Chicho must’ve been staring at me, his rodent eyes delighting at seeing me down. How many times had he fantasized about this? Month after month, year after year, I’d taken his money, and there was nothing he could do. Fuck with me, and the Koba Office of Police would’ve put him out of business. I used to run that place, me and Paul Chang. I was the chief’s right hand, his enforcer. It had been my job to keep the money coming in, and to do that I had to keep everybody on the far side of the law in line-pimps, pushers, smugglers, gene-traders, bookies, bootleggers, fences…
And cops. Especially the cops.
I was the strongest of the strong-arms, a heavy-fisted, skull-cracking beat-down artist with a mean streak. The most ruthless enforcer KOP ever saw. But I’d fallen a long way since Paul was killed by rivals. I’d lost my badge. I’d lost my wife. And here I was, doubled over and blowing like a preggo in labor.
I heard Chicho’s voice over the agony. “I’m going to do you a favor, Juno. We go back a ways, you and me, and I’d hate to see you get yourself hurt, understand? Get out of here now, and I won’t tell Captain Mota about this. Piss me off any more, and you’re on your own.”
The woman bouncer stood over me aiming two lase-pistols-one of them mine-at my head. Looking up, I caught an up-skirt view that I couldn’t enjoy in my busted-ball condition.
“Who is this geezer?” she wanted to know.
Chicho was about to answer when a voice at the door said, “Drop it.” A uniformed cop came through the monitor-tooth curtain, his standard-issue drawn.
The woman let the lase-pistols slip out of her fingers.
Shit! I raised my hands to protect my face. One gun smacked the back of my left hand and tumbled harmlessly to the side. The other bounced off my jaw with a painful thunk.
“Nice.” I glared at her.
She gave me a smart-ass grin.
Taking the weapons as my own, I slowly stood, my hand smarting, my package aching. The things I do… “What kept you?”
Officer Marek Deluski shrugged. “I didn’t know you needed help.”
Hunched over the way I was, I had to crane my neck to see the kid’s eyes. They looked truthful, but I couldn’t say for sure. I could picture the dumb shit staying outside and peeking through the curtain, secretly enjoying watching me get my huevos scrambled before coming to the rescue. This new squad of mine had a serious loyalty problem.
Now that I was back in control of the situation, this was the perfect time to exact a little retribution. I thought about shooting the pimp somewhere nonfatal, maybe in the knee, or maybe frying a hole through one of those fancy offworld shoes on his feet.
But I didn’t do that shit anymore. Even after taking a groiner.
I forced my torso upright with a groan, my face frozen in a nasty leer. The woman tried to keep her tough-girl act going, but with the tables turned, I saw fear under those long, mascara-caked lashes.
I looked into Chicho’s eyes. “You ready to quit this pissing match and talk business?”
Chicho crossed his arms, a sour expression of defeat on his face. He glanced at Deluski’s weapon then sat on his desk, his ass dropping through the holo-ledgers.
“Truce?” I asked.
He gave me a nod.
I tucked my lase-pistol back in my waistband and passed the other weapon back to the female bodyguard. She thanked me, a sign that our little spat was already forgotten. That was the way things were in the muscle business. There were times to carry a grudge, and there were times to have a short memory.
I gave Deluski the eye, and he holstered his police-issue.
To Chicho, I said, “I’m back in business. I’m taking this alley again.”
After a theatrical sigh he said, “C’mon, Juno, you can’t be serious with this. Captain Mota’s not going to let you steal his territory.”
“It’s not his. He’s the one who stole it from me. I owned this alley for twenty years. The way I see it, Mota’s just been looking after it for a while.”
Chicho rubbed his jaw. “Listen, don’t take this the wrong way, but you gotta know your time is past. You were one hard-nosed collections man, I’ll give you that, but times have changed. I mean, look at you. What happened to you anyway? You look so thin.”
“I’m on a diet.”
“You need to eat, friend. You don’t look good. You get that wife of yours to cook you up a nice meal.”
My heart lurched at her mention. “Niki died.” I could only mutter the words.
“What?” His face looked a little less rodent, a little more human. “How did she die?”
“She just did,” I non-answered.
“Shit, that’s a tough break.”
I had no words. I just stood there.
“Where’s she buried?”
My voice barely audible, I said, “Out in the jungle.”
“You didn’t put her in a cemetery?”
“What’s it to you?”
He looked offended. “What if I want to send flowers?”
“Why? You didn’t even know her.”
“It’s common respect. Somebody dies, you send flowers. Why’d you bury her in the jungle?”
“That’s what she wanted,” I said, hoping to end this line of conversation.
“She got a marker?”
I gave him an annoyed shake of my head.
“Why not?”
I felt the pressure building. “Who do you think you are, asking me this shit? It’s none of your fucking business.”
“Jesus, you don’t need to get all worked up. I’m just trying to figure out where to send the flowers. I wasn’t accusing you of anything.”
I didn’t know whether to be ticked or touched. “Just fucking forget the flowers.”
He shrugged acceptance. After an uncomfortable silence, he asked, “So you want to take over protection duty?”
I nodded.
“Tell me how a washed-up cop is going to keep KOP off my ass?”
A cheer went up outside. The sun must’ve just dropped. The Big Sleep had begun, the first seconds of three weeks of darkness now ticking by.
“My word is still good over there,” I lied.
He gave me a skeptical stare.
“Paul Chang and I ran that joint for twenty years. Chang was the greatest chief this planet ever saw, you know that. They’re still loyal to me. Me and Paul’s memory. I tell them to leave you the hell alone, they’ll leave you the hell alone.”
“You still got that kind of pull?”
“Listen, I know how fucked up KOP has gotten since Paul was killed.”
“Chief Chang wasn’t killed. He ate his gun.”
“Paul would never kill himself.” I pointed my shaking finger at my heart. “I was there. I know what happened.”
He shrugged his shoulders and offered an unconvinced, “Whatever you say.”
I wanted to shove the truth down his throat and force him to swallow. But I hadn’t come here to argue about Paul. I’d come to continue my slow climb back to the top of KOP.
“Listen,” I said. “We’re on our second chief since Paul. The mayor and the new brass are clueless. Nobody’s running the show, which means KOP is splintering into a thousand little pieces. Everybody can see it, and that’s exactly what’s got people wishing things could go back to the way they used to be. Cops are turning to me to unify KOP again. I remind them of a better era. Tell him, Deluski.”
