'Seemed simpler,' I said, 'right after you got shot.'
Hawk nodded.
'Kill a few Ukrainians,' he said. 'Go back about my business.'
'Might have been that way if the guy on Blue Hill Ave had been scared to die,' I said.
'Fucked up everything,' Hawk said. 'Now we're in business, for crissake, with the feds.'
'My country right or wrong,' I said, 'but still my country.'
'Yeah, sure,' Hawk said. 'Why doesn't Ives do some of this himself.'
'He's got no domestic operation,' I said, 'officially.'
'And the fucking bureau?' Hawk said.
'They're out pretty straight,' I said. 'Since nine-eleven. These guys live lives governed by funding. They are limited by statutes and regulations and shit.'
'And we ain't,' Hawk said.
'That's our charm,' I said.
'You think anybody's had a tail on Boots? See if he leads to the supervisor?'
'Sure.'
'So there be no point to us doing that,' Hawk said.
'How would we even know if we did find him.'
'You don't think he be wearing a head cloth and riding a camel?'
'I don't know if Afghan people ride camels,' I said.
'We don't know shit,' Hawk said.
'Often the case with us,' I said.
'And we looking for somebody we may not recognize when we find him.'
'Good point,' I said.
'We could just kill everybody,' Hawk said. 'Let God sort 'em out.'
'We could.'
'And who funds the trust fund for Luther's kid.'
'Maybe we could steal everybody's money before we killed them all,' I said.
'Plus, you such a goddamned pantywaist,' Hawk said, 'you probably wouldn't even kill them all.'
'I know,' I said. 'I know. I'm trying to improve.'
'And we can't trust anybody we involved with, 'cept Vinnie.'
'I know,' I said. 'I guess it's Let us be true to one another, dear. '
The plaza was always windy. Even on still days, the wind stirred the discard of urban life and blew it around on the bricks.
Hawk grinned.
'Don't call me dear in public,' he said.
40
HENRY CIMOLI HAD taken the final upward leap in the transubstantiation of his boxing gym. He had added a Pilates studio to the Harbor Health Club. It was right next to the small boxing room he kept open as a paean to his past and a favor to Hawk and me. Susan came with us and took some Pilates training while Hawk and I lifted weights and repaired to the boxing room to teach the heavy bag a thing or two. Between rounds with the bag, I could watch through the window. She seemed flexible, strong, and tireless. She also seemed beautiful and smart, though my impressions may have been influenced by prior knowledge.
Showered, dressed, and rapturous with good health, Hawk and I waited in the lounge area for Susan. It took her longer to get rapturous. But when she emerged, she was. Her black hair gleamed. Her makeup was subtle and artistic. Her big eyes shone as they so often did with a sort of challenge. As if she was daring you to keep up with her.
'One of the ladies in the dressing room was complaining that a maintenance man had been caught peeping in.'
Hawk glanced around the club at the women working out.
'Present company excluded,' he said. 'Why he want to do that?'
Susan smiled.
'I assumed it was me,' she said.
'Had to be,' Hawk said.
Outside, on Atlantic Ave, the dismantling of the elevated Central Artery was in full clamor. We walked a couple
