A Bomb Built in Hell

“What do I tell them?”

“The people?’

“Yeah.”

“Tell them he’s gone and you not.”

“How did I do it?”

“None of their fucking business, right? You don’t get paid to draw no blueprints—that’s not professional, anyway.”

“I’ll go downstairs and call them—might as well get this thing on,” Pet said. “There’s going to be a council behind this for sure.

They won’t admit what they tried to set up, but with the Prince dead, they’ll know I know ... something.”

“You know where the meet is going to be?”

“You never know in front. They’ll just meet me on some corner with a car and take me there ... then drop me off when it’s over.”

“Could I follow them with the cab?”

“No way. I might be able to do it ... maybe ... but not you. It takes years to be that good with cars.”

“Could we find out where from someone?”

“You think this is the fucking movies? Forget it. In forty years doing their work, the only thing like that I ever found out was where Salmone’s daughter lives ... and that was a fucking accident.”

“The big guy? His daughter?”

“Yeah. His natural daughter, only she’s changed her name and everything. She lives on Sutton Place in one of those co-ops—married to a lawyer or an accountant or something like that.”

“Yeah...” Wesley said thoughtfully. “You’re the best now, right? With the Prince gone?”

“As far as they know.”

“Okay, go to the fucking council. I’m going to hit his daughter.”

“Why? What do you want to—?”

“I’ll make it look like there’s a gang of freaks after all of them. Make it so’s they have to go after whoever’s got a hard-on for them, you understand?”

“No.”

“Look, they need to be fucking scared. I know how to do that. It’s not just killing. When I’m done, they’ll know it’s no job for a few soldiers. And that’s when they’ll turn it over to you.”

“Depends. They could always—”

“An open contract’s garbage, and you know it. How long was Gallo on the street? And Valachi? For their own fucking necks, they’d only want the best. They only put out an open contract when it’s not about them.”

“Nah, Wes. They really wanted Gallo.”

“Sure, but for money, right? He wasn’t coming into their fucking houses after them. It was just business with Gallo—this won’t be.”

“So what? I don’t get this. If...”

“You going to get them all together, Pet: to explain what they’re up against, tell them what precautions to take. About this, they’ll listen to you. When I get finished, they’ll all show up to listen. And that’s when we end this whole stupid fucking game of us working for them.”

“How you gonna play it ... make it look like someone getting revenge for the Prince?”

“You’re kidding me, right? Carmine taught me. All those swine ever think about is throwing people like us away. They think it’s payback for the Prince, they’ll just stake you out in the cesspool like a slab of beef.”

“If not for the Prince, then...”

“This is gonna be like the freaks of the whole world rising up. They don’t need a reason. It’s going to be like they opened a fucking box and the slime comes squirming out over the rim.”

“You can’t...”

“It’s not hard. I’ve been thinking about it. Just be slick but look sick, that’s all. Get me all the information on the woman. Make sure she’s still there, get everything.”

“Yeah, okay. But I don’t—”

“Pet, this is the right way. I know.”

48/

Wesley went back to the wall, staring into it, until Pet left. He stayed there for three hours without moving. Finally his eyes closed—he took a massive breath and got to his feet. He got up, shaved, and changed into a battered cord jacket and chinos. Sneakers and some black-rimmed glasses completed the student trip. He went to