Free Sharky's Machine by William Diehl

in God’s name?’ he stammered.
    ‘My foot itches,’ Sharky said. ‘It’s driving me crazy.’
    Jaspers threw the paper in the wastebasket. He stood up and leaned across his desk. ‘Put that shoe on,’ he said. ‘Put it on and stand at attention.’
    Sharky put his boot back on and stood up.
    ‘I’ll tell you what’s going to happen, Sharky. As of eight A.M. today you are no longer attached to the narcotics section. As of eight A.M. you are in Vice.’
    Sharky looked at him in disbelief.
    ‘Vice!’
    ‘Vice. Report to Lieutenant Friscoe.’
    Sharky stared at him for several moments. He looked around the room, struggling to keep his own anger in check.
    Sir, will you please just look at my sheet?! think I deserve that much. Eighteen months on the street, eighteen collars, all hard drugs. I dumped eighteen goddamn pushers, one a month, and fourteen got the basket. The DA knows...’
    ‘Shut up.’
    ‘I beg your pardon?’
    ‘I said, “Shut up.”
    ‘Sure. Yes, sir. I’ll just, uh, yeah, keep my mouth shut, sit over there in public library watching the freaks jack off.’
    ‘Somebody has to do it. You think you’re too good for the Vice Squad, that it?’
    ‘I got eighteen months out there. That’s got to be worth something to Narcs. Even on a desk I can be a lot of help down there.’
    ‘You’re lucky I don’t send you over. I’ve busted better men than you for a lot less. I had the mayor on the phone half the night. The commissioner calling me at six-thirty in the morning. What kind of a nut is he? everybody asks. I’m giving you a break. I want you out of sight for a while. No more headlines. No more grandstanding.. Out of my sight. I don’t want to pick up the paper and see your shaggy.. . my God, look at you. When’s the last time you shaved? Had a haircut?’
    ‘You, uh, there aren’t a lot of dope deals on the make out there for guys in Brooks Brothers suits and Florsheims. Sir.’
    ‘Clean yourself up. Get a shave, a haircut, some decent clothes. Buy some decent socks, for God’s sake. Friscoe wants a man for something he’s got working and you’re it. I don’t know what it is, I don’t care. But I want you to understand one thing. Do you understand the term low profile?’
    ‘Sure. Of course. Yes.’
    ‘Sir.’
    ‘Sir.’
    ‘Fine. Because from now on the first order of business for you is to maintain a very, very, very low profile. L-o-w. Clear?’
    Sharky nodded.
    ‘Good. Now get out of here.’

Chapter Three
    It was noon when Domino headed across the windy plaza towards Mirror Towers. The cathedral clock began tolling the hour and as it did she shuddered unconsciously, it wasn’t the wind. Or the cold. it was something else, the reflection in the building of the street behind her perhaps. Or the chimes solemnly striking twelve.
    She shuddered again. What was it her mother used to say? Someone’s walking on your grave.
    She shrugged off the feeling and entered the building, walking through its wide, stark lobby to the private elevator in the corner. The security guard stood at leisurely attention. He smiled and touched the bill of his cap.
    ‘Hi, Eddie,’ she said brightly.
    ‘Miss Domino,’ he said. ‘How’s it going today?
    ‘Just great,’ she said as she stepped into the glass-and- copper bullet attached to the side of the building. Eddie unlocked the up button with a key and pushed it. Then he picked up a wall phone and pressed a button. ‘Miss Domino’s on her way up,’ he said.
    The doors of the elevator swished shut and it shot up the side of the building, stopping at the twentieth floor. Five miles away, the skyline of the city was a sparkling cluster in the haze.
    The elevator opened on a reception room that was almost as stark as the lobby, except that the two-storey ceiling was supported by a dozen Plexiglas pillars. The interior of each pillar was lit by a single spotlight recessed overhead. Within each was a single toy, and each of the toys was