California Fire And Life

106

Nicky looks across the desk at Paul Gordon, who's sniffing the top of his cappuccino to make sure that it's nutmeg and not cinnamon.

That important task done, Gordon looks up at Nicky like, I'm ready for you now.

For his part, Nicky will be glad to leave the man's ego behind.

"Ready?" Nicky asks.

"I'm all yours."

"Tomorrow morning," Nicky says, "Tom Casey will call to offer $50 million to settle my claim."

Gordon freaks. In his wildest imagination he never dreamed that Cal Fire would go for the $50 million. He was counting on them turning it down. What the fuck good is Cal Fire if it suddenly gets smart?

"Don't worry," he says. "I'll turn it down. I'll find a pretext."

Nicky shakes his head.

"You'll accept that offer."

Gordon turns white.

"That's not the plan."

"It is now."

"The hell it is," Gordon says. "I've spent years setting up these suits. I've got the cops, I've got the judges. You can't bail on me now."

Nicky shrugs.

Gordon's voice gets shrill. "Nicky, what the fuck are you thinking about?! We can ride Jack Wade for hundreds of millions of dollars! Don't settle for the short money now!"

"Jack Wade has played his role," Nicky says.

Wade's on his way out.

Then Gordon gets it.

"You son of a bitch," he says. "You cut your own deal."

"Accept the offer," Nicky says. "You'll get your fee."

"Fuck you," Gordon says. "We're taking it to trial. We're taking all of them to trial."

"In that case," Nicky says, "you're fired."

Gordon laughs. "You can't fire me, you jumped-up little hood. You need me. Without me, they'll eat you alive. You think you can stand down Cal Fire and Tom Casey without me?!"

Actually, yes, Nicky thinks. I think I can.

In fact, I know it.

He stands up. Says, "You're fired."

Gordon flips out.

Follows Nicky down the hallway yelling, "You think you're the only heavy hitter in town?! You need me, I don't need you! I'll have Viktor Tratchev in this office in five minutes! Maybe he has the brains, he has the vision! Or Kazzy Azmekian! He has the balls to see this through! He's not going to let you crash this, you jumped-up little greasy Eurotrash hood! You can't fire me!"

A very tawdry scene, Nicky thinks as he gets in the car. And Gordon should not have played the Tratchev card. Or the Azmekian one. Very self-indulgent. Very uncool.

Two cards he should have held close to the chest.

And "jumped-up little greasy Eurotrash hood"? One might be tempted to take that personally.

Oh, well.

He leans back into the seat.

Almost there, he thinks.

A couple of steps to safety.

And the turnaround inside one generation.

Fifty million dollars tomorrow.

Fifty million dollars of squeaky-clean money.

But there's work to be done first.

"Ritz-Carlton," he tells Dani.

Take the first step.

Dani waits out in the car while the pakhan has his meeting.