City of God (47 page)

Two days passed without any shooting. Tiny couldn't believe what was happening. That playboy had more balls than he'd thought. He bitterly regretted not having taken him out on the day of the rape, and stayed locked away in his flat with Slick and Night Owl, snorting cocaine. All they talked about was the new enemy.

Knockout spent those two days awake, combing the alleys Up Top. Many people cheered him on and women who didn't even know him, having heard of his good looks and bravery, hung around on street corners hoping to see him. At around eleven o'clock in the morning, Carrots approached him. He was standing on a street corner, explaining the reasons for his revolt to a small group of acquaintances.

‘I wanna have a word with you.'

Knockout nodded and Carrots went on:

‘My name's Carrots. I heard about your run-in with that bastard, you know. I don't like him. We've had loads of misunder standin's, me and him, and it's like this: if you want ammo, you got it, if you want guns, you got 'em, and if you want me to go with you to kill that bastard, I'll be there, OK man? You know there's no negotiatin' with him now! You've gotta get rid of 'im and everyone that hangs around ‘im, right? You can't muck around with him.'

Carrots' lingo sounded strange to Knockout, but he answered:

‘I want the guns and ammo, but I prefer to go alone.'

‘I know you've got the balls, man, but he's never alone. There's always a shitload of pawns hangin' around … If you like, we can get organised over at the den … Then we can take Teresa's den, which is actually his, know what I'm sayin'?'

‘I'm not interested in dens. I'm not a criminal. I've got a score to settle with Tiny himself …'

‘Fine, fine, but if you try to take 'im on by yourself, you're gonna bite the dust!'

The small group stood there listening to the conversation. Among them were gangsters Tiny had beaten up and the relatives of gangsters he'd killed. Everyone there knew that Carrots was trying to team up with Knockout. Maybe they could help take Tiny out; they had more than enough reasons. Little by little, they chimed in.

‘Hey man, I once did this huge house and got a shitload of stuff, right? But I had the bad luck of runnin' into Tiny and he took the lot … him and Slick,' said Seagull.

‘He killed my brother,' lamented Mousetrap.

‘One day he grabbed me like this, took me down to The Flats and made me wash the whole gang's jocks … he ordered guys to take their jocks off just for me to wash,' said Rascal.

Knockout was silent.

‘C'mon, man! Let's team up!!' urged Carrots.

‘Once we were hangin' around on the corner playin' cards, right? He held up the game, took the money, thumped everyone in the face and walked off laughin',' said Mousetrap.

‘I mean, come on, that gang's completely worthless. When he tells one of 'em to do somethin', they do it just to get in his good books. A bunch of arse-lickers … I've got ten shooters!' stated Carrots.

‘Got any pistols?' asked Knockout.

‘No, but I can get some.'

‘We can hold up a gun shop …'

‘I'm not a criminal! I'm not stealin' a thing!' replied Knockout.

‘You didn't used to be, man, but now you are and your enemy ain't gonna rest ‘til he's killed ya. He raped your girl, killed your granddad, filled your house with bullets and you've already taken down four, right? If you're not a criminal, take your family and get out of here, or he'll kill the lot of you,' said Carrots testily, then went quiet and pretended to leave.

‘Hang on, hang on. Look, I just wanna kill Tiny. I'm not gonna steal or do hold-ups and I'm not interested in anyone's den!'

‘If that's how you want it, that's how it's gonna be, but the den's mine and that's how it's gonna stay. Alright?' said Carrots, looking at the others.

‘It's all yours!' said Knockout.

‘If you gimme a shooter, I'll come help you take 'im out!' said eight-year-old Steak-and-Chips, who'd been beaten up by Tiny.

‘Take 'im out, my arse! You need to stop stealin' and go to school … You're just a kid!' said Knockout.

‘Look man, I smoke, I snort, I bin beggin' since I was a baby, I've washed car windows, shined shoes, killed, stolen … I'm not a kid. I'm a man!'

Tiny was still thinking about Knockout. For the first time, he knew fear. The bastard fired without dodging return fire. He was a good shot and worse: he wasn't afraid of him. He had to be got rid of fast, he decided with Bicky and Slick over a beer at the shops at exactly the same time that Knockout, Carrots and the other gang members were talking Up Top.

