Chapter 11 chapter Ten

It was the kind of apartment building where all the balconies faced the street, and at night you could see the front of the building with some windows on every floor lit with orange lights.Jackie's apartment was on the fourth floor, so you had to take the elevator up, and then insert the little master key and feel around with the probe until you heard a click.Nothing is difficult.Ordell tried this lock when he first came here. ... The living and dining rooms are accessed through a small hallway past the kitchen.To the left of the hallway is the bedroom and bathroom.He remembered that her room was nicely furnished, but a little bare, almost all white, with curtains on the glass doors leading to the balcony.O'Dell opened the door curtain and let the light shine in from the outside, so he could see more clearly.He sat on the sofa and waited.He sat there in the dark calculating how long it would take Max Cherry to drive out to the detention facility, bail her out, and drive her home. …unless she wants to drive her own car.Ordell thought it amused that Max Cherry had accepted the watch as payment for his bail.The place looked deserted.Although the house was small, it looked like she could move it out in ten minutes.It doesn't feel like a place to call home, with junk thrown around.He reached out and turned on the light.

It is not wise to intimidate a woman, if she comes in and sees a man sitting in the dark, she will probably scream.It's best to keep her calm and not think you're trying to hurt her.See how she behaves first, whether she is overly nervous when she speaks.Cough, who can you trust these days?Louis's appearance, what do you see?As soon as I thought of Louis, I immediately went along with my thoughts.Knowing him for twenty years, I only know that he is a person who has never said anything about you.He has the tight-lipped professionalism of the past.Of course, Louis considers himself basically a good guy, and never intended to betray you.It was worth the knife for Louis.But don't make the wound too big, just cut the skin a little bit.

Ordell waited. Ordell got impatient waiting, so he went to the kitchen, found Scotch whiskey, poured some into the glass, and added some ice cubes from the refrigerator.There was almost nothing to eat in the refrigerator, and this woman lived a day-to-day life, making do with nothing.There was only orange juice in the refrigerator, Perry's brand of perry, half a loaf of bread, some green cheese, and a few small glasses of skim milk with fruit. This woman was very concerned about her weight.He didn't see the need for her to lose weight, she was in good shape.He just wanted to meet this kind of woman, and it was absolutely impossible to tease her to express something to him.He wanted to touch her, tell her, heck, how elegant she is, so she would look at him, like... that look was not arrogant at all, it seemed that it would be too troublesome to continue to develop, and she I still have to do laundry.Perhaps, tonight, if she came in frightened, she would see that she had to please him...  

Yes, it's getting dark.Ordell turned off the light in the kitchen, took his drink to the living room, sat down on the sofa again, and turned off the light. he waits.After drinking the wine, I waited for a while. The house was at least reasonably comfortable.He felt himself dozing off, and his eyelids were getting heavier... Then he opened them, and the next moment, he heard her unlocking the lock with a key, Ordell was wide awake, and Jackie finally came home.Standing in the light from the balcony, her leather bag slung over her shoulder, she tried to remember—look at her—whether she had drawn the curtains or left them open.She was putting the spoon into the purse...

Ordell said, "How are you, Ms. Jackie?" She didn't move, so he stood up and walked over to her, then looked into her face and saw her pale with fright in the light.He walked up to her and put his hands on the fullness of her arm just below her shoulder. "You look fine tonight. Do you want to thank me?" "for what?" "Who do you think got you out of prison?" "The same guy who sent me in. Thanks." "Hey, you were caught and tortured, that's your responsibility." "not mine." He didn't sound humble, looked straight into his eyes, and seemed to say it was all his fault.Ordell had to stop and think.He said, "Hey, bullshit, I bet it was a gift from Mr. Volka to Melanie. Yes, if you didn't put it in, he must have put it in. Hey, I'm sorry, Something happened. I think they asked you all about it, huh? And the money? Wonder where you got it?"

She ignored him. "Who are you giving your money to? All these questions, huh?" "They asked." "Did you tell them anything?" "I said I wanted a lawyer." "Didn't you miss anything?" She said in his face, "You didn't ask the right question." Ordell's hands moved up and landed on her shoulders.He said, "Didn't I ask?" Touching her body under the coat and her leather bag strap, he rubbed her thin and small bones with his fingers. She said to him, "You should ask why I was arrested." "Didn't the dog smell your airbag?"

