Smoked

The phone rang.?

  Moss picked it up, his eyes still on Sticks and his two buddies.? They were having a nice little party here in the room.? They had polished off just about everything in the wet bar, and had another six pack of beer sent up.? Why not?

  Moss himself was drinking slowly, in a measured way.? This wasn't his thing, getting fucked up on a job.? It also wasn't his thing to let his guard down, turn around and have Sticks putting knives in him all night long.

  "Hello?" he said into the telephone.?

  Big Vito was on the line.? "Cruz is on the move, headed for you right now."

  "Yeah?"

  "Yeah.? He left the girl behind.? You got a piece of paper?"

  "I'll remember it."

  "Room 215, Ocean House Hotel.? Route 77 in Cape Elizabeth.? You finish up there in town, then you take care of everything.? Got it?"

  "Yeah."

  The line went dead.?

  He looked at the partygoers.? They looked at him.

  "Big Vito," he said.? "Checking in.? Told me not to fuck this up."

  Sticks smiled.? "You know what?" he said.? "When this is done, let's order up some whores.? They got whores in this burg, right?? The kid at the front desk will know.? Me and the boys'll get some rooms here, then we can order up all the whores in the whole fucking town.? They'll never know what hit 'em.? Whaddya think, Moss?"

  "Sounds like a capital idea." ?But Moss didn't think it would play that way somehow.? Oh, he was gonna walk away from this, and Sticks, God knows nothing would happen to Sticks.? But these two other guys looked like clowns.? They looked like the kind of guys that went down and stayed down.? Dugan was slippery as an eel, and Cruz was an old-time killer.? Moss would be surprised to see these same faces gathered in this room just a few hours from now.

  Moss wondered if Big Vito knew this was how Sticks played it these days.? Getting fucked up with a bunch of clowns.

  "I could use a good bang or two myself," Moss said.? "You see this guy Dugan's girlfriend, you might wanna save her for yourself.? They don't make 'em like that too much anymore.? I plan on laying her one."

  Sticks shook his head.

  "I don't know, Moss.? Vito says nobody lives.? That simple.? You guys have fucked up so much we can't take chances on anybody still breathing."

  Moss shrugged.? "So I'll kill her first.? Then fuck her."?

  The clowns grinned and gaped at that one.?

  ?

  * * *

  ??

  Lola walked along Eastern Promenade in the fog.? She kept herself on the city side, closest to the houses and buildings.? On a clear night, the view to her right would be of Casco Bay, perhaps four stories below her down the bluff, and stretching out toward the horizon.? The running lights of boats would be out on the water, and the blinking lights of an electricity plant would be out in the distance, as a warning to low flying planes.

  But tonight there was nothing out there but this soup.? No running lights, no power plant, just dense rolling fog.? Even the streetlights were dampened, leaving the street in shadow.?

  Lola had to focus.? There was a lot on her mind.? Smoke's story had been a lot to digest.? They had been together for more than a year, and he had never suggested that he had spent most of his life as a criminal.? It had put Lola's life in danger, and Pamela's, and his.? In the months ahead, if they lived that long, she knew she would shake with rage at the dishonesty of it.? But she also knew she would let it slide.? She had been less than honest about some aspects of her own life.? The man had tried to recreate himself, as she herself had done.? He had tried to make amends.? He had hoped that the past would stay in the past.? It just hadn't.?

  And let's be clear: Smoke hadn't killed Lorena, nor had he done anything to Lola and Pamela.? These men had done that.?

  She was approaching the buildings.? Her heart beat faster as she noticed them.?

  She glanced around.? No one was out.? There were a few parked cars on the street, but no one was in them.? There were no cars coming.?

  She started to run.

  She took a hard left and sprinted on the grass between the two buildings.? She felt fast and loose.? Her heart pounded against her chest.? Her breathing was harsh and rapid.?

  The hedge was up ahead.? In the windows of the two buildings, TV sets played.?

  She ran right at the hedge and dove into it.? It was three feet of scratchy thickets to the fence.? She pushed her way through, the branches clinging and swiping at her.? She climbed the short fence, all the while branches pushing and poking, and forced her way through to the other side.?

