The winter of Frankie Machine

82

“It isn’t right!” Jimmy the Kid yells. “I’llgo. I can take him out.”

“He says, despite ample evidence to the contrary,” Garth says. “Look, this has been decided.”

“By who?”

Garth doesn’t say anything.

Which pisses Jimmy off. “Look, I know who we’re working for. I know the whole fucking thing, how your senator couldn’t get his macaroni al dente, how he killed the girl, how Frankie M. dumped her body…”

“It wasn’t Machianno,” Garth says. “It was the other one…”

“Pella?”

“Pella.”

“Then why the fuck were we trying to clip Frank?” Jimmy asks. “He doesn’t know anything.”

“He does now,” Garth says.

Yeah, Jimmy thinks, because you’re a limper dick than your politician buddy and you spilled it all to him. “I can take him.”

“It’s been decided.”

“Nothing has been decided until we talk to my uncle Tony,” Jimmy says.

“We’ve talked to your uncle Tony,” Garth says. “He gave the okay. He’s already put it into motion.”

Jimmy feels like his head is going to blow off. He can’t believe what he’s hearing. Uncle Tony, Tony freaking Jacks, signing on to a sleazy deal like this?

Uncle Tony is a man. Uncle Tony is old-school.

He digs his cell phone out of his pants pocket and punches in the number. It takes a few rings before the old man comes to the phone. “Uncle Tony, this guy is trying to tell me-”

“Easy, kid,” Tony says.

“I can take him, Uncle Tony!”

“You can’t, Jimmy!” The voice is harsh, clear, and decisive. “This deal has to be completed successfully. Frankie M. goes; then G-Sting gets shut down.”

“Fuck G-Sting!” Jimmy says. “Fuck the Migliores and their clubs. We can live without it.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Tony says. “You think this is just about a bunch of strippers grinding their naked twats on laps? Smarten up. This is just the down payment, nephew. Let the senator cunt make this deal and then he’s ours, all the way to the White House. Better than Kennedy, better than Nixon, because we got this son of a bitch by the balls. By theballs. Now hang up the phone and do what you got to do.”

Jimmy hangs up.

As always, Uncle Tony is right.

But it still sucks, what they’re going to do.

Don Winslow

The Winter of Frankie Machine