The Erection Set

They were waiting at a table in the back for me, Chet and Blackie Saunders, the wipe-out boy from Trenton, sipping coffee like a couple of night owls on the way home. I faked sneezing into a handkerchief and had my face hidden when I went past their backup man who made like he was looking in a storefront window next to the Automat. I turned the corner, cut back and had the nose of the .45 in his ribs without him spotting me and said, “Lets join the others, buddy.”

His reaction was real pro. Just a simple shrug of the shoulders and he headed toward the door. There might have been others, but with three under my gun, nobody was going to make any trouble at all.

When they saw us coming the picture was all there. Blackie started to rise, but Chet waved him down and nodded to me like nothing had happened at all. I took a seat with my back against the pillar, told the outside man to join me and looked at all three unpleasant faces.

“Coffee?” Chet asked.

I ignored him. “Why the kid games?” I nodded at the guy beside me.

“Blackie a habit too?”

The rangy killer from Jersey stared at me, aching for a chance to cut loose. I was hoping he would. Chet said,

“He’s on something else.”

“He’d better be, Chet. Or didn’t you tell him about me?”

“Blackie knows.”

“Then he isn’t very impressed.”

Saunders let a snarl slip into low gear. “I’m never impressed, hotshot.”

“There’s always a first time, Blackie. It’s generally the last time, too.”

“He’s got a gun in his hand,” the guy beside me said.

Chet gave him a disgusted grimace and looked back at me. “Cool it, Dog. I just want to talk.”

“Your party, kid.”

“We saw Markham and Bridey.”

“How about that?”

“You like to add all the fancy frills, don’t you?”

I grinned at him. “Why not? I don’t have a murder one going against me. As soon as the cops check those hoods’ records they aren’t going to be too interested in running me down. They like intramural rivalry. It keeps the economy active in floral shops and funeral parlors and makes their job that much easier.”

“A nice clean kill might, but this looks like an invitation to war.”

“You nailed it, Chet. That’s what it is. Unless The Turk takes it gracefully and figures it’s a warning to lay off.”

“The Turk never takes anything gracefully.”

“So I’ll put some machinery in motion.”

“In a pig’s ass you will! This kind of crap is what we were afraid of.”

“Don’t bug me, buddy,” I said. “I didn’t instigate it. Anybody who rides my tail is going to hurt and that goes for The Turk too.” I paused and looked at him. “That’s what surprises me. That little fat turd isn’t big enough to go for this kind of heavy work.”

“Ever figure somebody’s behind him pushing hard?”

“I thought of it.”

“Why, Dog?”

I didn’t answer him.

“Nobody retires from this business,” he stated flatly.

“Me,” I said. “I did.”

“You only thought you did. When you retire, you’re dead.”

“So I hear. I’ve decided to be the exception.”

Chet tasted his coffee again, then handed it to Blackie and told him to get a fresh hot one. He told the other guy to join him and when they both left he said, “I made a lot of phone calls, Dog. Right now I’m beginning to get some strange notions.”

“Like what?”

“Like why are three different international syndicates sweating like hell because you left the scene.”

“Because I know too much.”

“Everybody knows too much,” he told me. “They don’t give a damn about knowing.”

“Knock off the games, Chet.”

“Being able to prove too -much is something else again.”

“Ah, hell,” I grunted. “You mean the old dodge about tangible facts that would come out if I got knocked off?”

“Something like that.”

“Then why send Bridey and Markham after me?” Blackie and the other one came back with coffee and set the cups down on the table. When they sat down Chet stirred in his sugar and milk, then pushed the cup away from him. “Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be a hit. Maybe they were going to just take you and put the squeeze on. That pair knows all the tricks and when they want somebody to talk that somebody talks.”

“Those jokers got the wrong somebody this time.”

“And next time?”

“Get to the point, Chet. This shit is beginning to bore me.”

“We’re involved in this too, Dog. If you talk you throw all of us out into the open and let me tell you something, kid, we mean more to us than you do.”

“That why you brought your bit hit man along?”

“We have plenty of hit men, Dog. You don’t know all of them.”

“But they all smell alike.”

“I’m real sorry now that I kept the others off your back,” he said viciously. His voice was barely a whisper, but he meant every word of it.

My teeth were showing when I said, “You can always change your mind, pal. Like starting right now. I’ll take all three of you out and be gone before the noise dies down.”

Chet’s eyes narrowed and the skin pulled tight around his mouth. He knew I wasn’t fooling either and it showed in his face. “You wouldn’t get away with it.”

“Want to try?” I sat back and they could see the nozzle of the .45 staring at them from the crook of my crossed arms.