Tiny suddenly thought of Carrots. Carrots could kill Knockout on the sly, because Knockout probably knew who everyone
in Tiny's gang was by now, but he wouldn't suspect Carrots because he lived Up Top.

‘Hey, Sidney, come here!' he said as soon as he'd decided how to kill his enemy. Of course Carrots would do him this favour to get in his good books. He was sure his childhood friend was afraid of him.

Sidney walked over.

‘Go tell Carrots he's gotta kill Knockout, otherwise I'll get the guys and go take his den. Go on, off you go. If he don't like the idea, tell 'im to come see me.'

‘Now you're talkin'!' exclaimed Bicky.

Sidney sped off on his bike, took the road along the river's edge to the first street after the big bridge, wove through another three alleys and reached the square in Block Fifteen, where Carrots was telling his assistant to get the rest of the guns to give his new partners. He heard Sidney's whistle. Carrots looked up and Sidney waved. He walked over, listened to Tiny's message, and said:

‘OK, but it's gotta be now! I've been wantin' to take 'im out. There, there he is. Come with me so he won't think it's a set-up.'

Sidney began to pedal. Carrots walked beside him.

‘You tooled up?' he asked.

‘Yeah.'

‘Don't touch it. Let me kill ‘im. You only get involved if someone decides to side with ‘im. Don't let on.'

They went slowly.

‘You shot at me too!' said Knockout when he set eyes on Sidney.

Suddenly, Carrots pressed the barrel of his revolver to Sidney's head.

‘Tell ‘im, what was the message your boyfriend sent you to give me!?'

‘W-w-what …!?'

‘W-w-what my arse, kid! Spit it out or you're dead!' said Carrots, frisking the errand boy's waistband until he found his revolver.

‘He told you to kill ‘im, otherwise he was gonna take your den.'

Knockout shook his head and said:

‘Get out of this life, kid. You're young, don't get caught up in that maniac's game. I don't know what you've got in that head of yours!'

‘Arse-lickin' – that's what!' said Carrots and fired a bullet that grazed Sidney's backside. Then he added: ‘Go tell your boyfriend that Carrots and Knockout are the bosses Up Top now! Fuckin' cunt!'

Grey, grey all the way from the Recreio Range to Gávea Rock, from Barra da Tijuca to the Grajaú Range. Heavy, still, dark grey clouds hung in the sky over the
favela
. It was going to rain hard. The river would surely burst its banks, flooding the houses along its margins. The people who had moved there because of the 1966 floods foresaw a catastrophe, with the waters destroying everything, bringing snakes and alligators with mouths full of teeth. Lying on the sofa near his living-room window, Tiny ran his tongue along the barrel of his revolver and watched the raindrops splatter against the glass. Now the rain was sheeting down; it looked as if someone had thrown an enormous bucket of water at his window.

Sitting there alone, he saw Knockout's blue eyes staring straight into his with every bullet that left his pistol, with every step he took, unafraid of getting shot. Dangerous. He'd got himself a dangerous enemy, and to top it all the bastard was a looker. He'd never seen a good-looking gangster in the streets or films. And now, since the guys were getting together Up Top,
he'd best work on consolidating his friendships. He decided he wasn't going to take any more money from Slick's den, and he'd give Bicky and Russian Mouse each a den, to strengthen their loyalty.

Slick came back into his thoughts. He found his friend more sinister since he'd got out of prison. He hardly ever spoke, was always alone and, in conversations, he never looked you square in the eye. And what about that arsehole Carrots? He should have been killed a long time ago! But that was all Sparrow's fault, with his fucking habit of letting things go, not letting him kill people … That's why he was dead. Dickhead! He thought about the blonde, became aroused and unzipped his fly. The movement hurt his left arm, but he fixed his thoughts on the blonde's cunt and wanked himself off. He came, then cleaned himself up with the blanket and took a nap.

He got up half an hour later, went into the bedroom, climbed onto the bed, cleared piles of objects off a black box on top of the wardrobe, got the box down, opened it, took out Sting's rifle, and pretended to fire in all directions. Knockout's goose was cooked. He looked out of the window, saw Bicky rolling a joint, and went downstairs.

‘Hey, man, wanna take a stroll in the rain? We might catch that dickhead off guard. And look what we've got for ‘im,' said Tiny, holding up the gun. ‘Reckon he's gonna just stand there with this pointed at him?'

