"So, how was our social studies essay received?" "I thought we nailed it." "My teacher liked it." "Yeah, we make a great team." "Can I play Xbox when we get home?" "Mmm, homework first." "Mom, my brain needs a rest." "Trip!" "Trip, get down!" "Get down!" "Are you okay?" "Are you okay?" "Are you okay?" "Are you hurt?" "I'm okay." "Here." "Let me see." "Are you okay?" "Are you okay?" "Are you okay?" "Huh?" "I didn't see who was in the car." "We were on the ground." "Plates?" "Anything?" "'Cause normally this neighborhood is pretty quiet." "Quiet?" "Yeah." "Do you live here?" "No." "I'm a public defender." "Gang violence is spiking, and this drive-by was aimed at ARK cops." "My son and I are stuck in the middle of your gang war." "You're upset." "You're damn right I'm upset." "If this shooting wasn't aimed at ARK cops, you wouldn't even be here." "I spend my days defending victims of ARK police brutality, but apparently it isn't doing any good, because I still have gunfire on my front stoop." "You people are corrupt and incompetent." "Take your son home." "Mrs. Faraday, be very careful." "Yo, what have you got?" "This afternoon, two ARK officers were shot in broad daylight on Sycamore Boulevard." "It was thuggish, messy." "Immediately I thought of you." "Funny." "Well, I've got a soldier in the morgue with a head missing." "You don't know where it is, do you?" "He's in a freezer in an ARK warehouse." "Your taste for blood is your one redeeming feature." "Can I let you in on a little secret, Dominic?" "I don't care about this city or its security, but the ARK brand is a different matter entirely." "If there is a perception that I can't handle a third-rate hood like you, how am I gonna win a contract from the Chinese military?" "If this is your little "let's make friends" speech," "I suggest you go back to the drawing board." "On the contrary." "Let's be enemies, but on terms that help us both." "And how does that work?" "Central Palm City is mine, from the towers to Sycamore Boulevard." "The business district is all the media cares about." "Outside that zone is all yours." "Mine?" "Palm City needs a godfather." "A little fear is a wonderful thing." "It brings people closer to me." "I'll help you keep the gang lords in line." "They can join you or, um..." "I want out." "Peter, let me out." "Deal with me." "I don't need you to bring anybody in line for me." "My personal dislike for you makes your offer less attractive." "He doesn't fear you." "You're soft." "Is everything all right?" "Time to pull over." "Let me drive." "What's your answer?" "Godfather, eh?" "I like it." "A full-blown gunfight." "Right down the street from their apartment." "The city is burning." "It's open war." "Scales is doing drive-bys on our patrol cars, shooting up residential neighborhoods, and ARK's shooting back." "It's pretty straightforward." "Yeah, well, can we look at the footage, please?" "In a minute." "Look, I, uh..." "I hate to break up your game here, but it's..." "My kid is living in the middle of a war zone." "I got to go anyway." "Raia?" "Wait, wait." "Is that..." "Is that your blood?" "It's Rollo." "He's hurt bad." "I'm sorry, Max." "Stop talking." "You're all busted up inside." "What happened?" "Scales' boys jumped him." "Oh, bro, you look like crap." "Scales, he made a deal with ARK." "He wants to expand his operations into Trolley Park." "He sees you as the main man, Max." "He wants to take you out, bring in the Razer." "The Razer?" "I've heard of him, foreign guy, Australian or something." "Makes bombs." "A real artist." "We need to move on them first, Max." "Why?" "What is the upside in a war with these animals?" "I'm a thief, not a gangster." "You should think about backing up your friend here." "And you should mind your business, cop." "Our problems started with you." "Ruvi." "It's true, Max." "We'd be gone by now." "In my mind, a man should earn his keep or get the hell out." "You know, I see a lot of things around here" "I pretend not to." "Maybe I should start paying attention." "Enough!" "Before I lose my temper." "You can't walk away from this, Max." "Don't tell me what I can or cannot do." "We live in a tent for a reason." "We don't get involved." "Oh, yeah." "Well, if it's time to move on, then don't let me stop you." "Are we pulling up stakes?" "Not