The Deal
“Why?” Westlake said, after a moment. “Why should I take that deal?”
Vinnie glanced at the revolver. Westlake ignored it. Vinnie wasn’t planning to shoot him. He wasn’t the sort to get his hands dirty. Vinnie sniffed. “If you don’t, maybe I open the shutters, and we all take our chances. I’m sure Sal is in the mood to stretch his legs. He always was a bit of a fitness nut.” He leaned close, his chair squeaking across the tiles. “The walkers? Not much of an issue. But Sal… Sal is a whole different kettle of nasty Hudson River fish. Imagine what he’d do to one of those camps down there.”
Westlake shrugged. “What do I care about that?”
Vinnie peered at him. Then he laughed. “Yeah, I didn’t think that’d bother you. Not like Sayers. Tell me this, why were you coming up here, Westlake?”
Westlake was silent for a time, considering. “Sal owed me. I wanted to collect.”
Vinnie nodded. “You came to kill him.”
“No. I wanted my money.”
Vinnie froze, shocked. “What?”
“Money, Vinnie. Sal owed me my cut for the Milwaukee job, remember? The one you set up? Sal decided not to pay us, even after we delivered. He dimed us out to the cops instead. Or maybe you did.”
Vinnie sagged. “You’re crazy.” He shook his head. “What does that matter now?”
“It matters to me.” Westlake held out his glass. Vinnie stared at him for a moment, and then refilled it.
“So you’re saying you climbed a goddamn mountain in a goddamn zombie apocalypse to get some money?” Vinnie asked, incredulously.
“My money,” Westlake corrected. “It’s the principle of the thing.”
Vinnie gave a hollow laugh. “Crazy. You’ve gone crazy. But that’s why I like you, Westlake. You think outside the box and yet you’re tunnel-visioned at the same time. No one who’s gone in to kill Sal is as determined as you. I remember that job you did with the plane.” He ran both hands through his hair. “I didn’t dime you out. First I knew of it, Sal was breathing fire about you talking to the Feds.” He gave Westlake a sly glance. “Which didn’t sound like you at all.”
“Soft pressure,” Westlake said.
“What?”
“I was letting Sal know what I was capable of. Then he sent Tommy.” Westlake flexed his hands. “Do you have my money or not?”
Vinnie shook his head and looked back at the monitors. “If it’s anywhere, it’s in Sal’s safe, in the office. In there.” He waved at the monitors. “Go ask Sal to cut you a check, see what he says.”
“Yeah, but I’m asking you.” Westlake leaned forward, and Vinnie made a convulsive twitch towards the revolver. Westlake smiled. “I want my money, Vinnie.”
Vinnie met his gaze. “And I want my Villa, Westlake.”
Westlake smiled thinly. “So let’s make a deal. A different deal.”
“What sort?”
“One that benefits us both. What other kind is there?”
Vinnie sat back, one hand on the revolver. “Alright, talk. But if I don’t like what I hear, I might just use your friends for target practice.”
“No, you won’t. You need us. All of us. We go in, we take care of your problem, and clean house. I get my money, and you get the benefit of being the man whose generosity saved a bunch of people. How’s that sound?”
Vinnie tapped his lips with the revolver. “What do I get out of it?”
“The warm glow of helping your fellow man?”
Vinnie laughed. “Try again.”
“What was Sal’s plan, Vinnie? Sweep down like a bunch of medieval Sicilian bandits and take over? Make this place a castle, and the camps below your peasant villages?”
Vinnie was silent for a moment. “Something like that,” he said, ruefully. “I told him it was a stupid plan, but he wasn’t in the mood to listen. Guys like him and Carl – they think like old world banditti. Guns solve all problems.”
“But we’re different, aren’t we, Vinnie?” Westlake said, softly. “We see the angles.” He took a sip from his drink. “You want me to go in there and take care of your Sal problem. I’m game. I’ll even talk Ramirez and the others into helping. But what about after?”
Vinnie frowned. “After?”
