Chapter 16 – Good For You, Barney Jakub took a deep breath, wrapped his finger around the trigger, and squeezed. The butt of the rifle rocked against his shoulder with the brunt of the shot. A dozen m

Chapter 15 – A Normal, Goddamn Date Jakub put it off for as long as he could. He ignored the occasional twinge from his fingers, covering up any fumbles that occurred in front of others. It wasn’t tha

Chapter 14 – Like Striking a Match It didn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone when, only three months after the dinner at the Morey, the body of Gallo Napoliello turned up with its throat cut. “Al

Chapter 13 – All In It was a bright and sunny summer morning when Cheshire Bloom and his companion strolled into the Union City branch of First National Bank. There was no mistaking him, with his hone

Chapter 12 – Lucky Barney gathered his troops in the basement of his new building in Maspeth. It was out of the way for most of them, but Jakub could only assume he had something to prove. He had spre

Chapter 11 – Moving on Up Cheshire paced around the safe a few times, not that he needed to; he was playing for show now, cracking his knuckles, holding his fingers up to judge the distance like a Hol

Chapter 10 – A Foot in the Door Cheshire Bloom was all grins as he dressed in his brand new suit coat: a handsome, double-breasted Fiscella with side vents, fresh from the tailor. The wool was a deep

Chapter 9 – A Lot to Learn Jakub spread a towel out across his short living room table. He set out his revolver, a rag, a barrel brush, solvent, and oil. Popping open the cylinder to empty the weapon

Chapter 8 – The Next Step “This is pretty good,” said Cheshire, and he pinched off a third of his Twinkie to pass to Jakub across the table. “Try it!” Jakub accepted, sucking the cream out of it as he

Chapter 7 – Backfire Cheshire lit a pair of cigarettes, and he and Jakub sat in the open rear of the truck, smoking them down as they watched the river. “You’re sure about this?” Jakub asked, not for