Civil-rights kids converge. "Freedom Summer" descends. The Klan sits ready. New klaverns form. Cops join. Diverse klaverns bond tight.
The White Knights. The Royal Knights. Klextors/Kleagles/Kladds/ Kludds/Klokards. Klonklaves and Klonvocations.
Church bombings. Mutilation deaths. Three kids in Neshoba County--missing and presumed dead.
LBJ mandates war. Two hundred agents descend. A hundred for Neshoba--three probable victims--thirty-three agents per vic.
Dr. King visits. Bayard Rustin visits. Bayard Rustin briefs Littell. He checks his atlas. De Kalb adjoins Neshoba. Jane's school is there.
Mr. Hoover was torn. The war vexed him. The war offended him. The war brought the FBI praise. Mr. Hoover took credit--reluctantly. The war disrupted him.
It was outre. It was invasive. It pissed off his klavernite plants. They infiltrated klaverns. They snitched off mail fraud. They were shrill. They were racist. They subscribed to Bureau "Guidelines": "Acceptable Risk" and "Violence Permitted." "Deniable Actions defined."
Mr. Hoover was torn. The war ripped him up. LBJ bruised his racist aesthetic. He'd fight back. He'd fight Dr. King. He'd rack compensation up.
Mr. Hoover called him. They talked and sparred. Mr. Hoover mocked Bobby.
LBJ hated Bobby. LBJ needed Bobby. He might make Bobby his Veep choice. Bobby might seek that Senate seat.
He played his Bobby tapes. It was late-night communion. The tapes woke Jane up sometimes. Jane heard voices in her sleep.
He lied. He said you're not dreaming--I'm playing deposition tapes.
Mr. Hoover tracked Bobby's moves--Bobby the lame-duck AG. Bobby should step down. Nick Katzenbach should succeed.
Fed heat might descend then. Fed heat might hit Vegas. Mr. Hoover might warn him. The Boys might say yes--hire those skim men--Wayne Senior might provide said.
He lunched with Wayne Senior--once a month--they played at respect. Wayne Senior foresaw Drac's Vegas. Wayne Senior craved his own bite.
Let's confer. Let's place my Mormons near the Count. Let's bite ol' Drac.
Skim runs might work. He had his own skim plan. He craved yet another tithe source.
Money owned him. Money bored him. He had money alliances. He formed money bonds. He had one nonmoney friend.
Pete left Vegas--mid-February--Pete returned bereft.
Pete flew to Dallas. Pete flew back. Pete returned with burn scars and a cat. Littell bought the Dallas papers. Littell read back-page squibs.
There--PROSTITUTE DIES IN CUSTODY, SUICIDE RULED.
He called Carlos. He played dumb. Carlos brought it up. Carlos laughed. Carlos said she bit her tongue off.
That meant two down. That meant two at large--Hank K. and ArdenJane.
Littell talked to Pete. They discussed the safe-house hits. They discussed Arden-Jane.
Pete said, "I won't touch her." Pete meant it. Pete looked sad and weak. He got headaches. He'd dropped weight. He worshiped his cat.
Pete wanted Monarch Cab. Pete hired a PI. The PI surveilled Eldon Peavy. Let's stay useful. Let's revive Tiger Kab. Let's help the Boys out.
Pete had money alliances. Pete formed money bonds. Pete had a new cat. Pete had a kid brother. Wayne Junior et Pete.
Les freres de sang. Littell, un conseiller des morts.
Everyone's scared. Everyone saw Big D.
42.
(Las Vegas, 2/14/64--6/29/64)
HATE.
It moved him. It ran him. It called his shots. He stayed cool with it. He stayed justified.
He never said NIGGER. They weren't all bad. He knew ft and stayed justified. He found the bad ones. They knew him. Wayne Junior--he baaaaaaad.
He worked the Deuce. He threw hurt. He spared his hands and used his sap. He never said NIGGER. He never thought NIGGER. He never condoned the concept.
He worked double shifts. He stayed double-justified. The owner had rules. The pit boss had rules. Rules ruled the Deuce high and wide.
Wayne had rules. Wayne enforced said. Do not paw women. Do not hit women. Treat whores with respect.
He enforced his rules. He bridged race lines. He enforced his Rule of Intent. He predicted rude acts. He preempted them. He employed all due force.
He tracked THEM. He trailed THEM. He prowled West LV. He looked for Wendell Durfee. It was futile. He knew it. The HATE drew him there.
He got FEAR back. Said FEAR made him stay.
Wayne Junior--he baaad. He kill black folk. He whip dark boodie.
The Deuce showed the Liston-Clay fight. THEY attended. THEY shucked. THEY cheered.
He perceived intent. He enforced. He preempted. Some Muslims pushed tracts. He ejected them. He abridged their civil rights.
THEY called him "Junior." It fit. It honored his HATE. It distinguished his HATE from Wayne Senior's.
Sonny Liston passed through. Sonny looked Wayne up. Sonny knew Wayne's story. Sonny said, "You did the right thing." Sonny waxed pissed. Cassius Clay kicked his ass. Fuck all that Muslim shit.
They hit the Goose. They got blitzed. They drew a crowd. Sonny said he knew umpteen niggers. Said niggers prowled Niggerland. They'd shake the nigger trees and find Wendell Durfee.
HATE:.
