Urban Renewal Read Free Page A

Tiger.”
    “Boss, you got any idea why Rhino pulled Princess out of that job we did down south?”
    “Ideas? Sure. But I don’t know. Not for certain. And I’m not going to ask. Princess, he’s one of us. Who knows that better than you?”
    “You’re saying
what
with that? I was in before he was.”
    “I already said that,” Cross said, his voice unchanged. “I don’t know what you were doing in that jungle, but I know you were working. I was, too. When both of us decided we’d be better off working for ourselves, that brought you in. Before Princess.”
    “Then … Ah, hell. I only wish I knew why—”
    “It doesn’t matter. Nothing we put
behind
us matters. That’s part of our deal.”
    “I know.”
    “I know you do. But you wanted to hear it spelled out, so here it is: Me, Rhino, and Princess, we’ve got nobody but ourselves. You’ve got So Long. Ace, he’s got Sharyn and their kids. On paper, everything we own belongs to you two. Ace goes first, it’s
all
yours. I know you’d do the right thing. We all know that.
    “But, no matter how careful you are, things can happen. Say you and Ace get taken out together. So Long would end up with a
lot
of cash. Property, too. But they’d have to get us
all
, understand? If any one of us was still alive—just alive, even if we’re locked up—Sharyn
would
get paid. Not some fifty-fifty thing—nobody’s a damn CPA here—but anything she needs, Buddha. Anything.”
    “And if So Long doesn’t t.c.b.—”
    “It’d be on you to fix that.”
    “What if I’m not around, myself?”
    “Like I said, Inside or Out, dead or alive, wouldn’t matter. Sharyn’s got a number to call. It’s not going to change, that number. She only uses it if she asks So Long for some money and that money doesn’t show up.”
    “That’s cold, boss. Even for you.”
    “Cold? How much money could Sharyn ever need that So Long wouldn’t have lying around in petty cash? Like I said, if ‘smart’ trumps ‘greedy,’ So Long’s got nothing to worry about.”
    “Sharyn’s not the brightest—”
    “You don’t even believe that, brother. But pretend you’re right—how smart would she
have
to be? She knows all she has to do is call So Long when she needs money. And call another number if she doesn’t
get
that money.”
    Cross lit another smoke.
    Buddha waited the three drags before he spoke. “So Long, she can get crazy.”
    “Crazy enough to spend some of the money having Sharyn put down?”
    The pudgy man hesitated a second. Then said, “Yeah.”
    “No surprise. That’s why there’s an insurance policy.”
    “Huh?”
    “If Sharyn dies, So Long goes right behind her.”
    “But if we’re all—”
    “The policy’s been bought and paid for already.”
    “Who did you—?”
    “No,” Cross cut him short.
    “I can’t know?”
    “No. All you need to know is the target, not the shooters.”
    “And I’m supposed to tell So Long … what?”
    “Nothing. You don’t need to. She already knows.”
    “You sure about that?”
    “Dead sure,” Cross said, softly. “I told her myself.”

    THE SHARK CAR —a three-ton monster, further encumbered by all-wheel drive and air-bagged suspension—slipped through the Chicago back streets. Its city-camo splotches of black and gray left anyone who spotted it wondering exactly
what
they’d just seen.
    Buddha was behind the wheel, playing the controls with his fingertips as deftly as a concert pianist. The back seat was three-quarters full. With one passenger.
    “I still can’t figure out how you get so much speed out of this thing,” Rhino squeaked. “With the armor plating, it’s got to weigh—”
    “Six thousand, six hundred, and change. With a full load of fluids. That’s without a driver, never mind weight like yours,” Buddha said, without inflection.
    “So you’d need at least—”
    “An eight-hundred-plus Elephant, blueprinted, rail-injected, three staggered shots of nitrous—when they’re