“Kicked my ass. One raised fist, then a crushed windpipe and two years in solitary on Candid Camera in an unheated cell. And all because of a few lousy keys of marijuana.”

“Totally inconsiderate,” said Father Mike.

“Fucking camera on me all the time!” said Marino. “They caught me beating off one afternoon and added two weeks to my sentence.”

“I’d have settled for a few Hail Marys,” said Father Mike.

“They didn’t bother me when I was running whores. That was illegal in Japan too, but they didn’t care. I had a great deal going on. American women on Okinawa. Lots of them there. Military, schoolteachers, even wives. The rice dicks would pay up to a thousand dollars a trick just to spend time with an American. They really loved the blondes. Put some blond wash on the girl’s hair if they needed it, teach them how to give a man a bubble bath, and send them off on an adventure in some of Okinawa’s best hotels with the safest, cleanest customers on earth. I’ll tell you, Father, it was a win-win-win situation. Everybody was happy. Especially me.”

“So why did you get into the marijuana business, Sal?”

Marino shrugged. “I got lazy. I started to think I was a business genius. And I started thinking that Okinawa’s cops were like Bangkok’s.”

“Bad assumption,” grunted Simolzak, waving to Sapphire, reminding her of their beers.

“It didn’t take me long to notice there weren’t any drugs in Japan. And I knew where to get them. All these years in Bangkok, you know. Seemed like a pretty straight business proposition.”

Simolzak laughed comfortably. “Maybe you forgot that the Japanese are pretty brilliant businessmen themselves? If it was a simple matter of supply and demand, don’t you think the Japanese would already have solved it?”

“Gee, Simolzak, where were you when I needed you?” grunted Marino. “That’s what’s fucked up about Japan. Sex is sex, but drugs are jail.”

Sapphire approached with a tray of beers. As Father Mike nodded his gratitude to her, his face hardened slightly. “So that’s what you are these days,” he said, never losing his serenity. “A bag man, is it?”

Marino laughed at Father Mike and spat onto the floor. “Save it, Father. If you don’t shut up I’ll drink your beer, I mean it.”

“Well,” interrupted Simolzak, deciding to end the standoff. “We just thought we’d have a little dinner to welcome Sal back. And maybe do a little business.”

“Business,” said Marino, immediately growing suspicious. “You never said anything about business.”