"And tried to spook my stepfather in the process, only he lost your tail."

Winston laughed. "There were a couple of embarrassed agents over that, I'll tell you. The old man is something else. Then we played tag across the country chasing Byrne. He holed up in Ohio for a couple of weeks and but then in Kansas he got spooked some­one was on to him. He started changing his name as often as his shorts. I was looking over his shoulder for two weeks but then I lost him."

"But you found him again, in Colorado."

"I cannot tell a lie," he smiled. "And we had a nice little chat."

"Let me guess-you let him keep ten percent? Or did you kill him?"

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"God, Dean! You must think we're real bastards. He gets to keep half of it. The balance goes in a slush fund-to fix wind­shields of government cars that get smashed by trashcans-stuff like that."

"You really are a bastard, Jonathan. You know that?"

"You listen. I've got 21 indictments out of this mess so far and there's no end in sight. My sainted daddy used to say there are two things in life you don't want to see, sausage being made and laws being passed. Add indictments being constructed to the list."

"It stinks."

"Sure it does. No one said it was pretty but it's a war. Sometimes the good guys actually win one-like this time."

"And all this is officially sanctioned?"

"Don't give me that! We're 'officially' given a job to do and then the brass leaves the room while we discuss how to 'unofficial­ly' get it done. That's so the big boys can be 'officially' indignant if the shit hits the fan and we get caught."

"So playing by the rules doesn't count any more?"

"What rules? Do you think the other guys have any?" Winston asked angrily. "Since the Colombians and the family started feud­ing over that missing dough things have been happening. As long as each thought the other stole their lousy couple of a million the fur kept flying. I wasn't about to stop it."

"So you were just as happy to see Jeffrey Byrne get away with stealing it?"

"Why not? I'd have burned the damned money before I'd have let it get back on the street poisoning kids. Byrne was a simple skip case. They happen all the time. The only difference was the funding. Besides, what did he do? A good lawyer would say find­ers-keepers. He didn't steal the money-he found it-and aside from some name changing, it would be hell to prove he defrauded anyone. If he wants to leave his wife, it's a free country."




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