Wayne lugged weapons--plastic-wrapped/tape-sealed/heavy.
He double-timed. He hit the cargo holds. He ran the galley steps. He funneled. He made eight trips. He ran the swamp line.
He tossed. Flash tossed. Fuentes caught. Arredondo caught and stacked. Little guys--strong--good catchers.
Bruvick watched. Bruvick scratched a neck rash. Bruvick rosaried. Fuentes degrappled. Fuentes waved. Arredondo shoved their boat off.
Laurent grabbed Bruvick. Flash mummyized. He cuffed him. He taped him. He made him King Tut. He taped his mouth. He taped his legs. He mast-pole mummified.
Laurent rigged a raft. Wayne dropped anchor. Flash said, "Let's kill Communists."
They took Berettas. They took knives. They took Browning pumps. They took a plastic-wrapped Zippo. They took a raft. They oared in. They surfed swells and ate grit.
Two miles of black sea. Three miles to beach lights. There now: One barracks and one sentry hut.
Off the beach. Off loose sand. Off dirt access ruts.
They flanked. They oared left. Breakers slammed them. Wayne and Flash puked.
They cut through it. A current hit. They pulled left. They scraped sand. They capsized. They rolled.
They dragged the raft up to high sand. They scoped out the hut. Twelve-by-twelve/four men in it/forty yards up.
Beside it: The barracks/one doorway/one floor.
They shared binoculars. They honed the lens. They nailed snapshots. One open door. Two bed-rows. 2:00 a.m./thirty men/bunks and bug nets.
Flash hand-talked. Flash said hut first. We go with silencer pops.
They checked their Berettas. They unwrapped the Zip. They bugcrawled three abreast. Laurent lugged the Zip.
Wayne wheezed. Wayne ate sand. Wayne jittered. They got close--six yards out--Wayne saw whole faces.
The Militia guys sat. The Militia guys smoked. Wayne saw four carbines stacked.
Flash lip-synced numbers--shoot prone on three.
One--they aimed prone. Two--they triggered up. They fired on three--synced silencer plops.
They hit strong. They hit main mass. They hit heads and chests. They double-tapped. They aimed up. They shot fast. They hit groins. They hit backs. They hit necks.
Two fucks fell. Two chairs toppled. Two fucks scree-screeched. Two mouths gapped. Two mouths flapped soundless--wave-noise suppressed.
Flash rolled up. Flash got close. Flash shot main mass. The bodies jerked. The bodies sponged lead.
Flash signaled. The barracks--NOW.
Laurent lit the Zippo. The cherry top flared. They crawled up. They got close. There's the target. There's the door.
Laurent stood up. Laurent braced the doorway. Laurent Zippo-ized. He strafed the beds. He strafed the bug nets. He strafed putos Red.
Commies burned. Commies screamed. Commies rolled out of fartsacks. Commies tangled up bug nets and ran.
Laurent burned bed sheets. Laurent burned walls. Laurent burned men in skivvies and pajamas. Commies ran. Commies fell. Commies crashed windows out.
The barracks burned. Commies ran--Reds on fire.
They ran out the back door. They ran to the beach. They fell in the sand. They ran and hit water.
Waves doused them. Waves deflamed them. Waves sucked them in. Waves boiled. The barracks burned. Ammo ignited.
Laurent chased fireballs. Laurent strafed wet sand. Laurent cooked salt water.
Flash walked to the hut. Flash dragged two dead men out. Flash dumped them and pissed on their heads.
Wayne walked up. Wayne got stage fright. Do it. Show them. Show Pete.
He pulled his knife. He picked a scalp. He dug the blade in.
Bakersfield--travel-fucked. Dusty streets/dusty skies/dusty air. The San Joaquin Valley--wall-to-wall dust--farm dirt and glare.
He was travel-fucked. He jumped Cuba to Snipe Key. He jumped Snipe Key to Bon Secour. He jumped Bon Secour to New Orleans. He took three flights west. He got bad sleep. He went off Dexedrine.
He called Saigon. Mesplede patched him to Pete. He praised the run. He praised the guns. He ragged Bob's number-dips.
Pete was pissed. Pete ragged Bob. Stamp the numbers--scare the Beard--flaunt U.S. Code.
Wayne called Barb. It was tense. Tense off that fight. Barb had news. Barb had a pending gig--adjunct-USO.
We're doing Saigon. We're doing Da Nang. Please lure Pete to the show. He said sure. He said I'll be back. He said I'll be travel-fucked.
Wayne cruised Bakersfield. Wayne read his maps. He flew in. He glommed a rental car. He cruised straight back out.
Mextown ran east. The truck farms ran east. You had beer bars! trailers/motels. You had dust. You had dust bugs. You had Mex cribs galore.
He hit the bars. He sipped beer. He coaxed information. Barmen talked. Barmen travelogued.
Wetback whores? Shit. Wetbacks are whores.
They jump borders. They steal jobs. They work cheap. They overbreed. They live to fuck. They whelp like chihuahuas. They pick crops. They get paid--they fuck real whores then. Wetback pimps pimp wetback whores--the payday proliFUCKation.
They swarm motels. They production-fuck. They proliFUCKate. Check the Sun-Glo. Check the Vista--check the whole scene. Payday's tomorrow--the wets proFUCKate--you'll dig the scene.
