isn’t what I pay you sons of bitches for. One guy. One fucking guy and he’s making all of you look like a bunch of mouth-breathin’ peckerwoods. This guy is smart, and he can handle himself. Just look what he did to Dante’s crew at the diner. One man, and he put them all down. Now I’m going to say it one more time. Nothing gets done until I give the say-so. Understand? I give the orders—you carry them out. For the moment walk easy. I don’t want the town getting too jumpy. If that happens, the cops will have to start rousting us, and I have enough to worry about. I’ll have this mother dealt with my way.”
The moment Dembrow stopped ranting the subdued group turned and left the study, the last man out closing the door.
Dembrow leaned on his hands, his head hanging. Willing himself to calm down, he took deep breaths, sucking air deep into his lungs and exhaling slowly. His anger finally contained, he stood and crossed to the well-stocked wet bar in the corner of the expansive, richly furnished room. He opened the glass-fronted cooler and took out a chilled bottle of beer, removed the cap and enjoyed a long swallow. The cold liquid didn’t satisfy him as it usually did, a sure sign that Dembrow was far from happy. He took out a second bottle and returned to slump behind his desk.
“Son of a bitch,” he muttered. He drained the first bottle and opened the second.
The silent figure in the high-backed deep leather recliner facing the room’s big window slowly eased it around so he could see Dembrow. He had remained unheard and unseen during Dembrow’s bawling out of his crew. He stood and crossed to the bar, helping himself to a large tumbler of vintage bourbon.
Tall, lean, his thick dark hair framing a hollow-cheeked face, he wore all black and moved with a languorous grace. He sat down again, swirling the bourbon in the tumbler, breathing in the fumes.
His name was Billy Joe Rankin. He was Dembrow’s closest adviser, a thinker who viewed a problem from all angles before he offered any kind of advice.
“You want my opinion, Marshal? Get on the phone and call in Preacher and Choirboy. Turn those homicidal maniacs loose. This is their kind of work.”
“Dammit, Billy Joe, I don’t need this right now.”
“Marshal, this is a bad patch you’re going through. It’ll pass. Hey, you’ve gone through times like this before.”
“Oh, sure. This time I let a damned Fed into my organization. He skims off information they can maybe use against me and almost walks away with it.”
“But he didn’t. Manners is dead, and the Feds still don’t have any kind of case against you. Let that ride. If anything does rise to the surface, we’ll let the lawyers handle it. Believe me, Marshal, this is going away.”
“Not until I know who this bastard is.”
“That’s something we all want to know.”
“Is he a damn Fed? A cop? Some psycho on a mission from God?”
“You want to find out?”
“Well, yeah, that seems to be a good idea.”
“Then do what I say. Let your boys run around making noises, but sic Preacher and Choirboy on him. Toss them a contract and let them run.”
Dembrow reached for one of the phones on his desk, tapped in a number and waited while it rang out. The voice on the other end was immediately recognizable.
“Preacher. You want to take a run over? I got a proposition for you two. Big payday. Huge payday. Well, hell, of course the usual. Half down if you come on board. The rest when you deliver. Sure, I’ll be here.”
Rankin poured himself another drink. He stood at the big window overlooking the grounds of Dembrow’s large property.
“It’s time you put that swimming pool in, Marshal. It’ll make a nice addition to the place. We can cut a good deal with Jack Templeton.”
“You think?”
“Big pool. Patio surround. Spot for a barbecue. Damn good way to entertain business clients. Have a few pretty girls running around in bikinis. Or no bikinis.”
Dembrow laughed. “Hey, you could be right, Billy Joe. What the hell, like you said, we got the cash. Give Templeton a call. Set it up.”
Rankin sipped his bourbon, his mission accomplished. Dembrow’s mind had been diverted from his current problems. His employer was a hard man when it came to his business dealings, but he had a failing that caused him to worry overly when problems came his way. If Dembrow allowed himself to be drawn away from his main concerns, the drug business might suffer, and no one in the organization wanted that. Especially Rankin. He enjoyed the success of Dembrow’s dealings and the material gains that he enjoyed. He wanted it to stay that way, so it was part of his job to keep Dembrow on a linear path, fielding off anything that might rock the boat.
PREACHER AND CHOIRBOY showed up an hour later. They parked a gleaming 1986 Lincoln Continental in the drive and stepped out, clad in tailored Western-style suits, complete with leather boots and wide brimmed Stetson hats. They were every inch Texan boys, down to the expensive aviator shades and string ties. The Mexican houseman let them in and escorted them through the house. Dembrow was in his office, alone, Rankin attending to other business. The pair settled into the big armchairs ranged in front of Dembrow’s desk. The houseman took their hats. Dembrow handed them ice-cold bottles of beer, then settled back in his own chair.
“Nice job you boys did on that Fed. I think we got the message across.”
“Take a man’s money, it’s only right you give him value,” Preacher said.
Reaching down behind his desk Dembrow lifted a tan leather carry-all. He placed it on the desk and slid it in Preacher’s direction.
“Well, guys, it’s time for you to do it again.”
Preacher took the bag and placed it on the floor between the armchairs.
“You heard about the shooting at the diner?” Dembrow asked.
Choirboy nodded. “Kind of ended up messy.”
“That was a local fuckup,” Dembrow said. “Some of the hired help decided to think for themselves and take out the girl the undercover Fed had been bedding. Figured they were doing me a big favor. All they did was screw up and make the situation worse.”
“The way we heard it, the girl had some protection,” Preacher said.
“Damn right. He spread my crew all over the scene and walked away. “
“He our target?”
“I’ve run some checks, and no one seems to know who this bastard is.”
“Nothing from the local law-enforcement agencies?”
“I had a word with my contacts at local and State. Not a whisper. If this guy is undercover, he’s so deep he’s invisible.”
Preacher drained his beer. “If the Feds have put in another agent so soon after the last one, he won’t be making himself known. And he isn’t about to make any new friends. That means he’s working in the cold. He’ll be a stranger. That could
