One exception was Brewski, who lived next door to Sy. He showed up with a teenaged girl hugging him around his waist. The girl had a good figure and wore a low-cut sweater to show off her ample breasts. Her light brown hair was curly and cropped short. She could be attractive, thought Jack, if she didn’t look like a hardened slut.

“Brewski is my right-hand man,” slurred Sy in a drunken whisper to Jack. “Not like all these other fuckin’ YDUs.”

Brewski heard the comment and stood a little straighter. He was proud to be identified as being important to Sy. Jack smiled to himself. Sy isn’t overly bright, but Brewski is even slower.

“Meet my girl,” said Brewski. “Lorraine, say hi to Sy’s new buddy.”

“Well helloooo,” Lorraine crooned, unwrapping herself from Brewski and running her hand down Jack’s chest.

Jack remembered Lorraine Calder from the investigation into Julie Goodwin’s suicide. It was difficult to feign friendship. “Time for me to check with my own girl,” he said, and walked over to join Laura.

“Time to slip away?” Laura asked. She had witnessed Lorraine’s arrival and knew that it would not be good to make an enemy out of Brewski.

“Yes, I’ve had about all I can stand.”

“You’re telling me,” whispered Laura. “I’m old enough to be most of these kids’ mother. If I hear one more sentence start with, so like, this is cool dude or so like, this is rockin’, I think I’m, so like, going to slap someone.”

Over the next week, Jack and Laura became better acquainted with Sy, who was beginning to open up more and more. One afternoon, Jack walked down the one flight to visit with Sy and saw him talking to a man in the hallway. The man, in his early thirties, was obese with a shaved head that showed the rolls of fat on the back of his neck. He quit talking and nudged Sy as Jack approached.

“Hey, Sy,” said Jack. “Princess is out shopping. I hate sitting alone, so wondered if you were up to having a beer?”

“Hell of a good idea,” smiled Sy. “We’re done business here, anyway.” Sy introduced his acquaintance as “Munch.”

“You want to join us?” Sy asked Munch.

Munch shook his head and said, “Gotta take care of business.”

“What, you headin’ to a buffet someplace?” asked Sy with a smile.

“Fuck you,” said Munch, chuckling. “I did that at noon.”

As Munch walked away, Sy looked at Jack and said, “He’s a good guy. Someone solid who is on my side of The Brotherhood.”

“The Brotherhood?”

“We used to be independent gangs, but there were problems. We thought if we met and talked, maybe we could resolve our problems. Like in the movies with those New York families.”

“Sounds professional.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. It was my idea. So the seven biggest gangs formed a coalition and we called ourselves The Brotherhood. For a little while, things were great. We even did business with each other.”

“What happened?”

“Ah, next thing ya know, squabbles started breaking out over new territory. Then we started fighting over what had long been our own turf. It’s gotten that you never know when some fucker will drive by and take a shot at ya. Two of the other gangs are on my side. Munch is the boss of one of ’em. The boss of the other gang is a guy called Mongo.”

“You mentioned last week that you were involved with drive-bys,” said Jack. “It’s good that you have some allies. Are you at war with all of the other gangs?”

“Three for sure. The fourth one is riding the fence.”

“Sounds like you should convince the fence-rider to go your way. Make it four against three.”

“I’ve tried.”

“Maybe he’s trying to play you against each other and is hoping to come out on top when the smoke clears,” suggested Jack.

Sy’s face darkened and he said, “The fuckin’ dirty Indo’! You think so? That would be Rashard’s style.”

“I don’t know the guy, but I’ve encountered similar problems back east.”

“What did you do about it?”

“Start making friends. People you can trust. The more the merrier. The bigger your group, the less chance someone will want to mess with you. It isn’t any fun if you’re worrying about dodging bullets all the time. The idea is to make money and enjoy life. If you have to share a little of the profits … well who really cares as long as you’re still making lots.”

Sy stared at Jack momentarily and said, “I like how you think. Some day I’d like to be top boss of all these fuckers. The thing is, I know of six other guys who want the same thing.”

“Mongo, Munch, Rashard, and three others?”

“Yeah, three others,” replied Sy, looking irked that Jack had paid such close attention.

“Well, glad I’m not involved,” said Jack. “I’d never want to be the boss. Too much pressure. It was one of the reasons I moved out west. People wanted me to step up and be boss. For a while I made all the right moves, but after meeting Princess, I decided I didn’t want it. I like feeling safe and comfortable. Speaking of which, it makes me nervous hearing about stuff that’s none of my business. How about a beer and watch a movie or something?”

Sy studied Jack briefly. Good, he doesn’t really want to talk about it. Can’t be all that interested.… Maybe I didn’t fuck up by sayin’ too much. “Yeah, sounds like a perfect plan,” replied Sy. “Come in to my place. I got a two-four of Lucky.”

Over the next three cans of Lucky beer, Sy brooded more and more about what Jack had told him. Curious background, he thought, glancing at Jack. He is one smart fucker. If I can get him to trust me more, I bet he could help me with some of the right moves. Like in The Godfather movie … I’d be the top boss and maybe Jay could be my fuckin’ consigliere or whatever the fuck it is called.

Sy looked at Jack and said, “You up to anything Saturday night?”

“That’s two days from now. I don’t think I am, but I’m not sure, I’d have to check with Princess. Why?”

“My YDUs are havin’ a party at a house that a couple of my guys are rentin’. I gotta make an appearance. I tell ya, it would really be doing me a favour.”

“I’m not much for hanging out with kids,” replied Jack.

“Me, either. That’s the point. I feel like a loser at my age showing up alone at a party with a bunch of bubble-gummers. With you there, I can make an excuse. Say we’re goin’ someplace else after.”

“Why not go with Brewski?”

“He’s got some business to take care of.”

Jack nodded and said, “Okay, as long as I drive. If you decide to stay, then Princess and I can leave.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate that. I don’t want to stay long, either. Drop by and throw a few goodies around, have a couple of beer, give a few dumb fucks a pat on the back and then split.”

Later that night, Jack and Laura had a meeting with Connie, Sammy, and Dan Mylo from the Integrated Task Force. Everyone was pleased with how much progress had been made. With the information Jack provided, Dan and Sammy agreed to apply for wiretap authorizations on all the main people.

“The bug monitors are going to be swamped,” said Sammy.

“At least now we know who some of the guys are who are calling the shots,” said Dan. But you’re right, they are going to be busy.”

“Make sure you keep Laura and me out of court,” said Jack.

“I’ll check with the prosecution,” said Sammy. “If it goes to court we will try to keep it on a case-by-case basis. Worse comes to worse, we withdraw a charge.”

“Speaking of which,” said Connie, “Don’t you have a court case tomorrow?”

“In Victoria,” replied Jack. “Not to worry, I’ll be on the seven o’clock ferry in the morning and should catch an afternoon ferry back. I checked with Victoria. None of McCall’s current associates know me, so even if they do show up, I should be okay.”