"Ralphy! Surprise, surprise! Does this visit mean good news?" Donald stepped back from the door and waved Ralph into his apartment. Before he could close it, Orly barged in, his gun once again in the horizontal position of a gangbanger. "What's this, Morrison?" Donald's voice hardened suddenly and his eyes became dangerous slits.

"This is gonna be payback for this, Carver." Ralph indicated his battered face. "And a little extra for tryin' to cut me out."

"Cut you outta what? This better be good." He shot Orly a dangerous look and the gun bobbed up and down shakily.

"I found the guy that picked up the package." Ralph watched for a reaction and got none. "Not surprised?"

"Only that you were able to do something right for a change." Orly stepped closer, still waving the gun.

"Too cool, Carver. I got a very disquieting story outta the guy. Wanna hear it?"

"Gee, Ralph, why don't you get on with it, the suspense is killing me."

"Wrong choice of words, asshole." Orly jerked the gun closer.

"What did he say? What the hell are you guys made up for anyway?"

"Never mind that and never mind what he said, it's all garbled anyway. The guy said you found him first and took the money, Donald."

"Bullshit!"

"Yeah? How come he knew your name?"

"He impersonated me you dunce."

Ralph gritted his teeth. "Okay then, how did you know where he was?"

"Did that punching I gave you scramble what little you had growing up there? I don't know where he is. You know where he is not me. Maybe you took the money."

"Oh right, and then I came here and did this bit."

"Like a stupid move on your part would be out of the question." Carver spat, and grimaced at Orly who stepped back. "Listen, I've got a little tale of my own. A broad named Jessica came to see me, sound familiar Ralphy? She told me that this bumpkin forced her into getting the package and that she used this guy you just found to make the pickup."

"That's a loada crap!" Orly pushed the gun closer and began a little tap dance.

"Yeah? I heard that okay. She also says you threatened to tell old Ralphy here that she was bangin' his brother if she didn't."

Ralph turned a deep purple under the plaster bandage across his face and gawked at Orly, dumfounded.

"Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!" Orly screamed, his eyes darting to Ralph and pleading.

"She also said you went to see the guy, had a fight," Donald indicated Orly's face, "and left with the money."

"You- you say Jessica was bangin' my brother?" Ralph was turning a bright red now.

"Ralph, we were both just there. Don't you think the guy might have given me up if it was me?"

"What did he say?"

Ralph stopped and stood quivering on the spot. Orly had a point. "He says your story's crap and I believe him."

"You take this queer's word over mine? What about your brother?"

Ralph's arm shot out and held Orly at bay. "I'll deal with my brother another time. And Orly's orientation is not up for discussion."

Donald smirked and waved a finger between the two of them. "More than just boss employee, eh?"

The three men stood staring at one another, Orly jiggling nervously from foot to foot, Ralph trying to puzzle out what to do and Donald waiting for an opportunity to ram the gun up Orly's broken nose and beat Ralph senseless.

"Now what?"

"Well if you're all through playing tough guy, you and this bent black and white barber pole here, I suggest we all pay a visit to this Mike guy-"

"Jeff."

"Huh?"

"His name is Jeff Bowen."

"Okay, Jeff it is. Let's see what old Jeff has to say to all of us. It kinda looks like your girl and her new friend have entered our deal and tried to screw both of us."

Ralph started to go but Orly was frozen to the spot, eyes blazing through his peephole and gun waving in Carver's face.

"Put that away and let's go."

"You hear what he called me?"

"What? Speak clearly for Christ's sake."

Orly repeated his statement with an icy calm.

"Yeah. So?"

"So! So! That's all you say when a guy insults your pal?"

"Orly, speak up or shut up and get a life, okay. We've got more important business at the moment than your feelings."

Ralph went past and out the door followed by Carver who purposely pulled the door closed before Orly was all the way out, catching the side of his throbbing head.

"That's it, you bastard!" The gun came up and continued its rise as Carver clamped a hand around his wrist and forced the weapon right into the base of the broken nose. Orly screamed and collapsed on the hall floor.

"Jesus, Carver. Was that necessary?"

Donald stepped over the body and jogged down the stairs. "Let's go, Morrison, he'll come around sooner or later."

********

Jeff saw the car come down the street and glide to a stop in front of his neighbours. He watched the two men get out and look up at his door. He recognized Donald Carver and knew that since Ralph Morrison was with him, his story hadn't washed. He darted back to his bedroom, tossed some things into a carry bag and slipped out his kitchen window and down to the roof of the garage, onto the ground, through the backyard and out to the next street.

Carver kicked the door open and the two men charged into the house, racing through the empty rooms.

"I thought you left him tied up."

"We did."

"Maybe your girlfriend came by and now they're both in the wind."

Ralph walked to the answering machine and pressed play. They stood silently listening to Jessica's message about visiting Carver and how she thought he bought the bit about Orly and then she said she'd see him later.

"Guess that answers your question about Orly."

"It answers a lot of questions. Where does this broad live?"

Jeff stood in the doorway of the convenience store watching the car in front of his house and when the two men hurried out, he waved to the cab he'd stopped a few minutes earlier. When the car turned onto the main street, Jeff was close behind in the taxi. He knew he was acting crazy, getting mixed up with gangsters and larcenous women but he felt a responsibility to Jessica to see that she didn't get hurt and he was positive that the two men ahead of him had exactly that in mind.

******

Orly staggered out of the clinic, his head now completely wrapped with two peepholes for his eyes and a slash for his mouth. Two small tubes, taped in position, protruded down from where his nostrils would be, allowing him to breath. A mother gathered her small child up and ran for a restaurant to escape the monster stumbling down the sidewalk toward her.

Orly waved at several passing taxis before one stopped and he managed to mumble out Jeff's address. On the way he saw Ralph's car heading the opposite direction and he frantically explained with flapping hands, to turn around and follow the car he pointed out. He was going to maim Carver, more than maim him; he was going to leave him a vegetable.