"Yeah, you on the run. You dint come outta that manhole to buy dirty pos'cards." He stared speculatively at Richards. "You a honky? Kinda hard to tell wif all that dirt."
"Stacey. I-" He broke off and ran a hand through his hair. When he spoke again, he seemed to be talking to himself. "I got to trust somebody and it turns out to be a kid. A kid. Hot Jesus, you ain't even six, boy."
"I'm eight in March," the boy said angrily. "My sister Lassie's got cancer," he added. "She screams a lot. Thass why I like it here. Kifed that f**kin battery myself. You wanna toke up, mister?"
"No, and you don't either. You want two bucks, Stacey?"
"Chris' yes!" Distrust slid over his eyes. "You dint come outta no manhole with two f**kin bucks. Thass bullshit."
Richards produced a New Dollar and gave it to the boy. He stared at it with awe that was close to horror.
"There's another one if you bring your brother," Richards said, and seeing his expression, added swiftly: "I'll give it to you on the side so he won't see it. Bring him alone."
"Won't do no good to try an kill Bradley, man. He'll make you shit in your boot-"
"And eat it. I know. You run and get him. Wait until he's alone."
"Three bucks."
"No."
"Lissen man, for three bucks I can get Cassie some stuff at the drug. Then she won't scream so f**kin much."
The man's face suddenly worked as if someone the boy couldn't see had punched him. "All right. Three."
"New Dollars," the boy persisted.
"Yes, for Christ's sake, yes. Get him. And if you bring the cops you won't get anything."
The boy paused, half in and half out of his little cubbyhole. "You stupid if you think I do that. I hate them f**kin oinkers worse than anyone. Even the devil."
He left, a seven-year-old boy with Richards's life in his grubby, scabbed hands. Richards was too tired to be really afraid. He turned off the light, leaned back, and dozed off.
MINUS 065 AND COUNTING
Dreaming sleep had just begun when his tight-strung senses ripped him back to wakefulness. Confused, in a dark place, the beginning of the nightmare held him for a moment and he thought that some huge police dog was coming for him, a terrifying organic weapon seven feet high. He almost cried aloud before Stacey made the real world fall into place by hissing:
"If he broke my f**kin light I'm gonna-"
The boy was violently shushed. The cloth across the entrance rippled, and Richards turned on the light. He was looking at Stacey and another black. The new fellow was maybe eighteen, Richards guessed, wearing a cycle jacket, looking at Richards with a mixture of hate and interest.
A switchblade clicked out and glittered in Bradley's hand. "If you're heeled, drop it down."
"I'm not."
"I don't believe that sh-" he broke off, and his eyes widened. "Hey. You're that guy on the Free-Vee. You offed the YMCA on Hunington Avenue." The lowering blackness of his face was split by an involuntary grin. "They said you fried five cops. That probably means fifteen."
"He come outta the manhole," Stacey said importantly. "I knew it wasn't the devil right away. I knew it was some honky sumbitch. You gonna cut him, Bradley?"
"Just shut up an let men talk." Bradley came the rest of the way inside, squatting awkwardly, and sat across from Richards on a splintery orange crate. He looked at the blade in his hand, seemed surprised to see it still there, and closed it up.
"You're hotter than the sun, man," he said finally.
"That's true."
"Where you gonna get to?"
"I don't know. I've got to get out of Boston."
Bradley sat in silent thought. "You gotta come home with me an Stacey. We gotta talk, an we can't do it here. Too open."
"All right," Richards said wearily. "I don't care."
"We go the back way. The pigs are cruising tonight. Now I know why."
When Bradley led the way out, Stacey kicked Richards sharply in the shin. For a moment Richards stared at him, not understanding, and then remembered. He slipped the boy three New Dollars, and Stacey made it disappear.
MINUS 064 AND COUNTING