Chapter 38. The Hammer and Anvil

Anna May Wong: even though she played 

the part of an Oriental Dragon Lady 

throughout the 30's and 40's, she fought 

the stereo-type, forming her own 

production company and starring as  

a female detective, Madam Liu-Tsong 

in the Gallery of Madam Liu-Tsong

in the early 50's.

Tremors from the bass amps could be felt underfoot and rattled windows on the way up the walk to Ralph’s apartment. I had to pound hard before the door cracked open with a billow of pot smoke pouring out.

Ralph swung the door open and in a single motion had my wrist, drawing me in and down to the floor, with one foot on my throat, before he recognized me. Still wearing gun-range ear-muffs, he yelled, “Holy shit, Crash!”

“Hey, Ralphie, take off the muffs, you gonna let me up or what?”

“Huh… oh, yeah, sure.” Ralph took off the muffs and pulled me up. Standing back, he spread his arms as though welcoming a long-lost brother. He lowered his voice, “I’ll get you a beer.”

I took one of the chairs at the card table and sat, “No thanks, you have water?”

“Yeh, stay there, I gots some bottle-water for Anna. You know Anna? Says she knows you too… Damn, I gotta tell ya, that girl, she was askin’ about Max. I had no idea you were around ‘til she told me you were in jail over in Woodlands. She was waiting for you or someone. Wouldn’t tell me though. I just figured she has lots of secrets, you know? When you didn’t show, yeah, that’s why I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

She had used and manipulated Casey… Doc… and me… Casey’s dead and she had me busted for rape. “She’s gone and you’re still alive. She must like you.” I was serious about that. 

He laughed, “I tell you, I like her for sure. Yeah. Had me drop her off near Rio Vista stayed a week like she was waitin’ for the right time. Maybe you? I don’t know but whew! Forty bucks were missing from my wallet and, damn, damn, shit damn, she was worth every cent of it.”

“You got the jump on me. That’s good. Anna got you prepped, I see. Still doing the deal?”

“You mean Kempo? Yeah. I gots my black belt and moving on up. You really got me going when you were here. The way you handled those bikers… You know?”

“You wanna know the truth, I was wasted the whole time and don’t remember much. It’s been a couple years. So, she’s in Rio Vista… the Mansion?”

“Mansion? Naw, I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me. She had me drop her off in Rio Vista… wouldn’t let me go with her either.”

Ralph was putting on his leather jacket as he spoke. “Let’s get to the Library and have a drink. We gots lots to talk over, okay?”

 I could read Ralph. The way he faked not knowing about the mansion. He was covering for her and trying to get me out of his place… like she was there. “I don’t have time for a beer. What I need is a change of clothes and, if you know where I can get a gun, I need one no later than today. You know I’ll pay you back but I’ve got business to attend.”

The door opened from the bathroom. I saw it through the crack in the bedroom door but I don’t think Ralph did.

Anna’s voice came from the shadows, “He has no way to pay you back, Ralphie.”

She came out of the bedroom wearing a black wig and a kimono. The short-cropped kind of wigs with bangs. I dashed into the room and, when she made no effort to flee but came to me, I picked her up off the ground with what can be called a Rodeo-Hug, “Hey, who’s this, Anna May Wong!”

She kissed my cheek and yelped, “I thought you would get out. I knew you would. The tiger’s out in the jungle now!” Her arms around my neck and legs wrapped around my waist, she laid several pecks on one cheek and then the other. I was suspicious that she was so generous with her affections. It seem too much of a show for Ralph’s sake.

Ralph stood behind us in the doorway like a cuckolded husband. “Who’s Anna May Wong? That your whole name, Anna?”

“Old movies Ralph. Anna May Wong Chinese goddess of the thirties.” She was so light I hardly noticed her weight at all. I wanted to hold her longer but set her down towards Ralph as though passing the baton. Mainly out of respect for his wounded Hispanic machismo, I tempered the scene by saying, “Don’t worry Ralphie, I’m not gonna steal her away.”

Ralph took her hand and pulled her to his side, “We were playing a game. She was my Geisha…”

“I know, Ralph. It’s okay. She’s like a daughter to me.”

Anna protested, “It’s a China Doll! Get your stereo-types in order. And, Crash, I fuckin’ told you before, don’t talk about me like I’m not here!” and kissed Ralph on the lips.

Ralph smiled. Hell, he had such a beautiful face when he smiled, I wanted to kiss him too. Instead, I just put my hands on both of his cheeks and shook his head affectionately, the way a father does his son when he’s proud of him. The fact that he covered for her and lied to me. That meant a lot if he was to be in on the action to come.

“About that drink, Ralphie. I know you have beer but do you have anything like tea?”

