Jack Wakes Up (23 page)

He points toward the rail and Jack can see where Junius and his friends have a couch and a table not far away, overlooking the dance floor. Jack nods at the couch and asks, “No waitresses over there?”

“No,” Freeman says, taking a long pull off the beer that drains half of the bottle. “We have them. They’re just slow tonight, and I don’t like to wait.” He raises the martini. “Neither does J.”

Jack can see that even up here, the crowd is different from last night: more trend-followers and real money than the people who were just here to get fucked up as a precursor to sex. The suits are nicer, the groups larger, and the conversations more involved, like these people are actually talking instead of just feeling the drugs buzz around in their heads.

Freeman takes Jack over to where Junius and the same people from the restaurant are seated, the same two women still close to Junius, and the two men sitting in chairs at either end of the couch. The guy with the black Kangol gives Jack a wave. Vlade keeps the Czechs up at the bar, telling Al and David that he’s buying them a round of drinks, and Niki comes along with Jack.

Junius stands when he sees them, takes the martini from Freeman, and waves for Jack and Niki to follow him as he walks away from his friends towards the wall beside the bar. He opens a door that Jack hadn’t noticed, it looks like just a part of the wall, and invites Jack and Niki to enter. They go through into another room, a quiet one with gray walls and a leather couch on one side, a large leather chair on the other, and a low, black table separating the two. Junius and Freeman follow them in and, as soon as the door closes, the music level drops off; they’re cut off from the pounding beats by a few inches of heavy soundproofing along the walls. Junius sits down on the chair and motions for Jack and Niki to take the couch. The chair isn’t the type you sink into; it has a straight back and Junius looks tall in it, not swallowed up. Jack sits down and Niki stands. So does Freeman.

“So, Jack Palms,” Junius starts. “What brings you down here? You really after a discussion tonight.”

Jack starts to respond, but Junius cuts him off. “You know,” he says. “This meeting is a little better than the last one because you called, but it’s still not what I’m looking for here. I’ll indulge you, but we don’t normally do this.” He points to Freeman and himself. Freeman finishes his beer and tosses the bottle into an industrial-sized garbage can against the wall. Then he crosses his arms.

“Spare me,” Jack says. “I’m here to help your ass and talk about what’s been going down with your boy Tony, the one who sold you out.”

Junius laughs. “You think Tony sold me out?”

Jack looks to see that Freeman is still reserved, standing in the same place. He’s not sure what to say next, but having started into his bluff—trying to scare some form of truth out of them—he may as well keep going. “Tony wants to supply this town, his clubs, with his blow.

And his X. You probably know this, but you’re not admitting it to yourself yet.”

Niki looks concerned. He has his hand near the lapel of his coat, but Jack knows he doesn’t have a gun because nothing went off when they came through the metal detectors. Maybe he knows some martial arts from his time in the K.G.B., but if he’s thinking about whether he can take Freeman, he can’t like his chances against the big Samoan.

Junius shakes his head. “Jack, you have to be grasping at shit here, my man. How do you know I’m not supplying Tony myself?”

“Are you?”

Junius shakes his head. “Motherfucker. Now you want to know my business? What you think this is?” He looks at Freeman like he can’t believe what’s going on, then looks hard at Jack, his eyes narrowed. “You know what you’re talking about here, or not?”

“You didn’t hire the Russians, right? But you’ve worked with them in the past.”

Junius nods. “I known a few Russians.”

“But you didn’t have them kill Ralph.”

“What? No.” He waves his hand in front of him. “I don’t care enough about Ralph to have him dropped.”

Jack’s cell phone starts buzzing inside his jacket, vibrating against his chest. He jumps at the unexpected feeling.

“What’s wrong man, you got the shakes?” Junius and Freeman both smile. “Don’t tell me you still stuck on that H kick.” They laugh at this, and in their moment of distraction, Jack takes out the phone and sees that he’s received one message. “Sorry,” he says. He pushes the “view”

button and sees a message from Sgt. Hopkins: Just heard: Mirage going down. Don’t be there.

“Shit,” Jack says.

“What’s up?” Junius asks.

Niki looked expectant, Junius and Freeman still relaxed, enjoying the comment about Jack having withdrawal symptoms from his old drug addiction.

“The fucking cops are coming down on this place again.”

