Free Black Gangster by Donald Goines

were."
    "Well," Gazier growled, "that's a hell of a lot of help."
    Mahoney asked, "You think the old guy might be able to identify any of these punks?"
    "He says be believes he can identify the three big guys if he ever sees them again."
    Morales, standing silently on the side, came alive at this news. "Just where is this old guy you keep referring to, and who is he?"
    The officer blushed before stammering a reply. "I'm sorry, sir, the gentleman's name is Anthony Gazura, and he resides at 10995 Twenty-eighth, near Jefferson Avenue."

    "Where is he now?" Gazier asked harshly.
    "Why, we dropped him off at his house since he didn't have any more information."
    "Were there many people watching when he accosted you on the street with this information?" Morales asked.
    "No, it appeared to me as if everyone was afraid and was staying off the streets. There were only about six or seven young kids playing on the whole block, and the rest of the street was completely deserted."
    Morales reflected for a moment. "Doesn't it strike you as being kind of queer that, if the parents were staying off the street, they would make their kids come in too?" Something kept nagging at his subconscious.
    "What if the kids were from another neighborhood?" the captain said slowly.
    Officer Daniels laughed. "These kids were only ten or eleven, maybe thirteen at the most. Hell, I could see them damn good; they were playing right around the car."
    "What!" exclaimed Morales. "You mean to say one of those kids might have overhead what that old guy was saying to you?" It had come to him like a flash. The rumors he had been hearing about the consolidation of the various gangs in the city under the rule of one leader.
    "I don't...."
    Captain Mahoney interrupted the officer's reply, yelling into the intercom, "Casey, send out a call for the nearest car to pick up Anthony Gazura, at 10995 Twenty-eighth." He glanced at his pad. "It's near Jefferson Avenue."

    "Have him send out a citywide pickup for any punks wearing leather jackets with an `R' on the back," Morales said, then added, "believed to be members of a gang called the `Rulers."'
    Mahoney wheeled around and pointed his finger at Gazier. "You get the hell off your rump and get over to the north side and raid the clubhouse of the Rulers. Don't come back without any arrests. You," he added, pointing at the officer, "you go with him and the boys; I'll fix it up with your sergeant." He turned to Morales, "I got a lot to talk to you about, so make yourself comfortable."
    As soon as the door closed behind the department men, Morales asked quietly, "Do you think these kids are that organized, Captain?"
    "I don't know, Jim," Mahoney answered. Now that the two men were alone, they spoke to each other with an intimacy born of long association. "I just hope we can get to these punks before there's some more needless killing."
    In another part of town a police car pulled up in front of a gray building. "Well, this is the address," the driver said, nodding towards the storefront with curtains over the windows. "They try to make it look a little like a home, anyway," he said.
    "Keep the motor running, Al, it shouldn't take but a few seconds to pick the old guy up," the Negro officer said to his white partner as he got out of the car.

    Two young men standing in the shadows cursed quietly. "Looks like we got to the set a little late," Tony said, watching the policeman walk up to the front door.
    Racehorse turned and stared at Tony. "Dig, poison," he said, "Prince said he wants this cat blowed before God can get the news, man. If you dig it for what it means, baby, too soon won't be soon enough."
    Tony laughed unpleasantly. "Well, let's get it over with then, because like you say," he repeated emphatically, "too soon won't be soon enough."
    The two men stepped out of the darkness and split up.
    The officer called Al turned and glanced at the young Negro speaking to him through the car window. "I don't think there's any