'Okay,' I said. 'You're tough. I'm tough. Hawk's tough. Let's stop for a while being tough and start being smart.'
There was a soft knock on the door. I took my gun out and pushed the muzzle into Marcus's neck. He didn't flinch. A voice outside said 'Tony?' I nodded. Marcus said, 'Yeah, Buster?'
'There's a cop car parked outside, Tony,' Buster said.
Marcus said, 'Go stand behind the bar, Buster. Polish some glasses.'
The blood continued to run down his chin. He made no move to wipe it away.
'What you got in mind?' Marcus said to me. I put the gun back on my hip and said, 'You got a very fine organization working here. Whores, dope, numbers, cards, horse parlors, bootleg booze, loansharking-did I leave anything out?'
'Protection,' Marcus said. 'Some leg breaking. Shooting.'
'Fun,' I said. 'I'm not out to break that up. If it's not you, it'll be someone else. I do what I can, not what I should.'
Marcus nodded.
'What I want is Mitchell Poitras and a little kid named April Kyle.'
Marcus shrugged.
'So why do you care?'
Marcus made a small noncommittal gesture with one hand.
'I say you didn't want the Poitras connection exposed. I say you had a nice supply of white suburban teenage whores coming in, and there's always a big demand for them. High-ticket items, you might say. And you found me chasing one of the kids that Poitras recruited, you figured it would be easier to chase me off than to risk the source drying up.'
'Say that's so,' Marcus said. 'So what?'
'It's not easy to chase me off,' I said. 'And it's not going to get easier. You probably got enough bodies finally to get it done, but it won't be easy. You're up against me, and you're up against Hawk.'
'I not sure he do have enough bodies for that,' Hawk said softly.
'If you do, and you burn me, or both of us, then there's some cops that will take it hard, and they'll keep hoisting your pimps and busting up your books and maybe bringing you in once a week for routine questioning. And maybe you'll fall down the stairs when they do. Chasing me off is a mistake. It's nothing but trouble.'
'You got a better idea,' Marcus said.
'I bet he do,' Hawk murmured.
'I take Poitras and the kid and leave you out of it,' I said. 'I can't leave Poitras in place.'
'I don't give a shit about one whore more or less,' Marcus said.
'You know that Poitras makes chicken flicks down there-boys and girls?' Marcus frowned. 'Boys too?' he said.
'Yeah.'
'I don't deal in that,' Marcus said.
'I take Poitras, and you're out of it.'
'If I don't like it.'
'We do it anyway,' I said. 'And a lot of people get dumped, and your business goes to hell.'
'He talking for you, Hawk?' Marcus said.
..Yep… 'You with him the whole way?'
..Yep.' 'Would he go that way for your black ass?'
Hawk said, 'Do it, Tony. You don't know him, but you know me. He as hard to kill as I am. And as bad. Do it or he going to fuck up your life.'
'No way you can push me into a deal I don't want,' Marcus said. 'Not with guns or fists or anything else. I don't push.'
'It's a deal that makes sense,' I said.
'I make a deal and I stick to it,' Marcus said. 'Hawk'll tell you that. You make a deal with me and it's dead solid done. You understand. No mistakes, no backing out. I say I'll do something, I do it.'
I looked at Hawk. He nodded.
'I take Poitras and the kid and the kid he lives with. I keep you out of it, and Poitras won't talk because he knows what would happen if he did.' Marcus nodded.
'And if anyone goes near Susan Silverman I'll kill him. And you.' Marcus made a movement with his puffed lips that was probably a smile.
'Thought you'd get to that.'
'He talking for me on that too,' Hawk said.
Marcus nodded. He looked down at the two bodyguards face down on the floor. 'Took Buster easy enough,' he said almost to himself. 'And these two clowns.' He picked up his napkin from the desktop and began to dab at the
