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"Let her loose now," Sheik said.
Sissie let her go.
"I'll kill him!" Sugartit raved in a choked voice. "I'll kill him for that!"
"Kill who?" Sheik asked, scowling at her.
"My father. I hate him. The ugly bastard. I'll steal his pistol and shoot him."
"Don't talk like that," Sissie said. "That's no way to talk about your father."
"I hate him, the dirty cop!"
Inky looked up from the handcuffs he was filing. Sonny stared at her.
"Shut up," Sissie said.
"Let her go ahead and croak him," Sheik said.
"Stop picking on her," Sissie said.
Choo-Choo said, "They won't do nothing to her for it. All she got to say is her old man beat her all the time and they'll start crying and talking 'bout what a poor mistreated girl she is. They'll take one look at Coffin Ed and believe her."
"They'll give her a medal," Sheik said.
"Those old welfare biddies will find her a fine family to live with. She'll have everything she wants. She won't have to do nothing but eat and sleep and go to the movies and ride around in a big car," Choo-Choo elaborated.
Sugartit flung herself across the foot of the bed and burst into loud sobs.
"It'll save us the trouble," Sheik said.
Sissie's eyes widened. "You wouldn't!" she said.
"You want to bet we wouldn't?"
"If you keep talking like that I'm going to quit."
Sheik gave her a threatening look. "Quit what?"
"Quit the Moslems."
"The only way you can quit the Moslems is like Caleb quit," Sheik said.
"If I'd ever thought that poor little Caleb — "
Sheik cut her off. "I'll kill you myself."
"Aw, Sheik, she don't mean nothing," Choo-Choo said nervously. "Why don't you light up a couple of sticks and let us Islamites fly to Mecca."
"And let the cops smell it when they shake us down and take us all in. Where are your brains at?"
"We can go up on the roof."
"There're cops on the roof, too."
"On the fire escape then. We can close the window."
Sheik gave it grave consideration. "Okay, on the fire escape. I ain't got but two left and we got to get rid of them anyway."
"I'm going to look and see where the cops is at by now," Choo-Choo said, putting on his smoked glasses.
"Take those cheaters off," Sheik said. "You want the cops to identify you?"
"Aw hell, Sheik, they couldn't tell me from nobody else. Half the cats in Harlem wear their smoke cheaters all night long."
"Go 'head and take a gander at the avenue. We ain't got all night," Sheik said.
Choo-Choo started climbing out the window.
At that moment the links joining the handcuffs separated with a small clinking sound beneath Inky's file.
"Sheik, I've got 'em filed in two," Inky said triumphantly.
"Let's see."
Sonny stood up and stretched his arms.
"Who's he?" Sissie asked as though she'd noticed him for the first time.
"He's our captive," Sheik said.
"I ain't no captive," Sonny said. "I just come with you 'cause you said you was gonna hide me."
Sissie looked round-eyed at the severed handcuffs dangling from the wrists. "What did he do?" she asked.
"He's the gangster who killed the syndicate boss," Sheik said.
Sugartit stopped sobbing abruptly and rolled over and looked up at Sonny through wide wet eyes.
"Was that who he is?" Sissie asked in an awed tone. "The man who was killed, I mean."
"Sure. Didn't you know?" Sheik said.
"I done told you I didn't kill him," Sonny said.
"He claims he had a blank gun," Sheik said. "He's just trying to build up his defense. But the cops know better."
"It was a blank gun," Sonny said.
"What did he kill him for?" Sissie asked.
"They're having a gang war and he got assigned by the Brooklyn mob to make the hit."
"Oh, go to hell," Sissie said.
"I ain't killed nobody," Sonny said.
"Shut up," Sheik said. "Captives ain't allowed to talk."
"I'm getting tired of that stuff," Sonny said.
Sheik looked at him threateningly. "You want us to turn you over to the cops?"
Sonny backtracked quickly. "Naw, Sheik, but hell, ain't no need of taking advantage of me-"
Choo-Choo stuck his head in the window and cut him off: "Cops is out here like white on rice. Ain't nothing but cops."
"Where they at now?" Sheik asked.
"They're everywhere, but right now they's taking the house two doors down. They got all kinds of spotlights turned on the front of the house and cops is walking around down the street with machine guns. We better hurry if we're going to move the prisoner."