yet." "But we're not going off half-cocked either." "If Scales wants me to be the mayor of Trolley Park," "I'll just have to play the part." "140 over 90." "Higher than usual." "Is everything all right?" "I was concerned when I got your message." "He's back, Samuel." "I'm listening." "Chess used to be an amusement, a creative means to an end." "But we've grown apart." "I mean that quite literally." "He's showing up unannounced." "I can't have that." "What does he want?" "He longs for contest." "He's obsessed with this Cape person." "He?" "What's that?" "You keep referring to him as "he,"" "as though you were truly different people." "He started it." "Maybe I should speak with him." "You don't want to do that." "Well, he and I aren't exactly strangers, you know." "He doesn't like you, Samuel." "Doctor's orders." "Dude, what..." "What are you doing up?" "I'm Max's security." "Max can look after himself." "Go back to bed." "Vince, we've got to do something." "It's like in prison." "When there's no top dog, everybody starts getting killed." "I'm sure you've seen this before." "There is a top dog." "It's Peter Fleming." "That's who I'm focused on." "Screw that dude!" "You can't call yourself The Cape and then stand on the sidelines." "Look, I hate to break it to you, Rollo, but I'm not a superhero, okay?" "You know, yeah, I'm wearing the cape, but that was for Trip." "I put it on for my son." "It don't matter the reasons, Vince." "You put it on, and now you got to wear it for everyone." "Vince, if you don't take the fight to these guys, forget Trolley Park." "There won't be any Palm City left." "Your boy dodged a bullet today." "Great." "And what about tomorrow?" "I read The Cape comics." "I know his whole story." "The real Cape, he'd see this drive-by today and this son of a bitch that's after Max as two sides of the same coin, and he'd be out in the street taking names." "I am not the real Cape, okay?" "Rollo!" "Why are you letting him walk around, Vince?" "He was..." "Walking." "Look..." "Okay, all right, all right." "What does this Razer guy look like?" "No one knows." "That's part of his allure." "Things blow up, apartment buildings, people, then he's gone, poof." "He's got a wooden leg and a messed-up face." "Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine." "Scales must know what he looks like." "Uh-uh." "I heard the whole conversation." "Not Scales or anybody in his crew has ever met this guy." "Okay, so why's he going outside his crew to get at Max?" "'Cause he's not just trying to scare Max." "He wants results." "No one's ever seen him?" "I need a crash course in bomb making." "You see, Pokerface, me and Merlin have had our differences, but it takes real moxie to turn up here alone." "Max." "Thanks for coming at such short notice." "Dominic." "Who's your friend?" "Max Malini, Tommy Molinari." "He doesn't blink on account he took one to the head and it lodged in his brain, hence his moniker, Pokerface." "Eyes." "How's Mighty Mouse?" "Did he make it home?" "Last time I saw him, he didn't look too good." "You know, I think it's worth reminding you, Scales, by profession," "I make people disappear." "Sometimes they don't come back." "I think you should dedicate your mental energy on the future, not the past, Max." "Tiny Tim had it coming." "You know that." "Trolley Park is prime real estate, and you and your little gang are not paying taxes." "I take that as disrespect." "From today, you will pay me 20% of whatever you hijack or steal, and you'll make way for Pokerface and his operations." "And in return, I will provide your security." "When you're ready to have a serious conversation," "I'll be ready to listen." "In the meantime, if I so much as feel an unfamiliar set of eyes on my shoulder, it will be you I hold accountable." "Don't screw with a magician." "It's not a fair fight." "I love it when he does that." "It's a fair fight when you're in a thousand pieces, eh, Pokerface?" "Eyes." "You said ten minutes." "Yeah, so?" "So, that was two hours ago." "Look, your site is stale." "You haven't posted anything in four days." "You know, right now it doesn't really feel like Orwell is watching much of anything." "Hello?" "This wire is copper flex fiber." "It'll get you through a pat-down, but not a strip search." "Stay away from power lines