"They don't need dogs. They know about money, they know exact numbers." "Did they tell you how they found it?" "They asked me if I knew Mr. Volka." "yes?……" "I didn't tell them anything." "Is my name mentioned?" He watched her head swing from side to side, but didn't feel her bones move.His thumb brushed her collarbone, his fingertips touched her neck, stroking her skin, and Ordell knew how he could touch her lightly without making her move, not make her try to escape or scream. Call.She never blinked. "They say they know Mr. Volka. Who else?"

This made her hesitate before speaking: "The Jamaican, Beaumont." "What did he say about him?" "They talked to him in prison." Ordell nodded.He was right to do that. "Do you know what happened to him?" "They told me." "Yeah, there's definitely someone who's crazy about Beaumont, or worried he won't be able to handle his sentence. Do you know what I'm talking about? Somebody knows, and he might say things that shouldn't go out. I think they're on you Talking nonsense about what they know makes you think you might as well say what you know, huh?"

She shook her head slightly. He moved two thumbs up her collarbone to her throat, and the shoulder on which she was carrying the backpack moved a little, as if she was about to wrestle away from him, but he grabbed her and felt the shoulder Moved back slowly.He liked the way she tried to be calm and stared at him.He also liked the look on her face, the whiteness of her face in the dark, paler than Melanie's face or any white woman's face he had been close to, and he thought he could pin her to the floor, Or get her into the bedroom, put a pillow over her face after they're done, and aim the gun he carries at the pillow. ... Cough, this is a last resort, what a pity. ...he said, "Are you afraid of me?"

Her head was bobbing back and forth, but her eyes were fixed on him. He knew she was scared, well, she had to be scared, not just act like she was scared, so he pressed his thumb into her soft skin and tightened his fingers, wanting to know what she was saying to them What, he knew he had to pinch her tightly to ask questions.He said, "Honey, you gotta have a reason to get nervous around me, right?" He saw her eyes close and open again. ... He felt something at the same time, it must be her hand underneath, touched his thigh, rubbed lightly through the pants, and then moved up, you have to admire her restraining him in a woman's way, He liked it, yes, until he felt something hard against him besides his hand.

