The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [137]
Their bomb raid killed camp guards. They needed new guards. Stanton told Pete to hire some Marvs. On-duty Marvs ran expensive. Tran hired deserters—Marvs and VC.
Forty-two guards/eighteen Marvs/twenty-four Congs.
They worked hard. They worked cheap. They shrieked their views: Ho versus Khanh/North versus South/Mao versus LBJ.
Pete got pissed. Pete chartered laws. Pete segregated guard crews. Pete pouched notes down—Saravan to Saigon—on CIA flights boocoo.
Pete praised the kadre. Pete praised Tran. Pete passed a rumor on: The Premier P.R.-prone. The Premier order “review.”
Many dope dens exist now. Many GIs come here soon—troop buildup boocoo. Dope dens big. Dope dens bad. My den policy need review.
Stanton didn’t buy it. Stanton knew said Premier. Said Premier was a puppet. Money pulled his strings. Said Premier taxed his dope dens boocoo.
West Vegas stood ready. Milt Chargin told Pete. Pete pouched word to Wayne. Milt ratted pill crews. Milt snitched to Dwight Holly. Holly told the apropos Feds. West LV stood dry. The funnel stood ready. Wayne pledged the goods:
Heroin—grade 4—ready by 1/9/65.
Wayne checked the clock. Wayne checked the vats. He measured sodium carbonate. He measured chloroform. He filled three tubes.
He locked the lab. He walked downstairs. The den was dark. The den was full. A Chinaman sold cubes. A Chinaman cleaned pipes. A Chinaman hosed stray turds.
Wayne blocked his nose. Wayne walked flashlight-first.
He walked bed rows. He stubbed pallets. He kicked piss bowls. O-heads stirred. O-heads cringed. O-heads kicked out.
He strafed their eyes. He strafed their arms. He strafed their needle tracks. Arm tracks/leg tracks/dick tracks/old tracks/test tracks.
The air reeked of smoke and piss. The light scattered rats. Wayne walked. Wayne carried tape. Wayne marked eight pallet slats.
He flashed eyes. He flashed arms. He flashed a corpse. Rats had it. Rats gnawed on the crotch. Rats lapped shit water. Rats surfed the floor.
Wayne walked. Wayne checked Bongo’s bed.
Bongo snored. Bongo slept with two whores. Bongo had down pillows and silk pallet slats.
Wayne flashed Bongo’s eyes. Bongo slept on. Wayne made him Wendell Durfee.
It worked. It happened. It cohered. He did it—he made white horse.
He cooked all day. He filtered. He worked carbonates. He purified. He refined. He mixed charcoal and alcohol. He hit #3—6% pure.
He walked downstairs. He selected three O-heads. He packed their pipes full. They smoked #3. They puked. They launched. They hit orbit.
He walked back up. He mixed ether. He mixed hydrochloric acid. He dissolved #3. He laced it. He mixed hydro and ether.
He worked all night. He waited. He watched tracer rounds. He filtered. He dried. He got precipitant flakes and got it: Heroin—#4—96% pure.
He mixed sugar base. He diluted it. He cut it. He prepped eight syringes. He prepped eight swabs. He prepped eight good shots.
He yawned. He crapped out. He slept nine hours straight.
Two Marvs assisted. Two Marvs marched them in. They smelled. They outstunk his ammonia. They outfumed his carbonates.
Wayne cracked a window. Wayne measured their pupils. The Marvs jabbered in Anglo-gook:
Cleanup come—buildup come—cleanup do much good.
Wayne cooked up eight shots. Wayne fed eight spikes.
Two heads ran. Four heads grinned. Two heads pumped their veins. The Marvs grabbed the runners. The Marvs pumped their veins.
Wayne tied them off. Wayne geezed them. They seized up. They shook. Wayne flashed their eyes. Their pupils contracted. Their pupils pinned.
They nodded. They weaved. They upchucked and hurled. They doused the sink. They rubberized. They zombified.
They plopped down prone. They nodded out. The Marvs grabbed the last six. The Marvs prepped them good.
They swabbed their arms. They tied them off. They pumped out their veins. Wayne geezed them six across.
They seized up. They shook. They doused the sink. They heroinized.
The Marvs cheered. The Marvs jabbered in Anglo-gook.
Dignitaries come