I'll fly to L.A. You drive back. I'll meet you.
He drove home. The lights were on. Jane was still up. The IV was on. A newsman mourned Jack at great length.
Littell turned it off. "I have to fly to L.A. tomorrow. I'll be leaving early."
Jane spun her ashtray. "It's abrupt, and we're coming up on Thanksgiving."
"You should have come next week. It would have been better all around."
"You wanted me here, so I came. Now you're leaving."
Littell nodded. "I know, and I'm sorry."
"You wanted to see if I'd come. You were testing me. You broke a rule that we set for ourselves, and now I'm stuck in this suite."
Littell shook his head. "You could take a walk. You could get a golf lesson. You could read instead of watch TV for sixteen goddamn hours."
Jane threw her ashtray. It hit the TV.
"Given the date, how could you expect me to do anything else?"
"Given the date, we could have talked about it. Given the date, we could have stretched the rules. Given the date, you could have given up some of your goddamn secrets."
Jane threw a cup. It hit the TV.
"You carry a gun. You carry briefcases full of money. You fly around the country to see gangsters, you listen to tapes of Robert Kennedy when you think I'm sleeping, and _I've_ got secrets?"
o o o
They slept solo.
He scooped up her butts. He packed a bag. He packed his briefcase. He packed three suits. He packed appeal briefs and money-ten grand in cash.
He made up the couch. He stretched out. He tried to sleep. He thought about Janice. He thought about Barb. He thought about Jane.
He tried to sleep. He thought about Barb. He thought about Janice.
He got up. He cleaned his gun. He read magazines. _Harper's_ ran a piece-Mr. Hoover misbehaves.
He gave a speech. He fomented. He attacked Dr. King. He disrupted. He appalled. He stirred hate.
Littell turned the light off. Littell tried to sleep.
He counted sheep. He counted money. Skim cuts and embezzlements-civil-rights tithes.
He tried to sleep. He thought about Jane. He counted her lies. He lost count. He ricocheted.
Barb goes knock-kneed. Janice waves her cane. Janice smiles. Janice limps. Janice drops her cane.
He got up. He got dressed. He drove to McCarran. He saw a sign for Kool Menthol-all swimsuits and sun.
He turned around. He drove back. He drove to the Sands. He parked. He primped in his rearview mirror.
He walked by the golf course. He found the cottage and knocked. Janice opened up.
She saw him. She smiled. She plucked her curlers out.
65
(Saigon, 11/28/64)
White Horse-grad research.
Wayne mixed morph clay and ammonia. Wayne ran three hot plates. Wayne boiled three kilos. Shit filtered out.
Wayne dumped the ammonia. Wayne cleaned the beakers. Wayne dried the bricks.
Call it: Test batch #8.
He blew twenty bricks. He filtered wrong. He fucked the process. He learned. He added steps. He sluiced out organic waste.
Pete postponed the ship date. Pete let him learn.
Wayne boiled water. Wayne gauged it. Roger-182F.
He dumped it. He poured acetic anhydride. He filled three vats. He boiled it. He _got_ it.
Roger-182F.
He measured base. He chopped it. He added it. He got the mix. He got the look. He got the smell-vinegar and prune.
He sniffed it. His nose burned. It looked good-good bonds-good reaction mix.
Call it batch #9-diacetyl morphine/impure.
Wayne sneezed. Wayne rubbed his eyes. Wayne scratched his nose.
He lived at the lab. He worked at the lab. He sniffed caustic agents. He built allergies. The kadre bunked away. He dodged them. He dodged Chuck and Bob.
They bugged him. They said go Klan. They said hate spooks. They said hate like we do.
His hate was his hate. They didn't KNOW.
He lived at the lab. He slept all day. He worked all night. Day noise bugged him. He heard mopeds and chants outside. He heard slogan gobbledygook.
He slept through it. He set his clock-tracer rounds at six.
Night noise unbugged him. He heard jukebox clang downstairs. He heard music up his vents.
He did dope work. He built shelves. He filed newspapers. He crossfiled his clips. The Dallas rag and Vegas rag-a week old here.
The Dallas rag flaunted the birthday. The Dallas rag flaunted old stuff. Sidebars and _more_ birthdays-"unrelated" stuff.
Where's Maynard Moore? Where's that Wendell Durfee?
Wayne checked batch #9. There-the right smell/the right burn/the right mass. Precipitants-visible-nondiacetyl mass.
Wayne worked alone. Wayne worked kadre-adjunct. The kadre was in Laos. The kadre was overworked.
Their bomb raid killed camp guards. They needed new guards. Stanton told Pete to hire some Marvs. On-duty Marvs ran expensive. Tran hired deserters-Marvs _and_ VC.
Forty-two guards/eighteen Marvs/twenty-four Congs.
They worked hard. They worked cheap. They shrieked their views: Ho versus Khanh/North versus South/Mao versus LBJ.
Pete got pissed. Pete chartered laws. Pete segregated guard crews. Pete pouched notes down-Saravan to Saigon-on CIA flights boocoo.
Pete praised the kadre. Pete praised Tran. Pete passed a rumor on: The Premier P.R.-prone. The Premier order "review."
Many dope dens exist now. Many GIs come here soon-troop buildup boocoo. Dope dens big. Dope dens _bad_. My den policy need review.
Stanton didn't buy it. Stanton knew said Premier. Said Premier was a puppet. Money pulled his strings. Said Premier _taxed_ his dope dens boocoo.
West Vegas stood ready. Milt Chargin told Pete. Pete pouched word to Wayne. Milt ratted pill crews. Milt snitched to Dwight Holly. Holly told the apropos Feds. West LV stood dry. The funnel stood ready. Wayne pledged the goods:
Heroin-grade 4-ready by 1/9/65.
Wayne checked the clock. Wayne checked the vats. He measured sodium carbonate. He measured chloroform. He filled three tubes.
He locked the lab. He walked downstairs. The den was dark. The den was full. A Chinaman sold cubes. A Chinaman cleaned pipes. A Chinaman hosed stray turds.
Wayne blocked his nose. Wayne walked flashlight-first.
He walked bed rows. He stubbed pallets. He kicked piss bowls. 0heads stirred. O-heads cringed. O-heads kicked out.
He strafed their eyes. He strafed their arms. He strafed their needle tracks. Arm tracks/leg tracks/dick tracks/old tracks/test tracks.
The air reeked of smoke and piss. The light scattered rats. Wayne walked. Wayne carried tape. Wayne marked eight pallet slats.
He flashed eyes. He flashed arms. He flashed a corpse. Rats had it. Rats gnawed on the crotch. Rats lapped shit water. Rats surfed the floor.
Wayne walked. Wayne checked Bongo's bed.
Bongo snored. Bongo slept with two whores. Bongo had down pillows and silk pallet slats.
Wayne flashed Bongo's eyes. Bongo slept on. Wayne made him Wendell Durfee.
o o o
It worked. It happened. It cohered. He did it-he made white horse.
He cooked all day. He filtered. He worked carbonates. He purified. He refined. He mixed charcoal and alcohol.
He hit #3-6% pure.
He walked downstairs. He selected three O-heads. He packed their pipes full. They smoked #3. They puked. They launched. They hit orbit.
He walked back up. He mixed ether. He mixed hydrochloric acid. He dissolved #3. He laced it. He mixed hydro _and_ ether.
He worked all night. He waited. He watched tracer rounds. He filtered. He dried. He got precipitant flakes and got it:
Heroin-#4-96% pure.
He mixed sugar base. He diluted it. He cut it. He prepped eight syringes. He prepped eight swabs. He prepped eight good shots.