Johnny Boy grunted his approval at this thoroughness. Spencer was transfixed by what he was seeing, and the calm demeanor of his companions freaked him out even more. He’d been thinking the day couldn’t get much worse.

Still the music thumped on.

The Yo-Yo returned his gun to his jacket and went to the rear of Spencer’s car. He opened the trunk, leaned in and retrieved the money. Moments later he was striding back to Johnny Boy’s SUV. Spencer looked for a trace of adrenaline, some vestige of discomfort in the man’s face but saw none. It was like watching a cyborg at work. He passed the two bags of money to Johnny Boy and was just about to walk to the rear of their car when McGrath called him back.

“Can you do something about that unholy racket?”

The Yo-Yo walked back to Spencer’s car, looked inside, frowned, stepped back, drew his gun again and pumped three rounds into the dash.

The sudden silence broke the spell of horror that was keeping Spencer in his seat. Needing to move, to breathe, he opened his door, slid out of his seat, and leaned against the car. His legs felt leaden as he dragged the warm night air into his lungs. He could smell the mud of the river, fermenting in the heat, could hear a police siren—miles away, though, across the water on the Canadian side. No one was coming for these guys. No one came quickly for anyone these days it seemed. Spencer moved to the front of Johnny Boy’s car and slumped against the hood.

Johnny Boy and McGrath watched him through the windshield.

“How do you think your boy’s coping there, Dom?”

McGrath thought about it for a moment. “Raising his stress thresholds is all.”

Johnny Boy snorted. “Looks close to busting if you ask me.”

“We didn’t hire him for how chillaxed he could be watching the Yo-Yo go Nagasaki. If it weren’t for these little fucks, Spencer could’ve done what we need him to do with Max Petrovsky and been none the wiser. This,” McGrath nodded at the Yo-Yo at work, “this is going to cause him some degree of, uh—”

“Introspection?”

“Exactly. But the guy scared the shit out of me in a car a while back. Left you in the dust as I recall. He has it in him to handle heat.”

Johnny Boy watched Spencer walk a few yards and then sit down heavily on a pile of bricks to dry retch. “Well, be that as it may, he sure doesn’t know it yet.”

They watched the Yo-Yo drag Pistol Pete’s body, still wearing one sneaker, back to the Infiniti. He hurled it on the windshield.

“That peewee goodfella, the first one the Yo-Yo smoked?” said McGrath. “He seemed familiar, before his face got wiped.”