"So, how was he?" Henry asked.
Steffi looked over with a snarl. "He's not dead. Is that what you mean?"
"No," Henry replied. Then he considered and changed his answer, "Yes."
Steffi shot another evil glance. His disdain dripped from his cheeks.
"How could you be so fuckin' stupid?" Steffi prodded. "What could make an accountant think he could take out a captain?"
Henry kept his eyes on the road and his tone calm, "I did what I thought Cal would like. I saw an opportunity and I took it."
Steffi burst his rebuttal, "You don't take opportunities, you MAKE 'em! Stop tryin' to be a solider Henry! It's never gonna happen!" The last sentence lost the anger and was more pleading than demanding.
Henry looked over, spite simmering at the bottom of his throat. "My loyalty is to Cal, regardless of rank."
Steffi cringed at the superiority of tone. He waited a long time before he said what he had to say. His nerves had him cracking his knuckles incessantly inside of ten seconds. But he still enjoyed saying it.
"You might want to check that loyalty, Henry." Steffi blurted into oblivion.
Henry turned his head and stared open mouthed at Steffi. The soldier could only shrug. "Who knows," the cheap agin thug reasoned, "Maybe had ya killed the fat fuck it wouldn't be so bad. But since Big Abe is alive, you gotta die." Steffi felt his sarcastic scoff would ease the news.
"He told you to kill me?" Henry shrieked. Steffi held his ears.
"Whoa," Steffi groaned, "Calm down and relax." He gestured to the road. "Keep your eyes on the fucking road! Nobody's killing nobody," he promised.
"Well, what do you mean?" Henry's volume was a whisper below his previous shriek.
"I mean Big Abe wants you dead. But Cal is the only one that can make that decision," Steffi finished and rubbed the dashboard like a genie rubs a lamp.
Henry wanted to shriek for more clarity, but his mind had regained control of his emotions. He would punish himself for what he had just allowed to leak. He had to choose his questions carefully to pull the answers he sought. He couldn't trust Steffi, not a chance.
Enough silence passed that Steffi broke it.
"You seem like such a smart guy," Steffi remarked, "Didn't you ever consider what might happen if the bastard didn't die?" The question sounded like a taunt but it was honest. Steffi couldn't place this puny accountant. Where did he get the balls?
After Henry didn't answer he tried again. "Big Abe has gotta be over 400 pounds. Did you ration out the strychnine to cover the extra weight?" Steffi laughed and made his own comment when Steffi wouldn't. "Things would be a helluva lot better if you had used enough strychnine." His laughter continued until Henry calmly cut it off.
"Again, it was a spur of the moment decision. While I carried the weapon around with me to be ready I didn't have the time to cut and measure out proportional amounts." He allowed a break from the road to give Steffi a look he didn't like.
"I didn't know I was going to do it until the kid was handing over the pizza. I shut the door, pulled out the bag and dumped it. Then I walked straight into the dining room and set it in front of the fat bastard."
Steffi gave him the benefit of more laughter. "I do love the story, Henry," he offered, "But it's a soldier's tale, not an accountant's." Henry dug his thumbs deep into the padded leather of the steering wheel. Henry was sick of this run around.
"What would you do if you knew Cal put the hit on you?"
Steffi stopped laughing. He respected the question too much to laugh over it. He looked out his passenger window and let the buildings pass.
"I got some action in Alaska," he revealed. "There's some real action up there believe it or not." Steffi cracked some more knuckles for the second and third time. He never told anyone his escape plan. But he was talking to a dead man. And he had a plan.
Alaska was not an answer Henry expected. "Alaska?" the measly accountant asked.
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