Indigo Slam

CHAPTER 29

Dak made two phone calls to arrange for the money. After that, I called Dobcek and told him I thought we could work out a trade, but that we would have to talk about it. I didn't mention the money, but I made it sound like Clark was willing to exchange himself for the boy. It was a classic bait and switch, promise them one thing, give them something else. Whether they like it or not. Dobcek said, 'You will bring the father.'

'Right. And you'll bring the kid.' Classic.

Somebody said something behind Dobcek. Background noise. Then he said, 'We will not discuss the details now. Give me your phone number.'

'Why?'

'I will have to discuss this with our friend. I will call you tomorrow with the details.' Our friend. He meant Markov.

'Forget it, Dobcek. I'll call you.'

Dobcek snickered. 'You don't trust us. You think we find you with the phone number?'

'I'll call you.'

Someone spoke behind him again, then Dobcek's voice hardened. 'Call us exactly at nine tomorrow morning. Be ready to act immediately. Do you understand?'

'Dobcek, I am the master of understanding. Remember that.'

'Da.'

'I am also the master of vengeance. That boy better not be harmed.'

Dobcek gave a single raspy laugh, then hung up.

Clark, Joe, and the Viets were looking at me. 'We'll set the time and place tomorrow at nine. Will the money be here?'

Dak said, 'Twenty thousand dollars in one-hundred-dollar bills will be here in a few hours.'

Pike nodded. 'You're okay, Dak.'

I was climbing the stairs to see Teri when the phone rang. Pike answered, then held it out. 'Lucy.'

'What happened?' My heart began hammering. Worse than with the Russians. Worse than when Mon was holding the AK on me.

Pike held the phone.

I ran down, took it, and said, 'Luce?'

'We won.' Two words that cut through the adrenaline like a sharp edge. 'Elvis, it's over. We won.'

'You got the job.'

'Yes.'

Pike was staring at me. I nodded at him, and he gripped my shoulder and squeezed. 'We've got time. Go see her.'

I looked at Clark. I frowned toward the stairs.

Pike said, 'Jesus Christ. Go.'

Tracy Mannos lived in a small contemporary home on a lovely street off Roscomare Drive at the top of Bel Air. It was almost ten when I got there, but Lucy and Tracy were bright and excited and celebrating their victory with a bottle of Mumm's Cordon Rouge Brut. Tracy opened the door, but Lucy almost knocked her down getting to me. We hugged hard, the two of us beaming, and Tracy laughed. 'If you two start taking off your clothes, I'm calling the police.'

Lucy and I started laughing, too, as if someone or something had pulled a plug and an ocean of tension was draining away. Lucy said, 'How long can you stay?'

I stepped back, and the laughter faded a bit. 'Not long.' I told her about the money. I told her what we were going to try to do. 'I don't know how long this is going to take. I might be busy the next couple of days.'

She had one of my hands in both of hers again, squeezing hard. 'I know. I'll have to get back to Ben tomorrow.' Two ships passing. The price of adulthood.

'Yes, but you'll be back.'

Her smile widened again. 'You bet your buns I will, Studly.'

'Tell me about it, Luce. Tell me everything that happened today.'

They did, some of which they now knew as fact, and some of which was supposition. It was neither complicated nor elaborate, because such things never are. It was merely ugly. Stuart Greenberg wasn't the evil, old-boy-crony that we'd suspected. When Richard had learned it was KROK that offered Lucy the job, he used his position at BM &D as an entree to KROK's parent firm, then suggested to them that Lucy was erratic in the workplace. When the parent firm, concerned that KROK was in the process of hiring an uncertain (not to mention, untested) on-air personality, passed along their concerns to Stuart Greenberg, Greenberg questioned this information, and was told to contact the source, namely one Richard Chenier, a highly respected partner at the Baton Rouge office of Benton, Meyers &. Dane. Greenberg had only been reacting to what Richard reported. Tracy said, 'When Stuart realized what had happened, he spent the rest of the meeting apologizing.'

Sometimes you just have to shake your head. 'And that was it? You've got the job?'

Lucy smiled. 'We agreed to agree. Stuart promised to phone David Shapiro and wrap up the negotiation as quickly as possible.'

Tracy leaned toward me. 'She has the goddamned job.'

I said, 'What about Richard?'

Lucy's game face reappeared. 'I've phoned his office. I've also phoned his boss.'

Tracy said, 'I think she should sue the sonofabitch.'

Lucy's mouth formed a hard knot. Thinking of Ben, maybe. Thinking how far do you take a war like this when some of the fallout might rain on your child. She said, 'Yes. Well. We'll see.' Then she seemed to force the thoughts away, and took my hand again. 'I want to thank you.'

'I didn't do anything.'

'Of course you did. You supported my need to fight this without you.' She smiled and jiggled my hand. 'I know you. I know it couldn't have been easy.'

I shrugged. 'No big deal. You said I could shoot him later.'

'Well, yes. I guess I did.'

Lucy glanced at Tracy, and Tracy smiled. Voiceless female communication. Tracy kissed my cheek, and handed me the bottle of Brut. There wasn't much left. 'You take care of yourself, doll.' And then she walked away.

I said, 'Did you just send her away?'

'I did.'

'Good.'

Lucy and I sat in Tracy 's living room, holding hands. It was late, and getting later, but I did not want to leave. Lucy said, 'I do wish I could stay, Elvis.'

'I know.'

She looked at me carefully, and then she touched my face. The bruise from Seattle had faded. 'I'll be out soon to find a place to live. As soon as Ben finishes school, we'll move.'

I nodded.

'You damn well better still be here.'

I nodded again.

'Please be careful tomorrow.'

'Careful is my middle name.'

'No, it isn't. But it should be.'

'I'll be here when you move out, Lucille. You have my word.'

She kissed my hand, and we sat like that, and not very long after, I drove back to Studio City.