"Keep cool, fool," Sheik said. "Take a look at the roof."
"Praise Allah," Choo-Choo said, backing away on his hands and knees.
"Get out of that coat and shirt," Sheik ordered Sonny.
When Sonny had stripped to his underwear shirt, Sheik looked at him and said, "Nigger, you sure are black. When you was a baby your mama must'a had to chalk your mouth to tell where to stick it."
"I ain't no blacker than Inky," Sonny said defensively.
"I ain't in that," Inky said.
Sheik grinned at him derisively. "You didn't have no trouble, did you, Inky? Your mama used luminous paint on you."
"Come on, man, I'm getting cold," Sonny said.
"Keep your pants on," Sheik said. "Ladies present."
He hung Sonny's coat with his own clothes on the wire line behind the curtain and threw the shirt in the corner. Then he tossed Sonny an old faded red turtle-necked sweater.
"Pull the sleeves down over the irons and put on that there overcoat," he directed, indicating the old army coat he'd taken from the janitor.
"It's too hot," Sonny protested.
"You gonna do what I say, or do I have to slug you?"
Sonny put on the coat.
Sheik then took a pair of leather driving gauntlets from his pasteboard suitcase beneath the bed and handed them to Sonny, too.
"What am I gonna do with these?" Sonny asked.
"Just put them on and shut up, fool," Sheik said.
He then took a long bamboo pole from behind the bed and began passing it through the window. On one end was attached a frayed felt New York Giants pennant.
Choo-Choo came down the fire escape in time to take the pole and lean it against the ladder.
"Ain't no cops on this roof yet but the roof down where they's shaking down is lousy with 'em," he reported.
His face was shiny with sweat and the whites of his eyes had begun to glow.
"Don't chicken out on me now," Sheik said.
"I just needs some pot to steady my nerves."
"Okay, we're going to blow two now." Sheik turned to Sonny and said, "Outside, boy."
Sonny gave him a look, hesitated, then climbed out on the fire-escape landing.
"Let me come, too," Sissie said.
Sugartit sat up with sudden interest.
"I want both you little jailbaits to stay right here in this room and don't move," Sheik ordered in a hard voice, then turned to Inky, "You come on, Inky, I'm gonna need you."
Inky joined the others on the fire escape. Sheik came last and closed the window. They squatted in a circle. The landing was crowded.
Sheik took two limp cigarettes from the roll of his sweatshirt and stuck them into his mouth.
"Bombers!" Choo-Choo exclaimed. "You've been holding out on us."
"Give me some fire and less of your lip," Sheik said.
Choo-Choo flipped a dollar lighter and lit both cigarettes. Sheik sucked the smoke deep into his lungs, then passed one of the sticks to Inky.
"You and Choo-Choo take halvers and me and the captive will split this one."
Sonny raised b
oth gloved hands in a pushing gesture. "Pass me. That gage done got me into more trouble now than I can get out of."
"You're chicken," Sheik said contemptuously, sucking another puff. He swallowed back the smoke each time it started up from his lungs. His face swelled and began darkening with blood as the drug took hold. His eyes became dilated and his nostrils flared.
"Man, if I had my heater I bet I could shoot that sergeant down there dead between the eyes," he said. The cigarette was stuck to his bottom lip and dangled up and down when he talked.
"What I'd rather have me is one of those hard-shooting long-barreled thirty-eights like Grave Digger and Coffin Ed have got," Choo-Choo said. "Them heaters can kill a rock. Only I'd want me a silencer on it and I could sit here and pick off any mother-raper I wanted. But I wouldn't shoot nobody unless he was a big shot or the chief of police or somebody like that."
"You're talking about rathers, what you'd rather have; me, I'm talking about facts," Sheik said, the cigarette bobbing up and down.
"What you're talking about will get you burnt up in Sing-Sing if you don't watch out," Choo-Choo said.
"What you mean!" Sheik said, jumping to his feet threateningly. "You're going to make me throw your ass off this fire escape."
Choo-Choo jumped to his feet, too, and backed against the rail. "Throw whose ass off where? This ain't Inky you're talking to. My ass ain't made of chicken feathers."
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