Wayne dropped the name "Wendell Durfee." Wayne dredged up some shrugs.
Who's that? Some jigaboo?
That's right--he's colored. He's quite loud and tall.
Sheeeit-- Wetbacks hate jigs. Crop men hate jigs. That jig better haul.
Payday: Wayne cruised truck farms. Wayne loitered. Wayne watched.
Wets pick cabbage. Wets yank weeds. Wets fill garbage drums. Sirens blow. The wets yell. The wets drop hoes and run.
They hit pay trucks. They line up. They shag cash and run--families/hombres/muchachos.
Some clique up. Some walk off. Some liiiiinger. Hombres todos--men with shit-eater grins.
Trucks pull up. Hombres greet hombres. Hombres dispense: Jar brew/ rubbers/French ticklers/T-Bird/white port/nude Polaroids. Beaver pix of Mexi-whores--let's proFUCKate.
Wayne walked over. Hombres cringed. Wayne vibed Migra fuzz. Wayne mollified. Wayne spoke pidgin-Mex. Wayne coaxed info.
Dig: The truck men pimped. They signed johns up early--supply meets demand. Go to the Sun-Glo and Vista. See the Fuckathon.
Wets scoped the beaver pix. Wets signed up. Wayne flashed Wendell Durfee pix and got nada. Shit--we ain't seen him/we don't know him/we hate negritos.
Wayne split. Wayne braced more truck pimps. Wayne got more nada. He regrouped. He read his maps. He crossed the tracks and cruised Darktown. De facto segregation--wets north/coloreds south.
He yawned. He fought sleep-fuckification. He slept too long last night. He slept fourteen hours. He logged some bad dreams.
Barb rags him--don't pop pills--he rags Barb back. Don't you do it--you'll age bad--I love you.
Bongo co-starred. Bongo convulsed. Bongo snitched Wendell Durfee. Wendell's in Cuba. He's got the cold six thousand. He's got a Castro beard.
Wayne cruised Darktown. Wayne hit pool halls. Wayne hit lounge spots. He vibed cop. He vibed grief. He wore his gun out.
Cops saw him. Cops waved. Cops vibed brother cop. He braced coloreds. He flashed his Wendell pix. He got huh?s. He got indignation.
You dig Watts? It could happen here. It could happen NOW.
He worked through it. He worked all day. He wore Darktown out. Nobody knew Wicked Wendell. Nobody knew jackshit.
Dusk hit. He drove to the Sun-Glo. He caught the Fuckathon.
Ten rooms/ten whores/ten parking-lot lines. Wets twenty-deep and pimps with stopwatches--you fuck off my clock.
Snack stands--all jerry-rigged/all run by mamacitas. They served beans. They served cerveza. They served carnitas.
It was hot. Fried pork spattered. Jalopy pipes popped.
Doors opened. Doors shut. Wayne got snapshots: Nude girls and wideleg poses. Soiled sheets trashed up.
The lines moved fast--six minutes per fuck. Cops stood around. Pimps greased them--a dollar a fuck.
The cops ate carnitas. The cops worked the line. The cops sold bootjack penicillin. Wayne stood in line. Wayne drew stares. Wayne showed his snapshots.
Que? No se. Negrito muy feo.
Wayne braced a mama-san. Wayne waved fifty bucks. He pidgin-talked. He told her--beer on the house.
She smiled. She shagged Lucky Lagers. She served the wets. She served the pimps. She served the cops.
She praised Wayne--gringo muy bueno.
Wayne got applause. Wets pumped his hands. Pimps waved sombreros. He re-showed his pix. They went around. They toured all the fuckistos. The pix circuited. The pix got pawed. The pix came back.
A cop nudged Wayne. "I ran that smoke out of town three months ago. He was trying to pimp white girls, which didn't sit right with me."
Wayne goose bumped. The cop tapped his teeth.
"I heard he was tight with a smoke named King Arthur. I think he owns a queer bar in Fresno."
The Playpen Lounge was a storefront. The Playpen Lounge sat off skid row.
Wayne drove to Fresno. Wayne polled street creeps. Wayne found it. The creeps spieled lore--the Pen's a pus-pit--all fear the King!
He's this mean swish. He's Haiti-bred. He's pure calypso. He sports a crown. He's a he-she. He's a hermaphrodite.
Wayne walked in. The decor clashed--Camelot meets Liberace.
Velvet walls. Purple drapes. Nail-studded armor. A bar and wall booths--pink Naugahyde.
A jukebox cranked. Mel Torme crooned. The natives stirred. Wayne drew looks. Wayne drew ooh-la-las.
Colored trade--queens and jockers.
There's the King. He's got a booth. He's got his crown. He's got the pedigree: Knife scars/mashed ears/pipe-wound regalia.
Wayne walked over. Wayne sat down. King Arthur sipped a frappe.
"You're too haughty to be Fresno PD, and you're too butch to be anything but a cop."
The jukebox vibrated. Wayne reached back. Wayne grabbed and yanked the cord.
"My money. Your information."
The King tapped his crown. It was kid-pageant issue--rhinestones on tin.
"I just consulted my thinking cap. It said, 'Policemen demand, they don't pay.'"