He heard his own voice pleading eerily from the background of horror as the image at the window began moving closer. The dissociated groveling sickened him even further, but he could not control it.

He was on his knees, for God's sake, in Jimbo's blood, begging for mercy!

And the big man was standing over him now, the hot muzzle of the pistol at Oxley's forehead.

"You're naked now," the cold voice told him, from somewhere atop the red halo. "You're better off that way, so stay there. No more games. No more cute. We'll talk now, Raymond."

And, of course, they did. Yes. They really got down to the talking, then.

Don't do it! Please! Anything you want whatever… just say it!"

"I told you what I want, Raymond."

"I never met the guy! I talked to him on the phone! That's all!"

"And when was that?"

"About a week ago. It was last Tuesday." "Why did you talk to him?"

"Huh? He called me."

"What about?"

"Well he was-I knew who he was. I mean I knew the name. He brought in some product for Dandy Jack. He said he was worried about that. He didn't like Dandy's operation. He said he had a fail-safe and he wanted to talk to somebody about that."

"He had a what?"

"I figured he meant another shipment, a product reserve."

"And what did you say?"

"I said it wasn't part of the deal. I told him I couldn't even talk to him about that. That wasn't my territory."

"What is your territory?"

"Uh! I'm more on the distribution side."

"Street distribution."

"No, no. National distribution."

"This is where it starts?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"Huh?"

"How?"

"Uh… well we have a natural setup here. You know, we send people all over the country. From here. Also a lot of promo and demo material."

"Uh huh."

"Perfect setup, isn't it?"

"Yeah it's quite a setup, Raymond. So why didn't you want to deal with Carl? Product is product, isn't it?"

"Well, no. He had raw stuff. That's Dandy's territory… the raw stuff. He has to step on it before I get it. I can't handle raw product. Anyway it sounded like double dealing and it scared me. I couldn't get involved in anything like that."

"You wouldn't get involved like that."

"Hell no. That would be stepping outside. I wouldn't think of stepping outside. That's very dangerous, you know. A guy could end up at the bottom of the Cumberland in a cement barrel."

"So you turned Carl over to the cement men, eh?"

"No! I swear I didn't do that! I just told him I couldn't afford to get involved but I could pass him on up to the right people. He explained, see, and then I realized I'd gotten the wrong impression. He wasn't trying to double deal. He was just trying to fail-safe it in case something went sour with Dandy… and that's what he was worried about."

"But you didn't want to get involved in that either."

"Well it was over my head, see. I'm just a cog in this machine. I explained that to Leonetti. He understood. He thanked me."

"Thanked you for what?"

"For helping him get lined up."

"How did you do that?"

"I told you. I passed him to the right people." "Who did you pass him to?"

"Huh?"

"Who did you pass him to?"

"To uh… I passed him to my sponsor." "What does that mean?"

"That means the people I report to."

"You're mixing singular and plural, Raymond. How many people did you pass him to?" "I passed him to my sponsor."

"Singular or plural?"

"Oh, that's plural."

"You're not being much help, Raymond." "No, look! Wait now! I'm not trying to screw you around! I'm just trying to explain it!"

"Try a little harder."

"Look, see, I'm president of this company." "Okay."

"I'm the chief executive officer. But God, I don't own it."

"Who does?"

"Well, a lot of people are involved. I don't even know who all is involved. I report to Nick Copa."

"Nick who?"

"Copa. That's C-O-P-A. He's the controller. I mean, he's the local owning partner."

"Well now, exactly what is he, Raymond? Is he the controller or is he an owner?"

"Both. He's both. He's the local-the on-scene controller for the owning corporation. He has partners all over the country."

"Like who?"

"Oh hell, I don't know that. They don't tell me that."

"And you never wonder about it, eh? "Sure, I wonder. I wonder a lot"

"Do some wondering now, Raymond."

"Huh? Oh. Okay. We have this deal with TeleBoost. I think that's one of their satellite companies."

"What is TeleBoost?"

"They do special promotions. You know. Publicity. To get our artists some national exposure."

"Keep on wondering."

"Then there's Emcee. They get”

"What is Emcee?"

"That's a recording label. A record company. Emcee Records. They specialize in golden packaging and TV sales."

"Run that by me again."

"Selling by mail order. You've seen those ads on television. Like that."

"This isn't helping, Raymond."

"Okay, okay, hold it It's hurting my head. The gun is hurting. Okay?"

"It's going to keep on hurting until I get something more than your corporate family tree."

"I'm trying to explain it. Okay? The same men own all these companies. See? They also own hotels and casinos and night clubs and all that. And they got a hundred or more company names. How the hell would I know who owns what? How would anybody? Nick Copa is the only guy I ever see. He's the Nashville controller. For the company. For the whole umbrella of companies."

"You also called him a partner."

"In a sense, yes, he's a partner."

"In what sense?"

"In the sense that in Nashville Nick Copa is the boss."

"Boss of what?"

"Of everything I've been talking about." "But he's nationally connected."

"Oh sure."

"What's the Family?"

"Uh, God, I don't know. Don't ask me that. Even if I knew, I couldn't…"

" New York?"

"Maybe New York. Maybe Chicago. I don't know. I don't even think it's a family group-not like a family, you know. More like a coalition. It's a corporation in the national sense."

"Based in New York or Chicago?"

"Maybe both, maybe neither, I just don't know. Can I get up? All this blood is making me sick to my stomach. I've got to get-"

"Not yet, Raymond. You stay there and keep thinking. Did you put Carl in touch with Nick Copa?"

"Oh no, God no. I wouldn't even think of…" "Who, then?"

"I never initiate direct contact with Nick. If he wants me, he lets me know. But I never initiate anything."

"Who, Raymond?"

"There's this guy… works for Nick.. directly for Nick…"

"Sort of a lieutenant."

"Like that, yeah. I passed your friend to this guy."

"How did you do that?"

"Leonetti says he'll be at such and such a place at such and such a time. I tell him that's fine. I'll pass the word on where'll he be."

"And?"

"And I did."

"Who did you pass it to?"

"I passed it to this lieutenant."

"This lieutenant has a name?"

"Uh, sure, he has a name. They call him Gordy, I think."

"What else do they call him?"

"Uh, I think his name is Mazzarelli."

"Gordy Mazzarelli."

"Yeah."

"Say it, Raymond. Say it right out. What is this lieutenant's name?-this lieutenant you passed Carl to?"

"Gordy Mazzarelli, I said it. Didn't I say it?"

"You called Gordy Mazzarelli and you told Gordy Mazzarelli that Carl Leonetti would be in such a place at such a time."

"That's right."

"What else did you tell Gordy Mazzarelli?" "That's all I told him."

"So of course Gordy already knew who Carl Leonetti is."

"Well I guessed he did."