I don?t like to be put on the defensive, nor do I like apologies and excuses. “That?s fair enough,” I said
“Can we work out a compromise?”
“Such as what?”
“Such as you and me sitting down and drawing up a list of priorities.”
“I got a list of priorities.”
“It would help if you explained them to me.”
“When it comes up, I will.”
“See here, Dutch, I didn?t come here to screw up your operation. You?ve got a good bunch of people
here. A little rough around the edges, but that may be good in the long run. All I?m trying to do is give
them a little direction.”
“There?s channels,” he said brusquely.
“What channels? You? You?re the channel, Dutch. I?m sorry if I stepped on your toes—”
“It ain?t that,” he said, cutting me off.
“Then what is it? Look here, if you want to keep boosting dips and hassling street pushers and
hookers, that?s your business. I didn?t come here to kick ass, 1 came here to do a job, which is to
dump the Tagliani outfit. I thought w saw eye to eye on that.”
“Don?t screw up my schedule!” he bellowed, slamming his fist on the desk.
I jumped to my feet.
“Fuck your schedule,” I said quietly. “Maybe I better get some help in here from the field and go it
alone. And don?t raise your voice to me. This isn?t high school.”
It was a bluff but I decided to call his hand before the pot got too big to cover. Sometimes the best
way to defuse a situation is to light the fuse. He didn?t like it one hit. It caught him off guard. His eyes
glittered dangerously and beads of sweat popped out in his moustache. I started for the door.
“You shoulda told me about you and Doe Raines,” he said, before I could get to it.
So that was it. Titan had let the tiger loose.
“Why? It?s personal business. Titan knows that.”
“Titan didn?t tell me.”
“Nobody else knows about it,” I said. “That was twenty years ago, damn it.”
He leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “Babs Thomas” is all he said.
I felt like a fool. The last thing I needed to show Dutch at this point was misjudgement. We stared at
each other for what seemed like an hour. Finally his shoulders loosened and he wiped his mouth with
the back of his hand.
“Sheiss,” he growled, half under his breath, then waved at the chair. “Sit down. Let?s start over.”
