Humboldt smiled; that pleased him. He said, ‘Now, about hand grenades. That’s what they call in the department stores a special order. When you gonna want this stuff?’
‘Within a week.’
‘By Friday,’ said Humboldt. ‘That all right?’
Parker nodded. ‘Good.’
‘You want to take any of the stuff with you now, or get it all at once?’
‘Leave it all together,’ Parker said. ‘I’ll get word through Yancy where it should be delivered.’
‘That’s good. Now, I don’t expect to see any of this stuff again, is that right? Not even the Sten guns?’
‘Nothing,’ Parker said.
Humboldt shrugged. ‘If that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is. Would you help me
‘
He meant the liquor bottles. He didn’t want to have to bend over for them. Parker picked them up and handed them to him, and Humboldt put everything back the way it was.
Walking back down the aisle, Parker in the lead, Humboldt said, ‘You got to excuse me thinking you were like Yancy. You come in with him and all.’
‘Sure.’
They got to the card table and Humboldt sat down with a sigh. He lit a fresh cigarette from Yancy’s pack and put the rest of the pack in his pocket. He reached for the playing cards and started in on his solitaire game again.
Parker went out to the bar, where Yancy was draped. Yancy saw him coming and said, ‘There’s my pal! Have a drink.’
‘Not now.’
‘You wanna go look at boats now?’
‘No.’ The man who’d run the boat could pick one better than Parker.
Yancy said, ‘Well, it’s time to go then.’ To the bartender he said, ‘Mind if I take the bottle, Eddie?’
‘Just so you don’t let no cop see you.’ The bartender explained to Parker, ‘All we’re supposed to sell in here is set-ups.’
Parker said to Yancy, ‘Give me the car keys.’
‘What? I can drive, don’t you worry about me.’
Parker snapped his fingers. ‘Give me the keys.’
Yancy straightened up on his stool. Then he laughed and said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and handed Parker the keys to the Thunderbird. To the bartender he said, ‘This is the toughest buddy I got.’
Parker went out to the car and Yancy trailed along behind him, bottle in one hand and glass in the other. They got into the car and pulled away, Parker making a U-turn and retracing the route to the Freeway.
When they were up on the Freeway and headed south, Yancy said, ‘You ever been in Houston before?’
‘No.’
‘Then you done pretty good.’ Yancy poured a fresh drink. ‘When our work is all finished, you and I,’ he said, ‘we’re going to have a nice long discussion about events and things.’
Parker glanced at him. Yancy was smiling and cold-eyed. Parker said, ‘When the job is done, I’ll discuss anything you want, Yancy.’
‘Yeah,’ said Yancy. He nodded, slowly, continuously. ‘That’s right,’ he said.
3
GROFIELD opened the door to Parker’s knock. ‘Salsa’s here,’ he said. ‘And a man to be our Charon.’
‘A what?’
‘Someone to operate the boat.’
‘Oh.’ Parker went on into the living room where the other two men were.
Salsa got to his feet, smiling, his hand out. ‘Hello, Parker,’ he said. ‘Good to see you again.’
‘Hello, Salsa.’
Salsa was a tall, slender, dark-haired man with gleaming white teeth, gleaming dark eyes, and the baby-face look of a gigolo. He’d been a gigolo once, and a professional revolutionary once, and a ballroom dancer once, and a lot of other things once. Now he said to Parker, ‘You’re handling this job?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then it’s a good one.’
Parker turned to the other man, a chunky beetling Irish type with dead white skin and dead black hair. Parker said, ‘You know boats?’
‘Like I know how to breathe.’