or microwave ovens, anything with a magnetic field, 'cause that'll kill the signal." "You look like you haven't slept in a while." "I married a corpse." "Don't I get a honeymoon?" "Hey, if you can't function, you're a danger, to yourself, to me, to the work." "Get out of my head or find another partner." "We're going to war." "My brother has a credit-card operation in the northeast." "Larceny from a desk." "Sounds like an improvement to me." "I'm joining him there." "I'm under fire here, Ruvi." "A fire you started, Max." "You're not running a crew anymore." "I don't know what you're doing." "Old Malini's got an eccentric hobby, right?" "Angelo Dundee trained Ali." "Max wants to train Vince Faraday." "Max, I'm leaving tonight." "I want my 5% of the K-town heist." "You never asked me what I'm training him for." "Look, I'm a compassionate man, but reuniting cops with their families, rooting out corruption, not exactly my bag." "Deveraux." "Come on, Max." "Vince makes it possible." "You're just throwing me a bone to get me to stay." "Just walk with me another few miles and find out." "I got a gag that's gonna hit these bastards where they live and take the target off Max's back." "You in?" "I suppose so." "So we're waiting in front of the restaurant." "My old lady starts yelling at me to do something." "You got a wife, Mr. Razer?" "What'd you say?" "I said, "Do you got a wife?"" "Oh, Jiminy!" "Hey there, now!" "You were the one who..." "Look, can you please speak English?" "Hello, sunshine." "You picked him up, put his bags in the trunk" "and drove straight to the warehouse." "So, like I was saying..." "What was I saying?" "Just drive, mate." "Wait here." "Mr. Raoul," "Razer." "So you're Razer." "Nah, I'm the frickin' Dalai Lama." "So, boys, who do I have to kill around here to get a coldie and sandwich?" "You want a sandwich, do you?" "You know who made a good sandwich?" "My kid sister." "She used to make them nice and fresh, send them to me in the joint." "Every summer she used to go down to Sydney, Australia." "One summer she got a job selling shaved ice outside the King's Head." "Ring any bells?" "The King's Head?" "Well, a few years back, some maniac blew it up, sky-high," "and my sister with it." "And I've been looking for that geezer ever since." "That sounds like a tragic accident." "Yeah." "And there's gonna be another tragic accident." "You know, I just figured out who I have to kill around here to get a cut lunch." "Your ice-selling, ponytail-wearing, knicker-twisted little sister." "He got me, lad." "He's ahead of me." "Did you see that?" "And I gave him my best rattlesnake face." "This is too much fun for a Wednesday." "Come here, you dynamiting bastard." "You're gonna fit right in." "Well, Razer, it took quite a bit of work to get you outfitted, but I think we got everything you need." "Noodle, did you get the habanero peppers?" "Yes, Mr. Raoul." "Good." "And what about the organic bat guano?" "Yes, sir." "That took some getting a hold of." "Well, if you weren't such a legend on both sides of the Tropic of Capricorn," "I'd think you was pulling my leg making explosives out of this stuff." "Well, we'll leave you to it." "When I get back, I expect to see a lot of progress." "Noodle." "Dancer?" "What's that?" "You're a dancer, aren't you?" "No." "Not really." "I'm trained in circus arts." "I mean, it's similar muscle groups." "Do you wear perfume in your hair?" "Wouldn't you like to know." "Oh, I'd build you a cathedral for just a little sniff of that perfume." "Tiger dung everywhere in here." "Come visit, pretty please?" "Butter up some other girl, Scarf ace." "I'm trying to read." "Can I at least have a piece of your gum, then?" "Live it up, Hopalong." "Much obliged." "Reintegration." "How?" "I'll step out for a moment." "When I come back, I'll be speaking with Chess." "He and I will come to an understanding." "Chess doesn't negotiate." "My position won't be negotiable." "You're afraid of losing him." "He has my back." "So do I." "I've known you since you were a very small boy." "All I want is what's best for you." "I thought you were supposed to be fast." "Yeah, well, if you're the expert, why don't you build the charge?" "That's a conductor, mate, used in place of C4 explosive." "You want to blow your arm off on your own time, you go right ahead." "Looks like gum to me." "Well, why don't you give it a chew, stick it behind your ear and light a match to it?" "I'd love to see that." "Kazzie, look sharp." "That auto carrier moves out in an hour." "Your wife's calling." "He usually parks it on the north side of the street." "We'll need two men on the passenger side and one man to put a barrel on the driver." "It would require seven seconds to jam this pen into the vertebral artery under your left ear, paralyzing you." "It would require an additional 16 minutes to remove with a straight razor your cornea and all your lymph nodes." