'Yes. Strength of character. Strength of spirit.'
'Very good,' the beautiful woman proclaimed, bending at the waist to give Terry a kiss. 'And so . . . is Michelle strong?'
'She's so brave.'
'And the Mole?'
'Michelle says he's the smartest man on the earth. That's what she says.'
'And Burke?'
The kid looked doubtful, waiting. 'Burke is not strong like Max?' The kid shook his head.
'Or brave like Michelle? Smart like the Mole?'
'No . . .' Terry said, reaching for it.
'So how does he survive?'
The kid knew all about survival. 'He has strength too, right?'
'Right!' said Immaculata, giving him another kiss.
The kid was in heaven. Maybe he'd never see the inside of a prep school unless he went along on a burglary, but how many kids get to work a major-league scam, hang out with a lunatic, and get kissed by a lovely lady all on the same day?
'Come on,' said Immaculata, reaching out her hand. I followed them down the hall to Lily's office.
7
Lily was seated at the screen of her so-called computer, playing some electronic game with the keyboard, a baby on her lap, balanced between her elbows. She was wearmg a painter's smock over pink jeans; her hair was tied back. Her scrubbed face looked like a teenager's, animated with attention as she bounced the baby on her lap in time with a man running through a maze on the screen Michelle sat on the desk, her flashy legs crossed, smoking a cigarette in a red lacquer holder. Her outfit was all black-and-white triangles. Even her nail polish was black. On a straight lady, it would have looked
Whorish. On Michelle, it was fashion.
'Mom!' Terry yelled, charging over to her.
'Michelle pulled him close, hugging him, looking over his shoulder. 'You spend a few minutes with Burke and you leave your manners in the street?'
Terry gave her a kiss, smiling, knowing she wasn't mad at him. 'I greeted Immaculata,' he said.
''And . . .'
The kid turned to Lily. 'Hello, Lily.'
'Hi, Terry!'
'Hello, baby,' he said to the infant on her lap. 'Baby has a name,' Immaculata reminded him gently. 'Hello, Flower,' the kid said, taking her tiny hand and kissing it.
Immaculata clapped. 'See! He learns his good manners from Burke.'
Michelle laughed. 'He'd be the first.'
'Can I hold Flower?' Terry asked Mac.
'As I showed you,' she warned him. Every female eye in the room was riveted on the kid, but he tucked the baby into the crook of his arm, sat down next to Michelle, and started cooing to Flower like he'd been doing it all his life. Like nobody ever did to him.
I gave Miclielle the high sign. She tousled Terry's hair and slid off the desk. We left them in the office and walked down the hall, looking for an empty room.
8
We ducked into a cubicle a few doors down. I didn't have much time.
The Mole and I just did some work. He said for you to hold his share.'
I handed her the cash. She snapped open her purse, divided the money into two piles, stowed it away.
'A little closer to Denmark, baby - to the real me,' she said, blowing a soft kiss at the cash. Michelle had been talking about the operation ever since I'd known her. She'd been through the full-body electrolysis, the hormone injections, even the silicone implants in her breasts. But she had balked at the psychological counseling American hospitals required before they'd do a full sex-change operation.
'You'll take Terry back to the Mole?'
I nodded, checking my watch. 'You go get him,' I told her.
I dialed a number while I was waiting for her. The lawyer with the limo answered on the first ring.
'It's done,' I told him. He started to babble. I cut him off. 'You know Vesey Street, where it runs past the World Trade Center? Take it all the way west, right to the river. I'll meet you there in forty-five minutes.' I hung up on him.
Michelle came down the hall, holding Terry's hand, calling goodbye to Lily and Immaculata over her shoulder.
9
Terry sat between us on the front seat. I lit a cigarette. 'Want one?' I asked him.
'Michelle doesn't want me to smoke,' the kid said, his angelic face giving nothing away. Michelle gave him a kiss. The Mole was teaching him science; I was teaching him art.
'I got to meet a guy, Terry,' I told him. 'You'll have to ride the trunk, okay?'
'Sure!'
'And when I'm finished, I'll take you back to the Mole.'
'I can't go right back,' he said.
I looked over at Michelle. 'Why not?' I asked him, watching her eyes.
'Mole says he has work to do. Someplace else. He says for you not to bring me back until after six.'
'How about if I bring you back to Lily's? I'll roll by in a few hours.'
'Why can't I hang out with you?'
Michelle patted him. 'Burke has work to do, baby.' The kid was hurt. 'I do work too. I help Mole. Lots of times.'
'I know you do, baby,' she said. I shot the kid a warning glance. If Michelle wanted to think the kid helped out by holding the Mole's soldering iron, that was fine with me.
We rolled into the Wall Street canyon, following Michelle's directions. She had customers down there too. I pulled over to the curb.
She gave Terry another kiss and flowed from the car. We watched her make her way into the building. Watched men turn to look at her, thinking they had never seen a woman with so much stile. I used to wonder what men would think if they knew the truth, but I don’t anymore. The man waiting for her knew the truth.
10
I wheeled the Plymouth around the corner and slid along until I found an empty spot, just past the little park where they assemble crowds who want to visit the Statue of Liberty. A lot of people bring their cars down to the river to work on them. Guys were changing the oil, draining radiators, doing tune-ups. I pulled over and popped the trunk. The inside was lined with the padding that furniture movers use. A steel box in one corner covered the battery; a fifty-gallon fuel cell took about half the storage space, but there was plenty of room for a man to wait comfortably. A neat row of quarter-inch holes was punched through the tip of the trunk. I pulled the piece of duct tape away so air would circulate. 'You know where everything is?' I asked the kid.
