Chapter 4 – Chapter 4

"Is he satisfactory, sir?" Marco asked as he served Mickey Bugoti's breakfast.

"Quite so, Marco," Bugoti answered. "I decided not to tell him yet, though, that he's been working for me all along—that his supplier is from my operations. I like him better when there's that edge of fear in him."

"You can trust me. I won't tell him either."

"I want you to take care of a few things," Bugoti continued. "That narc who has been trying to entrap him—the black guy going by the name of Cal . . ."

"The man you sent me over to pull off of Styles last night?"

"Yes, that's him. I don't want Styles arrested. Do whatever you need to keep him off of Styles before Styles leaves for the Caribbean."

"Salvo and I could take him for a ride."

"Nothing that drastic, if you can avoid it. We don't want the FBI down on our shift. Put him sniffing on some other dead end for ten days. Or give him what he'll think is an accident to hang him up. A broken leg or something. And that other matter."

"It's already taken care of, sir. I made the visit earlier this morning while you were . . ."

Bugoti laughed. "You should have seen Styles' face when I tied his wrists off at the headboard and rode his ass like a cowboy. He didn't know I had another poke in me this morning. God, he has a sweet ass—and such a tight hole. I'll have that opened real good for him before he leaves for the islands, though."

"Yes, sir. But he doesn't know how lucky he is that you decided to acquire him."

* * * *

"Hey, I see that you've signed Rob Styles' application for next year," Hank said as he entered the OCBP station office to report that all of the stands were tucked away in storage. He had picked Rob's application from the out basket.

"Yes, I decided that this wouldn't be his last summer—that he could be the oldest lifeguard for another year."

"You're just an old softy," Hank said.

Frank didn't give an answer to that, but he certainly had a thought about it. He'd had no intention of signing off on the approval for the application—not until this morning when that big bruiser of an enforcer for Mickey Bugoti visited him and told him he'd be giving Rob Styles any accommodation the oldest lifeguard wanted.