He stole play chips. He cruised West LV. He spread said chips around. He called it tip bait. He paid THEM for help to find HIM.
THEY took the chips. THEY used him. THEY spit on the chips and broke them.
It was futile. He knew it.
He bought the Dallas papers. He scanned every page. He got no news on Maynard Moore. He got no news on Wendell Durfee.
He read the papers. Sergeant A. V. Brown got sometime ink. Sergeant Brown worked Homicide.
Sergeant Brown knew he killed Maynard Moore. Sergeant Brown had no proof and no body. Sergeant Brown hated him. Ditto Dwight Holly.
Holly tailed him--spot tails/odd nights. Jaunts through West LV--ten minutes per.
Show tails. Overt tails and grudge tails. Fender-to-fender.
Holly tailed him. Holly knew his Darktown biz. Holly was Fed. Holly was cosmetically pro-Negro. The snuffs fucked Holly up. The snuffs fucked Holly up with Wayne Senior.
They went back. They shared laughs in Indiana. They shared their chaste brand of HATE.
HATE lured them places. HATE lured Wayne to the ranch. He prowled the ranch cyclical. He got the urge and savored it. He picked his entry shots.
Janice leaves. Wayne Senior leaves. He watches them go and walks in. He goes to the dressing room. He smells Janice. He touches her things.
He reads Wayne Senior's files. He reads Wayne Senior's tracts.
The Papal Pipeline. Boat Tickets to the Congo--one-way passage on the Titanic.
The tracts went back to '52. The tracts "probed" Little Rock. The tracts "exposed" Emmett Till. The Little Rock kids spread gonorrhea. Emmett Till raped white girls.
It was bullshit. It was chaste and cowardly HATE.
Wayne Senior lied--"I 'diversified' last year." Bullshit--Wayne Senior pushed long-term hate.
HATE tracts. HATE comic boox. HATE primers. The HATE alphabet.
Wayne read Wayne Senior's mail file. Mr. Hoover wrote memorandums. Dwight Holly wrote notes. They were long-term pen pals--from 1954 up.
'54 rocked. The Supreme Court banned school segregation. The Ku Klux Klan rocked anew.
Mr. Hoover rocked. Mr. Hoover deployed Dwight Holly. Holly knew Wayne Senior. Mr. Hoover loved Wayne Senior's tracts. Mr. Hoover collected them. Mr. Hoover displayed them. Mr. Hoover rang Wayne Senior up.
They chatted. Mr. Hoover bored in: You push hate tracts. Someone has to. They're harmless and fun. They appeal to the rural right. The rural right is factional. The rural right is dumb.
You have hate credentials. You can help me place plants. We place them in Klan groups. Dwight Holly to supervise. They snitch mail fraud. They scotch your tract rivals. They assist the FBI.
Wayne read file notes. Mr. Hoover wrote. Dwight Holly wrote. Klan klowns wrote komedy. They sucked up to Wayne Senior. They yahooed. They described their koontretemps.
The mail file stopped dead--summer '63. No Fed notes/no snitch notes/no kommuniques: Why that? Say what?
Wayne loved the Fed notes. The Fed-speak glowed: "Felony guidelines." "Acceptable acts to sustain informant credibility."
Wayne loved the Klan notes. The text glistened. The Klan-speak glowed.
Wayne Senior suborned rednecks. Wayne Senior koddled them. They lived on Fed money. They bought corn liquor. They pulled "minor assaults."
One note sizzled. Dwight Holly writes--10/8/57.
Holly praised Wayne Senior. Holly enthused: You toughed it out/you retained your kover.
10/6/57. Shaw, Mississippi. Six Kluxers grab a Negro. Said Kluxers employ a dull knife. They sever his balls. They feed their dogs in front of him. Wayne Senior observes.
Wayne read the note. Wayne read it fifty times. The note taught him this: Wayne Senior fears you. Wayne Senior fears your HATE. It's unmediated. It's unexploitative. It's unrationalized.
Wayne Senior hated petty. Wayne Senior had a rationale. Wayne Senior tried to shape his HATE.
Wayne Senior played him a bug tape. Wayne Senior played it over drinks. The date: 5/8/64. The place: Meridian, Mississippi.
Civil-rights workers talked--four Negro males. Said Negroes defamed white girls. Said girls were "liberal cooze." Said girls were "punchboards out for black stick."
Wayne listened. Wayne replayed the tape--thirty-eight times.
Wayne Senior ran a Fed film. Wayne Senior ran it over lunch. The date: 2/19/61. The place: New York City.
A folk club/mixed dancing/dark lips and hickeys.
Wayne watched. Wayne replayed the film--forty-two times.
HATE:.
He watched THEM. He found THEM. He nailed THEM in crowds. HATE moved him. HATE rejoined him with Wayne Senior.
They talked. Shit densified. Shit cohered and dispersed. Janice talked to him. Janice studied him. Janice touched him more. She dressed for him. She cut her hair. She wore a Lynette do.
Lynette lost him. She knew it. She knew Dallas cut her loose. He ran from her. He hid out. He carried sex in his head.
Janice and Barb. Snapshots from the ranch. Postcards from the lounge.
His house fucked with him. Wendell Durfee kicked the door in. Lynette died there.
He dumped the bed. He stripped the paint. He peeled the bloodstains. It wasn't enough.
He sold the house. He took a loss. He indulged a spree. He hit the Dunes and shot dice.