The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [140]
Slaves shook their chains. Slaves did the Shackle Shimmy-Shake.
Bob said, “I want to build up a roll for Mississippi. Maybe I can sell some surplus shit to the troops coming in.”
Pete turned around. “No one sells to our troops. I’ll kill anyone who does.”
Chuck laughed. “Pete’s got that World War II thing. Semper fi, Boss.”
Bob laughed. “He dinky dau. He get too sentimental.”
Pete pulled his piece. Pete dumped three rounds. Pete spun the chamber. Chuck laughed. Bob made the jack-off sign.
Pete aimed. Pete pulled the trigger. He shot Bob three times. The hammer clicked three times. He hit three blank chambers.
Bob screamed. Bob puked. Bob hurled franks and beans.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 11/30/64. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request”/“Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director Hoover, Ward J. Littell.
JEH: Good afternoon, Mr. Littell.
WJL: Good afternoon, Sir.
JEH: Let’s discuss Southeast Asia.
WJL: I’m afraid I’m not informed on the topic, Sir.
JEH: I was informed that Pierre Bondurant and Wayne Tedrow Junior have gone on covert contract status with a stellar spy agency. Little birdies tell me things, and I would be remiss not to share them with you.
WJL: I was aware of that, Sir.
JEH: They are stationed in Vietnam, no less.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Would you care to expand your answers?
WJL: I’d rather not be too specific. I think you know enough about Pete’s past dealings and Wayne Junior’s chemistry background to be able to extrapolate.
JEH: I am extrapolating at warp speed. I must conclude that our Italian friends have revised their fatuously conceived “Clean-Town Policy” in Las Vegas.
WJL: Yes, but the distribution will be rigorously localized.
JEH: I see a salutary convergence. The distribution will accommodate Count Dracula’s prejudices and facilitate our Italian friends’ desire to bilk him.
WJL: It’s an astute observation, Sir.
JEH: Our friends must bristle at the thought of Jimmy Hoffa’s forthcoming doom.
WJL: They know he’s finished, Sir. They know the appeals process will terminate within two years.
JEH: The attendant irony has not escaped me. A gaudy homicide served to neutralize the Dark Prince, yet the Dark Prince toppled his bete noire in the end.
WJL: I have often considered that irony, Sir.
JEH: The Prince is now a senator-elect. Have you considered how he’ll fare?
WJL: I haven’t given it much thought.
JEH: A barefaced lie, Mr. Littell, and wholly unworthy of you.
WJL: I’ll concede, Sir.
JEH: Do you think he will sponsor anti-organized crime legislation?
WJL: I would hope not.
JEH: Do you think he will attack organized crime from the Senate floor?
WJL: I would hope not.
JEH: Do you think he learned an enduring lesson from that gaudy homicide?
WJL: I would hope so.
JEH: I will not comment on your complex relationship with Robert F. Kennedy.
WJL: Your comments to date are most eloquent, Sir.
JEH: Let’s jump from the frying pan to the fire. I’m meeting with Martin Lucifer King tomorrow.
WJL: The purpose of the meeting, Sir?
JEH: Lucifer requested it. He wants to discuss my attacks in the press. Lyle Holly has informed me that Lucifer has correctly added two and two and has determined that I’ve run black-bag operations against him, which must vex him as well.
WJL: How did he learn? Do you suspect a leak?
JEH: No. I publicly referred to information that Lucifer disseminated in private and betrayed bug and tap placements in that manner. Those references were, of course, deliberate.
WJL: I concluded that, Sir.
JEH: Lucifer, Rustin and the others now shut their mouths in hotel rooms. Lucifer has confined his sexual antics to beds outside my electronic range.
WJL: You’re implying a larger design here, Sir.
JEH: You are correct. I am going to drastically upscale my operations against Lucifer and the SCLC. You are to stop donating organized-crime money