“Clark Park? That’s way west for you guys, that’s—”

“That’s right. Decided those Vernor niggers ain’t so bad. We workin’ with them now. Pullin’ resource, man. An’ they think we payin’ yo asses way high.”

“Is that so?” said Johnny Boy. “Drive us around the block, Spencer.” Johnny Boy took out a pair of surgical gloves from his pocket and put them on. Pucky laughed.

“Always careful, Pucky. That’s us. That’s why you pay us.” He started counting the money into smaller plastic bags.

Pucky eye locked Spencer in the rearview. “You the new man, huh?”

Spencer nodded. There were times when he felt his English accent wouldn’t serve him well. This was one of them.

“Yes, this is Spencer, Pucky,” said Johnny Boy without looking up. “Spencer took over from Rosso.”

After a few circuits they pulled up back at the alley. Pucky went to get out. Johnny Boy had noticed one of his bodyguards sweet-talking some girls. He was a good-looking guy as far as Johnny Boy could tell. “Hey, Pucky, that guy of yours, he’s got a way with the ladies, doesn’t he?”

Pucky laughed. “Scoop? Oh yeah, he just scoops them up. Don’t care what color they is neither. I gotta tour, bitches.” The door slammed and he was back on the street.

Johnny Boy stayed in the back. “Drive, Spencer. Head west. Livonia. Impress me by not going right there on the freeway.”

As they went, Johnny Boy folded down the split rear seat. He reached into the trunk, popped open the speaker cases, and stuffed the bags inside.

Spencer was thoughtful as he drove. Johnny Boy, back in the front seat, watched the wheels turning.

“So those guys back there, Pucky and his crew, we’re working for them?”

“I wouldn’t say we work for them.”

“With them, then?”

“We provide a service for them, because, well, how can I put it? They don’t have a particularly long-term view on things.”

“No kidding. Let me get this straight. They just lost three of their people. They know the guys who did it, so they’re going to go kill those guys, but they’re going to do it in as obvious a fashion as possible?”

“That’s probably an accurate summation, yeah. Seems just plain stupid, doesn’t it?”

“Just a little.”

“You’ve been spending too much of your time up in Oakland. This is what happens here in the D. When there’s no new sales territory, people have got to fight to keep what’s theirs. Now you got the Latino gangs moving up from the West Coast, hitting Chicago, expanding out this way. So when the Latin Kings go waste a bunch of Pucky’s guys, then Pucky’s got to send some guys to go waste some Latin Kings, and they’ve got to do it in a way that tells the world who did it.”