"You can feel it," she said. "Yeah, I feel it," Ordell said, trying to laugh, to let her know he wasn't serious, and neither was she."I believe it was a gun that went to my bones," he said. Jackie said, "You're right. Do you die or leave me?" If Max or Winston called each other from the office and said, "Put on your clothes," that meant armed and coming right away. This time it was Max who made the call. When Winston arrived, the Justice Department was still there, and the blue lights on their radiotelephone-equipped police cars were spinning.Someone broke the glass of the front door, put his hand through the iron bars, entered the house, and unlocked the door.Max was in the office with the two cops taking notes when he looked up and saw Winston."These guys came within two minutes of the alarm going off," he said. Max seemed impressed. "Have they got him?" said Winston, knowing full well they hadn't.He saw Max pointing his head to the reception room, went in, and saw that the gun cabinet had been pried open, two guns were gone, and three were hanging on the nails.He watched carefully from the door to the office, when the police finished writing the report and left, Max came over. "What's the use of my coming," said Winston, "when he's gone." "Because we know who did it," Max said, walking around him to the gun cabinet. "Have we talked about Louis?" Winston watched as Max picked out the Browning 380 Automatic, took it off the nail, and checked the action. "How do you know it's him?" "He didn't have time to break in," Max said. "Get in here, break open the locker—that siren was going off the whole time. Do you know how loud it was? 'Monty Python' and 'Mossberg', and it was all done in two minutes. I think he broke the glass as he was walking outside to make it look like someone else did it." "Then how did he get in?" "Stole a spare key from my drawer, made one, and put the original one back. He planned it. That's why I think it was Louis." "You're not sure." "Let's go ask him. Is your arm all right?" Max reached out as if to touch Winston's sleeve. "No problem; a few stitches. What's in your place, a new watch?" "Rolex," Max said, turning his wrist so that the gold case was aimed at the light, which is how Ordell showed him. "I mortgage it until I get paid." Winston said, "Let me see." Putting his hand on Max's wrist, he looked closer at the watch."I hate to tell you it's not a real Rolex. I recognize it because I have a real one at home. It doesn't look quite right," he said. Max withdrew his arm. "It's another model." "That's what I'm talking about. How much does it cost?" "Don't worry about it, okay?" "I still have to say, if the reward exceeds two hundred and fifty..." "Let's get out of here," Max said, tucking the Browning pistol into his waistband.He took his jacket from the chair, and Winston followed him. "How did you remember to take the Browning pistol? Don't you have that little 'gas weight' in the car?" Max stopped abruptly by the smashed front door and circled around."I forgot," he said, "one of us should stay here," still curtly and hastily. "I called a guy and he's coming to nail a plywood. You wait for him, okay?" The spoken word is a request, but actually a command. Winston said: "Is this my punishment, um, for saying it's not a Rolex?" The pistol that Ordell carried with him was a small shield pistol of 0.22 caliber for shooting at close range.Jackie found the gun in the side pocket of his coat.She touched his whole body with the free hand, the pistol in the other hand against his bones, and then she stepped back, shrugged, and let the purse slide to the floor."Looks like we've got a bit of a misunderstanding here," he said. He didn't move, believing she could shoot him with either hand, and somehow he misjudged this woman with two guns in both hands up. "You're trying to strangle me," Jackie said. "I've heard you did that." "Honey, I was messing with you. We're in the same gang. Didn't I get you out of jail?" "You saved Beaumont, too," she said. Ordell gave her a painful look. "It's so distressing. I think your words imply something. I may have been wronged....Baby, there is someone behind you, right?" She didn't answer that question. "Look, I have nothing to do with that idiot you mentioned, but I'm going to get you a lawyer, a good one. I'm going to pay you fifty thousand dollars to hire F. Lee Bailey himself." "But you have no money," she said. "That's why we're going to sit down and talk," Ordell said. "We're going to figure something out here. Turn on the lights, maybe have a drink.  …" He tilted his head and looked at the woman, dressed A little messy, but still looks good.He has to have a smile on his face.It's no fun for a woman with two guns to turn on him. "Honey, do you want to talk, or do you want to shoot me?" Before she could answer, he said, "Hey, I don't want to make up your mind. I still want to pay you five hundred dollars. Although You didn't send the money. But if we talk about it, girl, you've got to trust me." Jackie raised both guns, pointed them hard at him, and said, "I trust you." He could only smile and admire her. "You're testing me," Ordell said. "Now I'm here to test you, just to reassure me. See if there's someone behind you." "There's no one behind me," Jackie said. "I haven't talked to them. If I'm going to trust you, you have to trust me." "Okay, but I don't really like the way you say something. It's like you're threatening me, saying you haven't talked to them yet." She shrugged casually at him, and he liked her that way. "Sooner or later," Jackie said, "if I've talked to them, they'll always consider giving me a plea. You know the trick. They might even let me go. Actually, you and I have to talk. The only thing is what you are willing to do for me." "I told you, honey, I'm going to get you a lawyer." At this point, she shook her head straight at him, still calm, and said, "I don't think that's going to work. Let's make it clear that if I denounce you, I'll get out of jail. And if I don't, I'll go to jail." .” "yes?