“Yeah, I think Max left some.”

I said, “I heard he had an accident. You know… from the bike shop guy he owes… Roy, or something.”

“Hey, fuckers. We have more important things to talk about than Max. Ralph knows what we’re up against and he’s willing to help. We’ve been thinking about hitting it tomorrow but now that you’re here… What do you say, Crash, you come up with anything while on vacation? You know, a plan?”

“Vacation, eh, that’s what you call it? I’ve done some thinking but it was about goin’ solo. Thought you were testifying against me until I heard about the hospital. Now that there’s three of us it looks like we have a team.”

Anna sat on the edge of the bed, took off her wig, and sighed, “Rafael has one twelve-gauge. That’s it. We can’t go in there naked.”

Her hair had grown out a couple inches since we left Santa Barbara and she'd bleached it blond. Her appearance did a quick switch from Oriental to Caucasian. I could see how easy it would be for her to disguise herself and wondered how that might give us an advantage. “How many wigs do you have. You didn’t manage to bring your bag of tricks from the Dinky Dao, did you?”

“No. Ralph had this one from Halloween. I made a list for him. There’s a costume shop in Davis. He was going to go there tomorrow to pick up what we need. You know, after all this shit that’s gone down, we can’t trust anyone. I’m going to take out Smerdyakov if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

I liked that she said, we. A plan was beginning to fall in place. A plan that would get her inside. I pulled a chair out from the card table, “Let’s sit and do some thinking. Ralph, get a pencil and paper. Draw out what you know of the mansion’s property. Anna, do you know anything about it?”

The Island Mansion was the place Smerdyakov and the Bird Dog were going to be making a deal but Anna would not be able to just walk in the front door. I was ambivalent about this whole business before but the hammer of betrayal on the anvil of justice forged a sword I would have to wield with precision.

Ralph set a steno-pad on the card table. Several pages were taken by lyrics he’d written for his band. He sketched out the perimeters of the grounds and only a square for the actual house.

“Don’t you know more about the Mansion… even the outside of it?” I pled.

Anna grabbed the pad from Ralph, drew little circles on parts of Ralph’s perimeter, flipped a page, and sketched out a rough but thorough house plan. “I’ve been there. Baker trained me in that place. There are at least a hundred motherfuckers and trainees inside and outside the place.”

 “Anna, before we get into any further planning, why did you say you were sorry back there at the slough.”

Se reached across the table and held my hand, “When I left the Dinky Dao, I saw you and Doc.” Real tears streaked her eye-shadow as she told the tale, “There’s a pay-phone at the boat launch. Casey was dead and Yuri wasn’t far away. I called the cops. I told them there were weapons. I told them you were there… snitched you out.”

I yanked my hand from hers, “What the fuck, Anna?”

“I’ve been taught tactics and strategy, Crash. So have you!”

She knew I would understand. “Collateral damage and casualties, friendly fire, uh-huh. I see. I don't see how turning your team mate over falls in those categories.”

Our problem all along had been that there were two people at odds with each other in charge of a military operation. Only one of them knew the agenda. She was still in charge. She was the young Lewy and I was the old veteran Sergeant. Baker would be the General and Ryan… Commander? She had drawn me out of my drunken stupor to be her NCO and, like it or not, I had no need to know anything more than she allowed me to know. It had always been that way from the beginning but it became clear to me the way she explained herself with no regrets. "Tactics and strategy. Okay, I know where I stand. Anna, have you ever heard of the Ranger Creed to never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy."

I knew enough of Baker to know that he was just as willing to sacrifice a pawn as was Smerdyakov. Though I wasn’t an Army Ranger, I respected and lived by the Ranger Creed and it was appalling to every instinct in me to do as she did no matter how strategic the tactic.

She read my mind, “I didn’t sacrifice you, Crash. Another part of that creed is to never surrender. You didn't surrender any more than I left you to dry. You were safe in jail. I didn't accuse you of rape. Someone slipped that in. My plan didn’t include Smerdyakov’s infiltrating the police department. When I escaped the hospital and you busted out of jail, we skewered his plan. He doesn’t have one now. It was supposed to be in the bag when we were taken off the board. He was going to take care of both of us where he had us.”

“What about Doc? Where the fuck's he?”

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since. Shit, I forgot about him. He helped to take me down."

"I don't know what to believe now."

"The forty bucks part is true," Ralph piped in.

About Ralph. I thought he was a better match for my Anna than Casey. He was her age and she needed to be with someone that wasn't fucked-up by his past like Casey and I were. He was also a better match for the task ahead. A musician with martial arts training would know how to act in unison with us.

Ralph reached under the table, "Anyone want a bong hit?"

It was going to be a long night.