Crime Always Pays (39 page)

          So Johnny took the call, hit speaker-phone. 'Niko?'

          '
Who's this?
'

          'It's me, Johnny.'

          '
You alone?
'

          'Sure, yeah. Where the fuck are you?'

          '
Where're you?
'

          'Up in the village, man. You get away?'

          '
Fucking amateurs he sent
.'

          'Who sent?'

          '
Pyle, the fucking hippy
.' Niko taking a deep breath, letting it out with a hiss.

          'You alright?' Johnny said.

          '
The fat guy, bastard caught me one in the shoulder
.'

          Rossi winked at Terry, gave him a thumbs-up.

          'The fat guy?'

          '
The ex-fat guy
.' Niko with an evil chuckle.
 
'
Went down so hard there'll be quakes in Australia
.' Rossi frowned. Madge put her fingertips to her lips. '
Johnny? You got serious problems with Pyle. He had me took by a guy thought I was you, I think he's a pro hooked up with these Sicilians, working freelance. Told Pyle he had you someplace safe
.'

          'Bluffing him,' Johnny mumbled.

          '
What I thought, yeah. Where're you now, the Orange?
'

          'Yeah,' Johnny said, 'coordinating the, y'know, search. You coming in here?'

          '
Fuck no, are you kidding?
 
Meet me at the place, a boat's coming in from Santorin to take me off, they'll be here in three, four hours.
' Another slow hissing of breath. Niko swore.

          'You need that thing seen to?' Johnny said.

          '
Yeah
,' Niko said. '
Any of the guys there know First Aid?
'

          'I dunno. I'll ask.'

          '
Ask fast
,' Niko said. '
Shit, hold on – here's a car now. Johnny?
'

          'Yeah?'

          '
That boat's for me. You get off the island after you deal with Pyle
.'

          Niko hung up.

          'The 
ex
-fat guy?' Rossi said, not wanting to believe it.

          Madge looked at Terry.

Terry said, 'Where's this place this guy's talking about?' 

          'Up north,' Johnny said. 'Near Homer's Tomb.'

          'How long'll it take to get there?'

          'Half-an-hour, maybe more.'

          'What's the read?' Rossi said.

          'I'm thinking,' Terry said, 'if anything's happened Ray --'

          'Or Karen,' Madge said.

          'Or Gary,' Mel said.

          But Rossi only stared at her, stony-faced. 'You're a day late,' he said, 'and more'n a few dollars overdue.'

          This being the moment, for no good reason Melody could figure, the baby chose to take its first kick. She put a hand to her belly and said, 'Oh.'

Sleeps

'How about this?' Sleeps said. 'I got one, you got two, Ray's got none.' Anna quartering the sand behind them, snuffling. 'You give him one, we all put 'em away, it'd be like a Mexican stand-off in reverse. Everyone knows everyone else is packing, who's likely to draw?'

          This after Ray made the introductions, how Gary was the guy pulling the Sicilian's strings. Pyle allowed he was agreeable, it requiring all three of them to push the Punto out of the sand anyway, Ray not much use with his busted arm, the idea being to get the car going again with a running start. So Pyle gave Ray the .38, Ray insisting it was his before it was Karen's, and Sleeps put Karen in the driver's seat to turn the key once they got the Punto moving.

Once they were off the beach Ray said, 'Gary? You're a wheelman, right? How about you drive, me and Pyle'll sit in the back and admire how a pro does it.'

          Karen huddled up riding shotgun beside Sleeps, hugging herself. Anna trotting alongside.

'So where to?' Sleeps said, nosing the Punto up through the bends, the engine whining against the steep climb, the weight in the car.

          'Back to the village,' Ray said, 'the health centre. Karen needs seeing to.'

          Karen shaking her head. 'This Niko first,' she said.

          'We don't even know where the guy's gone,' Ray said.

          'I've got a pretty good idea,' Pyle said.

Ray said, 'Gary? How do you want to play it?'

          Sleeps considered. 'We get all the way up to the main road and we haven't passed him, it means he's behind us.'

          'Then what?'

          'We could turn around and come down slow. Maybe walking it, beating the bushes.'

          'What's the other option?'

          'We keep going, get Karen to the doctor. Then find this guy and kill him.'

          'Kill him?' Pyle said.

          Sleeps was still only realising how close he'd come when Niko squeezed one off, Sleeps ducking away behind the boulder, getting horizontal fast. But it was like the bullet, whining by so close, had punctured some cloudy bubble, leaving Sleeps staring up at the star-twinkling sky for the first time in his life, aware now of how much he'd had to lose, how fragile and temporary it all was. 

          Although at the time, lying there face down in the dirt, not knowing for that split-second if Niko would keep going or stop to administer the
coup de grâce
, Sleeps'd had time for only one thought: 
Christ, he's going to get her too
.

          'Guy tried to kill me,' he said simply. 'It's open season now.'

          'I'll dig you the hole,' Ray said.

          Karen, cradling her ribs with one arm, got herself twisted around. 'Ray? We lose him now, we'll never find him again.'

