“We don’t want no story,” said Vern. “Some guys, they think we’re in Hollywood, all the stories they try to give. But we ain’t in Hollywood, we ain’t no producers, we’re only a couple of leg breakers in Philadelphia, and we don’t want no story. All we want is an answer. You got it yet?”
“Not yet,” squeaked Kyle.
“Too bad,” said Vern.
CHAPTER 36
WATCH OUT FOR THE SUIT ,” said Kyle as Vern and the second lug pulled and shoved him so quickly along the sidewalk that his feet barely touched the ground.
“Worry less about the suit and more about your skin,” said Vern.
“My skin doesn’t need to be pressed at the dry cleaner when it wrinkles.”
“And now that you mention it,” said Vern “your tie could use a little color.”
“So says the heavy in the purple velvet sweat suit.”
“It ain’t purple, baby, it’s violet. And it ain’t velvet,” said Vern with an extra shove, “it’s velour.”
They were headed toward a narrow alley that cut through Kat’s block. Kyle had spent enough time with these creeps in an alley to know that was not where he wanted to go. He grabbed at Vern’s wrists and struggled to get away, but Vern held on tight as he lifted him off the ground, and another blow from behind left Kyle gasping and limp.
“Don’t fight so hard,” said Vern. “We ain’t killing you. This time. But the boss said we ought to put a bit of giddyup in your gallop.”
“I’ve been looking.”
“Mr. Sorrentino wants that you look harder.”
As they approached the alley, Kyle went through his options. He couldn’t go right at Vern, he was being held too close to put a shoulder in the big man’s chest, and whenever he started swinging his arms, the lug clobbered him from behind. At the same time, he couldn’t wipe out the lug, because Vern’s grip kept his shoulders from turning. Somehow he had to switch the odds into his favor, but now it was two to one against, and the geometry was all wrong. He needed to find the correct angle.
And then, as his shoes slid over the cement, he figured it out.
Time slowed as Kyle grabbed once again at Vern’s wrists. He k new that Vern would press up with his hands, as he had before, but this time Kyle wouldn’t fight it. This time Kyle would wait for the upward lift and then use it to his advantage.
When it came, raising Kyle off the ground, he brought his knees forward, banging them sharply into Vern’s thighs. Vern jerked back, twisting away, and Kyle twisted with him, gaining just enough room to turn his body to the side. Leveraging off Vern’s bulk, he whipped his legs out behind him as savagely as he could.
He felt his heels dig into the lug’s soft middle even as Vern staggered away from him, leaving him free and horizontal in the air. He stayed like that for a strange, delicious moment in the slow motion of his action time before he fell like a stone smack onto the cement.
Despite the pain, he rolled to his hands and knees and took stock of his position. The lug was writhing on the ground behind him. Vern was still on his feet and stepping toward him now, one hand reaching behind his back.
Kyle drew his legs into his chest, a sprinter readying to charge at the sound of the starter’s gun, when a flash of chrome and green metal jumped the curb in front of him and slammed into Vern, sending him flying into a brick wall. Vern’s head bounced off the brick like a basketball.
Kyle stood up slowly. The green car was now stopped dead and almost wholly on the sidewalk.
The passenger door swung wide. Liam Byrne, behind the wheel, leaned toward the open door. “Having some trouble, boyo?”
Kyle looked around at the two thugs sprawled on the sidewalk. “I was.”
“A fine suit you have on now.”
“Thanks.”
“The tie could use a bit more flash, though.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Are you okay?”
“I think.”
“And the suit?”
He checked it out quickly. “Seems no more distressed than usual.”
“Well, then, get in. We have much work to do yet, and time’s a-wasting.”
Kyle looked around at the scene one more time. The lug lay groaning on the ground, grabbing at his lower chest as if to keep shattered ribs in place. Vern was propped up against the wall, holding his cracked head with bloodied arms. Kyle himself, except for a banged hip and scraped palms, was uninjured. He had been in the middle of something dangerous, one of those intense physical moments where time had slowed down on him. These were the moments when he was always on his own, with his fate hanging by the thread of his own physical ability. But here, now, for the first time in memory, someone actually had his back. And how incredible was it that the someone turned out to be his father?
“Okay,” he said as he started climbing inside. “Let’s get out of here.”
Before he could close the door, his father jerked the car into reverse, sending it spinning back to the road, amid the jagged sounds of brakes and horns. And then he started off again, turning sharply right and left and right again, making good their escape.
“W ho were they?” said Liam Byrne. “More muscle from the senator?”
“No,” said Kyle. “Muscle from your old partner, Tiny Tony Sorrentino. They were sending a message.”
“And what message was that greedy little popinjay sending?”
“He wants the O’Malley file, and he wants it fast.”
“Of course he does. They all want a piece. Well, we’ll take care of him soon enough, but first we have a meeting to arrange. Now, you remember what I told you?”
“I remember.”
“You know what to say.”
“It won’t do any good.”
“It’s all in the attitude. Don’t slump in like a loser. You’re now a man in control, a man bound for glory, a man in a suit. Go in like the cock of the walk.”
“He’s a senator. I’m a nothing. He’s not going to meet with me.”
“Oh, he’ll meet.”
“He’ll come all the way up from Washington just for me?”
“He’s coming up tomorrow anyway. He has a fund-raiser. He’ll meet you before it. Just set it up like I told you, and he’ll show like a dog chasing a bone.”
“You wish.”
“No wishing about it. You need to shed your doubts, boyo. Doubters end up proving themselves right by creating their failures. It takes boldness to create the world. Be bold, Kyle. It’s the only way to cheat gravity. Are you ready to fly?”