  She stopped before entering the yard.? There was less fog here - the fog was so thick it mostly stopped at the hedge.? But it was dark back here - there was no moon.? Weak light came from the apartment on the first floor.? Upstairs, all the lights were out.? She scanned the yard for any movement, but saw none.

  She sprinted for the stairs.?

  Over the creaky gate and up the wooden stairs, her running shoes tapping lightly on the each step.? She was lighter than air.? If she ran on snow, she would leave no footprints.? At the top floor, she vaulted the low gate and landed on the deck like a gymnast.? She glanced in the windows.? The clock on the microwave oven gave some light to see by.? If they were in there, they were hiding.? She made for the door.

  And saw the sign.? Hand lettered in Pamela's writing.?

  Let's meet for dinner?? 10 p.m.?

  She was alive.? Lola had known she would be.? Meeting for dinner could only mean one thing - meeting on the Maine State Pier like they had done so many times after work.? So many times Lola had left a similar phone message or email for Pamela.? So many times they had sat out there with sandwiches on sunny days in the summer, watching the boats come in and out, listening to the cry of the seagulls, admiring the passing men.? Occasionally, harbor seals would frolic in the water right nearby.

  These were happy memories.

  Lola risked a look at her watch.? She pressed a button on the side and the watch illuminated.? It was 9:25 now.? She had to hustle.

  She vaulted back over the gate and took the stairs as fast as they would allow.?

  ?

  * * *

  ??

  Sticks stood in the dark shadows by the door to the laundry room.? He watched Lola push her way through the hedge then force herself over the fence.?

  Moss was right.? Even in the semi-dark, he could see she was a precious girl.?

  He waited until she was through the hedge on the other side and running for the street before he pulled out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial.

  It rang exactly once.

  "Yeah."

  "Mikey, you saw her?"

  "She just went by."

  "She see you?"

  "Nah, I'm all the way crouched down.? You can't hardly see shit with all this fog, anyway.? She's running for that parking lot all the way down the street."

  "All right.? Be on her.? We're right behind you."

  "Got it."

  Sticks rang off and walked briskly up the alley toward the street where the two other cars were parked.? They had three cars to leapfrog sexy Lola with, and they probably had three or four marks to play with later on.? At least Lola.? Probably this Dugan character.? Maybe the other girl.? And the one Sticks personally looked forward to the most - the turncoat Cruz.?

  He reached the sidewalk and signaled like a man trying to hail a cab in Manhattan.

  Headlights went on and an engine coughed into life.? Jimmy pulled up, the passenger door already hanging open.? Moss pulled up behind in his car.? Sticks climbed into the cheap Saturn with Jimmy, a work car they had ganked from the long-term parking at La Guardia Airport before they rode up here.? Shit, it had been a long fucking drive in this piece of shit, and fucking Moss was cruising around in a Mercedes.?

  Jimmy gave him the eyes wide.

  "We got her," Sticks said.? "Let's hit it."

  It was going to be a fun night.

  ?

&nbs
p; * * *

  ?

  Lola pulled the Tercel up to the curb near the Narrow Gauge Railroad tourist attraction along the waterfront.? In the fog, Smoke could just make out the old railroad cars sitting on their tracks, weeds growing up around them.? He had often watched the tourists trying to stifle their boredom as they rode the train along East End Beach.

  He had been able to convince her to let him go on this one.? If it was a trap, he didn't want her anywhere near it.?

  "I'd say drive around for about ten minutes," he said.? "Then pull right up to this spot again."

  "What if you don't come?"

  He smiled.? "I'll come.? Tell you what, though.? If I don't, then don't wait around."

  She turned off the engine.? "I can't let you go alone."

  "Lola, this is my problem.? I need to go and resolve it.? You never should have been involved in this at all.? Now start the car and get out of here."

  She hesitated.?

  "Start the car, little girl."

  She started it.? A tear ran down her cheek.? "I love you, Smoke."

  "And I love you," he said.? He reached into his jacket and gave her an envelope.? "If I don't come back, then open that envelope."

  "What is it, a love note?"

