"My man." "Ain't but $290 here." "Goddamn it, Frog, when you work a g-pack for a guy... a kickback's supposed to be $500." "Stash got hit, yo." "I ain't hearing that shit!" "I want my fucking money!" "You'd best know I ain't playing, motherfucker." "Okay, that's how you want it?" "Fine!" "But when I roll back past here tomorrow, money gonna be right, or you gonna see." "You gonna see who you're fucking with!" "Do I look like a fucking punk?" "Yo, shorty." "Get me a Snapple and a bag of crab chips from the corner." "What the fuck is your problem, asshole?" "Fuck, this is bad shit!" "Fuck, this is really bad." "Shit." "Get your ass out that car." "All right!" "Shut up." "Where the money at?" "Check his socks." "You got something for me here, Zig?" "You got some dough for me, man?" "Jesus, jackpot." "Man, hold up, man." "Ain't enough here to really call this shit money, man." "Cheese, take it easy, I'm working on it." "But my people, you know..." "What the fuck you think this is, man?" "What, you think this supposed to get played some other way?" "Is that what you think, man?" "Damn it, son of a bitch, that hurt." "Yeah, I know it did." "All right, look, how about the coat?" "Take the coat, all right?" "I paid two large for it... so that, plus the cash I gave you... and then I can get $700 more by the end of the week." "You know I will!" "You know right there, you can fix that." "$2,000?" "For this?" "Not even a black man could style that shit." "You know what I'm saying, man?" "What you laughing at, man?" "Chill, be cool about it." "I'll get your money by Friday." "Then you'll see there's no need to get all fucking dramatic out here!" "Look, man, if I ain't paid by Friday, you dead by Saturday, man." "Yo, take my man's ride." "Fuck, I need that!" "I fucking need that!" "Fuck you!" "Why me?" "You don't want the posting, I'll take someone else." "Valchek gave me the pick of his district." "I'm not saying I don't want it." "I'm asking why you would choose me after what happened last go around." "Yeah, I thought about that, too." "Looking at the list of names on the southeastern roster..." "I'm saying to myself:" ""Why take a man who already burned you once..." ""who already proved himself disloyal?"" "Now, why would I do that?" "I have no fucking clue, Lieutenant." "Because if I caught him once... he might be the last son of a bitch to try it twice." "I'm guessing you got enough shame from the last time... so that it won't happen again." "No, sir, it won't." "One other thing... as far as I'm concerned, those stripes on your sleeve aren't earned." "Your paycheck may say "sergeant," but on this detail..." "Det." "Greggs runs your team." "Same as it ever was." "Well?" "I'm in." "Come here, you sweet bitch." "Motherfu " "Don't be grabbing my dick, faggot." "I raised him on the radio." "He's on his way in right now." "Appreciate that, Officer." "Nice day." "Summit Silver 450." "Top of the line, right here." "Over there?" "Yo, Bubs." "McNulty, the sailor man?" "Watch the front." "Here." "Stick that on that thing there, will you?" "The cleat?" "Ain't you know nothing?" "Look at you, I don't know, maybe it's just me... but something's way the fuck wrong with this picture." "What the hell is that?" "A Baltimore knot." "What the hell is a Baltimore knot?" "I don't know, but it's never the same thing twice." "What can I tell you?" "My detecting days are over." "What the fuck you have me hunt up Omar then for?" "That's old business." "You remember Bird?" "His trial's up next week." "Omar's got some witnessing to do." "He said you can reach him here at this number." "You can leave a message." "Good work, Bubs." "As always." "Here." "Cab fare." "You say tit-for-tat, and we let slide on a little county caper." "I got to think that, you know, you need to think about... what you had me endeavoring to accomplish." "I mean, what the fuck, man?" "I'm not out there asking about no random-ass, who-give-a-damn nigger." "No, sir." "I'm making inquiries in your behalf... in regards to that fucking unforgiving, motherfucking Omar, man." "Why?" "He play you hard?" "I go at him respectable... he put that goddamn shotgun in my face, man." "I'm looking at two tubes of the harbor tunnel... staring right at me, each one about yea-big." "I damn near pissed in my pants... and he stood smiling like this shit is funny." "It ain't funny." "McNulty, I know I'm paying taxes on some things..." "I got to believe this is more aggregation than:" ""Good work, bubs, " and a little bit of this." "For your pains." "Where are we at with the Jane Does?" "Taking a hard look at the port, we're gonna drop