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Show -366- He knexr noxr that xrhat xas beneath his chin xas the hardxrood baton xrith xrhich he had been beaten, and he struggled to re-leive the pressure, but when he did the stick xas .pulled-.tighter, the pain increased? and the progress to wherever he xas being taken slowed. He d i d n ' t see the dull black paint of the police van unt i l they were almost on i t . The pressure of the stick xas released and he f e l t fingers clutch a t the seat of his trousers. His body xas thrust forward and his knee struck the steel bottom of the bed of the truck. This new pain caused a rush of adroalLin. He sxrung about to u t t e r the obscenity that had come into his mind, but before he could u t t e r a sound, he saxr the upraised can, like a can of hairspray. He even thought he saw the spray emerge, but that may only have been the flash that stabbed his eyes xrith a pain more intense than anything he had f e l t heretofore, that f i l l e d his mouth xrith burning acid and his a dissolving current mind xrith agpgnM«irftwgxmpci»»n;• of blackness. He d i d n ' t know if he xas jolted into consciousness by the movement of the van over the c i t y streets or by being l i f t e d to a s i t t i n g position on the narrow bench that ran along each side and the far end of the i n t e r i o r . He xasn't axare of either, r e a l l y , because his eyes, xrhen he opened them, s t i l l pained him and showed only a gray blur. His head ached, his back hurt, and his knee f e l t as if the cap had been broken. Skin had been peeled from his chin and pained xrhen he touched i t . His throat f e l t as i t once had xrith a streptococcus infection. |