Pipeline Read Online Free PDF Page B

man," Mercado said as he pulled a hand from his pocket and
ran it under his nose.
    Pauli
chuckled. "Yeah, right. You know a kid named Fernando Acevedo?"
    "Nando?"
    "Yeah.
He lives a couple of blocks from here."
    "He
got a real fine-lookin’ mama," Mercado said as he closed one eye against
the sun and squinted at us.
    "He
a hitter?"
    "Nando's
a punk."
    "He
a banger?"
    "Don't
know." Mercado shrugged. "Maybe."
    "If
he was, which boys would be his?"
    Mercado
laughed derisively. "You goin' senile or somethin', ol' man? You know
whose turf this is."
    "Conquistadors,
right?"
    A
nod.
    "Anybody
more unusual than normal been hangin' around lately? Anybody from out of the
area kickin' up a little business with the Conquistadors?"
    "Ain't
seen nobody."
    "Conquistadors
involved with bringin' in illegals?"
    "Shit,
Pauli, they be mostly illegals theyselves. Bring more in and all they gonna do
is make their own gang. Conquistadors don't need no fuckin' competition."
    "Who's
in charge now?"
    "I
heard Escobar."
    "Freddie?"
    Another
nod.
    "Still
holdin' court in the same place?"
    A
shrug.
    Pauli
pulled his wallet out and waved a twenty at Mercado. It was the first time he
looked awake since Pauli stopped him.
    "Take
this, Davey," Pauli said as he pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote on
the bill. "You see anyone meetin' with the Conquistadors who looks like
they don't belong here, call that number and leave a message. You get somethin'
and I'll have a few more Jacksons for you."
    Mercado
stuffed the bill into his pocket and continued down the street.
    "Think
he'll call?" I asked.
    "Who
knows? Depends on how strung out he gets. Escobar screwed him over a few years
ago. He might want to get even."
    "What
are you hunting for anyway, Pauli?" I asked as we returned to the car.
    "Well,
sometimes outsiders who want to contract out a hit contact these morons down
here to do it. It's cheaper than bringing in a pro from out of town. Of course,
the results ain't as reliable, but it usually works pretty good. If your kid
tripped onto something else besides your basic illegal angle, whoever is
involved might have hired one of these kiddies to do the job to keep the focus
on illegals rather than draw attention to themselves."
    "Sounds
a little convoluted."
    "Crime
gets that way sometimes," Pauli said as he folded himself back into the
vehicle.
    We
cruised the rest of the neighborhood before Pauli returned to his house to drop
me off. He was going to the hospital to interview Kyle and then planned to
convince some old pal on the force to give him access to the computer to check
a few things. I gave him Sarita Ramirez's name and asked him to check her out
as well. Pauli agreed to pick me up the following morning to search Kyle's
apartment.
    When
I got back to my room at the hotel, I placed an order with room service and
started dialing numbers again. I renewed a few old acquaintances, but otherwise
the calls were fruitless. Then I remembered the notebooks and scraps of paper I
had taken from Kyle's desk at the Light and found them still stuffed in my
jacket pockets. While I waited for my food, I spread the scraps of paper out on
the bed and began going through them one at a time. Most were phone numbers and
initials, and I added them to my list of phone calls just to see if anyone
interesting answered. There had been two notebooks in Kyle's desk. One of them
was over a year old, but the second one was at least dated the current year,
and I started with it. I was about a fourth of the way through when there was a
knock at my door. Grabbing my wallet, I went to the door, but when I opened it,
it wasn't my dinner.
    "Did
you send that fat cretin to the hospital today, Joanna?" Cate asked as she
barged into my room.
    "Pauli?"
    "Yes."
    "I
didn't send him, but he said he was going to ask Kyle a few questions.
Why?"
    "He
practically accused Kyle of shooting himself!"
    "Calm
down, Cate. He's just trying to get some information."
    "Well,
he's not very subtle about