a grand jury summons... on every stevedore who worked the ship, keep rattling cages." "How's the port police broad working out for us?" "She knows the docks okay." "No detective, though." "In that case, you need someone fresh." "Cole, maybe, Massy or whoever's up." "You need to get over to the southeastern today." "You're detailed temporarily." "Colonel, respectfully, did you just fuck me over... without giving me even half a chance to clear this case?" "Let's be clear, Det." "Freamon." "When I fuck you over, you'll know it." "You'll be so goddamn certain, you won't need to ask the question." "And you, Det." "Moreland, are now all alone with 14 red names." "How's it feel?" "And the parking pad in the rear is invaluable for Federal Hill." "The deck has a harbor view?" "Yes, in two directions." "Go on up, take a look." "I think you'll love it." " This ain't Federal Hill." " Excuse me?" "This is the Point, Locust Point." "As far as real estate goes, anything that is below Montgomery Street... and above the water is now called Federal Hill." "Are you two house hunting?" "We just started." "If you're interested in this area, I could run some listings for you." " This particular house " " Is my aunt Treesey's." "Really, your aunt?" "Is she a relation to the McDonalds?" "Nope." "She's a relation to me." "She died, like, four years ago." "The family sold the house right after." "Is that the price?" "That's the listing, yes." "They ain't gonna get that much, right?" "I can't say for certain, but one just like it... in the 1200 block sold for $340,000 last week." "$340,000?" " Thanks." " Yeah." "Maybe we should rent." "We're here because Valchek wants us here... because he believes this man and his down-at-the-heels union local... has too much money." "To start with, you and Freamon are gonna put some DNRs... on the union hall phones." "Also, run what you can on the union finances and on Sobotka personally." "We put that together, copy it to the major to show him we're on it... and buy ourselves a little time." "Meanwhile, you three, do what you do best." "Find out where port folks like to cop on a Friday night... set up some hand-to-hands, maybe a reverse or two." "A lot of these port guys are white, aren't they?" "I mean, some of the southeast street dealers, too." "So that means you're gonna need a white boy... to go down to some of these southeastern corners, right?" "So Kima, Carv on the rooftops." "It's my time to front." "I'll show you how it's done, homes." "Cool Lester smooth." "What's happening?" "Same fuck-ups in the same shit detail... working out of the same shithouse kind of office." "You people lack for personal growth, you know that?" "It's a temporary posting." "Rawls gets you back at the end of the run." "If he wants me." "Last I looked, I was high on his shit list." " Then we did you a favor." " I wouldn't go that far." "But fuck it." "Who we chasing?" "Frank Sobotka?" " How fucking good is he?" " You know the man?" "Me and Bunk Moreland were fucking with this guy last week... working that case about dead girls in the container." "He a suspect?" "No, just someone who know what's getting done on the port terminals." " Why are you on him?" " My father-in-law hates his guts." "Which, in the southeastern, goes for probable cause." "Valchek thinks he has too much cash." "So you're thinking drugs?" "In this fucking town, what other crime is there?" "You know I would've been down here sooner, it's just... with Terrell being sick and all..." "But, Dee, I got everything we need paid for." "When you come home, Stringer's saying they gonna hook you up... with something out of the mix." "Like running a club, or straight business, like." "String say they gonna keep you apart from it... and give back some time for family." "For you and me and Terrell." "Family?" "They thinking about how they can do for you." "They making all these plans... even though you been playing cold with your uncle." "Stringer says so, anyhow." "Why you be like that?" "Throwing them off when they looking to do for you?" "They playing you with that "We're family, and it's all about love."" "That's how they do." "When they got no more use for you, that family shit disappears." "It's just about business, Donette." "Dee, they gonna be there for us." "What's up, man?" "You got that Death Grip." " You know Stony got that check." " Slow down, fool." "I'm saying you need to spend that shit here." " Death Grip be the fucking bomb, yo." " I ain't got no ends." "Motherfucker said it ain't shit." "No, I ain't say that." "That's enough, yo, let that shit be." " Fuck you all." " Yeah, motherfucker?" "Yo, B." "Shit