Chapitre 39: Change In Pace

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1986— 10:00 AM

The sky was overcast at the Vince Lombardi Service Area. Sea gulls hovered and soared, scouting the parking lot for tasty litter. Two gulls picked through the green barrel near the bank of phone booths and pulled out a discarded hamburger bun. Dominick Edge watched them feast, his hands jammed in the pockets of his black leather jacket, a white silk scarf tied loosely around his neck.

Out in the parking lot Robert Carroll and Paul Smith sat in the silver sedan. Another investigator was posted by the entrance to the service area. Dominick watched for the coffee cup on the silver sedan's dashboard to disappear, his signal that Shifu had arrived.

This meeting with Shifu had been hastily arranged, and they were short of manpower today, so these were the only backups Dominick had.

He was also wearing only the Nagra tape recorder. They couldn't get the transmitter to work, so Dominick's backups wouldn't be able to monitor what went on between him and Shifu today.

Standing inside a phone booth, Dominick wondered what kind of attitude his "friend" would be wearing today. They hadn't seen each other in over a month. Shifu had pulled back, and the task force had decided to let him be. But that had given him a lot of time to think things over. He might be happy to see Dominick, more anxious than ever to do the arms deal with him. Or he could be mad as hell that Dominick was wasting his time, that Dominick was all talk and no show. Or Shifu could be any shade of gray in between. There was no telling until he got there.

The seagulls squawked and flapped their wings, fighting over the hamburger bun. Dominick glanced over at the silver sedan. The cup was gone from the dash. He scanned the cars pulling into the lot, looking for the blue Camaro. He wasn't expecting the white Cadillac that rolled into a space on the far side of the phone booths.

The Caddy's door swung open, and out stepped Shifu, dressed in a dark suit and tie under a black cashmere overcoat. Dominick was stunned. He hadn't expected this either.

Dominick extended his hand as Shifu approached. "Jesus, Shifu, you look like the board of health here, all dressed up nice."

Shifu flashed a toothy smile as he shook Dominick's hand. ''So whatcha been doing?"

"Same shit."

"Oh, yeah?"

They moved over to a picnic table. Dominick sat on the tabletop. Shifu put his foot up on the bench and leaned on his knee.

Dominick lowered his voice. "You know, Shifu, I gotta tell you something. I was at that greasy spoon next door to 'the store' the other day, and there were these two detectives there. From the state police, I think. They were asking questions about you."

Shifu shrugged. He seemed unconcerned.

"I'm just telling you to let you know. Shifu. You better be careful now."

"Dom, they have been on my ass since 1980, and they still haven't got me. Maybe someday they will. Who knows? But in the meantime, what the hell am I gonna do about it.?"

"Well, I'm just passing it on. I thought you'd want to know."

"Yeah, Kane and Volkman, I know all about them."

"One of them, his name was Pat something or other, he asked me if I knew you. I told him I didn't know nobody. What they want you for?"

Shifu tilted his head from one side to the other. "They're after me because—well, let's just say there were some people who got hurt. Some...problems."

"Yeah, I understand."

"Then there's this one guy who turned out to be a pointer. The police got him in protective custody now. Problem is they can't get anybody to back up his bullshit. I've been trying to find him."

"Oh, yeah?"

"I hope he gets a bad cold and drops dead." Dominick laughed.

"That would be nice. This guy who turned out to be a pointer had a couple of friends who had accidents. I was lucky with them. But these goddamn troopers got a bug up their asses about me. They want to get me for murder."

"No shit."

"Yup. I'd love for this other guy, the pointer, to have an accident like his buddies. But like I said, they got him in protective custody." He shook his head. "Zhang Xiaohua," he grumbled in disgust.

Dominick couldn't believe it. Shifu had come right out and said he was looking for Zhang Xiaohua. He mentioned Zhang Xiaohua's name. But why was Shifu telling him this.

"Yeah, those goddamn troopers are dying to get me. I'm probably a thorn in their side, just like Zhang Xiaohua's a thorn in mine. I mean, face it, I'm no virgin. I done a lot of shit in my time. The cop that gets me won't be getting no virgin. He'll be getting an old whore similar to me."

"So whattaya gonna do about this?"

"Nothing. I'll do just what I've been doing. Being careful, and staying out of sight. That's why I don't go to 'the store' no more. I haven't been there in two years."

"Well, Shifu, if there's anything I can help you out with, just let me know."

"There's nothing that can be done, Dom. If they get me, they get me. But they got nothing on me. If they did, they wouldn't be going around asking everybody questions about me. Right? So until they have something they can use, I intend to just go about my business and do what I have to do."

"That's all you can do, I guess. Listen, I had that stuff you wanted. You know what I'm talking about."

Shifu's eyebrows rose. "The powder."

"The special order you put in. I had it in my trunk, a little vial of the stuff. I called you a couple of times, but there was no answer. I didn't want to be carrying that shit around with me, so I brought it back and told the guy to hold it for me until I found you."

''Jeez, that's just what I could use right now."

''How come no one answers that phone, Shifu?"

"When I'm not there, I unplug that line. That's my special line. If there's no answer or you get an answering machine, you know I'm not around."

"Oh. Okay."

Dominick brought up Tim then and renewed his interest in buying ten hit kits for his wiseguy customer in New York as well as completing the big arms deal for the Irish Republican Army. That morning Robert Carroll had coached him on what he should get Shifu to talk about, and they'd discussed how Dominick might draw him out. But Shifu didn't need any drawing out today.

He was running on at the mouth, more talkative than he'd ever been, acknowledging his criminal career, stressing his need to get rid of Zhang Xiaohua, referring to the murders of Li Xian and Sean Xiao.

After a while Dominick had to keep himself from looking at his watch to see how long they'd been there. He couldn't believe this. Why was Shifu telling him so much. Why was he sharing all this incriminating information?

The answer was obvious, and it came as no surprise to Dominick. Shifu intended to kill him.

Why else would he be talking so much? Dominick only hoped that the task force's assumptions about the Angel of Death were correct, that he killed only when there was a profit to be made.

As long as Dominick didn't have any large quantities of cash with him, he was safe. Nevertheless, he kept his hand on the gun in his pocket. And even with that, he paid close attention to which way the wind was blowing, so that he'd know where to move if Shifu tried to spray him in the face.

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