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven." "I seem to still have my corneas." "What's the holdup?" "Maybe you know that I'm here to help Peter." "When you're quiet, that helps him." "Don't you want him happy?" "Don't you want him playing?" "There are doors still locked to you, doors you very much want to open." "I have keys." "Can you keep a secret?" "More precisely, can you keep a secret from Peter?" "Give me the code to the loader, or I'll stick this barrel down your throat." "All right." "Easy." "Easy, man." "Just take it easy." "That's mine, bro." "No, Noodle, that's mine." "No, no." "You listening?" "Good, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once." "ARK may be blind, but The Cape is watching." "Louder, you dolt!" "ARK may be blind, but The Cape is watching." "The Cape?" "What else did he say?" "He said, "Repeat what I said to the reptile word for word," ""or next time I'll keep squeezing."" "How the bloody hell does The Cape know what job we're doing an hour after I know myself?" "Get that." "Yeah." "Pokerface." "The Cape just busted up his crew robbing a truck." "He wants a sit-down." "Get out of here." "Just when I thought it couldn't get no lovelier." "Just fork over the envelope, okay?" "My L5 is killing me thanks to you." "What..." "What is this, an appetizer?" "We had some unforeseen difficulties." "A lot of you guys are having unforeseen difficulties." "That shouldn't change the weight of ARK's envelope." "The envelope would be a lot heavier if your boys hadn't put The Cape onto us." "Us turn The Cape onto you?" "Yeah." "Are you shedding skin or something?" "Is it that time of year?" "If I had your manpower," "The Cape would be roadkill by now." "Nothing but complaints from you." "You throw Peter Fleming and our corporation 20% and a few fish for the newspapers, and the boroughs, Trolley Park and the ports are all yours." "That's not just reasonable." "That's charitable." "If The Cape keeps pulling your pants down, you don't need me, you need a belt." "Get this joker out of here before I do something I regret." "Idiot." "The Cape." "What happened?" "I had a conversation with Chess." "He agreed to stop the personal appearances." "I don't think he'll be bothering you again." "You're skeptical?" "That's one adjective." "Peter, you don't need Chess." "You don't need to split off the parts of yourself that frighten you." "We all have darkness, evil." "The question is, how do we sublimate those impulses in constructive ways?" "What does Chess get out of this?" "There is no Chess, Peter." "There is only you." "Close your eyes and take a moment." "Now, tell me, can you locate him inside you?" "He's not there." "That's as close as we get to a happy ending in my business." "Samuel, we've known each other a long time." "I respect you." "I admire you." "So please heed this word of advice." "Always be honest with me." "I can only tell you that once." "What are you doing?" "So, who's The Cape?" "None of your concern is who he is." "Huh?" "You know, I was told that you boys owned the police." "Now one of your guys is getting shipped off to an island prison." "That sounds like false advertising to me." "Right side, huh?" "What's that?" "You told us on the phone that when we met you at the airport, we'd know it's you 'cause you had scarring on the side of your face." "The left side of your face." "Right side." "That's not what you said on the phone." "Well, you must have misheard me." "I hope for your sake I did." "Kazzie." "So, what's so important that interrupted my pasta and meatballs?" "What I'm talking about is an environment to do business." "What I'm talking about is three jobs screwed up in two days." "The Cape drops my