jumping off in the Pit, yo." "Damn." "What the fuck was that?" "Fiend badmouthing our shit, saying Death Grip ain't all that." "Now we're beating niggers over speaking the truth?" "I ain't hit him, the young'uns, yo." "You can't tell these fools nothing." "We stomping niggers over bullshit, man." "Somebody got to pull Stringer up on this." "Zig, what's up?" "Jesus, Zig, what the fuck happened?" "Fucking niggers got me." "What?" "Took my money, and they got Princess, too." "You hear me?" "They got my fucking car." "If I had a gun, I swear to God..." "I would've capped every one of those motherfuckers." " You call the cops?" " Can't." "It was over some dope." "You bought a fucking package, didn't you?" "Serves you right, you stupid fuck." "From who?" "White Mike?" "This nigger Cheese, up on Wolfe and Ashland." " A few ounces, you know?" " Why not White Mike?" "Fuck Mike, you know how he be." "Why the fuck would I know how he be?" "Nicky, it ain't my fault, all right?" "It ain't." "Look, business has been slow, package ain't turned around yet." "But the fucking hoodleheads ain't hearing it, so I get jumped." "They got Princess, man." "They're holding her for fucking ransom." "And now they're telling me... if I don't have the money by Friday, they're going to kill me." "I need $2,700." "So?" "You're a drug dealer, go sell some fucking drugs." "You fucked up the package, didn't you, Zig?" "I ain't giving you the money." "They're gonna kill me." "I gave my money to Aimee for an apartment." "Security deposit and some furniture over at Littlepages." "I ain't got it for you, Zig." "You cocksuckers." " Major in?" " Yeah, just knock." "Yeah?" "We're about to make some hand-to-hands around the port." "Lt. Daniels said I should see you about a surveillance van." "The van?" "The van's on loan to the southwest." "Okay." "Fuck with my ass, will you?" "Bringing us back to our old friends, supply and demand." "All right, your research papers are here." "Remember Friday, take-home test." "Well done, Mr. Bell." " Mr. Lucas, you got five minutes?" " Absolutely." "There's something maybe you can help me out with." "I'll try." "What are the options when you got an inferior product... in an aggressive marketplace?" "If you have a large share of the market, you can buy up the competition." "And if you don't?" "Reduce price to increase market share." "That assumes low overhead." "Of course, otherwise, you operate at a loss... and worse, as your prices drop... your product eventually loses consumer credibility." "You know, the new CEO of WorldCom was faced with this very problem." "The company was linked to one of the largest fraud cases in history." " So he proposed " " To change the name?" "Exactly." "Which one?" "He's got a weenie in his hand." "On this case, ain't that you?" "Thomas Pakusa, come on down." "What the fuck is that?" "Grand jury summons." "Grand jury?" "You lie to us, you hurt our feelings." "You lie to them, it's perjury." "And one more I just dropped on your barbecue chef outside." "You used to be a lot more fun, you know that, Bea?" "That's John Spamanato right there." "Johnny Fifty." "How you doing, Officer?" "Johnny Fifty?" "What the fuck is that?" "Son of a bitch drinks 53 beers on his 25th birthday." "So as to be, what do you call it, poetical, we rounded it off." ""Grand jury for the circuit court of Baltimore City."" "You worked the Atlantic Light, right?" "Everybody on that ship testifies." "About what?" "About them girls in the can." "The detective here thinks we know something about that mess." "He thinks we'd leave them there on the dock... in a box, dying there in the dark because..." "Because why, Detective?" "What reason would we have to want girls to die like that?" "Why would any of us leave them in there if we knew anything about it?" "I got a wife and three sisters." "And they got daughters." "And I got too much respect for women not to be pissed off... at what's in your heads right now." "Of all the cans on the terminal, that's the one you lose in the stacks." "We didn't know shit, goddamn it!" "You want us to dance with a grand jury, we will!" "What do you say, Johnny?" "What do you say to any question?" "I take the fifth commandment." "And if they offer you immunity to testify against your union brothers?" " I don't remember." " Don't remember what?" "Nothing." "What you're forgetting is that every I.B.S. local on the East Coast... has had its ass in front of a federal grand jury two or three times already." "You want to throw your summonses?" "Throw them." "You want to subpoena our records?" "You don't need a subpoena