how ya doing, tony? glad to meet you. how 'bout a drink? call me frank, tony. everybody calls me frank. my little league team, even the prosecutors 'round town, they all call me frank. howya doing? (xl i hear you caught one? manny shrugs, works his arm, showing us the wound doesn't (xl bother him too much. not to mention of course the nice job you guys did for me on that commie sonufabitch emilio rebenga. scotch? gin? rum? yeah, .i need a guy with steel in his balls. i need him close to,me, a guy like you tony -- and your compadre here. it's too bad about your friend, tony, if people'd do business the right way, there'd be no fuckups like this. he glances hard at omar who squirms. don't think i don't appreciate this gesture, tony. you find in this business, you stay loyal you move up and you move up fast. salud! they drink the toast. with their eyes. then you find out your biggest head- ache's not bringing in the stuff but figuring out what to do with all the goddamn cash. where the hell's elirira? go get her, will you, ernie? the big bodyguard exits smoothly. the broad spends half her life dressing, the other half undressing. yeah. when she's not looking.- what do you say guys, to a little food? let's go. okay, that guy there, in the purple shirt -- gaspar gomez. bad news. stone killer there ever was one. stay away. their point of view -- gaspar gomez at a table with another guy and gorgeous woman. the fat guy, with the chicas is nacho contreras -- el gordo. wouldn't know it to look at him but he's got more cash than anybody in here. a real haza. their point of view -- el gordo is fat, dressed like a cheap slob and playing up to a bunch of chicas. . you know what a haza is, tony? it's yiddish for pig. it's a guy he's got more'n what he needs, so he don't fly straight anymore, y'know. that's the problem in this business, tony, there's too many 'hazas' and they're the ones you got to watch out for. if they can fuck you outta an extra dime, they'll rip you and flip you and then fuck you with a stick for the pure pleasure of it. see it all comes down to one thing, tony boy, never forget it! lesson number one -- don't under- estimate the other guy's greed. that's right. course not everybody follows the rules. give it to everybody and bring another, willya jack? five hundred fifty dollars for this bottle tony, what do you think of that, hunh? for a bunch of fucking grapes -- isn't that something? hey, george -- buddy. oy, i shoulda come to you 'stead of that putz, neufeld. yeah, almost everything. i . . best goddamn lawyer in miami. cost a brick to pick up a phone. his. so. .here's to old friends. and new friends. well, tony? yeah, get you some new clothes, some $500 suits, you'll look real sharp. i'd like you and your boys to handle some stuff for me, tony, work with omar here. we're doing something big next month. running a string of mules out of columbia. you do good on that, there'll be other things. away. omar doesn't like it but glances i'd rather have a heart he- dance? attack. go on! they go. what do you think? yeah -- but you get guys like that on your side, they break their backs for you. you what! you made a deal for fucking eighteen million dollars without even checking with me! what are you crazy montana, are you crazy! con0 my ass! tx: yeah and what's sosa gonna do to me when i don't come up with the first five million dollars on this deal -- send me a bill? he's gonna send hit squads up here that's what. there's gonna be war in the streets. you know what this fucking trial is costing me in legal fees, montana? let's just say i want things to stay the way they are. for now. stall your deal with sosa. long pause. tony's eyes meeting lopez's. he gave sosa his word. montana. just remember i am the boss. y'know i told you when you started tony, the guys who last in this busi- ness are guys who fly straight, real low key, real quiet. -the guys who want it all, the chicks and the cham- pagne and the flash -- they don't last. saying nothing, goes out the door with manny. tow, hey tony, why don't you get your own girl? then go do it somewhere else. get lost. you won't be hearing anything, you go on like this. you're fucking right i am. i'm giving you orders. 1x) blow. the bodyguard moves closer to tony who doesn't move. let's go! c'mon! he crowds her. she goes. tony watches as they exit angry, the club. tony? uh, i'll call you back-.-yeah. hangs the phone up and rocks forward at his desk. lopez's bodyguard, ernie, gets the message from chi-chi sliding along the wall next to him, manny covering the other side of the room. tony. what happened to you, hunh? jesus! who? in his ripped suit, shoulder in a sling, face cut, tony, shifts his eyes with camera slowly onto mel bernstein sitting there with a bourbon on the rocks, his two hundred and fifty pounds bulging with irritated surprise. jesus, tony, maybe it was the diaz brothers, they got a deep beef going back to the 'sun ray' thing. anyway i'm glad you made it tony, we'll return the favor for you. in spades. well. -what are the guns for tony? m-l. * .must be elvira. you know women. -4' after we left that joint she. wait a minute! i'll talk to her. -hello?. yeah. all right honey, don't worry. i'll be home in an hour. he hangs up. pause. whatcha talking 'bout tony? tony, no! lissen! why would i hurt you, tony, i brought you in! so we had a few differences, no big deal. i gave you your start tony, i believed in you ! mel! mel! do something, please! mel sits there impassively. please tony okay all right! gimme a second chance! ten million. i'll give you ten million dollars right now ! i got it in a vault. in spain. we'll get on a plane. it's yours, all of it. elvira? you want elvira? she's yours, okay! i: 90 way tony, i disappear, you'll never see me again. just gimme a chance, gimme a second chance tony, please. please! he sobs pathetically. i don't wanna die tony, i never did nothing to nobody tony! i never hurt nobody! no! no! tony! manny shoots him with the silencer. three times. lopez crashes backwards, draped over his desk like marat in his bathtub, amid his patriot flag and his kennedy photographs. .- _-- continued _