Elsinore by Jerome Charyn Page A

dismissed them with a growl that started so deep in his throat, half his body seemed to rise up from the gate. And now Holden understood where the siren had learned his songs. Bibo was the best tutor in town.
    â€œCome inside, El Presidente. But without the toy.”
    Holden left the carbine against the gate and followed Bibo into the palace.
    They had their coffee in Bibo’s kitchen. They had pale cherries in ice water. They had a thick golden cream.
    â€œShe is a beautiful woman, your first wife.”
    â€œI was only married once,” Holden said. “But who told you about Andrushka?”
    â€œSeñor, she was in this house. More than once.”
    â€œYou met the twig and Bruno Schatz?”
    â€œI’ve known Bruno since I was a boy.”
    â€œGeneral, you were never a boy. But you had German connections. That’s what Phippsy said.”
    â€œEl Presidente, we all worked for Phipps.”
    â€œThen why are you keeping him here?”
    â€œBecause he wants to rob me of everything I have. And I thought a few hours of solitary confinement might make him more reasonable.”
    â€œIs it something to do with bearer bonds?” Holden asked, biting into a pale cherry.
    â€œThe bonds are a guarantee for my old age. I have no other guarantees.”
    â€œGeneral, you have a whole damned town.”
    â€œWe have no industries, señor. And the upkeep is tremendous. I have to feed the mayor, his bodyguards, and mine. I have three hundred widows to support, sixteen imbeciles, a horse doctor, two pharmacists, three unmarried sisters, and ten cows. I need the bonds.”
    â€œBut the old man needs them more. All his assets are leaking. And he has to plug the holes. If he starts to drown, General, Pescadores might fall into the sea.”
    â€œThen we are at an impasse.”
    â€œI don’t think so,” Frog said. “General, if you don’t come up with Phippsy and the bonds in five minutes, I will have to pull off the front part of your face.”
    â€œI have the army, señor. You don’t.”
    â€œBut your army is blowing wind on a bunch of motorbikes. And my hands are inches from your head.”
    â€œYou’re a hired assassin,” the general said. “Do you know how many corpses I’ve pissed on, bodies I have burnt?”
    â€œIt’s one-on-one, General. Just you and me.”
    Bibo looked into Holden’s eyes. “All right,” he said. “I’ll give you the old man.”

9
    â€œYou’re lucky to be alive.”
    They’d returned to Bilbao, and Holden had gotten the old man on board the plane with his sack of bearer bonds.
    â€œI said you’re lucky to be alive.”
    â€œAnd I could strangle you, Phippsy, right in your seat, and cash in those bonds of yours.”
    The old man contemplated Frog’s proposal. It seemed to calm him. “You don’t have the nerve. You’d wilt without me. You’d wander inside your head.”
    â€œBut I wouldn’t have to rescue you from some boy general.”
    â€œYou didn’t rescue me. I was having a long talk with Bibo. He was about to cave in.”
    â€œPhippsy, he would have stolen your pants.”
    â€œBig deal. He let you fall asleep on a shitload of Spanish cider. He drugged you, Sid. And he could have cut your throat.”
    â€œThen why didn’t he?”
    â€œBibo’s fond of you. You’re his baby brother.”
    â€œI’m not his brother. I had paella with him once.”
    â€œBut he sensed that you’re an exile, like him.”
    â€œHe sensed more than that, Phippsy. He knew my whole career. Tell me about your dealings with Bruno Schatz.”
    â€œSwiss? I hardly know the man.”
    â€œStop it,” Holden said. “You bought Aladdin right out from under him.”
    â€œThat’s his misfortune. He didn’t have the hard cash.”
    â€œYou used him, didn’t you? During