albert-hillsborough

Hi, Albert,_ Quinn called back. He seemed distracted. And Albert was sure that he__ seen Quinn motion for someone to stay down.__ow long is this supposed to go on?_ Albert asked.__ntil we get justice,_ Quinn said.__ustice? People have been waiting for justice since the dinosaurs.__uinn said nothing and Albert cursed himself for indulging in sarcasm. __hat is it you want, Quinn? I mean in practical terms.___e want Penny gone,_ Quinn said.__ can__ afford to pay you any more,_ Albert shouted back.__ didn__ say anything about money,_ Quinn said, sounding puzzled.__eah, I know: justice. Usually what people really want is money. So why don__ we get down to it?___enny,_ Quinn said. __he leaves town. She stays gone. When that happens we fish. Until it happens, we sit._ He sat down as if to emphasize his point.

He overheard the director talking to one of the cameramen. The cameraman was explaining that he couldn__ get a good long shot on the exterior because someone had set up a fake graveyard right in the plaza.__ids just playing around, I guess, but it__ morbid; we__l have to get rid of it, maybe bring in some sod to____o,_ Albert said.__e__e almost ready for you,_ the director assured him.__hat__ not a fake graveyard. Those aren__ fake graves. No one was playing around.___ou__e saying those . . . those are actually . . .___hat do you think happened here?_ Albert asked in a soft voice. __hat do you think this was?_ Absurdly, embarrassingly, he had started to cry. __hose are kids buried there. Some of them were torn apart, you know. By coyotes. By . . . by bad people. Shot. Crushed. Like that. Some of those kids in the ground there couldn__ take it, the hunger and the fear . . . some of those kids out there had to be cut down from the ropes they used to hang themselves. Early on, when we still had any animals? I had a crew go out and hunt down cats. Cats and dogs and rats. Kill them. Other kids to skin them . . . cook them up.__here were a dozen crew people in the McDonald__. None spoke or moved.Albert brushed away tears and sighed. __eah. So don__ mess with the graves. Okay? Other than that, we__e good to go.

Where are you going, Albert?__lbert said nothing. How rare, Quinn thought: Albert speechless.__ot really your concern, Quinn,_ Albert said finally.__ou__e running out.__lbert sighed. To his three companions he said, __o ahead and get in the boat. The Boston Whaler. Yes, that one._ Turning back to Quinn he said, __t__ been good doing business with you. If you want, you can come with us. We have room for one more. You__e a good guy.___nd my crews?___imited resources, Quinn.__uinn laughed a little. __ou__e a piece of work, aren__ you, Albert?__lbert didn__ seem bothered. ____ a businessman. It__ about making a profit and surviving. It so happens that I__e kept everyone alive for months. So I guess I__ sorry if you don__ like me, Quinn, but what__ coming next isn__ about business. What__ coming next is craziness. We__e going back to the days of starvation. But in the dark this time. Craziness. Madness.__is eyes glinted when he said that last word. Quinn saw the fear there. Madness. Yes, that would terrify the eternally rational businessman.__ll that happens if I stay,_ Albert continued, __s that someone decides to kill me. I__e already come too close to being dead once.___lbert, you__e a leader. You__e an organizer. We__e going to need that.__lbert waved an impatient hand and glanced over to see that the Boston Whaler was ready. __aine__ a leader. Sam__ a leader. Me?_ Albert considered it for a second and shook the idea off. __o. I__ important, but I__ not a leader. Tell you what, though, Quinn: in my absence you speak for me. If that helps, good for you.__lbert climbed down into the Boston Whaler. Pug started the engine and Leslie-Ann cast off the ropes. Some of the last gasoline in Perdido Beach sent the boat chugging out of the marina.__ey, Quinn!_ Albert shouted back. __on__ come to the island without showing a white flag. I don__ want to blow you up!

Lunch had been at a McDonald__ in Santa Barbara. It had been so clean. It had smelled like food. It had sounded happy and alive. In the bathroom, the toilet flushed. Water ran in the sink.He had passed a trash can on the way back to his table and stopped just to look at it. It was full of food. Leftover burgers, the last few fries, smears of ketchup on cardboard. He__ had to hold back tears when he saw it.__andy bar?_ Vicky asked, and held a Snickers out to him.At that moment they slowed to turn off the highway and head cautiously, carefully, through recently bulldozed streets, toward the town plaza. That__ where the McDonald__ was. His McDonald__.A candy bar. People had killed for less.