Free The Final Adversary by Gilbert Morris Page A

deliver him from prison!”
    ****
    Katie came out of her drunken stupor slowly. Someone was shouting at her and slapping her face, but she could not tell who it was. Finally she forced her eyes open, and saw the man standing over her.
    “All right . . . Tony,” she whispered. “I’m awake.”
    “You’re drunk, that’s what you are!” Barone pulled her from the bed to her feet and held her up, or she would have collapsed. Cursing, he reached over with one hand and grabbed a pitcher of water and doused it over her head. “I told you to lay off the booze!”
    Gasping and sputtering, Katie wiped her face as she tried to speak, but the raw gin had thickened her tongue. “I—just had a little drink to—help me get ready!”
    “Liar!” Barone shoved her back on the bed and picked up an empty bottle from the floor. “You drank the whole quart!” He tossed the bottle at the rumpled figure. She had been the biggest disappointment he’d had with women. Looks, voice, ability—she’d had it all, but in less than a month it had become apparent that she couldn’t tolerate alcohol. She’d have one drink, another—then drink until she passed out. “Worse drunk I ever saw!” he’d told his friends. “She’ll have to lay off the booze.”
    But Katie couldn’t do that. She lived in a world where liquor was more plentiful than water, and there was alwayssomeone ready to buy her a drink, no matter how hard Tony Barone tried to watch her. Now looking down on her, he said, “I’ve had it with you, Katie. You know who was coming to hear you sing tonight? Lindsey Black, that’s who! The biggest producer in this town! I worked on him for weeks. Now he’s coming and you can’t even stand up!”
    “I—I can sing, Tony!” Katie said. She struggled to her feet, swaying. “Just—give me—a few minutes!”
    “I’ll give you nothing, you drunk!” Barone raged. “You’re through singing. You can hustle like the rest of the girls.”
    “No! I can’t do that!” Katie cried. She reached for him. “Tony, you said you loved me, that we’d get married!”
    He laughed harshly. “Think I’d marry a drunk like you?”
    “You—you gave me my first drink, Tony!”
    “Everybody gets their first drink from somebody,” he said callously. “Get your stuff together. I don’t want you in my apartment. You can have one of the rooms with the other girls.”
    Katie stared at him in unbelief. “I can’t do that!”
    “Do it or get out!” Barone said. He stalked away, then stopped. “If you’re in here when I get back, you’ll wish you were gone!”
    The door slammed, and Katie sank down on the bed, shaking. Confused and terrified, she slowly began to dress, for she knew Barone meant what he said. I’ll clean up, go away and sober up for a couple of days, she thought. Then Tony’ll take me back.
    An hour later she left the saloon, but her plan failed almost at once. A man she knew slightly stopped her on the street. “Well, this is my lucky day! I was going to eat alone, but if you’d join me, Katie, I’d be favored.”
    She hesitated, then nodded. He took her to an expensive restaurant, and during the meal she drank several glasses of wine. Afterward, they went dancing, and soon she was drunk again. The next morning she woke up in a room she didn’trecognize. She dressed and left, passing the room clerk on the way. “Come back soon, dearie,” he called after her, smirking.
    The sharp autumn wind bit her face as she moved along the gray sidewalk. For hours she walked the streets, and not knowing what else to do, made her way back to Barone’s place. His manager, Pete Shuffield, met her as she came through the door. “Tony ain’t here, Katie,” he said. “But he said to tell you nothin’s changed. Either start hustlin’ at the bar or clear out. Sorry, but that’s the way it is,” he shrugged. “I put all your stuff in the room at the end of the hall.”
    Katie numbly climbed the stairs and stood in