The Kings of Cool
Page 23
Chon yells over the din Time to go do what I do and he starts to crawl, his old man crawling behind him, the general rule being if you can stay low you have a chance, and the truth is we didn’t walk out of the formless primordial ooze, we crawled.
296
In the dark of course there is not sight but sound, so
Follow the fight from the rhythm of its fire
Like most battles
It doesn’t end in a thundering crescendo
But in sporadic spurts
then desultory single shots
then silence.
There is no climax
just anticlimax, or more properly speaking
nonclimax.
Lado’s men work their way through the house
Hallway by hallway
Door by door
Room by room
Methodically killing, just as
Methodically dying
And then it’s over.
297
Chon makes it out into the courtyard.
His father crawling behind him.
There is a chance, just a chance, that they can get to the car and make a break through the chaos, although Chon hears the firefight dying down and knows that the confusion will quickly end and the window is closing. But there’s still a chance and he’s just about to gather his legs under him and lunge for the car when the hears the chomp-chomp-chomp of the helicopter rotors and then the light hits him.
298
From above
the searchlight from a helicopter
hovering
illuminating the scene of slaughter.
The light is blinding, Chon can barely see, chokes on dust as the rotors whip up the dry dirt around him and he hears the amplified command, in English—
“Freeze! Drop your weapons and stand up with your hands over your heads!”
Chon does it.
Struggles through the wash to his feet, drops his gun, and raises his arms above his head.
Sees John do the same.
Looks around at a scene of execution, as black-clad men dispatch the wounded with shots to the back of the head, while others work on their own wounded.
The helicopter lands, kicking up a whirlwind of dust.
A man gets out, bending low beneath the rotors. Straightens up and walks toward them, holding a badge ahead of him.
“Special Agent Dennis Cain, DEA. Come with me, please.”
They follow him into the helicopter.
299
Lado stands over Doc’s body.
Then bends over, slices the dead man’s stomach open, pulls out his intestines, and carefully forms them into the word
“P-A-P-A”
Magda’s request.
300
Sitting in the chopper before it takes off, Chon says, “Give me your phone.”
John gives it to him.
Chon punches in Ben’s number.
Ben answers first ring.
“Thank God,” Ben says.
“You okay?”
“I’m good,” Ben says. “You?”
“Yeah, good,” Chon answers. “O?”
“She’s here with me. What the—”
“I’ll tell you all about it,” Chon says, “when I see you.”
He clicks off.
301
“I wanted him alive,” Dennis says, looking down at Doc’s body. “Biggest bust of my career.”
Lado shrugs.
“So you’re on the cartel’s payroll,” Dennis says.
Lado looks at him.
Says, “Just like you.”
Five hundred K for a walkaway, and Filipo had it all on tape.
“You work for us now,” Lado says. “I’m moving north. With my family. I want a green card and a CI designation.”
Dennis nods.
Granite countertops aren’t cheap.
302
INT. HELICOPTER – DAY
JOHN
Just so we’re clear—this doesn’t change anything between us.
CHON
Didn’t think it did.
JOHN
You do your thing, I do mine. We see each other on the street, we nod, go our separate ways.
CHON
Sounds about right.
They sit and watch as DENNIS climbs into the chopper and supervises the loading of Doc’s corpse in a body bag.
JOHN
We let the past stay in the past.
303
Okay with Chon.
But he knows
The past isn’t the past.
It’s always with us.
In our history.
Our minds, our blood.
304
July Sky.
Bright-blue sunny California.
Happy tourists.
Like, this is the California you pay for. This is the California you saw on TV and in the postcards. This is more like it.
Ben, Chon, and O sit in the Coyote and watch Dennis’s press conference on the television above the bar.
It’s genius.
Dennis—rock star—poses beside a blown-up photo of Doc taken back in the sixties.
“Doc Halliday,” he says, “was killed resisting arrest as he tried to flee across the border. This represents the final breakup of one of America’s oldest and most powerful drug rings, one with connections to the vicious Mexican cartels.”
“You okay?” Ben asks O.
“Absolutely crunchy,” she says, looking at her guys.
Knows you get two chances at a family—the one you’re born into and the one you choose.
She has hers.
Her dad was always dead to her.
Now Dennis’s mouth twists into a somber frown. “Sadly, a corrupt policeman, William Boland, was involved in the ring and also killed. Two others, Duane Crowe and Brian Hennessy, apparently killed each other in a gunfight. Both are believed to have been involved in the murders of Scott Munson and Traci McDonald.”
Karma, Ben thinks, is a bitch.
Theirs, and mine.
I might not be guilty of Scott’s and Traci’s murders, but I am responsible. Lot of karma to pay off.
Maybe set up some kind of foundation, help out in the Third World. Start paying it back.
