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.They had not yet turned on thelights.Jornalero struggled up from a deep chair to shake my hand.He seemedto have lost the flavor of confidence and authority.His voice was softer,subdued.Millis brought drinks and turned on a low lamp on the table betweenour chairs.Our chairs were at right angles to each other.The light winked onthe ice in his drink as he raised it to his lips.It left his face in shadow.Millis sat off to my left in darkness, sat yoga-fashion on a low square tablesurfaced in squares of ornamental tile.I had the feeling that she sat off tothe side like that when Jornalero was keeping her, when he had asked men tocome to the place he rented for her, to talk their business in safety."Was it what you hoped would happen?" he asked."I didn't know what would happen.""A craziness," he said."Madness.Hatred.I have lost valued friends.Friendsof many years.I've sent my wife far away, just in case.There isn't anymeaning to it anymore.Tit for tat.That's all it is.You kill my friend, Ikill your friend, you kill me, my brother kills you.Did you know it would belike this, McGee, when you told me about Ruffino's boy?""I didn't.Browder did.""Who is Browder?""An undercover agent with the DEA.He hoped it would be like this.He's dead.""Why would anybody hope for this? Fathers and sons.Husbands.""He said that if you shake the tree, the ripe fruit falls out.He told me thelaw can't touch you, Mr.Jornalero.He said you might possibly be indicted forviolating laws about foreign currency exchange, but probably never convictedin any way that would stick.""Then he is the one who told you about the mules?""That's right.""I wondered.That was a long time ago.I am three and four times removed fromany of that.I am a legitimate businessman.""But you launder the cash."Page 72 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlHe didn't answer directly.He seemed to be looking off into the distance, intothe final fading streak of rose."Sometimes it comes in cardboard boxes," hesaid."Thirty and forty at a time.Supermarket boxes.Lux soap.Shreddedwheat.Grapefruit juice.Sealed with silver duct tape.Fives, tens, twenties,fifties, hundreds.Just thrown in and packed down and they had no idea howmuch was there.They take my word.My word is always good.I've got two girlswho do nothing but sort it, count it and band it.They won't have much to do,for a while.Not for very long, though.Then it will start flowing again.Ithas to come somewhere.It has to come to a safe place.""Three percent?" I asked.He sighed."Three to some.Four to others." He turned toward me and his tonechanged."My damned fool countrymen did a number on Tom Beccali last night.""Who is he?""A prominent area businessman.Like me.Like Ruffino.I told them enough wasenough.It's over.Forget it.But they thought the scales were out of balance.He won't be missed for some time.He travels a great deal.He is at the bottomof the ocean.The police don't know that, and the news people don't know it,but they know it.And I'm the logical response.Millis said I have to haveyour permission.""For what?""He wants to be my house guest for a few days, maybe longer.""I have no say in the matter.It's up to you.""It was the only place I could think of," he said."Why my permission?" I asked Millis."Arturo used the wrong word," she said."I meant more like advice.Could it bea bad idea?""Who knows you're here?" I asked him."No one outside this room.And two men downstairs.""But there are people who know you two used to be friends?""Yes.Quite a few."She broke in."But the security here is good.I can tell anybody I'm alonehere.He'll stay out of sight.What do you think, Travis?""It's up to you.But don't the security people downstairs know his name?""I used a different name."She stirred uneasily."Fortez," she said."One hell of a shock."He leaned toward me, putting his empty glass down."Mr.McGee, even if I hadknown it would all go this far, I still would have had to pass along yourinformation about young Ruffi.There were some doubts about it for a time.Butnot after his friend Bobby Dermon was.interrogated.They flew down to theKeys in a float plane Ruffi borrowed from a friend.They both boarded thatboat.The man who'd made the buy had hidden the money and the product and hetried to negotiate a better deal.They tied him up and questioned him.Dermonkept the women from trying to leave.Once they found the money and theshipment, they raped the women.Ruffi killed both the women.Dermon suffocatedthe man by jamming the money into his mouth.Her uncle in Lima now has thefull story.I wanted to talk to you to tell you nobody wants you dead, notanymore.""How about Ruffi?""He will be found.Sooner or later.There is a reward.A big one.And so theinterest is high.He is the rabbit in the forest with ten thousand wolves.""Nothing that happens is going to resurrect Billy Ingraham," I said."Or many, many others," Jornalero said."But Billy was an innocent bystander," I told him."Innocent people and guilty people are killed every day Stray bullets in smallwars.Fog on the Interstates.If innocence could keep us alive, my friend,we'd all be saints.""I'm sure Billy would