Free Hollywood Tough (2002) by Stephen - Scully 03 Cannell Page A

together quick, because we're running out of time. The wedding is in less than two weeks."
    "Gee . . . yeah." He glanced over at her, hoping she wasn't going to bust him for that bullshit sentence. But she was still looking out at the calm waters of the canal. "Anyway, I was thinking of doing it this Thursday at our house. These streets are so damned narrow out front, parking will be a bitch, but maybe if it's in the afternoon while they're all at work, the neighbors won't complain."
    "You want, I'll go door to door and tell them," Shane offered, still feeling guilty.
    "Would you?" She reached out and took his hand. "I'm so happy for Nora. She's finally found someone who can take care of her, someone special who won't break her heart."
    "Mummmmph," Shane replied softly.
    Later, that evening, when they were going to bed, Shane found a slip of paper on his pillow with a phone number, and a note written in Chooch's hand that read:
    Amac says you can reach him at this number first thing tomorrow.

    Chapter 8.

AMERICAN MACADO

    Shane couldn't sleep. After almost an hour of tossing and turning, and one or two warnings from Alexa to stop moving, he got out of bed, grabbed his jeans, sweatshirt, and Chooch's note, then got another beer and went outside to sit again on one of the metal chairs in his tiny backyard. A half-moon shone through his large eucalyptus tree and lunar shadows from the fingerlike leaves danced in fan-shaped patterns on the grass around him. He inhaled the tree's pleasant, peppery scent. He couldn't do anything about Farrell until tomorrow, so he walked inside, picked up his cell phone in the living room, and dialed Amac, reading the number from Chooch's note. After two rings, a Hispanic voice was in his ear.
    "Quien habla?"
    "Is Amac around?" Shane asked.
    "Who d' fuck is dis?"
    "Tell him it's Shane Scully and I need to talk to him."
    "Momento," the man said, then put him on hold while Shane went into the kitchen, took another Amstel out of the fridge, opened it, then walked back outside and stood in his yard looking at the canal.
    "Scully, que traes to?" Amac's voice came over the phone after almost five minutes.
    "I'm fine, but I need to talk to you."
    "I got my hands full, ese . . . got my sevens around me now, tellin' me how I gotta do things."
    "Sevens" were gangsters, G being the seventh letter of the alphabet.
    "I need to talk. I'll do it any way you want. I'll go stand on a street corner like last time. You can blindfold me . . . however you want to do it."
    "Only way that's gonna happen is if you got some fourone-one to sell."
    "I'm not selling, I'm trading. It's gotta go both ways," Shane replied, angry because now he'd have to wake up Alexa and talk her out of some street intel he could trade with Amac. He knew the CRASH unit probably had picked up something Alexa could share with him.
    There was a pause, then American said, "Momentito," and Shane was on hold again. He stood looking at the canal until Amac came back on. "Okay, go out of your house and stand on the corner of Largo and Abbott Kinney. I'll pick you up."
    "When?" Shane asked.
    "An hour."
    "I'll be there." And then he was listening to a dial tone. Shane got his ankle gun out of the locked desk drawer in the living room and strapped it on. He was pretty sure it wouldn't make it past the "cuete inspection," but it was worth a try.
    He went into the kitchen and fixed something to eat, dreading having to wake Alexa and fill her in; knowing she would be pissed when she found out what he was planning to do. He finished off a piece of leftover steak, drained his beer, and was just putting the bottle into the trash when he became aware that someone else was in the kitchen. He spun around and caught Alexa standing in the doorway. She had put on her robe and had her arms wrapped tightly around her.
    "I woke up. You weren't in bed," she said.
    "Couldn't sleep."
    "What're you doing?"
    "Gonna go see American. I just talked to him." "Alone?" She seemed