There are some things you carry alone, Chon thinks, looking at the two people in the world who he loves.
Inside you.
Heavy but bearable.
Like your own DNA.
He looks back up at the television.
“The final breakup of the Association,” Dennis says, looking into the camera, “is a major victory in the War on Drugs.”
305
“I thought I looked pretty good on TV,” Dennis says. “Didn’t you?”
“You’re a handsome man,” Ben says.
Chon doesn’t say anything.
They’re meeting in the usual spot at Los Cristianitos. Dennis takes a spicy chicken sandwich from the Jack in the Box bag. “Lunch on the run. You have something for me?”
Ben slips him an envelope.
“First of every month,” Dennis says. “Your girlfriend can be late, you can’t.”
“As long as you keep DEA off our ass,” Ben says.
“Yeah, that’s the idea.”
“Guaranteed?”
“You want a guarantee, go to Midas,” Dennis says. He sees Chon’s frown, takes a bite of his sandwich, and says, “Jesus, cheer up.”
He wipes his mouth with a paper napkin, looks them up and down, and says, “What I wouldn’t give to be you. You have your youth, money, the cool clothes, the girls. You have it all. You’re kings.”
306
That’s us, Ben thinks.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank Jonathan Karp for his support and belief in me and this book, Jofie Ferrari-Adler for his thoughtful editing of the manuscript, and Richard Rhorer and his team for their work launching Savages and The Kings of Cool. I also want to thank everyone at Simon & Sc
huster for their hard work and support of this novel.
My thanks also go out to The Story Factory and Joe Cohen, Matthew Snyder, Todd Feldman, Risa Gertner, and Jon Cassir at CAA.
I want to also thank Deborah Randall, Toni Boim, Chris Kubica, and Emily Horng for their work behind the scenes with business, legal, and social-media matters, and with my website.
A number of people shared their stories about the old days in Laguna, and I can best express my appreciation by not naming them. I also want to acknowledge two nonfiction books, Orange Sunshine by Nick Schou, and The Brotherhood of Eternal Love by Stewart Tendler.
Appreciation, always, to my son, Thomas, and to my wife, Jean, for their patience, encouragement, support, and the occasional meal delivered to my desk.
Finally, I want to thank my fans, both loyal readers who have supported me for two decades now and new readers. Please follow me on twitter at: @donwinslow.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Don Winslow is the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels, including The Gentlemen’s Hour, Savages, Satori, The Dawn Patrol, The Winter of Frankie Machine, The Power of the Dog, California Fire and Life, and The Death and Life of Bobby Z. He lives in Southern California. To learn more, follow him at twitter.com/donwinslow or visit www.donwinslow.com.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189
Chapter 190
Chapter 191
Chapter 192
Chapter 193
Chapter 194
Chapter 195
Chapter 196
Chapter 197
Chapter 198
Chapter 199
Chapter 200
Chapter 201
Chapter 202
Chapter 203
Chapter 204
Chapter 205
Chapter 206
Chapter 207
Chapter 208
Chapter 209
Chapter 210
Chapter 211
Chapter 212
Chapter 213
Chapter 214
Chapter 215
Chapter 216
Chapter 217
Chapter 218
Chapter 219
Chapter 220
Chapter 221
Chapter 222
Chapter 223
Chapter 224
Chapter 225
Chapter 226
Chapter 227
Chapter 228
Chapter 229
Chapter 230
Chapter 231
Chapter 232
Chapter 233
Chapter 234
>
Chapter 235
Chapter 236
Chapter 237
Chapter 238
Chapter 239
Chapter 240
Chapter 241
Chapter 242
Chapter 243
Chapter 244
Chapter 245
Chapter 246
Chapter 247
Chapter 248
Chapter 249
Chapter 250
Chapter 251
Chapter 252
Chapter 253
Chapter 254
Chapter 255
Chapter 256
Chapter 257
Chapter 258
Chapter 259
Chapter 260
Chapter 261
Chapter 262
Chapter 263
Chapter 264
Chapter 265
Chapter 266
Chapter 267
Chapter 268
Chapter 269
Chapter 270
Chapter 271
Chapter 272
Chapter 273
Chapter 274
Chapter 275
Chapter 276
Chapter 277
Chapter 278
Chapter 279
Chapter 280
Chapter 281
Chapter 282
Chapter 283
Chapter 284
Chapter 285
Chapter 286
Chapter 287
Chapter 288
Chapter 289
Chapter 290
Chapter 291
Chapter 292
Chapter 293
Chapter 294
Chapter 295
Chapter 296
Chapter 297
Chapter 298
Chapter 299
Chapter 300
Chapter 301
Chapter 302
Chapter 303
Chapter 304
Chapter 305
Chapter 306
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Table of Contents
Cover
Praise
Description
About Don Winslow
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16