be very comforted to hear that, Jornalero, especiallyfrom the lips of a man who's made it big in the world's dirtiest business, anunctuous, well-dressed, high-living son of a bitch who may have even convincedhimself he isn't doing anything rotten.All you do is make all the rest of itPage 73 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlpossible by keeping it profitable.""Trav!" Millis said sharply."I do a lot of good in the world," Arturo said."The rest of it is a smallfavor for old friends."I grinned at him."I know.Somebody has to do it.Right? Now your hide is atrisk too, Artie.I hope they find you.""Goddamn it!" Millis said."Who are you to get so Christly? From stuff Billytold me about you.""I never told you I was perfect.Have a happy reunion, kids."After I was back aboard my refuge, drinking by a single low light, with Edyesinging along with the Tres Panchos in the background, I mourned the sappinessof my exit lines.I had used old Arturo to get myself off the hook, and thentook some swings at him.Somewhere there are in telligent and highly skilleddesign engineers working the bugs out of ever more deadly weapons-lasers toblind armies, multiple multiple warheads, flames that stick to flesh and can'tbe extinguished, heat beams to fry the crews inside their tanks.And they packup the printouts and turn off the computers and have a knock with the guys onthe way home to the kiddies.Somebody has to do it.Right?Night and gin and music-the right setting for peeling off the thin clinginglayers of bullshit and finding one's way down closer to the essential self.Ihad let loose on Jornalero because I had been disturbed by the feeling of therelationship between him and Millis.A residual fondness, a product of yearsshared.And that of course could be peeled back to reveal a dissatisfactionwith myself for having sought out sex with her.That first time was by herinvitation.From then on by my design.The proceedings had been very skillful,orgasms noteworthy, pleasure intense.But I had not gotten one millimeter pastthe surface gloss of those tilted green eyes.Though our actions had eliciteda wide range of sounds and responses from her, from little yelps to earthygroans, she was just about as real to me as would have been one of thoseblowup pneumatic ladies Japanese sailors tote aboard for the long freightertrips and stow in little satchels under the bunk until needed.They now makethem with microprocessors, little motors, long-life batteries and voice boxes:Crever people.So, as Edye sings of her corazón, peel back another leaf [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.They had not yet turned on thelights.Jornalero struggled up from a deep chair to shake my hand.He seemedto have lost the flavor of confidence and authority.His voice was softer,subdued.Millis brought drinks and turned on a low lamp on the table betweenour chairs.Our chairs were at right angles to each other.The light winked onthe ice in his drink as he raised it to his lips.It left his face in shadow.Millis sat off to my left in darkness, sat yoga-fashion on a low square tablesurfaced in squares of ornamental tile.I had the feeling that she sat off tothe side like that when Jornalero was keeping her, when he had asked men tocome to the place he rented for her, to talk their business in safety."Was it what you hoped would happen?" he asked."I didn't know what would happen.""A craziness," he said."Madness.Hatred.I have lost valued friends.Friendsof many years.I've sent my wife far away, just in case.There isn't anymeaning to it anymore.Tit for tat.That's all it is.You kill my friend, Ikill your friend, you kill me, my brother kills you.Did you know it would belike this, McGee, when you told me about Ruffino's boy?""I didn't.Browder did.""Who is Browder?""An undercover agent with the DEA.He hoped it would be like this.He's dead.""Why would anybody hope for this? Fathers and sons.Husbands.""He said that if you shake the tree, the ripe fruit falls out.He told me thelaw can't touch you, Mr.Jornalero.He said you might possibly be indicted forviolating laws about foreign currency exchange, but probably never convictedin any way that would stick.""Then he is the one who told you about the mules?""That's right.""I wondered.That was a long time ago.I am three and four times removed fromany of that.I am a legitimate businessman.""But you launder the cash."Page 72 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlHe didn't answer directly.He seemed to be looking off into the distance, intothe final fading streak of rose."Sometimes it comes in cardboard boxes," hesaid."Thirty and forty at a time.Supermarket boxes.Lux soap.Shreddedwheat.Grapefruit juice.Sealed with silver duct tape.Fives, tens, twenties,fifties, hundreds.Just thrown in and packed down and they had no idea howmuch was there.They take my word.My word is always good.I've got two girlswho do nothing but sort it, count it and band it.They won't have much to do,for a while.Not for very long, though.Then it will start flowing again.Ithas to come somewhere.It has to come to a safe place.""Three percent?" I asked.He sighed."Three to some.Four to others." He turned toward