On a hillside many miles away Mad Dog and Lester drank by the light of an opened van, passing back and forth a frosted bottle of cognac.
Lester said, "But we looked everywhere."
Mad Dog said, "We didn't look good enough, is all."
He passed the frosted bottle. His son drank deeply, was overcome by the powerful cognac, and started choking. Mad Dog took back the bottle.
Lester said, "Whoa! Goddam!"
Mad Dog explained, "Fifty year old cognac."
"Fuck, that dude was rich!"
Mad Dog raised a toast. "Here's to a rich dude with a lot of class who got whacked by my kid."
Mad Dog drank deep, then broke off gasping. He said with great respect, "This is good shit!" He drank more. "That miserable old man drinking bourbon and Gatorade, Jesus, what piss that was!"
Lester agreed. "Somebody oughta put Henry outa his misery."
They passed the bottle back and forth.
Lester asked, "D'you think that old man's gonna snitch on us?"
Mad Dog said, "No, Lester."
"You want me to waste him?"
"Jesus Christ, no!"
"Why not? Fuck him. Henry never did you any good."
"His son did," Mad Dog said belligerently.
"Henry knows too much about us already. Maybe he'll trade where we are for dropping some of those charges against him."
Mad Dog said, "Doncha ever get tired thinking about who you're gonna kill next? I mean, Jesus Christ, Lester, you can't look at the whole world like it's gonna betray you."
"The whole world's not gonna betray me," Lester said. "See, the whole world don't know me. But those fuckers who know me could send me behind those walls, and I won't go there again. They'll haveta blow me away before they'll ever take me alive again."
"Lester -- Son -- "
"A man has to make a stand sometime."
"Give it up, boy!"
"Daddy, I can't."
Mad Dog said, "I still remember that man in Houston."
"Hey, he started it. He said fuck you and I said fuck you ... "
"And then you shot him."
"A man shouldn't go around calling people out unless he's prepared to back himself up."
"You don't kill a guy just because he says fuck you."
Lester tried explaining again. "You can say fuck you a million times in this life, daddy, but until you say fuck you and pull the trigger on the son of a bitch at least once in your life, they'll always win and whip you down. Like a dog gets whipped down."
Mad Dog said, "No."
"I'm telling you the old man'll snitch on us."
"He won't. Don't lay a finger on him."
"Are you telling me not to?"
Mad Dog said, "Don't touch him."
Lester stopped talking, took his truck keys, and went to his truck.
Mad Dog called after him, "Lester!"
Lester drove off into the night.
Mad Dog said, "Damn you, son." He drank more.
Prim in her crisp nurse uniform, Nora Buchanan walked through the white corridors of County General Hospital, carrying an airline flight bag until she reached a door marked "BLOOD BANK."
Nora reached into the opened refrigerator at the blood bank, removed several units of plasma and whole blood, and placed them in the flight bag.
Minutes later Nora removed bandages, gauze, adhesive tape, throwaway hypos from several shelves in the supply room, and she placed them inside the airline flight bag.
Five minutes after that Nora removed antibiotics and other drugs from the emergency room cabinet, and then she placed them inside the flight bag.
Nora walked through white corridors, carrying her airline flight bag with its precious cargo. As she rounded a corner, Lester Rahler grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. His left forearm was wedged under her throat and pressed against her windpipe. His right hand ripped at her uniform, caught the cup of her bra and exposed her breast. He stuck the tip of his knife to her breast.
Lester hissed, "Snitch on me or my daddy ... "
He jabbed her breast with his knife, enough to break the skin and make her jump in terror.
Cheryl Park, the Korean nurse from Suszie's Sugar Shack, stood at the end of the hallway. She saw Lester sticking his knife at Nora.
She screamed, "Security! Security! Security!"
She pulled down the fire alarm.