He had been prepared for a bully's grip, but instead it was disarmingly gentle.
"They call you Dom." The Reaper's voice matched his handshake, soft and low, almost lilting.
"Yeah. Dom. I go by my middle name."
Shifu nodded as if he were thinking something over. "Call me Shifu."
Dominick nodded. "Okay."
They walked into the Dunkin' Donuts together in silence. The place was dead. A young black girl in a beige waitress uniform was rearranging doughnuts on the large metal trays that lined the back wall. A Hispanic kid in ripped jeans and high tops, cat scratches shaved into the scalp on the sides of his head, was devouring a huge honey-dip doughnut, sipping soda from a wax cup. The faint sound of easy-listening music drifted out from the back room.
Shifu nodded toward the seats at the far end of the counter, away from the waitress and the kid. He wanted privacy. So would "Michael Dominick Provenzano."
The waitress came over as they sat down. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah. Two coffees," Dominick said. He looked at Shifu. "You wanna doughnut or anything?"
Shifu spoke to the waitress. "I'll have a cinnamon bun if you've got one."
The girl nodded, then turned to Dominick. "Anything for you, sir?"
Dominick thought about it for a second, but then shook his head no. Normally he would have ordered a plain doughnut or a cruller, something small, but seeing Shifu's athletic frame changed his mind. Dominick tried to stay fit. He jogged every day he could and worked out regularly, but when he didn't watch himself, he could put on ten pounds overnight, it seemed, and undercover work was not conducive to healthy habits. Once again it was clear that Shifu wasn't like the other guys who just tended to spend ninety percent of their time hanging out, drinking coffee, eating crap, talking shit.
Dominick watched Shifu sitting there, quietly waiting for his coffee. With that sculpted beard of his, he looked like an evil duke from some mythical kingdom calmly contemplating his next murderous plot. Dominick knew not to say what was on his mind just yet. It wasn't the way bad guys operated. They had to feel each other out first, circle each other like boxers in the first round. They had to talk shit first.
"So you keeping busy, Shifu."
Shifu nodded. 'Yeah. I do what I can. How about you."
''Yeah, I'm doing all right. Can always do better, though. I know I ain't gonna hit the lottery, so I gotta make it myself. You know what I mean?"
"Yup."
Shifu's newspaper was folded on the counter by his elbow. He seemed to be reading it, not really paying attention to Dominick. The waitress returned with two mugs of coffee and a cinnamon bun the size of a saucer. Shifu peeled the tops off two plastic containers of half-and-half and poured them into his coffee. Dominick stirred in one container and took a sip from his mug.
Shifu nodded toward the plate glass window behind them to the Shark. "How do you like the Lincoln?"
"It's nice. I used to have an Eldorado, but I like this one better. Better ride with the Lincoln."
Shifu bit into his cinnamon bun. "You're right. Lincoln's a nice car. Nice and roomy up front."
They talked cars for a while, comparing different models, wondering why really rich people were abandoning the Caddys and Lincolns for Mercedeses, reminiscing about good cars they'd had in the past. It was all very friendly, and it gave Dominick a chance to ease into his undercover role with his target, but they were just talking shit, still circling each other. Finally Dominick decided it was time to get down to business. He saw an opportunity to steer the conversation into it,
''You know, Shifu, one car I could never get used to was the Corvette. The Stingray, you know what I mean? I always feel like I'm sitting on the floor in those damn things. I know Lenny's got one, and he says he loves it, but I dunno....It's not for me."
Shifu didn't say anything for a moment, just chewed and sipped his coffee. ''Corvette's not a bad car."
Dominick knew from the state police reports that Shifu had driven Corvettes in the past, stolen vehicles. That was probably why he wasn't anxious to share his enthusiasm for that particular model. He wasn't sure about Dominick yet. Dominick had to keep talking and hope that he could find some common ground with Shifu, something that would gain a little bit of his trust and open the door for him. He decided to push a little farther.
"Yeah, that Lenny, he's something else, isn't he."
"Yeah...He's something else." Shifu was distracted, staring down at his newspaper again.
Dominick knew that if he didn't connect with Shifu soon, he might as well pack in the whole thing. He had to make Shifu warm up to him, just a little bit, but now he felt stuck. He thought Shifu would respond to his mentioning, Lenny DePrima. Shifu supposedly trusted DePrima.
Dominick took a sip of his coffee. He didn't want to keep bringing up DePrima's name. He was afraid that if he kept harping on DePrima, Shifu would think he was a nobody showing off the only real contact he had. Shifu wasn't interested in wannabes. If Dominick smelled like bullshit, Shifu would just walk away and have nothing to do with him, ever. Dominick needed to connect with this guy, but he had to be careful.
Just to keep the ball rolling, Dominick was about to bring up the New York Giants, who had beaten the Steelers in an exhibition game that Sunday, ask if Shifu was a fan, anything to jump-start the conversation. But then Shifu took off his sunglasses and looked Dominick in the eye. Dominick met his gaze. He couldn't come off as submissive in any way, or Shifu would pick up on it like a bloodhound. Dominick already intended to grab the check when the waitress brought it. It would be his treat.
"I hear you got some connections, Dom." Shifu was still staring at him.
''Yeah. I got a few connections." Dominick sipped his coffee, but his eyes never left Shifu's.
Shifu lowered his voice. "Can you get the white stuff?"
Dominick paused, sizing him up for effect. "We talking about the cheap white stuff or the expensive kind. Cocaine or heroin."
"The cheaper one."
Dominick shrugged. "Maybe. How much you want."
Shifu stuck out his bottom lip and tilted his head. "Ten. Maybe more later."
"Yeah, sure. I can do that."
"How much per kilo."