“Impossible. I’m here to do business with Tony V. himself. You think he let the pork in here when he’s making a move?”

Jack stands up. “I think he will if he wants to get you locked up.”

Niki says, “Last night we barely got out.”

“Ho!” Junius does a double-take looking at Niki. “Quasimodo speaks. I didn’t even know you had a tongue, my man. What you say?”

“Who you supposed to meet with tonight? Alex Castroneves? Tony?” Still trying to get Junius to tell him something to make things clear, Jack says, “I have a cop friend who just told me they’re busting this place tonight. My guess is Tony called it in to get your ass pinched, just like he tried to get us and Alex pinched last night. I’m saying he’s trying to take you down.”

Junius stands up, drains off what’s left of his martini in one long swallow, and fishes out the olive with his fingers. He shakes his head clear and looks at Jack. “This is what you really think?”

“Shit.” Jack’s feeling it now, and he lets it go. “I think Tony popped Ralph and used the Russians to make it look like it was you, tried to have Alex and maybe me killed in here and busted by the cops last night, and now he’s trying to do the same to you, or at least get you arrested. That’s what I think.”

Junius looks at Freeman and then back at Jack. Jack has the sudden feeling that he’s said more than a mouthful. But now that he has it all out in the air, it actually sounds more than half believable.

Junius stares. “You know this?”

Jack figures it’s time to come clean. There has to be some honesty in things for people to believe you. “Part of it is I know this,” he says. “Part is me trying to put things together the only way they can go.”

“No, no, no, man,” Junius says. “Sit down. Let’s talk this back through again.” He sits down on his chair. “First of all, fuck the police, like N.W.A. say. They come in, they won’t even know there’s a room here. We got time. Talk to me about Ralph.” He points at Jack and then brings his finger down, presses it against the table. “The first thing I want to know, is why he’s cutting around me and going to Castroneves.”

“That’s a good question,” Freeman says, stepping closer to the others.

“Because that’s enough to get popped right there.” Junius points at Jack and Niki now. “And then trading with that fucker after, that’s another thing that might get someone fucked up.” He raises his eyebrows, moves closer.

“Hey,” Niki says. “Ralph connected us to him. You want to sell us more?” He holds his hands at his sides, his thumbs pointed out, and curls his fingers towards him, waving for Junius to bring it on. “We will buy.”

“Ho!” Junius and Freeman exchange glances. “OK, my man. We can talk business.” Junius laughs. He points to Niki and says to Jack, “Your boy talks big. Is that safe?”

Jack looks away. He wishes he had a drink or something he could throw against the wall, a bad reaction he probably learned from Victoria. “You don’t get it. All this means is we have to get out of here.”

“Because there’s a problem.”

“Tony’s the problem.”

“Oh he is? Let’s call him in here.” Junius brings his phone out of an inside pocket in his jacket and flips it open. It makes a beep sound, like the walkie-talkie phones do. Into it he says,

“Vitelli!”

“Yo!” Tony says back. “Jack Palms is here.”

“Jack’s up here. Says we got a problem.”

“On my way.”

Junius closes the phone and looks at Jack. “See that? Not so hard. We can resolve this all right now.”

Jack leans back on the couch, pats himself down for his cigarettes but doesn’t find them. He nods at Junius. “Got a smoke?” Junius takes a pack out of a jacket pocket and flips it onto the table. They’re not Jack’s brand, but they’re not menthols, so they’ll do. Niki steps forward to give him a light. Jack takes a puff and leans back on the couch. He’s not sure if Tony’s going to come with the police, his bouncers, a Russian army, or what’s going to happen.

Junius says, “So tell me why would Tony pop Ralph?”

“One,” Jack says. “He wanted to deal to his girls and these guys.” He nods at Niki. “Two, he figures if he can make it look like you’re the guy who did it, he can get you off the streets, get your spot and deal your share too. I’m betting on this guy as a ladder-climber, trying to make it to the top. He got a new supply line and wants to make good.”

Sitting down next to Jack, Niki takes out a cigarette and lights it.

Junius shakes his head. “Shit,” he says. “Dog eat dog is the only world I know. We all trying to eat each other out here.” He takes a cigarette out of the pack and lights it himself. “But Tony buys from me. He’s strictly middle.”