no more." "Our books were open to the Justice Department for eight years." "We're here through Bobby Kennedy, Tricky Dick Nixon..." "Ronnie "The Union Buster" Reagan, and half a dozen other sons of bitches." "We'll be here through your weak bullshit, no problem!" "These four ain't working today." "You wanna leave the papers here..." "I'll make sure they get them and go downtown on them." "Come on." " Today?" " Now!" "You described the weapon used to kill Mr. Gant... as a .380 semi-automatic." "You provided the size, and even suggested the manufacturer:" ""Australian, or one of those 'A' countries."" "Is that correct?" "Indeed." "And you were approximately 50 feet from the shooter?" "Yes, ma'am, you know, give or take." "Mr. Little, at that distance how were you able to determine... who manufactured the weapon?" "I wasn't." "Then how were you able to relate that information... to the detectives?" "Bird showed it to me." "He showed you the weapon before the murder?" "Which murder we talking?" "Bird committed more than one murder?" "Fish got to swim, you know what I'm saying?" "Like I said before, Bird was showing that thing to everybody... talking about this deed and the next." "I didn't pay him no mind until you all came and showed him some interest." "Mr. Little, if you wouldn't mind waiting outside..." "I'd like a few words with Officer McNulty." "I thought he did good." "Imagine the mileage Maury Levy gets out of me... putting that sociopath on the stand." "You got to admit, it'll be different." "Dress him up at least." "I can't have him on the stand looking like that." "Here's a voucher for court clothes." "Anything with a tie." "I'm saying, Dirt... you wanna be my nigger, you got to be with me for real." "You see what I'm saying, yo?" "Well, I'll be." "All the time I be telling you, be on post." "But damn, homes, you all the time up in some damn crib... trying to play house with them bitches." "I'm saying, you all be seriously fucked up because I'm out here... getting done what needs done." "Feel me, nigga?" "Thieving motherfuckers take everything, don't they?" "You know what I'm saying, Dirt." "You wanna be my nigger, you gots to deliver for real." "How'd we do, Charlie?" "I've almost got one of them ready to swear that the docks are actually near the water." "They don't scare, them guys." "What now?" "You telling me you never had a CI down there, right?" "A CI?" "An informant." "You ain't got no informants on the dock?" "Someone you could go to on this?" "Someone you got a history with?" "They say a police is only as good as his informants." "Meaning, we ain't about much." "The voucher says $150." "Look on the clearance rack." " It's a look." " No, it ain't." "You figure it out for yourself." "I'm going across the street to the federal building." "I'll see you in about a half-hour." "Look, man, if I ain't here, I'm round the way on Howard Street, Liddell's." "Either that, or I'll be with Muffy at the club." "Where's he at?" "Said he had to go get his props." "12-08." "12-08." "Request lateral with 12-10." "KGA, he can meet me on 6." "Do you copy, 12-08?" "10-4, on 6." "Yo, dickhead, where you been at?" "When you're working deep cover, Carv, you got to get into the part." "What's up?" "You need a little help?" "Maybe, bro." "You got any raw up in here?" " You got it to spend?" " For sure." "All right, then we good." "Go and holler at my niggers round back." "Yo, Carv." "You copy this?" "It's all in the props, baby." "All in the props." "Feel any different?" "Me neither." " Special Agent Cleary." " Jim McNulty, from the city." "How can I help you?" "Found floating off the Key Bridge." "We think she's linked to the dead girls found in the container at Patapsco." "Your people were just here, asking for a trace on the can." " Homicide fellows." " Black guys, Moreland, Freamon?" " Yeah, you working with them?" " Sort of, I fished her out." "I kind of feel like it's on me to find her people." "You're kidding, right?" "No, I thought maybe if you guys have, you know... been pulling in any women who've been over here on the circuit." "Step into my world, Virginia." "A grand jury?" "They snatched up some of our guys, drove them downtown." "But you know nothing." "Yeah, no shit, we know nothing." "The only guy they got that even knows you had a can that day was Horse... and he ain't gonna say shit to nobody." "You sure?" "Horse is a rock." "Don't ever worry about him." "My uncle neither." "But you say he wants to stop." "Yeah, for a little while." "He wants you to stop moving cans through our docks... at least until this shit chills." "These were local