He was leaving with hope.

It was like heroin. It was like high-grade crack or freshly distilled crystal meth. Extreme obsessive-compulsive disorders affected the same neurotransmitters that the most highly addictive narcotics affected. Marsha. Untermann had seen enough victims to know not only this but the ultimate implications.

You always start a patient off with a positive purviewa"that was essentiala"but the rest was never easy. Sometimes it was impossible, and Dr. Untermann knew impossible when she saw it.

She knew that Barrows wouldn't make it Her black Bally high heels clicked along the clean cement of the parking garage beneath the twenty-story mirror-faceted Millennium Tower, and it was a nice, new black Mercedes 450 that she slid into. She lit another cigarettea"a beastly habit, she knewa"but didn't yet start the engine and leave for her lakeside Fremont condo. Instead...

She thought.

Extreme obsessive-compulsive disorders-OCD's? Especially the really radical ones?

The trichotillomanics, the aphasics, the dysgeusaics? The success rate was actually so low, it was scarcely worth treatment. It was actually less than the seven-percent success-rate for crack addicts. Much less.

The same went for the disorders akin to dritiphily.

Dr. Untermann had learned much in her nearly thirty years of abnormal clinical psychiatry. She'd learned that some things weren't worth trying to treat.

She heard the footsteps even before the figure turned the comer. She powered down the driver's side window.

"I got a lot this time," a sand-papery voice told her.

"I'm pleased."

Dirty hands pa.s.sed in the parcel. Untermann took it and handed the figure a $ 100 bill.

"Thank you,'' she said. "See you tomorrow."

Her purveyor said nothing in response. He simply took the money and walked away. The back of his coat read KING STREET GOSPEL HOMELESS SHELTER.

Untermann gave a hot sigh when she opened the parcel: a paper bag containing a plastic Zip-Loc bag, the one-gallon size. She unzipped the bag, inhaled the aroma, and nearly swooned; the bag was heavy with various vomit. Gritty. Fuming.

Like chunky pink oatmeal.

No, some things weren't worth trying to treat. But capitulation was a treatment of its own, wasn't it? Sometimes you just had to surrender to the incontrovertible truth.

Be who you are, she thought in the ultimate Freudian nod. She flicked out her cigarette.

Accept it, and adapt.

That's what she had done. And it worked. The verity of the soul, however unseemly at times, must always be embraced. Not ignored or fought against.

Embraced.

And now this fox financier, this man Barrows. Smart, successful, rich. And more than pleasing to the eye. When Barrows learned that there really was no cure for his disease, he, too, would capitulate... and the two of them would embrace each other.

Her nipples suddenly stood out beneath the lacy cotton bra and sheer Biagiotti cashmere blouse. Her s.e.x moistened; her teeth ground. In her mind, she saw Barrows forlornly straying the city's most malodorous streets and alleyways, searching for those all-too-precious nuggets, sc.r.a.ping them up and sucking them down like so many melted diamonds. She saw his trembling lips jacked needily open as unwashed derelicts and dirty, wan wh.o.r.es hacked up veritable collops of meaty phlegm into his mouth. His own uniqueness was all too similar to Untermann's own.

I'll show him how to adapt, just as I have adapted...

I'll teach him how to function, unscathed.

We 'U be who we both really are. Not in social fallacy but in truth.

Two human beings one in the same.

Together.

Dr. Untermann finally started the car and drove out of the parking garage. The bag sat beside her in the fine leather pa.s.senger seat. She couldn't wait to get homea"

Oh, yes...

a"to eat.

Makak.

Casparza was repulsivea"a human blob. He couldn't pack the food into his fat face fast enough. Look at him, Hull thought, disgusted. Just another greasy spic blimp.

But the girla"she was beautiful, and all cla.s.s. She'd said her name was Janice. Too old to be squeeze. Hull decided. Mid or late-twenties. He'd heard all the stories; the fat man was a kiddie-diddlera" anything over 15 was over the hill. So how did Janice figure into it?

She looked like a typical American businesswoman. Come to think of it, Hull had seen lots of Americans milling about die plush villa. What were so many Americans doing here! This was Peru.

And the black guy? Hull had noticed him at once. Weird. The guy was just standing there off by some trees. What is this? Some voodoo f.u.c.king freak show! Hull thought. The guy had dreadlocks past his shoulders, and he was wearing some das.h.i.+ki-looking thing with something hanging off the sash. Hull had never seen a black man so black. Like anthracite. And the guy hadn't moved. He just stared at them from afar, blank-faced.

"So, Mr. Hull," Casparza bid. 'This is most irregular. We rarely deal direct, especially small-timers. But I know some of your people. They say good of you."

That's nice to hear, you fat s.h.i.+t.

