The Zero Game

13

“You lost him?”

“Just for the moment,” Janos said into his cell phone as he rounded the block outside Bullfeathers. “But he won’t-”

“That’s not what I asked. What I asked was: Did. You. Lose. Harris?”

Janos stopped midstep, standing in the middle of the street. A man in a maroon Oldsmobile punched his horn, screaming for him to move. Janos didn’t budge. Turning his back toward the Oldsmobile, he gripped the phone and took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said into his cell. “Yes, Mr. Sauls. I lost him.”

Sauls let the silence sink in.

Asshole, Janos thought to himself. He’d seen this last time he worked with Sauls. Big people always felt the need to make big points.

“Are we done?” Janos asked.

“Yes. We’re done for now,” Sauls replied.

“Good — then stop worrying. I had a long talk with your inside man. I know where Harris lives.”

“You really think he’s dumb enough to go home?”

“I’m not talking about his house,” Janos said into the phone. “I’ve studied him for six months. I know where he lives.”

As Janos finally stepped toward the sidewalk, the man in the Oldsmobile let go of his horn and slammed the gas. The car lurched forward, then skidded to a stop right next to Janos. The man inside lowered the passenger-side window about halfway. “Learn some manners, dickface!” he yelled from inside.

Craning down toward the car, Janos calmly leaned his arm against the half-open window, which gave slightly from the pressure. His jacket slid open just enough for the man to see Janos’s leather shoulder holster and, more important, the nine-millimeter Sig pistol held within it. Janos raised the right corner of his mouth. The man in the Oldsmobile hit the gas as fast as he could. As the wheels spun and the car took off, Janos kept his arm pressed tightly in place, letting his ring scrape against the Oldsmobile as it zipped away.