“There’s a whole bunch of people down at the foot of this mountain, waiting for someone to save them – to give them a safe place to live, supplies, ammunition. Why shouldn’t it be you?” Westlake looked around. “What else are you going to do with this place? Hide up here with Carl and his idiots?”
“Carl… might not go for that,” Vinnie said, slowly. “He’s not big on sharing.”
“There are ways to deal with that.” Westlake watched Vinnie’s expression. He had a good poker face, but not perfect. His eyes went vague when he was calculating his odds. Vinnie was smart enough to know that he wouldn’t survive much longer on his own – or with Carl. Even with his toys to even the odds, he wasn’t built for it. Westlake took another sip and waited.
Finally, Vinnie smiled and said, “I’ve been up here mostly alone for the better part of two months, and this is the most fun I’ve had in a while. OK. You do me a solid, I’ll do you one. I’ll open my kingdom up to your friends… as long as they acknowledge who’s in charge here.” He tapped his chest. “Me.”
“I’m sure they’ll have no problem with that, once they realize what you’re offering them.” Westlake finished his drink. “Specifics, please.”
“Onto business now, huh?”
“No sense wasting time.”
Vinnie laughed and turned back to the monitors. “You can get in through the service entrance. I can unlock it manually from here. I’ll do the same for the fire doors inside.”
“And then lock them all back behind us, huh?” Westlake said.
Vinnie didn’t look at him. “You want me to leave it open? That might go poorly for your friends down the hill. No, I’ll lock it back up, just in case.”
“Weapons?”
“Plenty of guns laying around in there. Take your pick.”
“Helpful,” Westlake said.
Vinnie turned away from the monitors and grinned at him. “You’re a smart guy, Westlake. I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
Westlake scratched his chin and studied the monitors. “And when we send Sal to his eternal reward, you’ll just let us out?”
“I’ll just let you out.”
“What about the rest of the zombies?”
Vinnie flapped a hand. “I’ll let my toys earn their keep. They can handle cleanup. You concentrate on Sal. I’m not letting you out of there until he’s dead.” He paused. “And just to make sure you’re on your best behavior, I’m going to need a hostage.” He tapped at the keyboard and brought up a view of the courtyard. The camera focused in on Ramirez and the others, standing under guard near the quay. “The girl.”
“Kahwihta,” Westlake said.
“Whatever. She stays here with me. You try and play me, I’ll put a bullet in her head. You feel me, Westlake?”
“I feel you,” Westlake said. He doubted Kahwihta would have left Attila, and it was probably safer out here – for a given value of “safe.” He pushed himself to his feet. Vinnie rose with him, gun in hand.
“Yeah, I can see that you do.” He gestured with the revolver. “Let’s go let your people know who they’re working for, huh?”
Outside, Carl paced impatiently in front of the boatshed. Ramirez and the others were sitting nearby, under the watchful eye of Fifer and the other gunmen. Kahwihta was bent over Attila, preoccupied with his injury. Sayers stood nearby, her attention on seemingly anything and everything – except Ptolemy.
Carl turned as the door opened. “So?” he demanded, as he stomped over. “Do I get to shoot him now?” Behind him, Ramirez got slowly to her feet and followed.
“No,” Vinnie said, mildly. “I still got a use for him.”
“What use?”
Vinnie smiled widely. “He’s going to get us our building back. Him and his friends. You know Westlake will stop at nothing to get a job done. Ain’t that neighborly of them?”
“We’re doing what now?” Ramirez said, looking startled as she joined them.
“Bullshit,” Carl said, glaring pugnaciously at Westlake. “Bullshit!”
“Carl, calm yourself,” Vinnie said, in a mild tone. He paused. “I mean, unless you want to take a run at Sal yourself?”
Carl blanched. He shook his head. “I keep telling you, send the robots in. That’s what they’re for!”
Vinnie’s smile could have cut glass. “They’re for what I say they’re for. As I recall, you weren’t much of a fan until they saved your ass.”
