Flood

“That would be a fucking first.”

“Burke, you were right, okay? This is a disguise-I walked around for a couple of hours before you came and it really works. If you asked anyone who saw me what I looked like they would never get above my neck. Don’t you think these pants make me look slimmer?”

“The only thing you come off as is dim, Flood, not slim.”

“Look, I thought about it and-”

“And nothing-you drew your usual total blank. The woman in the videotape wasn’t wearing that ribbon, you dummy-it was part of Goldor’s sicko trip. He probably has a drawer full of them-keeps them next to his fucking executioner’s mask or something.”

“I know that. And when he sees this, he’ll think of her.”

“And that’s your idea of smart?”

“You’ll see.”

“No I won’t-because you’re taking it off, right now.”

“Listen, Burke-I know men, I know about them. This will really help. You’ll see.”

“Take it off, Flood.”

“Maybe later,” she said, and tried to smile, but I wasn’t buying any of that. We had a staring contest and I won. She put her hands to her throat, unsnapped something, and it came off in her hand. With characteristic maturity, she immediately sank into a heavy pout.

We drove toward the parking garage in silence. Finally I said “Flood, on this trip I am the captain and you are the crew-period. You want to sit there and bounce those D-cup extravaganzas in this freak’s face until he can’t see straight, that’s okay. But don’t do any thinking, understand?”

Silence from Flood.

“You want to sit there and pout like a goddamned brat, or do you want to hear the plan?”

“I want to hear the plan, oh mighty captain.” Now it was my turn to be silent.

“Okay, Burke. We’ll do it your way-what’s the plan?”

“The plan is we go and pick up another car. Actually, I pick up the car and you wait in this one. Then we drive out to Goldor’s house and we walk up and knock on the door, right? Then after he invites us in, you sit there and be quiet and I talk him into giving up Wilson.”

“That’s the plan?”

“That’s it.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too elaborate?” She even curled her lip when she said it.

“Maybe you’re right. Okay, let’s do it this way-I stop the car at the next corner, Miss Smartass gets out and wiggles her way home, and I go out to Scarsdale by myself.”

“It won’t work.”

“Why not? You couldn’t find your way home?”

“Don’t be so wise, Burke. We have to have a way to make this Goldor tell us about Wilson.”

“I’m working on that.”

“Don’t you think we should work it out first?”

“Flood,” I said, looking at her, “there is no time.” And she listened to my voice and looked at my face and believed me.

When we got near the garage I pulled the Plymouth over near the wall and told Flood to get out. She looked at me suspiciously. “You can’t wait in the other car,” I told her. “I’m not even sure where it is and you have no papers for it. I have to leave this one inside and the man there doesn’t get to see you, okay?”

She just looked at me. “Flood, if I wanted to cut you out of this deal I wouldn’t have picked you up in the first place. Now just get out-stand over where I showed you and be quiet.”

She switched away, holding her jacket in one hand. I opened the window on her side and called out to her. “Put that damn jacket on, will you?” and she must have understood because, for once, she just did like I said without a big argument.

I rolled the Plymouth into the underground garage and pulled it over to the side to make sure Mario had seen me come in. In a few minutes he came over to my window, said, “Same as always?” and I nodded. Mario motioned for me to get out, leave the key, and come with him. I followed him back to the cubicle he called his office and we conducted our business.

“What time on the stub?” he asked.

“Anytime between eight-forty-five and nine this evening.”

“Pick it up when?”

“Late tonight, early tomorrow,” I said, trying to sound indifferent.

“It’s still fifty plus the parking charges, right?”

“Right.”

We then walked over to the time clock where all the entering cars are punched in. Mario reached halfway down into the pile of fresh tickets, pulled one out, tore off my stub and put the other piece in his pocket. He would clock me in at the right time later that night. The number on my stub would match the check-in time-that’s what cost me the fifty bucks. I pocketed the stub, slipped Mario the fifty, and walked out into the afternoon.

Flood was waiting near the wall. “Any problems?” I asked her.

“No.”

I started to walk over to where the Mole was going to leave the Volvo, glancing down at my watch to keep on schedule. Just a couple of minutes shy of six, I would have to call the jerkoffs about the gun deal like I said I would. Flood didn’t need to know any more about my business than she already did, but listening to my half of this conversation wouldn’t do any harm.

I found a pay phone, watched the second hand of my watch until it was ten seconds short of six, and punched the buttons. James answered on the first ring. “Yes?”

“I like the deal,” I said, “but I wonder if it couldn’t be upped a notch or two?”

“Meaning?”

“Let’s say the deal you proposed is one unit, okay? Now I know some people who want another one-and-a-half units, making two-and-a-half units all told, right? Could your people supply the additional amount? I would be responsible for it.”

“I’d have to ask.”

“Do it,” I told him.

“If it can’t be done-”

“Then the original is okay, but I would like more if possible.”

“Same guarantees?”

“Yes.”

“Can I reach you?”

“I’ll call same time tomorrow.”

“Fine. And listen, about that problem my associate had with your-”

“We had no problem,” I told him.

“I just wanted to say-”

“We had no problem,” I repeated in a deliberate voice.

“Great. Tomorrow, then?”

“You got it,” I said, and hung up. Dopes.

I walked away from the pay phone like it was diseased. You never know. Blumberg once told me that the law has to get a specific warrant to tap a phone and then it’s only good for a certain period of time, and even then they can’t be listening to every conversation, just the guy they got the warrant to bug. That’s all bullshit. Blumberg also told me that it’s illegal for a private citizen to tap a phone, but if he does any evidence he gets is admissible in court. What a joke-between the D.E.A. and the Special Narcotics Unit they probably have half the pay phones in this city tapped, but anyone who wants to buy dope can get it by the goddamned carload.

A gull swept by low over the East River, screeching his anger at the humans who kept snatching pieces of his river to build luxury apartments. I turned the phone conversation with James over in my mind and nothing really computed… I didn’t know if I would ever need him and his faggot friend again. My mind was wrestling with dancing images, but Goldor kept cropping up every fifth frame or so. Wearing his mask. I was way past choices.