He had crossed his legs and was lighting a cigarette.
'We got a problem here, Mr. Wu.'
'You have a problem,' Wu said.
I shrugged.
'Let me tell you my problem,' I said.
'I am a sort of professional tough guy. I'm kind of smart, and I've got a lot of experience. But mainly I get hired to do things other people can't do, or won't do, or don't dare do. You know?'
Wu inhaled, enjoyed it, and let it out slowly, through his nose.
He didn't say anything.
'So,' I said, 'how would it look if I let two juvenile delinquents and a Chinese guy half my size come in here and frighten me.'
'It would not look good,' Wu said.
'But you would be alive.'
My hand was resting on my desk top just above the half-open drawer.
'All this because I had lunch with your wife.'
'You will stay away from Port City,' Wu said.
'Or you will be killed.'
I dropped my hand to the open drawer and came out with a revolver, which I cocked as I took it out. At the first movement both the Vietnamese kids went under their coats, but I had about a two-second lead on them and was aimed at the tip of Wu's nose by the time they got their guns out. Both had nines.
'If I hear the hammer go back on either of those guns,' I said to Wu, 'you're dead.'
Wu spoke to the boys. Peripherally I could see both kids crouching, holding the gun in both hands.
'Perhaps they are already cocked,' Wu said.
He hadn't moved, nor had his expression changed.
'Then I'm dead,' I said.
The office was silent. I listened. Even these kids weren't crazy enough to walk around with a round in the chamber and the hammer back. It was a good bet. But it was still a bet. There was no sound. I'd won the bet.
'Even if you do shoot me,' Wu said, 'they'll kill you.'
'I'm pretty good,' I said.
'Maybe they won't.'
My gun was a Smith and Wesson.357. Six rounds. It had a blued finish and a walnut grip, and it was alleged to stop a charging bear.
Normally, unless I expected to encounter a bear, I carried a comfy little.38. But for office use the.357 was an effective negotiating tool. I kept my eyes on Wu. I was listening so hard I felt tired. The radiator pinged in the corner and almost cost Wu his life. Still he didn't move. Still the kids crouched. Still I held steady on the end of his nose. Then Wu said something to the Vietnamese kids. Both of them put their guns away. I leaned back a little in my chair and kept the gun on Wu.
'Tell them to put the guns on the floor,' I said.
Wu spoke to the boys. They answered.
'You will have to kill them, if you can, to get their guns away,' Wu said.
The boys stared straight at me with their empty eyes. I was wrong. They had more than rage. They had face, and they wouldn't give it up. And I couldn't make them. I knew that. I could kill them. But I couldn't make them lose face.
'Maybe another time,' I said.
'See you around.'
Wu looked at me for another moment. Then without a word he dropped his burning cigarette on the floor and got up and left.
Without even glancing at me, the two kids went after him. They didn't look back. They didn't close the door.
I sat with my chair tilted back and the gun still in my hand. A thin blue will-o'-the-wisp trailed up from the still- burning cigarette. I stared through it, out the door, at the empty corridor.
After a while I got up and went around and stepped on the cigarette. I closed the door and went back to my desk and got the phone, and called Boston Police Headquarters. I asked for Homicide. When I got Homicide I asked for Lt. Quirk. He picked up his phone, still talking to someone, and held it while he finished the conversation.
'Fuck aTF.,' he said to someone.
'They got their problems.
We got ours.'
Then he spoke into the phone.