……" "If I don't say a word, how much is it worth to you?" Max parked the car on the street leading to Louis' temporary residence and opened the trunk of the car.The room is dark.He needed a flashlight, and he got it.And his riot shotgun, the best way to punch someone without hurting your own hand.He didn't want to shoot Louis.All he had to do was knock him down, handcuff him, and turn him over to the police.The house appeared to be empty and unoccupied, with rubbish everywhere.He walked to the side door near the garage, wondering that no glass had been broken in the windows.Max tried the door, shouldered it, then stepped back and kicked it open. There was a musty smell in the room. He sat down in the dark in the living room, an expert in waiting, a man with nineteen years of experience in waiting for people who didn't show up, who missed their court day because they forgot or didn't care, and he came to take them Walk.Nineteen years of dealing with criminals, always bringing criminals in and out.This time it was just another criminal, and that was the best Louis could be, a return to the old ways of life.Is this your profession? He knows why he is here.However, he began to doubt, he didn't think much about the waiting in the past nineteen years, but especially thought about the current time, his nose was full of musty smell, and he was sitting helplessly in the dark, holding a plastic gun barrel, Can fire a bag full of shotgun shells. real?Is this your job? He pointed the riot shotgun at a window, pushed in the firing pin, and watched as a pane of glass shattered. He got in the car and drove toward the office, imagining seeing Jackie again, eager to tell her something. "He's never coming back," he said to Winston, who was waiting in the front room of the office. Winston said: "Not bad." "So we lost two guns. Well worth it." Winston said: "You didn't see him." "I think he has escaped." "The man didn't come to fix the door." Max turned around and looked at the door, but said nothing. "Do you want me to continue waiting for him?" "I'm going to quit," Max said, still looking at the door. Winston nodded frequently."That's a good idea," he said. That's what Jackie said, Ordell sounded like: If she kept silent, she'd go to jail on his behalf, and she'd get paid for it.He asked her if it was a threat.She said that would be blackmail.Possibly, but the answer is not the question after all.Was she saying that if he didn't pay her, she was going to talk to the police? wait a minute.He said, "Honey, you don't know as much about my business as they do." She said, "Really?" "The money you're bringing is mine. How can I be convicted of this?" Sounds like a critical question... She retorted: "Illegal sale of weapons." Well said. "It's real, isn't it? You sell guns?" Speaking innocently and childlike, this pretty stewardess sat on a white sofa across the room.Except, however, for the two pistols she had resting on the rug at either side, which, although small, seemed to be shown to men, but by no means innocent.She was watching him mix - her drink was now on the coffee table in front of her.Once he stood up suddenly, and if he didn't trip over the coffee table, it took two, three, maybe four strides to get to her from where he sat holding his scotch.While she was smoking and drinking, he believed he could only go as far as she could before she picked up the "gas heavy" gun she probably got somewhere between the detention center and here, and kicked him back into his chair. halfway.So instead of judging the distance and the chances of subduing her, Ordell is more interested in their conversation at the moment.Jackie was telling him: "Whatever they know, it's from Beaumont, not me. If it wasn't about guns, why did the agency get me? Even if they didn't know you before, they know now .You got us out of prison." "A person is not sentenced for posting a bond." "No, but I think you are too reckless." Well, she was right. She went on to him, "If they think you're selling guns, they'll spy on you. Don't they? And then what? You just quit." "I've always wanted to hear what you have to say," Ordell said. "If I pay you to keep quiet and they ask you about guns, you say you don't know anything. OK?" "I really don't know. You're right, you never told me." "Then why should I worry? If we didn't agree on a good price here, you mean you'd tell them?" "If I say I won't," Jackie said, "do you believe me?" "You're confusing me." "All I'm saying is that we have to trust each other." "Yes, but what have I to lose?" "If I'm found guilty, how about a hundred thousand? That's enough for a year in jail, or a probation sentence. If I have to spend more than a year in prison, you add another hundred thousand," she said. "You make more money inside than out, huh?" "You have to put the money into an account in my name in some form of escrow, and he will hand it over to me. If I don't get jail time, you get it back," she said. "That's all, huh?" "That's up to you." "Even if I agree," Ordell said, "I think your asking price is too high. But I still agree. I see two problems. First, you can only put one hundred thousand yuan in cash in the bank, and one If it exceeds 100,000, the U.S. government will be notified to find out where the money came from.” "I think we might have a workaround," she said. "What's the other problem? I bet I know what it is." Listen to what this woman has to say. "All my money," Ordell said, "is in Freeport." He saw her nod her head and take a sip of her wine. "How much is there now, and how much can be brought in." He saw her raise her eyebrows when she heard this. "If, as you said, the people from the Authority are already following my ass, how can I bring in the money to pay you?" "You're right, it's a problem. But I'm pretty sure I can figure it out," she said. "The question now is we're talking a lot of money, is it worth the risk?" She smiled at him. "Of course, what will you do if you are released on bail but not allowed to leave the country?" "There's a way," said Jackie, "trust me."