The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [195]
She knew it was over. She said it: “I’m tired of running—and Ward knows that.”
Wayne left the boat. Danny cast sail. Wayne killed two days. Wayne called Carlos up.
He said Danny split. He said Danny took Tiger Klaw. Coward Danny—scared of scalp runs/scared for his life.
Carlos yelled. Carlos fumed. Carlos made vicious threats. Wayne tracked newspapers. Wayne logged updates.
Tiger Klaw drifts. Tiger Klaw runs aground. Danny and Jane are nowhere. Carlos stays mum. Carlos stays clueless. Carlos does not brace Pete. Carlos does not brace Wayne.
Pete clued Ward to Arden. Pete bucked Carlos. Arden ran to Danny. They ran to their death. They held in strong. They did not rat Pete and Wayne. Pete and Wayne would have heard otherwise.
Pete loves Ward. Ward loves Jane the ghost. Pete knows they’re dead. Pete never says it. Dead women fuck him up.
Pete loves Barb. Pete rotates home. Pete stays off rotation. Barb lured him home. Ward licensed him in.
Pete bought the Golden Cavern. Pete bought his own hotel-casino. Eldon Peavy had syph. Eldon Peavy sold cheap. Eldon Peavy dumped his fruit bowl.
The Cavern welcomed fruits. The Cavern housed fruits. The Cavern rejoined Tiger Kab. Fruit drivers drove fruit tenants. Fred T. bugged the rooms. Fruit moths were drawn to the flame.
Dirt accrued: Fruit dirt/hip dirt/pol dirt/fruit celebs/fruit hipsters/fruit politicos.
Pete installed “Swinger Suites.” Fred bugged the walls. Pete drew non-fruit biz. State legislators/junket groups/Shriners on toots.
Pete accrued dirt. Pete accrued straight dirt and fruit dirt. The word spread—the Cavern’s hip—dig the straight-fruit détente.
Biz boomed. Pete stored dirt and made money. Pete reprised health-wise. Pete looked good now. Pete restored his bad pump.
He stopped smoking. He dumped weight. He chewed gum incessant. He worked incessant. He ran the dope biz. He ran Tiger Kab. He ran the Cavern. He refurbished the lounge. He shot Barb a permanent gig.
Milt C. gigged with her. Milt did topical shtick. Milt had a puppet. Said puppet was a hairy ape. Milt called him Junkie Monkey. Junkie Monkey ragged celebs. Junkie Monkey ragged fruits. Junkie Monkey perved on Barb B.
Barb drew biz. Milt drew biz. Pete made more money.
Sonny Liston loved the Cavern. Sonny moved in. Sonny hid from his wife and helped Pete.
Sonny roamed the casino. Sonny made dope collections. Sonny muscled deadbeats. Wayne ran with Sonny. They made dope collections. Their reps drew heat.
Their reps clashed. They were salt-and-pepper. They were black-black and white-white. They prowled West LV. They talked Wendell Durfee. Sonny ran riffs. Sonny ran theories. Sonny dug that nom de pimp:
Cassius Cool—the ex–Wendell Durfee. I calls him Cassius X.
Wayne rotated. Wayne ran Saigon to Vegas. Wayne ran due west.
He cruised L.A. He stalked Wendell Durfee. He prowled Watts. He drew hate vibes. Call them riot aftershocks.
He hit pimp bars. He polled pimps. He polled whores. He got zero results. He palmed cops. He bought jail checks. He logged rumors. He got zero results. He prowled south. He tooled main drags. He watched faces. He got zero results.
He braced street creeps. He passed out cards. He logged jive. He got pushed. He got shoved. He got spit on. L.A. was L.A. He had no rep.
He rotated east. He rotated south. He did kadre biz. He cooked dope in Saigon. He ran dope in Vegas. He ran guns through Mississippi.
Profits were up. Kadre kosts accrued konkurrent. Guns moved south. They lost Tiger Klaw. They lost Skipper Bruvick. They bought a new boat. They armored it. They bought a new skipper. Dick Wenzel—seaborne merc—tight with Laurent Guéry.
Tiger Klaw II. Out of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Wenzel made Cuban runs. Wenzel brought Laurent. Wenzel brought Flash and Wayne. Wenzel was good. Wenzel was bold. Wenzel had boulder-size balls.
The runs went goooood. No glitches/no bullshit/no surprise attacks. They probed the coast. They grappled up. They met Fuentes and Arredondo.
They dispensed weaponry. They fed insurgents. The funnel moved inland. The