Frankie slammed the door behind him, ignoring the scrambling and screaming coming from the other room of the apartment. A woman’s shrieking voice could be heard over a guy’s voice yelling “Shut the fuck up!” repeatedly. Frankie ignored them and bolted the door.

 

By the time the man had come out of the bedroom Frankie was on the couch with a bottle of cheap whiskey in his hand. He was shaking as he looked up.

 

“Jesus, Frankie! What the fuck?” The guy had a pair of faded jeans on and nothing else. His longish hair was stringy and matted, as if it hadn’t been washed in a while. The place stank of stale booze, stale sweat, and stale air. Pizza boxes were stacked in the corner, paper plates and beer cans abounded, newspapers and fast food wrappers battled for space on the old and flat shag carpet.

 

“I needed a place, man,” Frankie said in hushed tones. “Someplace safe.”

 

“Safe?” The other man glanced at the front door behind him. “Someone lookin’ for you, man?”

 

Frankie shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Someone’s out there, though.”

 

“Out there?” The other man looked panicked, looking between Frankie, the door and the windows. “Out there?” he repeated.

 

“No!” Frankie made a chopping motion with his hand. “Out there! In the city! Someone’s out there, man, lookin’ for…”

 

The other man relaxed only slightly. “For what? What the fuck is going on, Frankie?”

 

“Goddamn it, Jimmy!” A woman came storming out of the bedroom, Latina by look, large-breasted and pleasingly plump in a simple oversized tee and nothing else. Her hair was honey-colored, teased fairly high, and large hoop earrings waved to distraction. She looked daggers at Frankie. “Who the fuck is this?”

 

Frankie rolled his eyes and took another swig from the bottle.

 

“And why the fuck is drinking our booze?”

 

“It’s my booze,” Jimmy corrected her. “And this is Frankie Jacks.”

 

The woman shook her head and cocked her hip. She folder her arms under her ample chest and continued glaring at Frankie and Jimmy both.

 

“Frankie,” Jimmy said, trying to calm himself. “What the fuck is gong on? Why’d you come here, man?”

 

Frankie took a deep breath. “You heard about Turk, right?” Jimmy nodded and started to say something more. “Well,” Frankie said, cutting him off, “Tonight Bones got nailed, too.”

 

“Bones--?”

 

“Who the fuck is Bones?” the woman asked. “And who the fuck is Turk?”

 

“Shut up!” Jimmy yelled at her. Then, to Frankie, “Whaddya mean, Bones got nailed, too?”

 

“Bones got nailed outside Longshots tonight. One shot to the head.”

 

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jimmy said. He wiped his face with his hands. “Jesus fucking H. Christ.”

 

“Yeah,” Frankie agreed, taking another swig. “Yeah.”

 

“Is this about the Colonel?” Frankie nodded.

 

“Who the fuck is the Colonel?” the woman asked petulantly.

 

“Shut the fuck up!” Jimmy screamed at her. “Please! Just shut the fuck up!”

 

“Fuck you!” she yelled back and stormed back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

 

“Sorry, man,” Frankie said, staring at the door.

 

“Fuck her,” Jimmy replied. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck.”

 

“Yeah.” Frankie nodded. “That’s what I was thinking.”

 

Jimmy stepped over and around some trash and sat down on the couch next to Frankie. He grabbed the bottle and took a drink, wincing as the harsh liquor went down.

 

“So what’d you do for him?”

 

Frankie sighed. “I just passed on a little info now and again. Some girl here, that girl there. Possibles, y’know? Nothing major.”

 

Jimmy nodded. “I drove.” He shook his head and smacked his palm onto his forehead. “I fucking drove the van, man. Turk, he’d grab the girls, but I drove the fucking van.”

 

Frankie was staring at him. “You…?”

 

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. It was good money. A hundred bucks just for driving. I didn’t know what the girls were for until after.”

 

Frankie stood up, still staring at Jimmy. “Fuck, man. You could be on the list.”

 

Jimmy looked up, his bloodshot eyes panicked. “Yeah. Fuck.” He closed his eyes tight, his mouth a grimace. “You think it’s that Nemesis guy?”

 

Frankie shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He paused thoughtfully, then shook his head again. “Ain’t his style to go around killing like this.”

 

“Yeah, but the Colonel—“

 

“Got what he deserved,” Frankie said hurriedly. “I was so high half the time that I didn’t even think about why they wanted the girls. I was so fucking high, man, I didn’t know…”

 

Jimmy nodded. “Fuck, man.”

 

Frankie glanced toward the door. “I gotta go, man. I just thought…you know.”

 

Jimmy nodded. “No, it’s cool, man. I appreciate it.” He looked up. “Hey, you need a place to crash?”

 

“No,” Frankie said, already taking a step toward the door. “That’s cool of you, but I don’t wanna…” he gestured toward the bedroom.

 

“Fuck her, man,” Jimmy scoffed. “You can crash if you wanna. No big deal.”

 

“No,” Frankie said. “That’s cool. I gotta go.”

 

Jimmy nodded. He went back to staring at the floor. Frankie left.

 

* * * * *

 

Back down on the street Frankie paused outside the tenement and lit up a cigarette as a group of late revelers went by. His hands were shaking so bad he almost didn’t get it lit. He really wanted a hit, but he’d been clean since he left Hudson City a few weeks back. It was hard some days. Easy some of them, but hard some, too. Like tonight. New Year’s fucking Eve. An hour past, even. He should be loaded and partying with some hooker instead of running for his life.

 

He took a long drag off his cigarette and watched the steam of his breath and smoke mingle as they rose into the night.

 

There was the sound of glass breaking. Frankie looked up at the sky. For a moment he was confused why part of the sky looked funny. With a curse he hurled himself out of the way in time to see Jimmy’s body come slamming down on the roof of the car just ten feet away. The impact drove the roof into the seats, the entire car rocking furiously with the impact as the windows blew out on all four sides.

 

Frankie rolled over onto his hands and knees and stared at the car for several long seconds. He let out a whimper and struggled to his feet. There were screams and yells already as he turned and, after a momentary stumble, ran off into the night.