          'She's right,' Pyle said. 'And the fucker'll come back with a SWAT team, man. Calling in the hammerdown option.'

          Ray said, 'Gary?'

          'If Karen reckons she'll make it,' Sleeps said, 'then it's Karen's call.'

          Karen gave a little shudder, an after-shock. 'I'll make it,' she said. 'Pull in.'

          Sleeps pulled over to the verge. Karen opened the door and chucked at Anna, pulled the girl's head into the car, onto her lap. A little game of tug-o'-war ensued, when Anna refused to give up the rag in her mouth.

          'What's that?' Pyle said.

          'From the stench,' Ray said, 'I'm guessing she found Niko's gag.'

          'Christ,' Sleeps said, 'I could track him from that myself.'

          'The boy likes his garlic,' Pyle said.

          Karen wrenched the rag free and then waved it under Anna's nose, hissed in her ear. Anna's ears pricked up and then she threw her head back and howled again, Sleeps knowing he'd be hearing that sound for years to come in his bad dreams.

          Karen shook her head unbuckling the muzzle, put a finger to her lips and then buried her face in the wolf's ruff. The wolf ducked around the open door, then took off at a steady lope up the road.

          Sleeps put the Punto in gear, got going. He said, 'Ray? The hound being free and all, no muzzle, this might be a good time to put in a courtesy call to Rossi, give the guy a sporting chance if Anna misses out on Niko.'

          Karen turned her head, slow, to raise an eyebrow at Ray.

          'It's a long story,' Ray said.

Rossi

Rossi took Johnny in the bathroom and had him stand in the bath and drop his trousers, bend over grabbing the taps. 'Ever see 
Things To Do In Denver
, Johnny?'

          'Listen, Rossi, I couldn't have known. If I'd --'

          Rossi rammed the CZ between Johnny's buttocks. 'They've this thing in the movie, it's called buckwheats. Guy takes a round up the hole, it's a horrible death, lasts hours.'

          'Rossi, for the love of Jesus --'

          'I'd a thought,' Rossi said cocking the CZ, 'you'd be more a Judas man. I mean, Johnny, you set me up with a hot fucking rod. So it’d be what they call, y'know, that thing, you were to take a round up the hole from your own hot rod now.'

          Johnny with wobbly knees. 'It wasn't meant for 
you
, man.'

          'No?'

          'You were supposed to hand off to Niko, let 
him
 take the heat.'

          'Meanwhile,' Rossi said, 'I'm running all over with a smoking gun. For ten fuckin grand?' He shoved the CZ a little further between Johnny's white hairy buttocks. 'I'm thinking, that forty gees you owe, it's maybe double-bubbling again.'

          'Sure thing,' Johnny said. 'Anything you say.'

          'Don't agree so easy, man. You do that, you're either fink all the way through or you're planning some other grift. Either way, I'm worried.'

          'You got nothing to worry about, Rossi.'

          'I got my main man down, Johnny, maybe bad, I dunno. And I got this Niko guy running free, guy's a rogue cannon who maybe wants you, setting you up for a meet at this commie joint you're calling it.'

          'Why would he want me?'

          'You tried to stiff him,' Rossi jamming the CZ a little further, 'with a bogey rod.'

          'How would he even 
know
?'

          Rossi thought about that. 'You don't think he gave it up a bit easy?' he said. 'How he's scooting out, leaving you to clean up? I mean, this is a guy, he's just been in a firefight with some crew he thinks is working for the guy works for you, this Pyle guy. You were Niko, you'd already stopped a slug, you wouldn't be maybe wondering who's with who?'

          'Oh-kay,' Johnny said. 'But if he thinks I'm offside, why's he telling me where to meet?'

          'See if you show up. Or if you don't, y'know, send some more Sicilians.'

          'So if I show it's all cool. But if I send a crew, he's dead.'

          'You don't have any Sicilians, Johnny.'

          'You think Niko's taking that chance?'

          'I dunno. I mean, you know the guy better'n me, he's your guy.'

          'Hold up.' Johnny peered back over his shoulder. He said, 'You think Niko's 
my
 guy?'

          'You're saying he isn't?'

          Johnny shook his head sadly, said, 'I'm betting you don't even know he's a cop.'

          Rossi let the CZ drop away. 'You're telling me,' he said, 'it was a 
cop
 took out Sleeps?'

          Johnny like a toy dog in a car window, head bobbing.

          'Jesus, Johnny.' Rossi shaking his head. 'You're tied in with 
cops?
'

          'It's not what you think, man.'

          'See, that's been my problem all along,' Rossi said, giving the CZ a vicious twist as he rammed it home between Johnny's buttocks, Johnny giving a little yelp and rising up on his tippy-toes. 'Too much fuckin thinking.' He cocked the gun, slipped the safety off. 'Y'know the real beauty of buckwheats, Johnny? The whole body works as a silencer. Not a lot of people know that.'

          'What do you
want
?' Johnny screamed. 'Just tell me what you 
want
.'

          'Blood,' Rossi said and squeezed the trigger.

Doyle

Doyle picked up and said, 'Ray?'

          '
Steph?
'