police, right?" "Yeah." "Their interest is in the girls." "That happened on the ship, the ship is gone." "A dead end." "The malaka they want, we already got to in Philly." "Another dead end." "The police are going nowhere." "But, more important, we address Frank's concerns." "You tell your uncle I will meet with him." "He says he wants to meet with the Greek." "Anything he can say to the Greek, he can say to me." "Says he wants the Greek." "Says you tell him when and where." "Niko." "About that other business, the chemicals..." "What do you need them for?" "It's just business." "Everything is just business with us." "Buy for a nickel, you sell for a dime." "Yeah?" "Who wants a dime's worth of fucking chemicals?" "So these are undocumenteds from just this field office?" "Maryland and Delaware only." "Any of them still in your custody?" "I'd love the chance to show some photos, maybe get lucky." "Everyone in that book was deported." "You can guess, some of them are already back." "Any field office have anything active?" "That's what I'm looking at right here." "You got some girls in custody in San Diego, also Seattle." "Anything I can drive to?" "Closest is a case up in Jersey, Hudson County." "Raid on a couple clubs up there put 12 in their bullpen four days ago." "That'll work." "So you really gonna go up there on your own time?" "I'll take a day, yeah." "What's between you and this girl?" "You seen what happens down at the morgue, when they can't ID a body?" "I have." "Mau." "How you been?" " Same old." " Yeah?" "You getting some days?" "Pretty much." "I'm in the tower now, working the lanes." "You want to come in?" "I got, I don't know, some beers, maybe some Bacardi around." "Maybe we could just go for a cup of coffee and talk, you know?" "Let me get my jacket." "So I tell him, "Dee, why you acting like that?"" "He just sit there like I didn't say a damn thing." "He off the damn hook." "You tell him about the plans, right?" "I told him you all was gonna set him up and everything." "And he know how you all been doing for me while he away." "He knows some." "I mean, damn, he don't need to know about it all, right?" "Anyway, I'm saying I'll get down there next weekend... and he look at me like I ain't saying shit." "He say just leave him alone." "Got to turn that roast." "You gonna see, String, for real." "Little Donette know how to burn." "Your father bucking us, little man." "What you think about that?" "Yeah." "I think you're right." "What you looking at?" "Fucking Ziggy, man." "I'm about to get my ass shot behind his bullshit?" "We're reasonable, they're reasonable." "Fuck that, maybe on your side of town." "What's up?" "Came to see a man about a car." "Maybe tell Cheese we're here." "Yo, Cheese." "White boy." "Yo, you got my money, man?" "That's what we came to talk about." "Yo, you got to a lot of heart... coming up in here without my fucking money." "We thought maybe we can work something out... so you can get what's yours." "How you plan to do that?" "You give the car back, I'll get him to sell it off." "Camaro with a 350 in it, it's got to be worth more than $3,000." "That's right clever." "Right clever, I got to say." "And I appreciate you all coming all this way so much..." "I'll give the boy another week to pay." "Of course, that ride ain't worth nothing near $3,000." "You don't believe me?" "Have a look." "You show up at my door, I'm thinking better thoughts than this." "And you counted on that?" "Who else am I gonna ask?" "I ain't no snitch, Beadie." "Not even for you am I a snitch." "I'm not thinking about it like that." "I'm thinking, here's a guy, and we had some times together... and even though, you know, it didn't get to where he might have wanted it... he's still a good guy... someone I can talk to about this." "How come it didn't go nowhere?" "You did good." "Who knows?" "I don't know, you never know." "I could show you pictures of how they died." "Broken fingernails, blood on the walls." "All of a sudden, you're a cop." "Help me with this, Mau." "You didn't get shit from grabbing up Horseface and them, did you?" "It's kind of funny when you think about it." "I mean, you running around like your head's all chopped off... looking for someone to clue you in... when a lot of what you're asking about... is right there for the taking." "How so?" "Used to be us checkers did everything with paper and a pencil, right?" "Every move on a ship, we wrote it down." "When that ship sails, and there ain't no problems... then that paper gets tossed." "That don't happen today, right?" "Nothing gets tossed anymore." "The computer." "Thanks, Mau." "Well?" "Good