  "That, yes.? And details on the location of the money."

  She looked up at him.

  "There's quite a bit there - enough to last a thrifty girl like you for a good long time.?

  If you don't see me again in the next half-hour, follow those instructions, get the money, and run like hell.? Don't stop until you're far away from here, preferably somewhere exotic.? That's what we should have done all along."

  She touched his hand, put he pulled away.

  "Now go!"

  He turned and walked toward Maine State Pier.? He imagined himself disappearing into the fog, and indeed, when he turned around again, he could no longer see where the car had been parked.? He heard the engine of his reliable old car as it shifted into gear and drove away.? The damping effect of the fog made it unclear which way it had gone.

  He kept walking.?

  His leg bothered him.? He was limping without his cane.? Despite the sleep and the simple rest he had gotten this afternoon, his body was surfing along the edge of exhaustion.? He felt as if it might be weeks before he recovered from the beating he had taken alone.? It would be years before he got over Lorena, and if Pamela was dead, then years more.? The carnage was too much for an old man to think about.

  Well, there was no one to blame, unless he wanted to blame himself.? If it seemed unfair that things should come to this pass, well then, wasn't life about unfairness?? All of life, all of human history, was an ocean of unfairness and cruelty, with tiny desert islands of fair play and kindness dotting the endless vastness of it all.? A children's soccer game might be engineered for fairness to some extent, but what was it when compared to 800,000 murdered innocents in Rwanda?? No, there was very little fairness, and so he best get over the notion once and for all, and focus on winning this thing.? If these were his wits, he would live or die by them.

  It occurred to Smoke now that he didn't even have a gun.? He had lost it in the commotion this morning.? The cops probably had it by now.? He had never even fired it.?

  To his left was a massive factory where once upon a time Bath Iron Works had built ships for the United States Navy.? Now, the factory wall was painted with a gigantic mural of whales.? There was a famous painter who traveled the world, painting whales on walls, and he had done his work here.? Smoke knew this about the whales, but he couldn't see them in the fog.? On a sunny day, they would be right there; tonight they were gone.

  He passed the entry to the pier.? A car was parked there at the vehicle barrier - a black Volkswagen Golf.? Pamela's car.? It looked like it was parked for a quick getaway.? Now Smoke was out on the wide concrete island, shuffling painfully along in the gloom.? He could hear the water gently lapping at both sides.?

  A fog horn blew deep somewhere out on the water.

  Everything was wrapped in a death shroud.? Everything was a mystery.

  At least he had gotten to see Lola again.

  He should have told her not to come back at all.? Just get the money now and run.? If they caught him, if they beat him again, if they - and here he didn't want to think about what they could do, so his mind stopped after the word torture - if they did what they could do to him, he didn't know if he could resist anymore.? Sooner rather than later, he would just tell them where the money was.?

  Then it would be a race to see who got there first.

  A bench loomed, appearing as if conjured by a magician.

  A man sat on the bench, ostensibly gazing out at the water.? There was nothing to see.? He didn't look up, so Smoke slid onto the bench with him.?

  ?

  * * *

  ?

  Lola stuffed the envelope into the glove box.? She didn't even want to think about it right now.? Smoke was coming back.? Of course he was coming back.? Even if she had to bring him back herself.

  She drove around the block, going slow in the fog.? The car rumbled over some cobblestones - delightful evidence of the city's authentic historic past for the tourists, a nuisance for the natives.

  She drove through the Old Port for a few moments.? Here and there, knots of well-dressed drunks spilled out of the bars and into the fog.? The whole thing had a spooky quality to it.? The people looked like wraiths.

  She made a left, rumbled over some more cobblestones, then made another left onto the wide avenue of Commercial Street.? She had come full circle - she was on her way back to the pier.? She had been away long enough that Smoke would think she was gone, but not so long that something terrible could happen in her absence.?

  She pulled into the entrance of the parking lot along the side of the ferry terminal.? The pier was straight ahead, at the other end of this long parking lot.? She couldn't see that end for the fog.? All she could see were the weird yellow haloes around the sodium arc lights mounted above the lot.?

