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Ralph put his hands in his lap "It’s a trap"

There was a glint of movement on the roof of Mi Tierra, just at the corner of the building

"I’uello, put your hands on top of your head, please, very slowly"

"A cross fire," I grumbled "Damn you, Larry"

"Why don’t you use that little tay radio in your ear," Ralph said evenly "Tell your friends I got a pistol under ht at your dick"

"Shoot," Larry dared hie roof will take off your head Otherwise, put your hands up and we’ll wait for the SWAT team to join--"

Ralph overturned the table into Larry’s lap

I rolled to the ground and got up running

Ralph ay ahead of me He dove behind the only other occupied table--the family of startled tourists--and burst into the restaurant where the croas thicker

There was no snap of gunfire No clear shot

We wove through the dining roo over breakfast platters Larry Drapieas yelling and cursing behind us

I glanced back long enough to see two SWAT guys in full co assault rifles

Nice to feel wanted

"Not the front," Ralph warned

He was right Two unifor over baskets of pralines

Fortunately, Ralph and I knew Mi Tierra better than e fifteen I’d retched aritas into their men’s room toilet

We burst into the kitchen, ran for the delivery ramp Cops behind us yelled at the dishwashers: "Get down!"

Finally one of the sot off a shot ere through the service exit

I didn’t notice the uniformed officer outside the door until it was too late

"Vato!" Ralph yelled

The deputy aiting to the side of the kitchen entrance, his gun drawn, ready to fire at whoever cah first That happened to be istered his cocky sleam in his eyes that told ood story later I watched hi sideways, the air slammed out of me The pistol cracked

When I looked up, the deputy was cru I could hear the other cops still pushing and cursing their way through the kitchen, trying to shove through the mob of upset dishwashers

"Come on!" Ralph ordered He yanked me to my feet and ran

I shook off ht up, Ralph had already stopped a cab and pulled out the driver I had just enough time to ju and running after us, providing beautiful cover fro to take aim at us

We heard a lot of sirens, saw a lot of lights, but they were too slow bringing around the helicopter A critical mistake We shot under Interstate 10 and into the labyrinth of the West Side, which opened up to embrace us like a mother

EIGHT MINUTES LATER WE WERE SHIVERING in a stor to the police helicopter circle overhead and the sirens wail

We’d left our cab half subed in the lake of Our Lady of the Lake University, the car’s back end sticking up like the Iwo Jiured it, SAPD would have to dispatch at least five cops to deal with that new neighborhood conversation piece, which left only two thousand and fifty on the force to search the West Side for us

Ralph kicked the corrugated metal of the storm drain as if it were Larry Drapiewski’s face

"You saved me back there," I said "You pushed ave o, when Frankieup his stepfather A blank stare--as if I were questioning so that was completely obvious "What was I supposed to do?"

"You could’ve gotten yourself killed"

Ralph shrugged

Despiteto save his buttHe was the one with the family He was supposed to know better than to risk himself

"What did Larry mean," I asked, "about Frankie’s victi knuckles in his shirt "That was after high school, ’round ’86, ’87 You seriously never heard?"

I shook my head Those years had been a daze for me My father had been murdered in ’85 Shortly afterward, I’d fled San Antonio for the Bay Area and tried to sever etting into trouble," Ralph said "I meanbad trouble"

Soether--the ih the , other things I hadn’t thought about in a long time I remembered my dad’s old stories about Frankie’s father, Guy White, and sos Guy had done in his youth to prove his power A few of those exploits had supposedly driven his wife to an early grave

"Frankie’s trouble," I said "It wouldn’t have anything to do oetting badIhis fa hi a business he liked"

"Mr White came to you?"

"Maybe it was a little bit my idea But Mr White and I were square, vato After Frankie died, I got nothing out of that Took me five years to pay back Mr White for the money Frankie had fronted me, but I did it I paid off the pawnshops free and clear I’ine how much trouble Frankie could’ve been in for Guy White to see Ralph as ainfluence on his son It wasn’t easy

The police helicopterthe loose rivets of the stor about her, you know"

"Ana?"

"The baby" Ralph closed his eyes "Drapiewski said I have a daughter to think about I been afraid since the day she was born that so in my past would come back to hurt her Last two years, vatoI felt like I’ve been loaned somebody else’s life, you know? Never deserved this kind of luck Best two years I ever had"