Sicilian Defense by John Nicholas Iannuzzi Read Free Book Online

they paid us for a dead man.” He walked over to the sideboard and poured a neat drink of whiskey. He sipped it, laughing, and slapped Alfred’s palm in jubilation. “That was a cool idea.”
    â€œThat’s right, baby,” said Alfred. He took out a small envelope and drew a pinch of cocaine, tapping back the excess before sniffing it deeply.
    â€œThey all small-timers compared to us now,” said Bull. “We just hit our stride, man. We’re in the league we belong in.”
    â€œAre we going to kill this old guy too?” asked Hartley.
    â€œI haven’t decided yet. If they don’t pay, we’ll cut his head off for them. If they pay, well, maybe we won’t. Why stir up all these guinea torpedoes if we don’t have to? We want to make money, not war.”
    â€œHow much we going for, Bull?” asked Alfred.
    â€œPlenty. This is the big league, isn’t it? Say about a hundred thousand.”
    â€œYou think they’ll pay a hundred for that old man?” said Yank. “I wouldn’t.”
    â€œThey better,” said Bull. He sat down again at the table. “They been squeezing money out of our shoe leather for a long time, baby, a long time.”
    â€œMan, let me cut him open and see what’s inside a guy they’d pay a hundred thousand for,” said Alfred with his sinister, crooked smile.
    â€œYeah, man, if we let this cat go back, he’ll know what we look like and he’ll have his boys come after us. Why leave witnesses?” asked Duck.
    â€œMan, you know we all look alike to them pigs. Where they going to find us?”
    â€œMe, I’m going to be gone with my bread,” said Hartley..
    â€œOh, no you’re not,” said Bull. “We going to stay around here and take over when they start to thin out—that’s the whole bit, man. We going to stay, doing our regular thing just like before, until it cools down a bit.”
    â€œWhat?” Alfred moaned. “After all this scheming and dreaming, we got to hold onto the bread and not spend it?”
    â€œThat’s it,” said Bull. “Unless you want someone to give you a real fine funeral with your share—which they’ll do if they see some no-count nigger runner going around spending all kinds of bread.”
    â€œOh, come on Bull, we got to spend some of it,” said Yank. “Momma needs a nice warm heater attached to a nice new Coupe de Ville.”
    â€œPatience, baby. I want to sport with all the loot too. But in good time, baby. In good time we’ll live like kings.”
    â€œWhat’s good time?” asked Duck.
    â€œThree, four months,” said Bull.
    â€œShit, man,” said Hartley, “that’s like the Chinese water torture. Ain’t we been doing without long enough?”
    â€œAnd is three or four more months going to break your little ass?”
    â€œMaybe, maybe it will, with all that bread sitting in your pocket doing nothing,” said Hartley.
    â€œWell, let me put it to you real straight, baby. What would you rather have break your ass: three or four months, or me?” Bull glared at Hartley menacingly. “’Cause you start sporting around town, and we all going to have our ass in a sling.”
    â€œOkay, okay, Bull,” Hartley said.
    â€œAlfred, you sure the old man is safe in Newark?” Bull asked.
    Alfred nodded slowly, emphatically. “Sure is, man. He don’t even know where he is. Duck had him blindfolded in the back of the car.”
    â€œAnd lying face down on the seat. He ain’t got no idea where he is. And nobody else does either, except my cousin and Charlie, who’re watching him.”
    â€œWe going to give them a recording on this guy?” Hartley asked.
    â€œWhy, you soft on pigs today?” Yank smiled.
    â€œMan, don’t you pull that shit on me. I’m in this the same as you. I been dragging my ass pushing junk a