'He finds it amusing,' Ives said.
Ives blew a smoke ring. I waited. Hawk had enough dealings with Ives to know that waiting was part of the dance. He waited, too.
'As you clearly know, Mr. Podolak is the farthest eastern outpost of a criminal enterprise with its roots in Afghanistan, under the entrepreneurial direction of an Afghani named Haji Haroon. Mr. Haroon is what the press would describe as a warlord. I find the phrase a little too Kiplingesque.'
'What would be your phrase?' I said.
'Haji Haroon is an independent ruler of a collection of his own tribesmen in Afghanistan,' Ives said. 'He has no allegiance beyond that. If asked his nationality, he would specify the tribe.'
'Which is?'
'Alaza.'
'Big tribe?' Hawk said.
'No, but cohesive and very vigorous on its own behalf. The Russians were terrified of them.'
'So why do you care?' Hawk said.
'Well, of course, our government is opposed to heroin.'
'Good to take a position,' Hawk said.
'Yes,' Ives said, watching the smoke drift up from his pipe in a small spiral. 'We're clear on that. And, further, we believe that some of the profits from the heroin trade are used in support of terrorism.'
'By Mr. Haroon.'
'We believe so,' Ives said.
'Be good to know who the supervisor is,' Hawk said.
'He is the key figure. We surmise, though we as yet don't know, that the skag goes to Podolak through him, and the money goes back to Haroon through him. He's the valve, so to speak, in the pipe. It would be satisfyingly disruptive to the system if he could be turned off.'
'And why us?' I said.
Ives smiled.
'Because you're here,' he said. 'You are already involved.'
He took the pipe out of his mouth and set it down in a big glass ashtray, with the stem carefully clear of the rim.
'And,' he said, 'in truth you are not just anybody. Nothing seems to frighten you, or at least frighten you sufficiently to deter you. And you are immensely formidable.'
'Formidable,' I said to Hawk.
'Immensely,' Hawk said.
'I am hopeful that the Kodiak Kid can sufficiently ingratiate himself with Podolak and friends, that, perhaps, he can find the supervisor.'
'And?'
Another young woman walked past us, wearing tight lowrider pants and a cropped T-shirt that stopped several inches shy of the pants. She had a small blue-and-red tattoo in the small of her back. Ives studied the tattoo for a while as the woman passed us toward Bloomingdale's. Then he turned back to us and smiled and made a sharp gesture with his hand and wrist as if he was turning off a valve.
39
THE EARLY SPRING weather was pretty good, so Hawk and I sat with the Gray Man on a set of stairs to one side of the brick wasteland that surrounded Boston City Hall.
'The Kodiak Kid?' I said to the Gray Man.
His face moved faintly as if to smile.
'It seems so American,' the Gray Man said.
'And now that you're working for us,' I said.
'Yes,' the Gray Man said. 'I wish to be totally American.'
'Any progress?' Hawk said.
'I have made contact with the Ukrainian Janissaries. Monday I meet Podolak.'
'Quick,' I said.
'Strangers in a strange land,' the Gray Man said, 'like people who speak their language.'
Hawk nodded.
'You know,' I said, 'it's still bothering me that Boots, given the setup he's got now with the Afghanis, would mess around with Tony Marcus's turf. Son-in-law or no.'
'It is a very stupid thing to do,' the Gray Man said.
