Norse began gasping and rasping. Angelina closed the door and set her back against it.
Kurtz released the hoses. "Samantha Fielding?"
Johnny Norse's eyes were flicking back and forth like cornered rodents. He shook his head and Kurtz kinked the oxygen lines again, holding them kinked this time until Norse's gasps were as loud as Cheyne-Stokes death rattles.
"Samantha Fielding?" repeated Kurtz. "About twelve years ago."
The corpse in the bed nodded wildly. "The Connors kid Emilio was squeezing Connors just wanted the money."
Kurtz waited.
"Some cunt of a P.I found the connection between Falco and Levine and us snatching the kid. Emilio" He stopped and looked up at Kurtz, his corpse mouth twitching in what might have been an attempt at an ingratiating Johnny Norse smile. "I didn't have nothing to do with it. I didn't even know who they were talking about. I didn't"
Kurtz reached for the oxygen hose.
"Jesus fuck all right Emilio put the word out I delivered it to the drug dealers Falco and Levine. You got what you want asshole?"
"Yes," said Kurtz. He took the.40 S&W semiautomatic from his belt, thumbed back the hammer, and set the muzzle in Johnny Norse's mouth. The man's teeth chattered against the cold steel. Something like wild relief flickered behind the clouded eyes.
Kurtz removed the muzzle and lowered the hammer. There was a bottle of medical disinfectant on the expensive nightstand, and Kurtz sprayed the barrel of the S&W with it before wiping it with the hem of Norse's hospital gown and sliding it back in his belt. He nodded at the woman and they left.
CHAPTER TEN
Angelina Farino Ferrara set the emergency brake, left the engine running, and put her hands on top of the steering wheel. "Is this the end of the line?"
"Could be."
"What are my options?"
"Truth."
She nodded. Her lips were white but her eyes were defiant and Kurtz could see that her pulse, visible at the base of her throat, was slow and regular.
"Word on the street today," said Kurtz, "is that you put out another contract on me."
"Same contract Different contractor."
"Who?"
"Big Bore Redhawk. He's"
"An Indian," said Kurtz. "What is this? Hire the Attica Handicapped Month?"
Angelina shrugged slightly. "Stevie likes to deal with people he knows."
"Little Skag is a cheap fuck," said Kurtz. "When is Big Bore supposed to do this?"
"Any time in the next week."
"And if he fails?"
"Stevie has the look for real talent. And raises the price from ten thousand to twenty-five."
Kurtz sat in silence for a minute. The headlights were off. Snow fell steadily past the yellow lamps beyond the loading dock. The only sounds were the rough idle of the old Volvo engine and the distant hiss of traffic on the I-90 Thruway behind them.
"You don't want to kill me tonight," said Angelina.
"No?"
"No. We need each other."
Kurtz sat in silence for another short spell. Finally, he said, "Turn off the engine. Get out."
She did. Kurtz gestured toward the far end of the loading dock, near the Dumpsters. He had her walk ahead of him to the end of the asphalt there. Her Bally shoes made small tracks in the snow.
"Stop here."
Angelina turned to face him. "I said the wrong thing. You know it's bullshit. We don't need each other. I just need youneed to use you. And Joe Kurtz isn't a man who likes to be used."
Kurtz bent his arm, keeping it close to his body, aiming the pistol from his waist.
"Not in the face, please," said Angelina Farino Farrera.
Traffic passed on the Thruway, out of sight to their right.
"Why?" said Kurtz. "Why goad me and set me up this way and then meet me without backup? What did you expect?"
"I expected you to be more stupid."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
"You haven't so far, Kurtz. It's all been very amusing up to this point. Perhaps Big Bore Redhawk will avenge me."
"I doubt it."
"You're probably
right. But my brother will."
"Maybe."
Two semis roared by on the Thruway, throwing slush into the cones of yellow light there. Kurtz did not glance that way. "I have most of it figured," he said. "How you were going to use me against both Little Skag and Gonzaga. But why me? You're planning to become don in reality if not in nameyou've had all this time to planwhy not bring people you trust to do your work?"
"I'm getting cold," said Angelina. "Can we go back to your car now?"
"No."
"I'm going to raise my hands just to rub my arms, all right?"
Kurtz said nothing.
Angelina briskly massaged her arms through the thin jacket she was wearing. "I had more than six years to plan what I had to do, but the little bloodbath you were part of last November ruined those plans. If I was going to act, I had to act now, but all of a sudden my father's dead, my whore-sister Maria is dead, even Leonard Miles, the crooked consigliere, is dead. Stevie explains how you set it all up, hired the Dane. Revenge for something my father had done to you."
Kurtz said nothing.
"I know that's not true," said Angelina, speaking slowly and clearly. "Stevie set up the hit, borrowing money from the Gonzagas to do it. But you helped get Stevie's deal to the Dane, Kurtz. You were part of it."