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okay?”
     
    “Yeah.”
     
    “You don’t look okay.” I looked into his face, trying to read him, and saw the exhaustion and concern.
     
    “Bad week at the office,” he said as he picked up his small duffle. “Your room?” he asked as he raised his bag slightly.
     
    “Yes.” That got me a ghost of a smile. I guess he was afraid that I had changed my mind about us again. I followed him into the bedroom. “Can you tell me about it?”
     
    He sat on the bed, pulled his boots off, and flopped backwards. I crawled up into the bed with him and lay down at his side, snuggling in close. “I’m on everyone’s shit list in the club. The Bulls are undercutting our deal with our biggest client. The customer canceled their latest order and that has left us hanging with a half-million dollars’ worth of goods. Everyone is looking to me to figure out how they are doing it and I can’t figure it out. It seems impossible.”
     
    I was quiet a moment, my head on his chest as I listened to the slow thudding of his heart. “Could they be selling below cost to steal your customers away?”
     
    “Maybe. But I don’t think they have the resources to do that. We couldn’t do that, not for long, and we are in a lot better position than they are.”
     
    “Do they, the Bulls, have another income stream they could be using?” I asked, trying to help him figure a way out of his box.
     
    “Yeah. They run whores, but I can’t see that generating enough income to do this.”
     
    “Is that what you do? Hookers?”
     
    He woofed out a single laugh. “No. I told you before, no whores, no drugs, and no guns for hire. We…” He paused but I held my tongue, hoping he would finally tell me what the Hellhounds do. “We import guns.”
     
    “Guns?” I said as I rose up and looked him in the eyes. “That’s the big secret? Lots of people sell guns. Hell, I have one that I carry sometimes – a little thirty-eight. It’s in the nightstand right there.”
     
    “Not these types of guns,” he said softly as I put my head back on his chest. “These are full auto, machine guns like the Army has, and heavy sniper rifles. Things like that. Not the type of thing that you can buy at the local gun store. We buy Eastern Bloc weapons from a dealer in Albania and import them. They come in as parts — machined parts — and we put them together.”
     
    “And someone is doing it cheaper?”
     
    “Worse, they are selling U.S. and NATO hardware for less. It’s like we’re selling Chevys, and they are selling Mercedes, but they are selling their Mercedes for less than our Chevys. I don’t know how they are doing it. Our contact in Albania doesn’t know how either.”
     
    “What happens if you can’t figure it out?”
     
    “The Hounds will be in a world of hurt. A lot of us depend on this deal for our livelihood. Me included. Without it…”
     
    I felt a rush of doom. I hated to be so calculating, but if Cain could no longer send the checks…I was making ends meet on my reduced income, but barely. When the baby arrived, I wasn’t sure how I would manage.
     
    He must have realized what I was thinking when I became quiet. “Don’t worry. I have some money put back. I will keep sending money as long as I can. You’ll be okay; I will make sure of it. By the time the kid gets here, we will have this resolved one way or another.”
     
    “That isn’t what I was thinking,” I lied.
     
    “Well, it’s what I have been thinking,” he said. “I’ve been talking to our supplier and customer, trying to put a deal together. We’re not going to go down without a fight. There will be blood in the streets before we let the Bulls march in and take over our contract.” I stiffened in alarm at his choice of words. “Metaphorically speaking, of course,” he said and I relaxed.
     
    “I hate it when you say things like that.”
     
    “Sorry. I sometimes forget that you think I’m some kind of gangster.”   
     
    “How