“Shut up. I stick who I wanna stick. Anyway, I called him.” She waggles a filthy burner phone at him. “You know what he tells me? Says he was just on the phone with his crew chief, that ahhh, that lieutenant with the… the one with the glasses? And the mustache?”

“Ehhh. Bloom. Saul Bloom.”

“Right, right. Says that he’s on the phone with Bloom and suddenly Bloom is arguing with somebody and then there’s a couple gunshots and Raza says he hears like, Bloom screaming bloody murder – then there’s like, a, a, crunch? Like the sound of someone biting into a crispy fucking apple, that’s how Raza put it. And then nothing.”

“Then nothing?”

“Then nothing. It adds up to somethin’ bad. The Boss is sick. Then somebody gets Bloom. And now Mookie’s not here?” Her eyes pop and she clucks her tongue. “Something’s up, Benny. Fuck fuck fuck.”

Benny eyes the bag. His temples itch. His palms sweat. “So we could…?”

“Wait. Yeah.” Her thin lips curl over puckered gums. “The Blue is ours.”

It’s like a trip to Disneyland. Benny feels elated. Like he’s dancing with the angels. The Blue makes him feel impossible: like he can do anything. Like he can see everything. Fuck Mookie Pearl. Fuck Four-Top. Blue. Blue! He starts to unfurl the bag–

Just as a gun barrel presses against the stem of his neck.

“Oh, look,” comes a girl’s voice behind them. “Mole Men. How gross.”

Jenny spits, but misses and the phlegm-blob lands on Benny’s cheek.

He goes to wipe it away, but the gun presses harder into his head.

“Hand me the bag,” says the voice.

Benny tries to turn around, but the girl says, “Don’t even.” Then to Jenny: “You. Take the bag, hand it to me over his shoulder.”

Jenny scowls, but rips the back from Benny’s reluctant grip.

“Hey,” Jenny says, handing over the bag. “You’re Persephone, eh?”

“Maybe I am.”

“You used to run a crew of Moles downstairs. Femurcrack’s crew. With Betty and that other guy. Magnum.”

“Mangum,” Persephone says. “They all ended up dead.”

Benny feels his heart flip-flopping around like a stun-gunned rabbit. “Are… are we gonna end up dead?”

“Not today,” Persephone says.

And then, like that, the gun barrel is gone from Benny’s neck. He turns to see the girl darting down the alley, the brown bag of Blue in her hand. He weeps softly.

Chapter 16

16