news and bad, Zig." "Those fucking niggers." "Give me the bad." "They're still gonna kill you." "They're gonna wait a week." "What the fuck can be good?" "You can cancel your car insurance." "Let me get two red tops." "There we go." "I hope you guys are taking notes." "Shit." "One-and-one." "One more time with that toothpick, I'm going to stab his eye with it." "Ashamed he should be to be Greek and call this a diner." "A talk would ease his mind." "Ease my mind first." "This business with the grand jury." "We checked the courthouse." "There is nothing special." "Just the regular panels." "They're trying to scare the men on the docks." " And?" " Nobody talks." "But Sobotka, as I said, he's upset." "It is more attention than he expected." "He will need money for his lawyers." "Double his fee." "But I don't need to meet with him." "Let the money talk." "Everything we get from Atlanta been walked on." "Each one weaker than the other." "And this nigger Roberto is on the shelf to us right now." "I mean, it's getting hard to hold onto the Towers... without our name all over the product is what I'm saying." "Who got the good shit?" "Eastside." "Eastside, who?" "This nigger Milton got a small cut, Prop Joe... this Jamaican cat who got the strip off Gay Street." "You talking about Petey, Petey Dixon." "You go over to the expressway at lunchtime... you can watch the fiends traveling from west to east." "Damn!" "I mean, I'm cutting shit with shit right now, trying to cheat, but sooner or later." "I hear you, man, I'm on it." "You working it out with Dee?" "Boy got to find his own way." "I'm saying, you know..." "I think we should keep reaching out to this kid." "Give something to him and his girl." "I don't know, show them we got a plan." "Take some real estate, put it in Dee's name." "He has something to come home to." "Do it." "Thing is, String, what happened happened, you know what I mean?" "Push come to shove, I've been fair to him, ain't I?" "You've been fair." "Too fair." " Where's the Greek?" " He sent me." "Fuck you, and fuck him." "Frank, he sent me to tell you that we're doubling your fee... to help with any legal troubles." "He also told me to tell you he regrets... that you're still having problems on our behalf." "They're throwing my people in back of police cars... and this asshole can't even talk face to face?" "I'm done." "I'm out." "I need nothing more to do with you people." "I don't need the trouble or the money." "I got a union to run." "They used to make steel there, no?" "Smoke from the stacks." "But inside..." "Potassium permanganate." "Spell "permanganate."" "F-U-C-K." "You even know what the fuck you're doing there, Zig?" "I'm in the checker's local, right?" "You know, while you Local 47 boys... were having bulk cargo dropped on your heads... we was out grabbing the future by the balls." "So you just type that shit in there and ask it for an answer?" "Let me ask you:" "Why do we give a fuck what the shit is for?" "If they want it, they want it." "I mean, besides, if I don't get some money soon..." "I'm fucking toasted." "I don't know who you've been talking to... but we don't have that kind of stealing going on down here." " It's not like the old days." " No?" "A little here and there, but for the most part... the new technology has changed everything." "Look, see this little box right here?" "You fucking mind?" "Ring's a little stressed right now... having misplaced a frozen can full of Japanese tuna steaks... supposed to be at the Jessup wholesale market by yesterday." "Bite me." " Frank, these officers are " " I know who they are." "Frank here helped set this system up." "He probably can explain it better than I can, if he doesn't mind." "No problem, chief." "In a nutshell, what this shows... is the Aqua Verde at Berth 4." "The plan calls for 85 moves." "That's cans, containers, coming off the ship, and others going back on." "Now, look at the screen." "Every time a can goes on or off, the computer creates a record... and puts it in the permanent database." "He was saying the computer makes it hard to steal off the docks." "Did our port manager tell you that right now... we got 160 boxes missing off the Patapsco terminal alone?" "Or that last time we inventoried the truck chassis... we came up 300 light?" "No, I suppose not." "That's management for you." "160?" "Not that all of them are stolen." "You can lose a can by accident, no problem." "For one thing, these hand-helds use radio waves." "With all the equipment and container stacks out there... sometimes waves get knocked down." "That happens, a can don't get