Casparza weighed 400 pounds plus. The grinning face scarcely appeared humana"comic features pressed into dough. He wore a preposterous white straw hat and pants and a s.h.i.+rt that could tarp a baby elephant.

"The G.o.dd.a.m.n DEA interdictions are killing us," Hull informed him.

"They're killing the major cartels too," Janice pointed out. Her voice seemed reserved, hushed. Perhaps she was Casparza's spokeswoman. She had straight, pretty ash blond hair and wore a rather conservative beige business dress. A tiny pendant hung about her neck, but Hull couldn't make it out. She primly held a lit cigarette, though he had yet to see her take a drag. She hadn't eaten, either. The servants had brought food only to Hull and Casparza: some brown mush called aji, a stinky napalm-hot fish stew, and slabs of something the fat man had merely referred to as "meatroll! My favoreet!" Dessert had been anticoucho, collops of fried sheep heart on sticks.

Hull hadn't eaten much.

"And now my amigo would like to buy from me," Casparza went on. His accent hung thick as the rolls of flab descending his chest.

"That's right, Mr. Casparza. Our middlemen are getting blanked out The Bolivians can't be trusted, and the Colombians are losing 80 percent of their orders to seizures. My whole region is going nuts."

Which was an understatement. Peru had been the number three producer; now it was number one. After the hostage thing, the Tactical Air Command had clobbered the Colombian strongholds and Agent Oranged a hundred thousand acres of their best coca fields, and now there was talk of dropping a light infantry division into Bolivia. This was bad for business; Hull had money to make and customers to please. He needed ten keys a month to keep his region happy, but now he was lucky to see two. The flocking feds were ruining everything. He'd had no choice but to come to see Casparza in person. The fat man had a secret.

"You guarantee delivery," Hull said. "n.o.body else does that You've become a bit of a legend in the states. Word is you haven't lost a single drop to the feds."

"This is true, Mr. Hull." Casparza's huge blackhole mouth opened wide and sucked a piece of sheep heart off a skewer. It crunched like nuts when he chewed, "But my production surplus is no very good."

"The influx of orders is maxing us out," Janice coolly added.

"I understand that" Hull trained his attentions on Casparza, though the girl's strait-laced beauty nagged at him. At first he thought the pendant around her neck was a locket; closer peripheral inspection showed him a tiny bag of something, or a tied pouch. She's probably some whacked out New Ager from California, Hull snidery considered. He hated California. It's probably a pouch foil of crystal dust or some s.h.i.+t, to purify her flicking aura. But of course that didn't mesh with the rest of her looks-primo, neat as a pin. And there was something about her eyes-just... something. "We're a small operation, Mr. Casparza. I only want to buy ten keys a month."

"You know my price?'

"Yes," Hull said. G.o.dd.a.m.n right he did. The drug war had jacked prices through the roof A year ago a kilo of "product" ran for 13.5 a key. Now they wanted 25. Casparza charged 30 and he got it. n.o.body knew how he evaded seizure losses, and n.o.body cared. They just wanted the fat man's s.h.i.+t. Even at 30k per drop the profit margin remained huge considering street value and higher pocket prices. But Casparza was a millionaire. He needed Hull's penny-ante business like he needed another helping of meatroll.

"I can pay 35 a key," Hull finally said. The offer would be taken either as a compliment or a grievous insult. Hull knocked on the table leg.

"Hmmm," Casparza remarked. "Let me think. I think better when I eat."

You must think a lot, ya tub of s.h.i.+t.

Sunlight dappled the huge table through plush trees. Hull could smell the fresh scents of the jungle. He looked at Janice again. Yes, it was a tiny pouch at the end of her necklace.

She smiled meekly, but her eyes did not match.

"You remind me of home," she said.

"Where's that?'

She didn't reply. Her eyes seemed to beseech him, yet her face remained composed. Hull thought he could guess her story; a lot of the cartel honchos paid big bucks for white girls.

Was that what her eyes were saying? Her eyes, Hull thought. They looked sad, extant.

Casparza shoveled more fried meat into his face, then chugged down a third tumbler of yarch, which smelled liked sewer water but didn't taste half bad. Hull craned around; the black guy in the das.h.i.+ki was still standing off by the trees. He couldn't be a bodyguard; he was a stick. Besides, Casparza had more guns than the White House. The black guy hadn't moved in an hour.

"Who's the shadow?" Hull eventually asked.

"Raka," Casparza grunted, cheeks stuffed.

"Mr. Casparza's spiritual advisor," Janice augmented Spiritual advisor, my c.o.c.k, Hull thought. He didn't believe in spirit. He believed in the body and what the body demanded of the lost. He believed in the simple objectivities of supply and demand. Spirit could go f.u.c.k itself. Spirit was bad for business.

"Raka is from Africa, the Shaniki province." Casparza wiped his fat fingers on the tablecloth. "He helps me. He is my guiding light."

