50
'SHOOTING START TODAY,' Hawk said.
'Leonard tell you?'
'Yep.'
'Tell you the time?'
'Nope.'
We were in Hawk's car, parked at the curb in the little square that fronted City Hall. It was 7 A.M. on a May morning, and even Marshport had a fresh May morning quality as we sipped our coffee and watched the few people employed in Marshport straggle along to work.
'My guess is soon,' I said.
'Ford Expedition?' Hawk said. 'On the corner?'
'Yes.'
'Best I could see through the tinted glass,' Hawk said, 'there be several aggressive-looking brothers in there.'
'Car's black, too,' I said.
'As it should be,' Hawk said.
'Bet there's some more around,' I said.
'Blue Town Car over there,' Hawk said. 'Other corner.'
'And maybe a couple back of the building.'
'Pretty sure,' Hawk said. 'Vinnie's back there, case things go that way.'
'With cell phone?' I said.
'Un-huh.'
'How did we crime busters function without them all those years?'
'Yelled loud,' Hawk said.
'You know what I like here?' I said. 'There's a bunch of black guys waiting in cars to shoot it up with a bunch of white guys, and it's not about race.'
'Be about power and money, mostly,' Hawk said.
'Race can't hold a candle,' I said.
'What can?' Hawk said.
We drank some coffee. Nobody did anything. The Expedition and the Town Car sat quietly.
'Gray Man know?' I said.
'Un-huh.'
At eight o'clock, a few public servants began to drift into City Hall.
'They waiting for Boots to arrive,' Hawk said.
'If they don't spot him when he arrives, how will they know he's there?' I said. 'He might come in through his private tunnel.'
'Whenever go time is, they go,' Hawk said. 'He ain't in there, they shoot somebody else. Be an object lesson.'
'Lot of people to shoot,' I said.
Hawk shook his head.
'Leonard running this,' Hawk said. 'He pretty slick. He know Tony don't like to shoot civilians. Civilians stay down and out the way, they be safe enough.'
'Hiding behind a desk in the middle of a shootout is not what everyone would consider safe.'
Hawk smiled.
'Things be relative,' he said.
'Tony has Leonard running it,' I said.
'Un-huh. Tony pretty good with a gun, and he ain't scared of much, but he know who he is and what he do best, and he know how to delegate. Leonard can run this.'
'And he wouldn't send Ty Bop or Junior,' I said. 'They're specialists.'
'They belong to Tony. Junior will stomp somebody if Tony tells him, and Ty Bop shoot who Tony tell him. But they main work is protecting Tony.'
'Like a closer,' I said.
'Un-huh.'
'Age of specialization,' I said.