Dominick stroked his mustache and thought about it. "Thirty-one five." Thirty-one thousand five hundred dollars a kilo.
Shifu nodded and sipped his coffee as he thought about it. ''Kinda steep, Dom. I know a guy, I think I can get it for between twenty-five and thirty."
''So get it from him and don't waste my time," Dominick snapped back. He wasn't about to bicker with Shifu because he didn't want Shifu to think he needed the sale. He had to establish his control over the situation, even if he had to risk turning Shifu off for good. This had always been Dominick's strict personal policy.
Shifu tore off a piece of his cinnamon bun and put it in his mouth. He seemed unperturbed by Dominick's attitude. "How about cyanide." he asked.
"What." Dominick's heart stopped. He wished to hell he were wearing a wire.
"Cyanide. Can you get any."
"What are you on about, you tryna be funny. If you need cyanide, go to a hardware store, get some rat poison. They got all the fucking cyanide you want."
Shifu shook his head. "Not that stuff. I need pure cyanide. Lab quality. The kind of stuff they make you sign for when you try to buy it."
"What you need that for."
"Something personal I gotta take care of."
Dominick shrugged as if it didn't make one bit of difference to him what Shifu wanted to do with pure cyanide, but inside, he couldn't believe Shifu had come right out and asked for the poison on their very first meeting. Shifu was a suspect in several cyanide poisonings. It was supposed to be one of his favorite methods of killing. Dominick never expected to get this lucky, not this fast. But immediately he was suspicious. Why was Shifu asking him for cyanide? They'd just met. And why couldn't Shifu get it for himself? From all indications he'd never had any trouble getting it before. Was he really that desperate for the poison? And who did he plan to use it on?
''So can you get it for me, Dom?"
"Yeah, sure. I know a guy. I'm pretty sure he can get it. How much you need?"
"Not much. You don't need a whole lot of that stuff."
"A little dab, will do, huh?"
"Yup." Shifu tore off another piece of his cinnamon bun. "Tell you what, Dom. You see if you can get me that stuff, and in the meantime, I'll take ten of the white stuff off your hands."
"At what price?"
"What you told me. Thirty-one five."
"I thought you could get it for twenty-five."
"Yeah, I could maybe, but that guy's a jerk-off. He's not that careful about his business. I don't like people who aren't careful. You know what I'm saying?"
"Absolutely. Guys like that you don't need. They're fucking liabilities."
"Exactly."
Dominick signalled to the waitress that he wanted a refill. "Listen, Shifu. Maybe there's something you can help me with." He leaned closer to Shifu and lowered his voice. "I got a buyer who's looking for heavy steel. Not street stuff. Military grade. Machine guns, grenades, rocket launchers, that kind of stuff. Silencers, too. Small-calibre guns fitted with silencers."
"You're looking for hit kits."
"Right. Hit kits and heavy steel."
Shifu raised his eyebrows. "What's your buyer wanna do? Take over a country?"
Dominick glared at him. "Never mind about my buyer."
"Hey, don't get hot. I don't wanna know who your buyer is. I would never try to go around you and cut you out. I don't work that way."
"Good. So can you help me out here." Dominick was both relieved and grateful that Shifu hadn't been turned off by his quick temper. Shifu's question was out of line, and he'd realized that after he'd said it. Dominick's response was totally appropriate.
"Just tell me this, Dom. Does your buyer want this merchandise delivered, or would he be willing to pick it up.?"
"Gotta be delivered. To New York." Dominick already had a cover story prepared. He was buying for the Irish Republican Army, and his usual sources couldn't get him what his customer wanted in the quantity they needed. But he wasn't going to tell Shifu that right away. At this point it was none of Shifu's business.
"Hmm...." Shifu stroked his beard." Gotta be delivered to New York. That might make it a little hard."
"It won't be staying in New York. It's going somewhere else."
"But they can't pick it up? Say, in Delaware?"
Dominick shook his head. "They won't go for it. I know these people. It's gotta be delivered or there's no deal."
"They good customers?"
"The best. They pay top dollar, and they don't dick around. You get them what they want, and they pay on the line. No bullshit with these people."
"They sound like good customers."
"Like I said, the best. If you can get me the right kind of stuff—military stuff, I'm talking—you can make a lot of money off these people. We both can."
Shifu laughed. "Can't argue with that, brother."
"I can almost guarantee it. I'm not talking about small quantities here. This'll be a big order. Big." Dominick knew that the bait had to be enticing or Shifu wouldn't bite.
"Lemme just ask you this. These people from New York, your customers, they connected."
Dominick shook his head. "I buy for the wise guys now and then, too. But this is different. This has nothing to do with the families."
Shifu nodded, sucking his teeth. ''I think I can get what you want. I'll have to make a few calls to see what's around. I'll get back to you."
"Okay, fine. But don't take too long. They don't like to wait around, these people. They find a better deal, forget about it, they're gone."
"Don't worry. I'll get back to you as soon as I know something. Just tell me how I can get in touch with you."
Dom pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket and wrote down a phone number on a paper napkin. "Here. This is my beeper number. You put your number in the system, and I'll call you back in fifteen minutes."
"Great."
"Now, like I said, you come up with the right merchandise and we could make a lot of money with these people. Believe me."
"I believe you, Dom. But don't forget about those things I want."
"I won't forget. I got a good memory, Shifu. Ten of the white stuff and the rat poison."
''Pure, I need it pure."
"I gotcha. Shifu. Don't worry."
The waitress came over then, carrying a Pyrex pot of coffee. She refilled the mugs without asking.
"Thank you, sweetheart," Dominick said to her. "Hey, Shifu, you want another bun? Go ahead, I'm buying."
A slow grin spread under Shifu's mustache as he looked at Dominick. "Sure. Why not?"