me and his tonechanged."My damned fool countrymen did a number on Tom Beccali last night.""Who is he?""A prominent area businessman.Like me.Like Ruffino.I told them enough wasenough.It's over.Forget it.But they thought the scales were out of balance.He won't be missed for some time.He travels a great deal.He is at the bottomof the ocean.The police don't know that, and the news people don't know it,but they know it.And I'm the logical response.Millis said I have to haveyour permission.""For what?""He wants to be my house guest for a few days, maybe longer.""I have no say in the matter.It's up to you.""It was the only place I could think of," he said."Why my permission?" I asked Millis."Arturo used the wrong word," she said."I meant more like advice.Could it bea bad idea?""Who knows you're here?" I asked him."No one outside this room.And two men downstairs.""But there are people who know you two used to be friends?""Yes.Quite a few."She broke in."But the security here is good.I can tell anybody I'm alonehere.He'll stay out of sight.What do you think, Travis?""It's up to you.But don't the security people downstairs know his name?""I used a different name."She stirred uneasily."Fortez," she said."One hell of a shock."He leaned toward me, putting his empty glass down."Mr.McGee, even if I hadknown it would all go this far, I still would have had to pass along yourinformation about young Ruffi.There were some doubts about it for a time.Butnot after his friend Bobby Dermon was.interrogated.They flew down to theKeys in a float plane Ruffi borrowed from a friend.They both boarded thatboat.The man who'd made the buy had hidden the money and the product and hetried to negotiate a better deal.They tied him up and questioned him.Dermonkept the women from trying to leave.Once they found the money and theshipment, they raped the women.Ruffi killed both the women.Dermon suffocatedthe man by jamming the money into his mouth.Her uncle in Lima now has thefull story.I wanted to talk to you to tell you nobody wants you dead, notanymore.""How about Ruffi?""He will be found.Sooner or later.There is a reward.A big one.And so theinterest is high.He is the rabbit in the forest with ten thousand wolves.""Nothing that happens is going to resurrect Billy Ingraham," I said."Or many, many others," Jornalero said."But Billy was an innocent bystander," I told him."Innocent people and guilty people are killed every day Stray bullets in smallwars.Fog on the Interstates.If innocence could keep us alive, my friend,we'd all be saints.""I'm sure Billy would be very comforted to hear that, Jornalero, especiallyfrom the lips of a man who's made it big in the world's dirtiest business, anunctuous, well-dressed, high-living son of a bitch who may have even convincedhimself he isn't doing anything rotten.All you do is make all the rest of itPage 73 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlpossible by keeping it profitable.""Trav!" Millis said sharply."I do a lot of good in the world," Arturo said."The rest of it is a smallfavor for old friends."I grinned at him."I know.Somebody has to do it.Right? Now your hide is atrisk too, Artie.I hope they find you.""Goddamn it!" Millis said."Who are you to get so Christly? From stuff Billytold me about you.""I never told you I was perfect.Have a happy reunion, kids."After I was back aboard my refuge, drinking by a single low light, with Edyesinging along with the Tres Panchos in the background, I mourned the sappinessof my exit lines.I had used old Arturo to get myself off the hook, and thentook some swings at him.Somewhere there are in telligent and highly skilleddesign engineers working the bugs out of ever more deadly weapons-lasers toblind armies, multiple multiple warheads, flames that stick to flesh and can'tbe extinguished, heat beams to fry the crews inside their tanks.And they packup the printouts and turn off the computers and have a knock with the guys onthe way home to the kiddies.Somebody has to do it.Right?Night and gin and music-the right setting for peeling off the thin clinginglayers of bullshit and finding one's way down closer to the essential self.Ihad let loose on Jornalero because I had been disturbed by the feeling of therelationship between him and Millis.A residual fondness, a product of yearsshared.And that of course could be peeled back to reveal a dissatisfactionwith myself for having sought out sex with her.That first time was by herinvitation.From then on by my design.The proceedings had been very skillful,orgasms noteworthy, pleasure intense.But I had not gotten one millimeter pastthe surface gloss of those tilted green eyes.Though our actions had eliciteda wide range of sounds and responses from her, from little yelps to earthygroans, she was just about as real to me as would have been one of thoseblowup pneumatic ladies Japanese sailors tote aboard for the long freightertrips and stow in little satchels under the bunk until needed.They now makethem with microprocessors, little motors, long-life batteries and voice boxes:Crever people.So, as Edye sings of her corazón, peel back another leaf [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]