Now, three years later, Kelson drove back into Bronzeville and found Rodman’s apartment building looking exactly as he’d last seen it. A woman wearing an enormous man’s shirt opened the door and called into the apartment, ‘DeMarcus, you’ve got a friend to see you.’
Rodman came out and enveloped him in another hug. ‘I saw you in the news when you got shot,’ he said. ‘I thought you were dead or dying.’
‘I don’t go down so easy,’ Kelson said.
‘That kid hit you hard.’ He told Cindi, ‘This guy’s got steel for brains.’
Cindi said, ‘I’ve seen you in the news. Maybe you don’t have brains at all.’
Rodman said, ‘So, what’s up?’
For the next hour, Kelson told him.
Rodman said, ‘At least you got kittens out of the deal.’
‘I need help,’ Kelson said.
‘What kind d’you think I can give you?’
‘You’re maybe the smartest and strongest guy I’ve ever known.’
‘First, you don’t know me. Second, see where it’s gotten me?’
‘That doesn’t mean a thing.’
‘So, what do you want from me?’
‘From what I can tell, you handle people when they try to screw with you. If they see you as a challenge and try, they quickly realize they aren’t up to it.’
‘Mostly true.’
‘That’s what I want.’
‘I don’t do hired muscle.’
‘I want to partner with you. It’s paid work – though I don’t have a lot of income right now.’
‘Partner, huh? Who bosses who?’
‘You do what you want, and I do what I want, and we get the job done.’
‘The job being saving your ass.’
‘Yep, that’s the first job.’
‘So there’s a future to this relationship?’
‘Depends on if we get through this one. If we don’t, there’s no partner in me for a partnership.’
Rodman considered it. ‘Maybe I could give it a try.’
‘Good,’ Kelson said. ‘You got any ideas?’
‘Sure, we’ll go beat the hell out of Dan Peters.’ When he saw Kelson’s eyes, he said, ‘Kidding. Jesus Christ, who do you think I am?’
‘You got any real ideas?’
‘Yeah, same as yours. You need Alejandro Rodriguez’s sheet.’