"Go ahead."
"I got a bad feeling, the kind you used to get sometimes in 'Nam. You know what I mean? Like maybe it was really going to happen this time, you were riding back on the dustoff in a body bag. I got that feeling now."
"It's the withdrawal from the speed."
"No, this is different. I feel like it's five minutes to twelve and my clock's ticking."
"They didn't get you over there, did they? Blow it off. Guys like us have a long way to run."
"Look, like I told you, the only guy working for me I can trust is Jess. But Jess couldn't think his way through wet Kleenex. So I'm going to ask you, if I get clipped, will you look after Paul, make sure that bitch takes care of him, keeps him in good schools, buys him everything he needs?"
"I appreciate the compliment, but—"
"Fuck the compliment. I want an answer."
"Start thinking about a divorce, Tony, and get these other thoughts out of your head."
"Yes or no?"
He looked at me, one hand tight on the steering wheel, and we bounced through a deep puddle that splashed water across the windshield.
"I'd do my best for him," I said.
r />
"I know you will. You're my main man. Right?" And he pointed one finger at me and cocked his thumb, as though he were aiming a pistol, and popped his mouth with his tongue. Then he laughed loudly.
Late that afternoon I told Tony I was going to have the oil in my truck changed. I drove to a filling station by the shopping center and used the outside pay phone while the attendant put my truck on the rack. I caught Minos at his office and told him of the trip over to Mississippi.
"When do you think this shipment's coming in?" he said:
"Any day."
"All right, we'll get the money in the bus locker for you. Now, let's talk about getting you wired."
"Minos, I think there might be a problem here with entrapment. This isn't Tony's deal. I'm leading him into it."
"Anywhere there's dope in Orleans or Jefferson Parish, he's getting a cut out of it."
"I don't think that's true. He talked about some guys in Metairie running this deal."
"I don't care what he says. Cardo's dirty when he gets up in the morning. Stop pretending otherwise. Look, if somebody hollers later about entrapment, that's our problem, not yours."
"I think we're shaving the dice."
"It's not entrapment if this guy has foreknowledge of a narcotics buy and he takes you into it." He paused to let the exasperation go out of his voice. "You've only got one thing to worry about, Dave—getting close to him with a wire. Now, we can do it two ways, with a microphone or a miniaturized tape recorder."
"He's not going to do business in the house."
"Which do you want to use?"
"How far can the microphone send?"
"Under the best conditions, without electronic interference or buildings in the way, maybe up to a quarter of a mile."
"I think I'll be better off with the recorder. That way we won't have to worry about reception problems with the tail."
"How do you want to pick it up?" he said.