‘Fuck!' exclaimed Bicky.

They thought it best to go on foot. Goalie, who didn't care that he was less than ten years old, went ahead, checking to see if the coast was clear. They decided to head through Block Thirteen. Although he couldn't use his left arm very well, Tiny kept a tight grip on the rifle. The gangsters from Block Thirteen, used to seeing a hostile and abusive Tiny, were taken aback by his handshakes, pats
on the back and unprompted laughter. They hung around for a while smoking a joint rolled by Butterfly, Slick's manager, and then moved on. Tiny said he was off to kill Knockout and then he'd buy everyone a round of beer to celebrate.

Up Top, Knockout was examining a pistol. Carrots grumbled that it was the only one he'd managed to get his hands on. Knockout silently filled a clip, expertly loaded the .45, and tried to think of somewhere to try it out. He asked his partner to suggest a place.

‘Over by the big lake,' he said at once.

Knockout walked along still staring at the pistol, with Carrots trailing behind.

Tiny, Bicky and Goalie crossed the Rec and turned into the street that ran past the church, where they caught sight of their enemies in an adjacent street. They hid. They could keep going straight and surprise them from behind, or take the parallel street and jump out in front of them. Tiny couldn't decide. He regretted not having tested the rifle. In fact, he didn't even know how to shoot it. He was kicking himself for lugging that heavy crap around and not being able to use it. Bicky looked at him as if waiting for orders. Tiny gave up on the rifle, cocked his pistol and took off running down the street perpendicular to the one they were on.

When he'd checked the gun thoroughly and put it in his waistband, Knockout quickened his pace. Only now did he look to make sure there were no adversaries around. He wasn't yet in the habit of fearing the police and therefore wasn't as alert as Carrots, who noticed a police van driving slowly down the street along the river's edge.

‘Let's double back and take the inside route – the pigs've just gone past!' said Carrots.

They turned back onto the street where they'd been seen by Tiny, who'd already taken the street parallel to them and reached the end, where he was lying in wait at the corner. They were
taking a long time to pass, so he risked a look. To his surprise they weren't there – maybe they'd seen him? He looked the other way and saw Knockout and Carrots going past.

Tiny ran, thinking he was surrounded. The only way to escape death would be to run to the river and cross it, he thought. From the river's edge, he saw Knockout and Carrots cross the bridge and turn left.

‘They're in with Leaky Tap!' he concluded.

‘Hey, Leaky Tap, how's things?'

‘Things're good, man. Out for a stroll?'

‘Yeah, I'm takin' a walk,' said Tiny, accompanied by more than twenty armed men.

Leaky Tap's calm made Tiny uncertain. If he was in cahoots with Knockout he wouldn't be so calm at the sight of Tiny's gang, but still he asked:

‘Been chattin' with Knockout?'

‘Don't know ‘im.'

‘I saw 'im over here in your area yesterday …'

‘Ah, so it was him that was firin' them shots, then. I just heard the noise … I even thought it might be the police … But then people said there was a guy tellin' the kids to get out of there 'cos he was goin' to try out a shooter … but I didn't see nothin' … Hey, there's this supplier around that's got some shit-hot coke! I told 'im to have a word with you, OK? I don't handle coke … He said he was gonna pay you a visit.'

They made small talk until Leaky Tap wrapped things up:

‘Look, I've gotta split, OK? I've got this job to do – there might be some big money in this one.'

‘Good luck!' said Tiny, certain that Leaky Tap hadn't teamed up with Knockout.

*     *     *

With the intention of storming The Flats, Carrots and Knockout met with their allies in Block Fifteen, where Tiny's gang had gone after saying goodbye to Leaky Tap. They separated when they got close to their enemy's area, inching along, checking every alley they turned down.

Tiny went ahead of his silent gang. The eldest were Slick, Night Owl, Tiny, Little Bicky, Russian Mouse and Tim, all in their early twenties. The rest of the gang were no more than fifteen years of age. Some were twelve, like Blubber, Black Stump and Marcelo, while others were only nine or ten. They were heroes in a war film. They were the Yankies and the enemies were the Jerries. They were all children of parents who were unknown or dead; some supported their households, and none had finished primary school. They were going to try to kill Knockout.