Play for a Kingdom by Thomas Dyja

Author:Thomas Dyja
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780544238596
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1997-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

The fires were lit and coffee boiled. Karl had stowed his knife in his knapsack and now that the battle was over, he wanted to do some carving since they were not due on burial detail until later in the night. He rooted through his pack and came up with his knife, but he had the sense that something was different. He paused for a moment, then emptied his pack, where a quick scan confirmed his suspicions: Something was missing. His housewife was gone and there was only one suspect.

Karl went to Feeney, who was lying on his back scratching, and picked him up by the collar. “I told you if anything missing I kill you! I warned you!” He began shaking Slipper as a prelude to throwing him down and beating the life out of him.

Slipper swore at the German, but when his words had no effect, he switched to the whimpering he had employed to little effect during the battle a few nights ago. Never firmly muscled, Slipper’s limbs hung down and shook now as though unboned. Teddy stood up. Before he laid into the German, he hesitated and gave him an opportunity to drop Feeney. “I don’t wanna have to pugilize ye, Dutchman. Put ’em down. He didn’t hook nothing a yours.”

“You know nothing about this. I saw him taking from me last night.”

“Feeney wouldn’t filch from one of his boys.”

Karl stopped shaking Slipper and now just held him in midair. “One of his boys? You making joke, ja?”

“No, you’re one of the boys. We’ll tell the fellas in the Party to take ye under custody, ye know? Take care a ye. Set ye up with a situation. Any pal of mine is OK with the Party and ye can bank that, Dutchman. I’m gonna be mayor, remember?”

Karl dropped Slipper, who quickly scrabbled off to safety. He had four inches on Finn, and as he stared down at the stocky Irishman, he made the short distance seem long and icy. “You are stupid.”

Teddy hadn’t really wanted a confrontation here, but he was ready for it. He balled up his fists and began working his jaw. “Oh yeah?”

“Ja. No one wants to tell you one thing.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

Karl smiled. “Democrats sent you here to be killed.” His smile dimmed with pity. “You see that? They don’t want you come back.”

“That’s bullshit, ye Dutch bastard! I sup wit Boss McLaughlin and the Front Street Boys all the time and I know Tweed, to boot. They hear about my exploitations out here an’ I’ll be on the Mutuals and running Brooklyn. I’ll be the ball-playin’ man a the people, ya fuckin’ hunky carpenter!”

“If I lie, why they not just give you job, eh? Why Democrats have you go to war they try to stop?”

Teddy was steaming, but starting to get confused because it made some sense. The Party boys hadn’t asked him to do much after the brawl in the Eastern District and he’d wondered about their sudden coldness. The

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