assets with port cops, and suddenly they're heading to Owl Island?" "Dude took out five of my boys last night." "Not good for my recruiting, man." "What happened to, uh, "ARK's in play"?" "What happened to "Wild West rules"?" "Give me the cops back." "At least them I know what I'm dealing with." "I hear you." "I'm investigating the situation." "All will be resolved." "Nah, the situation is you feeding snitches in your own house, man." "You want to get in my face with those words, son?" "Snitch, bitch." "You know what?" "Maybe it's you!" "Enough with the theatrics!" "Take care of this, Dominic, with haste." "Otherwise I treat your people as cops, and you know what I do to cops." "I'll get you your Trolley Park." "Eyes." "It burns!" "Razer, load up." "We leave tonight." "I want Malini dead by the morning." "Kazzie, you assist Razer to the vehicle." "We call a meet." "Trolley Park, Route 20." "You isolate Malini." "Your charge will bring down the old depot from above." "Malini loves Trolley Park so much, we'll bury him in it." "Not a bad scheme, mate." "That was your scheme." "Like I said, it's not a bad scheme." "So where am I loading up?" "Feeling suspicious hurts my stomach." "You don't want my stomach to hurt, do you?" "I really don't care about your stomach." "Am I loading up or not?" "Kazzie, a word." "Vince." "Rain delay." "Mr. Raoul needs you out front." "Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." "No, no, no, no, no." "Mr. Raoul needs you out front, Razer." "Good evening, fellows." "Smells like a vet's office in here, like a bunch of scared dogs." "Well, chin up, you dogs." "Nothing worth having ever came without a bit of adversity." "Now, who would be brave enough to have a guess of what's in the box?" "Noodle, you want to have a guess?" "No, Mr. Raoul." "The answer to our recent setbacks is in that box." "Who else would have a guess?" "Razer." "Maybe you." "No." "Hmm." "Then allow me to present to you" "a cake!" "We got to go in, Max, 'cause they won't just kill him." "They'll torture him." "So what?" "I owe my life to this cop now?" "We go in guns blazing?" "Believe it or not, Tonto, he's part of the crew." "The Cape's been busting up Scales' operations all over town." "They'll trace that back to Vince." "Then let The Cape save him." "You're a punk." "No, bro, I'm just practical." "Max?" "No, Ruvi's right." "Let The Cape save him." "As a token of my esteem, for his loyalty," "Kazzie gets a slice of cake." "For his punctuality," "Mikey gets a slice." "For his dress sense," "Trevor." "For their speedy getaways, my two drivers get a slice of cake." "To get a slice of cake in my crew means you've done well, that you belong." "Now, you may have noticed there was a slice of cake missing." "This isn't an accident." "It means one of you won't be getting a slice." "This means one of you is a fear-reeking dog." "Worse, even, a rat that has wriggled its way into my trust," "my confidence, my family unit." "I hope you don't have a sweet tooth, my friend." "Because" "no cake for you!" "Take him to the showers." "This is gonna be messy." "I'll tell you what you want to know." "No need." "I believe in pain first." "I think I've chipped a scale." "Pokerface, how are the eyes?" "Burning." "You want to have a go?" "Ask him." "Where is he, eh?" "Where's The Cape?" "Maybe you've got his phone number." "Or maybe it's you." "Maybe you're the blackbird." "What do you think, Pokerface?" "It makes sense." "Yeah, it makes perfect sense." "Wouldn't that be wonderful?" "Eh?" "Could the good Lord be so nice to me?" "I'm gonna pluck your feathers, blackbird!" "Pick him up." "Kazzie, get the acid." "This next part is Pokerface's idea." "Noodle!" "What's going on?" "Trevor, Mikey, answer me." "No, please..." "Please don't shoot." "Come out here!" "Yeah." "I should have charged those sons of bitches admission." "I hope you were paying attention, 'cause that's how it's done." "Yeah." "How did you do a double-wrap with the lights out?" "You can't teach style." "Or common sense." "You need rest." "No, no." "When I'm done here." "Suit yourself." "Max?" "I don't forget." "Hello?" "Orwell?" "Hi, Vince." "I got it." "The smoking gun." "Orwell Is Watching is about to get the exclusive of the decade." "Are you there?" "You okay?" "Yes, Vince." "Everything's wonderful."