'Too often. I thought you were going to run interference.'
'It's like they come out of nowhere. Before I know it, they're on top of you.'
A woman in rhinestone pasties and a rhinestone G-string stopped by, and Ranger handed her a twenty before she got her leg over him.
'You could go through a lot of money fast this way,' I said to Ranger.
'All for you, babe. Small price to pay to keep you out of jail.'
He dumped his vodka onto the floor behind him. The waitress swooped in, took his glass, and gave him a fresh vodka.
Rufus rolled in at five minutes to ten. He took a seat at a table by the bar and ordered a drink. One of the girls approached him and was allowed to do her thing. Guess the room in the back was closed on Monday, and the action came out front.
Ranger and I watched her gyrate and bounce and rub against Rufus.
'I know men like this sort of thing,' I said to Ranger, 'but personally, I prefer a shoe sale at Macy's. On the plus side, we'll be in good shape if we have to follow him. She's shedding so much body glitter, he's going to glow in the dark.'
The dancer slithered up Rufus, and his entire face got smushed into her breasts.
'She's going to kill him,' I said to Ranger. 'He's going to suffocate. Do something.'
'He's okay. His color still looks good.' Ranger said.
'His color is terrible. He's purple.'
'It's the lights.'
'Do men have… you know, reactions to this rubbing and writhing stuff in public?' I asked Ranger.
'I guess, but this is the first time I've seen someone turn purple.'
At ten after ten, the big blond muscle guy with the stapled nuts came into the bar and sat across from Rufus. He said something to the dancer, and she abruptly got up and left. Rufus called for the check and finished his drink. He paid his bill and left with the muscle guy.
'Give them time to get out of the building,' Ranger said. 'We don't want to ruin this by getting recognized.'
'Aren't you afraid of losing them?'
'Tank is in the lot, and Hal is on the street.'
Ranger took a call from Tank.
'They're moving,' Ranger said, snapping his phone closed.
He signaled the waitress and dropped a hundred dollars on the table. We left the club and followed Tank's directions through town. We turned into the projects, and I guessed where we were headed. The law firm's apartment building.
There was only on-street parking on Jewel Street, and at this time of the night, every parking place was taken.
'Rufus went in the car with the muscle,' Tank said over speakerphone. 'He got dropped off in front of the building and the muscle kept driving. Hal followed the car to Stark Street and lost it in traffic. I'm double parked across the street from the building. Rufus went in and hasn't come out. No one else has gone in since I've been here. Only a few minutes.'
Ranger called Hal. 'Look at the back of the building and make sure it's secure.'
'Yessir,' Hal said. 'I'm a couple blocks away. I'll get right to it.'
Ranger circled the block and found a parking place on a side street. We left the car and walked to where Tank was idling. We stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the building. Lights were on in units 1A and 3A. Curtains were drawn in 3A.
'It has to be the third floor,' I said. 'I was in every apartment, and I can't see any of the others as a possibility.'
'I told Rufus I'd wait for him to clear before I made a move, but this feels off,' Ranger said.
'What do you want to do with Gorvich when you find him?' I asked.
'I want to talk to him.'
A car careened onto Jewel half a block away and screamed past us, going in the opposite direction. Two men in the car. The passenger in shadow. The driver was the blond muscle guy.
Hal was half a block behind with his foot to the floor. Tank jerked away from the curb, hooked a U-turn, and Tank and Hal disappeared down the street in pursuit.
Ranger and I ran to the building and took the stairs two at a time to the third floor. I smelled the gasoline before we even reached the top of the stairs. It was mingled with cooked meat and forest fire.
Ranger didn't bother with the locksmith tool. He put his foot to the door and crashed it open. Smullen's girlfriend had moved fast. The apartment looked completely cleaned out, with the exception of a large upholstered couch. Probably too awkward to get down the stairs on short notice. Either end of the couch was intact. The middle of the couch was charred. And the two bodies sitting on the couch were charred. The wall behind the couch was burned black.
'This is just like the warehouse,' I said. 'Someone's doused this apartment with gasoline. There's probably a bomb in here somewhere.'
Ranger grabbed me and shoved me out of the apartment. 'Go to the second floor and get everyone out of the building.'
I flew down the stairs and started banging on doors. I had two apartments empty and was on the third when Uncle Mickey hustled down the stairs with Ranger behind him.
'Go to the first floor,' Ranger said to me. 'I'll finish up here.'
We had everyone on the street and sirens were wailing in the distance when flames shot out of the windows to 3A. The fire raced through the structure, and Ranger and I ran to the neighboring building and made sure everyone evacuated.
THE police cars were the first on the scene and then the fire trucks and paramedics. I was relieved to give the disaster over to the professionals and fade away into the crowd of bystanders. I was sweating from horror and exertion and the heat of the fire, and I was shivering with nervous energy.
Ranger pulled me into a shadow and wrapped his arms around me. I held tight to his open jacket and tucked my face into him, trying to get my teeth to stop chattering. Ranger wasn't trembling, and he wasn't sweating. His breathing was measured and normal.
'Breathe,' Ranger said, his voice soft against my ear. 'Try to breathe deeper.'
His calm washed into me, the shivering and chattering stopped, and tears rolled down my cheeks and soaked into his shirt.
'I f-f-feel like an idiot,' I said to him.
'It's just a letdown from the adrenaline rush.'
'Why aren't you letting down?'
'My body is more efficient at producing and using adrenaline.'
We stood like that, locked together, for a couple more minutes, until I stopped crying.
Finally, Ranger looked down at me. 'How are you doing?'
'I'm good.'
'I want to talk to Tank,' Ranger said. 'Stay with me.'
'I'm pooped. I thought I'd go sit in one of the cars.'
Ranger took my hand. 'Not yet. I don't want you out of my sight.'
'Afraid I'll burn down another building?'
'Afraid you'll get arrested.'
Five men in Range Man black stood shoulder-to-shoulder in front of us. Tank and Hal were among them. Ranger dismissed all but Tank.
'Hal got to the back of the building just as the car was leaving,' Tank said. 'Hal saw a rope hanging from a third-floor window. Looked like someone might have rappelled out. Hal had to turn around to follow the car, and we were both too far behind to catch him. He was really moving.'
'Did Hal get a plate?'