entered." "Or, just as easy, a checker makes the wrong entry." "Either 'cause he's lazy, he's sloppy, or he's still shitfaced from the night before." "Or, simpler than that, you got fat fingers." "No offense." "So imagine February on the docks." "You're wearing Gortex gloves, trying to punch numbers on that thing." "You're saying that's what happened to the can... with the girls in it?" "Beadie, darling, I don't know what happened there." "I'm just saying, if you go by the computer... it might look like there's some dirt going down... when it's really just a glitch in the system." "The customs seal was broke on that box." "Shouldn't that get noticed?" "You're offloading a ship the size of a small town." "You might notice a broke seal, you might not." "Look, you wanna keep pulling our chain, you can." "But it ain't like it's just that one box that went missing." "We lose them sons of bitches all the time." " Frank give you everything you need?" " He did, thanks." "They're playing us." "You drove all the way from Baltimore on a hope and a prayer?" "Yeah, I'm dead-ended on this." "Is there anything we can offer any of them for cooperation?" "You could marry one of them, make her an American housewife." "Short of that, they're going back the fuck where they came from." " Where do you hold them?" " County detention." "We keep the undocumenteds out of gen pop." "You all heard of WorldCom?" "All right, let's try this." "You all get jacked by some knockos." "But you all clean." "You all got an outstanding warrant, like everybody in here." "What do you do?" "Give another name." "Why?" "Because your real name ain't no good." "All right, it ain't good and..." "Follow through." "All right, Death Grip ain't shit?" "Then change up the name." "What else?" "Yo, I got it, change the caps from red to blue, right?" "Make it look like we got some fresh shit, boom." "You know what else we might could do?" "Give each tower its own name, right?" "And then we do, like, some fake competing." "So, a fiend gets some bad shit from one, he'd go back to the other." "There's a thinking man, right there." "See, nigger, ain't that what the fuck I just said?" "You and my uncle talk?" "How'd it go?" "No problem." "Three boxes." "All of them on the Wilhelmina." "And you should tell your uncle... that it's three times the usual fee for each." "We checked on those chemicals." "We looked into that." "I was worried, you know?" "Before I deliver, I wanna know what you need it for." "A bomb or some shit?" "I ain't down for that." "You use that shit to process drugs, don't you?" "Cocaine." "You still want it, I got it on the Fairfield piers." "No problem." "When?" "End of the week." "Maryska." "She's good with English." "They're dead." "All I'm trying to do is get word to the families." "What did she say?" "She wants to know, if she knows a girl, does she get to stay?" "You want a good restaurant for dinner, or are you headed right back?" "A computer?" "To run a trace on the missing containers in the port administration's database." "You're looking for what?" "A pattern for our case." "We need to know who left those girls on the dock and why." "We're supposed to be on Sobotka and the checkers union anyway... so folding one investigation into the other makes sense." "Not to me, it doesn't." "I'm not bringing your open murders... anywhere near this detail, that's a loser for us." "Lieutenant!" "We bring in a few drug rips, and show that we gave Sobotka... and his union a quick, fair look, it's more than enough for Burrell." "He returns the favor, and I'm out of the basement... and running an investigative unit again." "You dirty me up with murders I can't solve." "It doesn't play like that." "Homicide's not the place to sprawl a case, Lieutenant." "Rawls, Landsman... they have no patience for anything but a quick shake." "We got enough room for it here, anyway." "You can set up here at the off-site... and we can share information." "But the murders stay with Homicide." "Unless, of course, you find a suspect." "Three ROIROs, four containers." "I got all my cards up, including long numbers... and we're still short." " A good day." " That it is." "Everybody works today, even you, my little j-series wonders." "Even you." "Is Horse working the Wilhelmina today?" "I told that motherfucker we were done." "I told him!" "He said he talked to you." "He said it's triple-rate for every can." "Triple?" "Call Horse in the tower." "Tell him he's working the Wilhelmina." "It's now or never for us, I got no choice." "Today we got ships, Uncle Frank." "Today." "But the writing's on the fucking wall." "Fuck the wall."