Carl grunted. “I don’t think we should do this.” His hand hovered over his sidearm. Westlake could read the tension in Fifer and the others. At the end of the day, there wasn’t any way to predict which way they’d jump. He wondered if any of them were made men. He doubted it. None of them had the look. They probably weren’t thinking about anything except how to get through the next day and they’d follow whoever promised to keep them alive – Carl or Vinnie, it didn’t matter.
“Then it’s a good thing we’re not a democracy,” Vinnie said, glibly. He was pushing Carl’s buttons intentionally – trying to make him mad enough to do something stupid. “This place belongs to me, Carl. I say what we do with it.”
Carl frowned. “It belonged to Sal, Vinnie. Only Sal’s… dead.”
Vinnie leaned close. “Yeah, and I was his consigliere. You, on the other hand, are a soldier. So do what a soldier does and follow orders.”
Carl flushed. “I’m getting real tired of your attitude, Vinnie,” he said, in a rough, low voice. “I put up with it, because you’re the one who knows how to open all the doors and run the robots, but I’m about ready to move on and leave you to rot up here by yourself.”
“Yeah? And what about all those supplies in there?” Vinnie gestured. “Food, guns, medicine – you just going to leave all that behind?”
Carl glanced at Fifer. The other man looked away. Carl’s frown deepened. He looked at Vinnie. “And what if they fail? Just like Pauly and all the rest?”
“Then you’ve lost nothing,” Westlake said, simply. “And I’m dead. Or worse.”
Carl nodded slowly. “That does sweeten the deal a bit, I admit.” He shook his head. “Still a bad idea. Is this why you didn’t want me to kill him?”
“Among other reasons,” Vinnie said. He looked at Ramirez. “Sayers tells me you were a Fed. Ordinarily, I’m not what you’d call a fan of Federal agents, but in this instance, I’m willing to let bygones be bygones. What about you?”
“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Ramirez asked.
Vinnie looked offended. He placed his hand over his heart. “I’d never joke about that. This is the start of a new era. We’re going to do great things together, Agent Ramirez. You, me, and Westlake here. Once we take care of our mutual problem.”
“And what problem might that be?” Ramirez asked.
“Yeah, Vinnie, what problem might that be?” Carl said, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Illuminate us, please.”
“I want you to kill a zombie,” Vinnie said, with forced cheerfulness.
“Just one?”
“A big one,” Westlake said. “Surrounded by a bunch of little ones.”
Vinnie laughed. “Very big. Bigger than any you’ve ever seen. Immune to small arms fire, fast and mean. You kill it for me, and I’ll let your people come in. We’ll make this place a paradise.”
Ramirez frowned. So did Carl. “We need to talk about this,” he said.
“Later,” Vinnie said, not looking at him.
“Now,” Carl snapped. Vinnie looked at him. Westlake tensed. Was this how it was going to go down? He hoped not. He didn’t even have his knife. Carl had taken it, as well as his Glock. He met Ramirez’ eyes and read the question there. He gave a slight shake of his head – whatever happened, it was best to let it play out.
Vinnie smiled broadly. “Of course, Carl. Let’s step over here and do it in private, huh?” He gestured to the boatshed, and Carl’s eyes tracked the revolver in his hand. Vinnie glanced at the weapon, as if noticing it for the first time. He laughed lightly and slid it into the back of his waistband, under his jacket.
Westlake watched them go. Ramirez followed his gaze. “And what do you think that’s about?” she murmured.
Westlake looked up at the night sky overhead. The stars were out in force. “The usual. Vinnie’s probably explaining to Carl that he intends to screw us after we solve their problem for them.”
“Speaking of which – what have you gotten us into, Westlake?” she hissed. He turned, and she grabbed his collar, driving him back against a support beam of the boatshed. “What sort of deal did you make with him?”
“The only one that kept us alive,” he said, hands held up in surrender.
“By sending us into a walker-infested house of death?”
“Better than a bullet in the back of the head.” He met her angry gaze without flinching. “Look, we’re here, aren’t we? This place is real, just like I promised. Now all we have to do is take it.”
“From a giant zombie,” she said, dubiously. “Not to mention your pals over there.”
“One problem at a time,” he said, smiling crookedly.