  She pulled the car off into a corner and parked.? She killed the engine.?

  The fog pressed in, and she peered down to where she imagined Smoke must be, out on the Pier, meeting with? who?? Pamela, it must be Pamela, still alive, still alive, still alive.? Lola closed her eyes for a moment, willing it to be so.

  She heard a sound, like someone rattling the chain link fence behind her.? She turned.

  No one back there.??

  Moss appeared at the driver's side window.?

  "Hello, honey."

  She gasped and turned toward the passenger door.? A man was in the window there, too.? He was a skinny man in a leather jacket with a wild light in his eyes.? He showed her his gun.? He smiled.? "Moss was right about you, Lola.? You are a fine piece of ass."

  There were men at each of the back windows.? They both had guns drawn.?

  Moss grinned and moved a toothpick around in his mouth with his big tongue.? "Now why don't you come on out of there and behave yourself?" he said.?

  He pulled the door open.

  "Come on, baby.? Be a good girl."

  Slowly, guns facing her, Lola climbed out of the car.???

  ?

  * * *

  ?

  The two men sat together, several feet of space between them.?

  "Dugan," the man said after a time.

  "Cruz," Smoke said.? "How have you been?"

  "Since yesterday?? Fair to middling, actually."

  "Yeah."

  They sat in silence for a moment.

  Smoke shrugged.? "So I got a note from a friend of mine, asking me to dinner.? I dunno.? Thought maybe I'd see her here.? But then again, after that double cross and all the fireworks this morning, I guess that was foolish on my part."

  Cruz turned to him.? The scar on his face stood out in some color like white.? His eyes glittered, and Smoke didn't spend long looking into them.? When Cruz spoke, it was with a quiet fierceness that barely r
ose above a whisper.?

  "I could kill you right now, Dugan.? You know that?? Then I could go back and kill Pamela, too."

  "I hadn't thought of it that way.? If anything, the past two days have suggested to me that I'm harder to kill than I appear."

  "The goal wasn't to kill you."

  "Well, I guess that's two pieces of good news that I've gotten.? One, you seem to be saying that Pamela is still alive.? Two, you didn't actually plan to kill me.? I can't tell you what a relief these two items are."

  Cruz turned and stared out into the mist.

  "Man, this fog is fucked up.? You live in this shit all the time?"

  "We like it," Smoke said.? "It keeps things hidden."

  "Listen Dugan, here's the story.? Pamela is fine.? I've kept her alive this long, at some cost to myself and my credibility with my employers.? She hasn't even been hurt.? But I left her with Moss.? If I don't come back there in two hours, Moss is going to kill her.? We're through fucking around."

  Smoke nearly laughed.? "If you don't come back?? What's the matter, Cruz?? Are you afraid I'm going to hurt you?"??

  "We want half the money.? It's that simple.? We don't even want you anymore.? We know you have the money, and we want to trade it for Pamela."

  "You want half the money?? Cruz, forgive me, but things seem to have changed an awful lot since all the demands you were making yesterday.? I gather you've lost quite a bit of credibility.? A man who wants half the money sounds like a man on the run.? What makes you think I even have any money?"

  "You said so yourself."

  "You beat a man long enough, he's liable to say anything."

  Again, the conversation lapsed into a long pause.? Smoke heard himself sigh heavily, and was surprised by the sound of it.? He made a decision.?

  "You'll let her go?"

  "I will."

  "I want to see her first."

  "Do you have the money?"

  "I do."

  "Where is it?? In the bank like you said?"

  Smoke shook his head, then realized Cruz wasn't even looking at him.? "Unh-unh.? Not in the bank."

  "Then where is it?"

  "I'll tell you when I see her alive."

  Now it was Cruz's turn to sigh.? "Let's go."

  The two men walked back along the pier, Smoke lagging a few feet behind.? There was no strategy to it.? Cruz was in a hurry, Smoke was in a hurry, but Smoke couldn't keep up with Cruz's healthy legs.? They reached the vehicle barrier and there was Pamela's car again.? Cruz hit the button on the key chain.? The headlights popped on and off, and Smoke heard the doors come unlocked.?