The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [177]
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: Good day, Dwight. And, again, my condolences.
BR: Good day, Sir.
82
(New Hebron, 8/12/65)
Nigger.
He never thought it. He never said it. It was ugly. It was stupid. It made you THEM.
Wayne took back roads. Wayne saw shit shacks and crop rows. Wayne saw THEM.
They tilled dirt. They hauled brush. They dished slop. Wayne watched. Wayne made them Bongo. Wayne made them Wendell D.
Wicked Wendell—last seen in Bakersfield—redneck California. Work first/Bakersfield soon/New Hebron now.
New Hebron was redneck. New Hebron was small. New Hebron was très Mississippi. Bob Relyea gigged there. Bob ran Wild Rabbit’s hutch. Bob ran his Klan kompound.
Bob had kadre guns. Wayne had kadre money. Kall it: Kadre meets Klan.
Wayne drove slow. Wayne watched THEM. He felt bifurcated. He felt travel-fucked.
He’d rotated west. He split Saigon. He had three weeks in. He cooked horse. He packaged horse. He followed horse west.
Pete was in Laos. Ditto Mesplède. Mesplède just rotated in. They ran Tiger Kamp. They ran slaves. They cooked base.
Pete got antsy there. Pete got bored. Pete bought a bomb raid. Pete bought some Marv pilots. Said pilots napalmed Ba Na Key.
They deforested. They depilatoried. They defoliated. They torched a dope camp. They torched a dope field. They spared the camp lab. They cued in Tran Lao Dinh. Tran sacked the lab. Tran stole M-base and equipment. Tran fed it to Tiger Kamp.
Laurent was in Bon Secour, Alabama. Ditto Flash E. Pete nailed a boat there. Flash knew boats. Laurent knew carpentry.
One charter boat—one overhaul—one war boat boocoo.
Pete’s plan: You view the guns. You pay Bob. You route said guns—New Hebron to Tiger South. You drive to Bon Secour then. You play backup. You jam this clown Danny Bruvick.
Loops. Rotations. Travel fucks.
Flash was travel-fucked. Flash looped through Cuba. Flash dipped in via speedboat. Flash dropped Fuentes and Arredondo. They stayed there. Flash looped on back. Flash looped to Bon Secour.
Soon:
Arms run #1. The Ebbtide revamped—the new Tiger Klaw boocoo.
Wayne cut east. Wayne hit dirt roads. Wayne saw paper mills and compost burning. Wayne saw Bob’s “farm.”
One shack—Bob’s “Führer Barn.” One gun range adjacent. Klan klowns kluster. Klan klowns klique. Klan klowns klip targets.
Wayne pulled in. Wayne parked. Wayne smelled cordite and horse shit. Wayne walked in the barn. Cold air hit him—the “Führer Igloo.”
He shut the door. He laughed. He sneezed.
Rebel-flag drapes. Rebel-flag rugs. Rebel-flag furniture. Tracts on a table—Wayne Senior’s script—“Red Racemixers”/“Spook Coonfidential.”
Ammo on a couch/sheets on a table/hoods on a stool. Dry-cleaned and folded. All cellophaned.
Wayne laughed. Wayne sneezed. The door popped open. Bob Rabbit walked in. Bob wore fatigues. Bob wore jump boots. Bob detached his Klan hood.
Wayne laughed. Bob shut the door. Bob refroze the igloo.
“It ain’t GQ, but it works.”
Wayne tapped his pockets. “I brought the money.”
“Your daddy says hi. He always asks about you.”
“Let’s see the guns.”
“Let’s jaw first. ‘Hey, Bob, how’s the hammer hangin’?’ ‘Long and strong, Wayne, how about you?’ ”
Wayne smiled. Pete whomped on Bob. Pete boxed his rabbit ears. Pete avenged Ward Littell.
“Let’s see the guns.”
Bob packed his nose. Bob jammed in Red Man snuff.
“The niggers are rioting in L.A. I told my boys, ‘It’d take some napalm and two hundred Wayne Juniors to stop that thing.’ ”
Wayne sneezed—cold air and snuff.
“Cut the shit and show me the guns.”
“Let’s jaw first. We discuss the nigger problem, and I show you my correspondence file from the Missouri State Pen.”
Wayne said, “You’re wearing me thin.”
Bob rubbed his nose. “I got letters from Jimmy Ray and Loyal G. Binns. They’re both good haters and pliable as shit. I think they’ll join up when they get—”
Wayne walked. Wayne bumped Bob deliberate. Wayne walked to the kitchen.
A TV was on. Negroes cavorted. Negroes threw rocks. Negroes stole liquor. The sound was off. Said Negroes yelled. Their teeth glowed bright.
Bob walked