than old men. The downtown skyline rose below us majestically.
“Top of the motherfuckin’ town,” Malone said without emotion. He pointed left to the Highview Apartments. “They’ll be coming out of there.”
“You grew up right around here, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
We sat there for about ten minutes without speaking. Then Malone tapped me on the shoulder and I looked left. Two young men were crossing the street.
They were still in their teens. The taller of the two was lanky and wore a red sweatsuit with high-tops, and walked with an exaggerated downstep. There was a fixed scowl on his face. The other one was short and slender at the waist, with a boxer’s upper body. He wore Lee jeans and a T-shirt. Both of their heads were shaved close to the scalp, with off-center parts like scars. They climbed into the backseat of my car.
“All right, Home,” the short one said to Malone, and they touched knuckles.
“Tony,” Malone said to the short one. “Who’s your friend?”
“His name’s Wayne,” Tony said. “He in my crew.”
“This is Nick,” Malone said. Tony nodded slightly. Wayne did nothing. We stared at each other in my rearview. “Where’s your big brother at, Tony?”
“You mean Charles?” Tony said and tilted his head.
“Yeah.”
“Chillin’ in Lorton.”
“What happened?” Malone asked.
Tony said, “Charles always be tellin’ me, ‘Don’t be shakin’, messin’ with guns and shit.’ One day this nigger dissed his ass in the street. Charles steals the motherfucker in the jaw. The nigger gets up for more. Charles double-steals the motherfucker. Nigger hits his head on the street. Dead. Charles doin’ six to twelve, second degree.”
Wayne said to Malone, “What’d you call us for, Home?”
“A job,” Malone said slowly. “Tomorrow night.”
“What kind of job?” Tony asked.
“Robbin’ a cocaine deal.”
“Where?”
“A warehouse, just over the line.”
“Talk about the pay,” Wayne said.
“If it goes down right, twenty thousand for the two of you,” Malone said. In the rearview I saw Wayne grin and tap Tony’s hand with his own.
“How many guns?” Tony asked.
Malone said, “We lookin’ at maybe six.” If this impressed them, they didn’t show it.
“What about the ’caine,” Wayne asked.
“The cocaine goes to Nick.”
“Who?” Wayne said and smiled.
Malone glared at him. “You heard me. And he’s in charge.” Wayne and Tony stared back but didn’t speak. Malone continued. “We’re going to need guns, and a van.”
“We got guns,” Tony said. “We can get a van.”
I cleared my throat and spoke for the first time. “The guns are for show, understand? They’re not to be used.” My voice sounded awkward and lily-white.
Tony said to Malone, “You better tell your boy what time it is. If a man holdin’ a gun on you, and he willin’ to use it, you got to fire down on his ass.”
“He knows that,” Malone said unconvincingly.
“That’s all for now,” I said abruptly, and turned over the ignition. I could feel their stares. “We’ll let you know tomorrow if it’s going to happen. We’ll let you know.”
Tony and Wayne slid out of the car. Tony leaned in the passenger window.
Malone said, “How the pay sound?”
Tony said, “Pay sound good, Home.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Malone said, “first thing.”
I yanked the column shift down into drive and pulled away from the curb. Fifteen minutes later I dropped Malone at the door of the Avenue.
THAT EVENING I DREW a diagram of the warehouse and studied it. After that I phoned Malone.
“Andre, it’s Nick.”
“Nick. What’s up?”
“It’s on for tomorrow night.”
“Good.”
“Call Wayne and Tony. Tell them to meet us, with the van, on top of the Silver Spring parking garage, the one next to and on the same side of the street as the Metro station. All the way up, at seven-thirty sharp. You got that?”
“That it?”
“You want out, I mean up to the last minute?”
“I’m in, Nick.”
I hung up and smoked a couple of cigarettes at the kitchen table. The cat sat on the radiator and watched me smoke. When I was finished, I washed up, locked the front door, and went to bed. I fell asleep quickly and did not dream.
I ROSE EARLY the next morning and got permission from a high school friend to visit his property out around Thurmont, north of Frederick. An hour and a half later I was parked in front of a padlocked barn. I walked across a plowed field and into the woods.
I found the clearing where my friend kept his personal garden of vegetables and marijuana. Both had been harvested by now. I pulled a few rusty beer cans from a steel drum on the edge