggled to his knees and then his feet. "Now what?" Krishna said, one hand pressed to his pulped cheek.