THIRTY-EIGHT.

COME ON," SAID Boyle. Boyle.

Nick Stefanos used his foot to tap on the high beams. The car ahead of them cleared out of the Beltway's left lane.

"That's right, buddy," said Stefanos. "Get out of the way."

"Can't you make this piece of s.h.i.t move?"

Stefanos floored the accelerator. Boyle grabbed the armrest as the Coronet surged forward from a flood of gas. Stefanos swerved into the middle lane, pa.s.sed an import on the right, got back into the left, and kept the pedal nailed to the floor.

"How long?" said Boyle.

"Fifteen minutes, I'd say."

Boyle reached into his pocket and brought out the .380. "Take this."

"I'm done with that," said Stefanos. "I told you once before."

Boyle dropped the Berreta back in his pocket. He shook a smoke out of his hardpack for himself and rustled the deck in the direction of Stefanos.

Stefanos put a cigarette between his lips and pushed in the lighter on the dash.

"Describe all the players to me," said Boyle. "I don't want to shoot the wrong guy."

The lighter popped out of the dash. Stefanos lit his smoke and handed the lighter to Boyle.

"Looks like you done f.u.c.ked up again, T. W.," said Otis. "You should've been more firm with that key man. Ain't you learned yet about these inside jobs?"

Otis turned into the industrial park and drove along the red-brick buildings.

"Man's taking a risk," said Thomas Wilson. "He just wants a little extra."

"I'll just have to explain it to him," said Farrow. "If he pushes it, he's gonna get hurt."

"Hope he takes it better than that other inside man T. W. had," said Otis.

"The pizza chef?" said Farrow.

Otis and Farrow exchanged a glance. Wilson saw the eye contact and thought he saw a brief smile crease Otis's face. They were f.u.c.kin' with him, he knew. Trying to keep him weak. Wilson's blood jumped at Otis's smile. But the feeling he had was not familiar. It was not a feeling of fear.

"You talkin' about Charles?" said Wilson.

"Whatever his name was," said Otis. "He didn't take it in a very masculine way when he saw what we had to do. The bartender, that light-steppin' waiter... shoot, man, you can believe that those two were afraid to die. But even that sissy waiter took it like a man compared to your pizza chef. You remember the way he begged us, Frank?"

Farrow nodded. "He cried like a girl."

"Screamed like one, too," said Otis.

Wilson felt tears come to his eyes.

Lord, give me strength to kill these men.

"Charles was a man," said Wilson, surprised at the force in his own voice.

Otis's eyes smiled in the rearview. "Listen to T. W., Frank. Gettin' all ma-cho on us now."

Wilson swallowed hard. "Make a left into that alley, where that Dumpster is."

Otis made the turn and drove slowly between the buildings. The brick walls were very close to the sides of the car.

"d.a.m.n, this is a tight squeeze," said Otis.

"Thought you liked tight things," said Farrow.

"You know know I do," said Otis, smiling in the mirror, giving his gold tooth a lick. I do," said Otis, smiling in the mirror, giving his gold tooth a lick.

The Mustang came out of the alley and then there was the wide-open lot and the strip of warehouses fronting the creek.

"Park in the middle," said Wilson, "by that door right there."

Otis pumped the brakes. The Mach 1 came to a stop.

Dimitri Karras heard the rumble of a muscle car as it cleared the alley. He drew his .45, pulled back on the receiver, and jacked a round into the chamber. He slipped the automatic barrel-down into the holster, behind the belt line of his jeans and against the small of his back.

He reached behind him, drew the .45, and replaced it once again.

Karras heard car doors slam and voices as the men approached. He thought of Bernie. He tried to recall Bernie's advice from that day in the woods. He couldn't remember what Bernie had said.

He was cold. He hadn't worn a coat so that he would not fumble the gun. His teeth were chattering, and his hands had grown numb. He tried to raise spit and he could not.

He looked around the empty warehouse and backed up so that he was near the cheap desk. He heard the key turn in the lock and he backed up another step. The door swung open, and Karras stood still.

Farrow, Otis, and Wilson stepped out of the Mustang. Wilson watched Otis twirl the car keys on his finger and drop them in the pocket of his slacks. Otis examined his ID bracelet in the light of the spot lamps hung on the exterior of the warehouse walls.

"What's the key man's name?" said Farrow.

"Dimitri," said Wilson. It was meaningless to lie about it now.

Farrow drew his .45 from his belt line and chambered a round. He looked at Otis and Otis did the same. They holstered their guns and walked toward the warehouse door.

Wilson looked over his shoulder to the alley before putting the key to the lock. He guessed it wasn't any use in stalling. Stefanos wasn't going to make it. Wilson had waited too long to call for his help. Just another f.u.c.kup in a lifetime full of them.

"Need help with that, T. W.?" said Otis.

Roman, always with that thing thing to his voice. Wilson turned the key roughly and opened the door. He went in first. Farrow and Otis followed. to his voice. Wilson turned the key roughly and opened the door. He went in first. Farrow and Otis followed.