You need a guiding light, dumbo. You re so fat you block out the sun.

Hull squinted. The black unresponsive face stared back unblinking. Was he staring at Hull, or through him? The braided dreadlocks dangled like whipcords. Hull still couldn't identify the thing that hung off Raka's sash.

Casparza chuckled, jowls jiggling. "You are wondering how I do it, yes? You are wondering how it is that I lose no product while everyone else loses their a.s.s."

Sure, blubberhead I'm wondering. "That's your affair, Mr, Casparza I'm just a businessman trying to stay afloat."

Casparza's grin drew seams into his immense face. "Truth is power, and spirit is truth.

Think about that, amigo. Think hard."

Hull knew s.h.i.+t when he smelled it Were they playing with him? The black guy watching his back and Casparza's grinning, porky face in front was about all Hull's nerves could stand. But just as he became convinced that this whole thing was a mistake, Casparza stood up, his shadow engulfing the table. He offered his fat hand.

"We have a deal, Mr. Hull. Ten keys a month at 35 a key."

Hull jumped up. He shook the fat man's hand, suppressing the abrupt gust of relief "I can't thank you enough, Mr. Casparza. It's an honor to do business with you."

"Just remember what I said," the fat grin beamed, "about spirit"

Hull could think of no response.

Casparza laughed. His eyeb.a.l.l.s looked like marbles sunk in fat "We make arrangements in the morning. Until then, make yourself at home."

"Thank you, sir."

"Janice will show you around."

The fat man lumbered off. He'd been sitting on a packing cratea" Hull noticed nowa"

since no chair on earth could accommodate his girth. Rolls of fat hung off his sides and wriggled like jello.

"Ready for the 25cent tour?' Janice inquired.

"Sure," Hull said. He was elated. He'd done it; he'd made his deal. But impulse dragged at his gaze. Hull turned his head in tingling slowness.

Raka, the black shadow, was gone.

"You're either very stupid or very desperate," Janice said. She led him past the pool.

Several girlsa"blondesa"frolicked nude in the water, while a few more lay back in lounge chairs, taking turns freebasing. None of them could have been older than 16.

"I'm probably a little bit of both," Hull answered her. "But what makes you think so?'

Janice lit a cigarette. "You've got b.a.l.l.s coming down here. Alone. An independent with a small order."

Hearing this prim and proper woman say b.a.l.l.s was oddly erotic. "I've got a business to run," Hull pointed out. "A direct deal was my last resort. You wouldn't believe what the states are like since the crackdown. I hate to think how many times I've driven around all night with a suitcase full of hundreds and no one to give it to. But your boss guarantees delivery. I had to give it a shot."

Now the girls who'd been freebasing lay back in grinning stupors. Two more climbed out of the pool for their turns, one so young she scarcely had pubic hair. Hull did not feel even abstractly responsible. Loss was always someone else's gain. Why shouldn't he be in on it? He was just a purveyor to a need Supply and demand, kids. Its not my fault the worlds a piece of s.h.i.+t. If I don't sell it, somebody else will.

One of the blondes smiled at him, her white legs spread unabashed on the lounge chair. A b.l.o.w.j.o.b maybe, but there was no way Hull would want to f.u.c.k any of the pool girls. Too young; kids weren't his style. See? he thought a comical testament to G.o.d. I've got morals. A drug marketeer, Hull was no stranger to lots of s.e.x; he liked nothing more than breaking a couple of nuts per day into a nice, hot box. But seasoned women were more his bag. Women with experience. Women who knew themselves, and were sure of themselves. Likea"

Well, like his escort, for instance.

He tried to catch glimpses of Janice as she led him out of the court. Great figure, great legs. Not age but more like a refinement had crept into her model's face, tightening the mouth, etching tiny lines at the corners of the eyes Her eyes, he contemplated again. They were probably once very beautiful. Now they looked lackl.u.s.ter. How long ago had she been one of the girls in the pool? Her eyes showed all the broken pieces of her dreams, but Hull didn't feel particularly guilty about that, either. Why should he? He wouldn't mind lucking her, thougha"no, indeed. That would be nice, wouldn't it? Humping a good one off up her slot. He could imagine it in his mind: wet and ready, and a gorgeous dark-blond thatch. Then maybe he'd turn her around and treat her to a second load up the back door. Hmmm. A nice thought, at least. He was probably even ent.i.tled to now that he was Casparza's client.

But what the h.e.l.l was that G.o.dd.a.m.n little thing around her neck?

She took him down the hill. As before she ignored the lit cigarette in her hand. "Here're the works," she said.

Casparza ran an impressive operation. This was no c.o.kehole in the jungle; it was a complex. Whole warehouses were devoted to maturation and wash-trenches. Dump trucks one after another roared down from the fields, their beds stacked high with coca leaves.