The sentry

Pike glanced at Button.

"You didn't know?"

"Not until this morning."

Straw finished his cigarette, and flicked it over his shoulder.

"With apologies to Detective Button, we didn't have boots on the ground two weeks ago. When we learned about Mikie's new venture, we decided this was our way into La Eme's new food chain. It's happening fast."

Pike said, "Through a neighborhood shakedown."

Straw shrugged.

"It's down at the street level, we can reach it, and it's easy. Easy means fast. New boys like Azzara are popping up in Eme sets from Brownsville to Phoenix to San Diego, and we don't even know who they are. If we can get inside Mikie's set, we can find out, which is what we were doing until you got in the way."

Straw shifted again, and looked apologetic.

"Brother, listen, you did the right thing. If I saw those two clowns stomping some poor guy, I'd weigh in, too. I respect that. But now it's over, and I need things to go back to the way they were."

Pike said, "Meaning what?"

Button shifted angrily.

"He wants you to mind your own fucking business. What don't you get about that?"

Straw raised a hand, telling Button to take it easy.

"I'm asking you to cool it. Stay away from Smith and let him go back to being Smith. Don't be his personal sentry. Let Azzara be Azzara."

Pike saw what Straw wanted, and didn't like it.

"Azzara being Azzara means he puts the pressure on Smith. Mendoza and Gomer will be free to lean on him."

"I need the little men, so I can trade for the big men. This means I need the little men out doing crime so I can jam them. If I jam them up bad, I can use them as informants."

Button nodded along, still scowling at Pike.

"Smith isn't the only guy these turds are trying to milk, Pike. It's not like he's in this alone. Straw and his people are watching five or six shops-"

Pike leaned toward Straw.

"You were watching his place and let him get a concussion. You watched a brick go through his window."

Straw hit Button with a glance so hard it could have knocked him out of the car.

"We didn't allow those things. They just happened, and now we'll cover him better."

"I won't leave these people hanging."

"You're not. I have it covered."

"You had it covered when he got a concussion."

"We'll cover him better."

Straw suddenly opened his door.

"Pike, step out for a moment. Excuse us, Detective."

Pike pushed out, leaving Button alone. Straw came around the car to meet Pike on the sidewalk. Straw's lips were pursed tight, but he lit another cigarette, and lighting it seemed to relax him. He fanned at the smoke.

"We fucked up, okay? We're still learning how these guys do things, but we're learning. Just back away. That's what I'm asking."

Pike studied the man. Straw had serious eyes, but he also looked nervous. Like he had a lot riding on this, and might lose it all.

Pike said, "If I tell Wilson and Dru, you're done."

"You won't tell."

"You have no idea what I'll do."

"Maybe not. But I did some checking. You worked for top-flight PMCs. Even did some work for the government, time to time, though no one's supposed to know. They don't give those clearances to people who can't keep it wrapped."

Straw looked at Pike, out from under his eyebrows, and now the smile was back.

"Surprising what a guy like me can find out, isn't it?"

Pike didn't respond, so Straw shrugged again.

"Listen, you want these people safe? Brother, so do I, and I guarantee you my way is best. Wilson Smith could've sunk these guys right in the ER, but he didn't. He's scared. He's just some poor bastard who wants to fry oysters. You let me get what I need from Azzara, I can help him for real."

Pike didn't like any of it, and he didn't like Straw or the Malibu stinking of smoke.

"How long?"

"Two or three weeks. Maybe less."

Pike scanned both sides of the street, wondering if the man in the orange shirt was watching.

Straw said, "You think about it. In the meantime, don't say anything to Smith or his niece. They need to act natural. If you tell them we're watching, you know what will happen. I might as well head back to Texas."

Pike said, "Man in the orange shirt, he's good."

Straw squinted at Pike through more smoke.

"What man in the orange shirt?"

Straw turned back to his car.

"C'mon. I'll give you a lift back."

"I'm good."

Pike walked.

9

Later that night, just after ten, the air was cool as Pike jogged toward home through Santa Monica, wearing the forty-pound pack. Pike was a runner. He had been a runner since he was a boy, and ran every day. He sometimes ran twice a day, once in the morning and again at night, and three or four times every week he carried a pack bearing four ten-pound bags of flour. Not nearly so much as the ninety pounds he rucked as a young Force Recon Marine, but it got his heart going.

That night, he ran the Fourth Street steps. One hundred eighty-nine concrete steps climbing the steep bluff from the bottom of Santa Monica Canyon to San Vicente Boulevard. One hundred eighty-nine steps was as tall as a nine-story building, and Pike ran them twenty times, taking them two to a stride. He preferred running at night.

During the day, the steps were clotted with hard-core fitness zealots, marathoners, aerobics instructors, and ordinary trudgers who were trying to get into shape. But at night in the dark when the footing was dangerous, the steps were deserted, and Pike could run at his peak. He liked being alone with his effort and his thoughts.

Now, finished with the steps and jogging for home, Pike chose a route past Wilson's takeout shop. The hour was still early enough that people were out, but the little shop was deserted. Pike wondered if the man in orange was watching, but Pike didn't care. Pike had decided he would not tell Wilson and Dru the FBI was watching their shop, but his silence was as far as he would go. If Mikie was good at his word, the matter was settled. If not, Pike's loyalty lay with the victims, not with a case Straw might or might not be able to make. Pike would not back away. His arrows pointed forward, not back.

When Pike reached home, he stretched in the parking lot to cool, then peeled off his sweatshirt, deactivated the alarms, and let himself in. His condo was austere and functional with little in the way of decoration. Dining room set off the kitchen; couch, chair, and coffee table in the living room; a flat-screen television for sports and news. A black stone meditation fountain burbled in the corner. Pike found peace in the natural sound, as if he were alone in the forest.

Pike stood for a moment, listening, not to the water, but beyond the water-checking to make sure he was alone. He did this every time he came home. Habit.

Pike drank a half-liter of bottled water, then placed the bottle with others waiting to be recycled. His condo was quiet and empty, but sometimes felt more empty than others. He thought about Dru Rayne and the little girl in the picture, and why Dru had felt the need to show him. Pike liked it that she had shown him the picture. He thought it spoke well of her, and suggested she thought more of him than a beer at the beach.

Pike ate a meal of leftover polenta, black beans, and broccoli sprinkled with a minced serrano pepper. He ate standing up in the kitchen.

Pike had not been in a serious relationship for a long while. Dates, yes, and sex, and he enjoyed close friendships with several women, but nothing he would call a romantic relationship. Maybe for the same reason he didn't have pets. He often disappeared for long periods, and often left without warning.

Pike finished eating, drank more water, then stripped out of his remaining clothes. He spread a foam mat on the living room floor and proceeded through a series of yoga asanas. After a lifetime of strength training and martial arts, he could lay his chest on his thighs and face on his knees; he could spread his legs one hundred eighty degrees and become one with the floor.