Frank Farrow saw a gray-haired man without a coat, standing by a desk in the back of the warehouse. A defective fluorescent light set above the desk flashed continuously across the man's face. The warehouse was bathed in fluorescence, and the insect sound of the lights filled the room.

Farrow, Otis, and Wilson moved forward. They walked onto a series of blue plastic tarps that had been spread out on the concrete floor. Farrow looked into the man's strange eyes as they approached him. There was something familiar about the eyes.

This is not a card game that's happening here tonight, thought Farrow. thought Farrow. This is something else. This is something else.

Wilson fanned off to the left of Otis. A looked pa.s.sed between Farrow and Otis and they stopped walking.

"Who are you?" said Farrow to the gray-haired man.

"Dimitri Karras."

Farrow shifted his weight. "That supposed to mean something to me?"

"Jimmy Karras was my son."

Farrow spread his hands. "So?"

As Farrow's coat opened, Karras saw the b.u.t.t of Farrow's gun holstered at his waistline.

No one spoke. Their breath was heavy and visible in the buzzing light.

"What is this?" said Otis, looking from Karras to Wilson, who stood facing him now on his left. "Y 'all lookin' to take us off?"

"It's not a robbery, Roman." Farrow looked down at the tarp beneath his feet. "It's a slaughter."

"That's right," said Karras. "Like you slaughtered those people in the pizza parlor. Like you slaughtered my son."

Farrow nodded slowly. "That boy in the road. That's what this is about."

Karras drew the .45 from behind his back. Wilson drew the .38.

Farrow and Otis did not move their hands. Otis turned his head and saw the revolver in Wilson's hand. He'd shoot the white man with the blank eyes first. He knew that Wilson would never have the courage to use the gun.

Karras raised his gun and pointed it at Farrow's face. Bernie's voice entered his head.

Always aim for the body.

Karras lowered the barrel of the gun.

"Kill him, Dimitri," said Wilson.

Karras watched Farrow move a step to the right.

Lead that body a little if it's moving.

"Your son," said Farrow very quietly. "That was an accident."

"It's all an accident," said Karras.

"Kill him!" screamed Wilson.

Otis looked over at Wilson and laughed. The revolver was shaking wildly in Wilson's hand.

Farrow looked into Karras's eyes, the light winking on his face. Now he knew what had seemed familiar to him. It was as if Farrow were looking at his own eyes in the mirror. There was nothing in the man's eyes, nothing at all.

Karras stared back.

And keep firing your weapon until you've accomplished what you set out to do.

"I guess they got us, Roman," said Farrow.

"Yeah," said Otis. "Guess we oughtta just go ahead and surrender." Otis raised his arms over his head. He rotated his right hand at the wrist as if he was waving good bye. The ID bracelet dropped beneath the cuff of his shirt.

His right hand flashed down to his waist.

Wilson squeezed the trigger of the .38.

The slug blew through Otis's armpit and punched out of his back. The force of it spun him around. He drew his .45 and fired. Wilson felt his cheekbone rip away. He fell back screaming, still firing his weapon, as he took a second bullet in the groin.

Karras fired his gun. The .45 jumped in his hand and he fired again and the weapon bucked. He saw the blur that was Farrow through the ejecting sh.e.l.ls and the gunsmoke that had exploded into the room.

Wilson was falling. He fired and saw blood erupt from Otis's neck as he drifted back. Wilson's last shot blew lights from the ceiling as he hit the concrete.

Karras saw flame spit from Farrow's gun. The roar of the gun was deafening, and Karras kept firing and felt something graze his scalp and it burned. The Colt's receiver slid open as the final shot was expended, and Karras tumbled over the desk as rounds blew through particle board and bits of pressed wood bit sharply at his face.

He dropped his gun and covered up. A bell sound vibrated in his ears. Through the sound, he heard the door open at the front of the warehouse.

Karras stood and waved smoke from his face. The smell of cordite was heavy in the room. His feet crunched copper casings as he went to Thomas Wilson. He kicked the gun from Otis's hand and kept on walking for Wilson.

He knelt over Wilson. The left side of Wilson's face was ruined, a stew of blood and bone. There was blood in his lap and on his thighs and blood had pooled beneath him.

"I'm going to get help," said Karras. "You're going to live, Thomas, you hear me?"

Wilson blinked his eyes and squeezed Karras's hand.

"You came in a car," said Karras. His eyes felt wild and jittery, and he squinted to make them small. He didn't want Thomas to be afraid.

Wilson's eyes shifted in the direction of Otis.

"I'll be back," said Karras. "You're gonna be okay. You did good, Thomas, hear?" His words sounded hollow coming from his mouth.

Karras went to Otis. His white shirt was soaked red and it flapped beneath the left arm. He had taken another bullet in the throat. He was dying. A wheezing noise came from his open mouth.

Karras searched Otis's pockets and found the keys. Karras stood and sprinted for the warehouse door.

Frank Farrow pulled his fingers away from his stomach, where he had been pressing them at the point of pain. There was a black hole ripped in his shirt, and blood leaked freely from the hole.