Jack takes a shot: “You supply him with the X he sells to those kids out there?” He looks around for an ashtray, but the table’s empty and there isn’t one around. He ashes on the floor.

“No man.” Junius frowns. “I don’t do that techno shit. Shit be all technologized.”

“Then who is?” Jack looks at Junius and knows he has him. Someone’s selling the ecstasy in this place, Junius has to realize, and if it’s not Tony through him, then Tony must have found a different supply.

Junius’s brow furrows. He leans back in the chair, takes a long drag off his cigarette, and exhales smoke straight up into the air.

Tony comes in with two bouncers holding Alex Castroneves up by the arms and a third in tow. Castroneves looks like they’ve been using his head for a soccer ball. They drop him on the ground in front of Jack and Junius.

“Here’s your friend,” Tony says to Jack and Niki. “Make a trade with him now.”

Jack snuffs his cigarette out on the tabletop. “This how you treat all your guests?”

Tony laughs. “No. You didn’t get the full hospitality because you had your mommy there to beg for us to let you go.” He looks around. “But I don’t see her now, so maybe we can accommodate you.”

“That’s OK.” Jack stands up next to Niki and takes a step toward Tony. Niki drops his cigarette, grinds it out against the floor. “Where your guys? The ones that whacked Ralph?”

“Fuck!” Tony says. “What the fuck is it with you and that dirt bag?” He takes one step closer to Jack and then lunges, punches Niki in the stomach. Niki groans and doubles over, looks up at Tony like he’s ready to rip his muscles from his bones, but Jack holds his hand out to restrain him, watching the three bouncers move closer. These are some of the guys from the inside, the perimeter players, not the muscle guys from outside. Now that Jack sees them from close up, he can tell these aren’t the normal goons you’d find on the streets of San Francisco. These are pros: they’ve each got on a tight black long-sleeve shirt, and a wired mic on their head. They have black pants on and tight belts with what looks like mace and a taser gun mounted within reach.

They’re white, but don’t look like California boys: they’re too clean cut. Jack hopes they’re not more ex-KGB. He looks to see that Freeman is still standing in the same position.

Junius gets up slowly, adjusting his suit. “Jack here has been telling me about how you wanted to cut me out of the city, trade up my ground, and get me in the clink for popping Ralph.”

Tony shakes his head. “How about we beat the fuck out of both these bastards, all them for going around us to this piece of shit.” He points at Castroneves. “I could right now—” Then he goes to kick him and stops, pulls back at the last second.

Jack helps Castroneves stand up. He’s wearing just a shirt and pants now, no tie or jacket, and through these clothes Jack can see that he’s in bad shape: his shirt torn, he has cuts across his back and blood on the side of his mouth; his nose looks broken. Jack helps him to stand, but Castroneves can’t stay up on his own. He slumps against Jack’s shoulder.

Jack looks at the big Samoan. “Freeman, you want to help me with this guy?”

Freeman shakes his head, his arms still folded in front of him.

Castroneves falls to the couch. “You are cocksuckers who will pay,” he says, glaring at Tony.

“Oh?” Tony says, “We’ll pay? And you bring that fucking Colombian army in here to make it happen, OK?” He waves at one of his guys, who moves over to Castroneves and points for him to get up. When he puts his hand on the taser, Castroneves stands.

Junius shakes his head and clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I mean I know this guy’s competition, but you treating him hard.”

“Fuck,” Tony yells. “Somebody get rid of the fucking conscience on this guy.”

Junius points to Jack and says, “This guy’s saying you wanted to cut Ralph out and deal at the clubs yourself, T. What’s up with that?”

Tony shrugs. “So? You give a fuck about that bastard? What if I do want to deal this whole city? What then?” He looks hard at Junius, maybe more brash then he wants to come off, but with his guys to back him up, he’s feeling strong.

Jack wonders what’s happening with the other Czechs, wishes they were in the room, but they probably can’t even find the door. “When are the police showing up tonight?” he asks.

Both Tony and Junius stop and look at him. “Police?” Tony says. “There’s no police coming here tonight. Why would you think that?” He steps away from Junius, closer to Jack. Both of his bouncers have their arms folded, but they can get at their belts. They’re not big like Freeman, but they’re ready.

“This motherfucker’s undercover,” Tony says, pointing at Jack.