Read the Viking Funeral (2001) for Free Online Page B

Shane "Salsa" or "Hot Sauce" almost from the beginning, because in the old days when they were children, Shane had a short fuse and often couldn't control his temper.
    "You're still on the job?" Shane said, trying to pin down that fact. "With the department?"
    "Yeah, but you didn't hear it here. I'm working UC."
    "You're undercover?" Astounded, still trying to find the edges of it. In his heart he had known that Jody was alive from that first moment he saw him on the freeway last Friday, but hearing his voice was different--spooky, surreal.
    "It's a big laydown, so a few of my old road dogs and me been bustin' moves and doin' doors on some serious assholes." "Doin' doors"
    was an old term referring to cops stealing from drug houses but more recently had come to mean any activity where cops cheated to get busts. Shane took a deep breath to settle down. It was unbelievable... Jody on the phone, in the middle of the night, talking trash, sounding wired. "We found out there are a few moles in the Clerical Division who would've given us away if we got regular paychecks. This is a big hustle, Salsa. Lots of chips on the table. We needed to work the bust from the inside."
    "What bust?"
    "Hey, come on... You know better than to ask that."
    "Jody... I... Look, Jody, I have to see you."
    "Ain't gonna happen. Can't happen. Reason I called is, I know you'll pull on this thread till you unravel the whole sweater, and that could fuck me up. You gotta chill, brother. You gotta leave this behind. Forget you saw me. Don't 'plex up on me, Salsa."
    "Plex up"--a prison term meaning to get complex. Why is he using con lingo?
    "Does Lauren know?" Shane asked.
    "No, I cut a deal with my CO.... Told 'em she wasn't solid.. . S he'd give us up. I needed to get out of that. It took a while, and I had to pull some juice downtown, but in the end, the department went along. She thinks I'm dead." But he said all of this slowly, as if considering it a word at a time. Shane figured it could mean anything.
    "She's not doing well, Jody. She's gained weight. She's become an afternoon drinker."
    "Hey, Salsa, shit happens. I made a mistake with her. I thought it was love, but it was just my dick. She's okay. She's got my police pension. I got a medical pass on the suicide. They said it was caused by psychiatric stress, so it protects my death benefits. 'At's the best I can do. After this job, I'm gating out.. . G onna get small, shake off the drag line."
    More prison lingo. "Gating out" was release from custody. "Drag lines" were prisoner restraints, linking cons together.
    "So, Shane... I called 'cause I didn't want you to mess me up. A lot of people could get fucked unless you keep this to yourself. I hadda eat some shit to get my people to stay frosty. A few guys wanted to send you some GBH." More prison talk: "grievous bodily harm."
    "Jody, is this sanctioned?" he heard himself ask. But he knew it didn't matter how Jody answered. He knew he couldn't trust anything he said.
    "I'm not working off my badge, Hot Sauce. I'm just working off the books. Do yourself a favor and forget you saw me. Forget we were both on the 405. It didn't happen. Do that, and everything stays right side up."
    "And if I don't?"
    "Don't even suggest it, man. I Jodyized this deal! Make me a hero with my troops. I told 'em you'd see it my way--our way. I told 'em you were good people. And, Salsa, don't tell anybody about this call. With your current problems, those squints in the Glass House are gonna black-flag what's left of your career."
    "Where's Carl Medwick?" Shane asked suddenly.
    "How the fuck should I know. Home in bed, I guess."
    "He disappeared the day before I saw you."
    "Now you're acting like a complete asshole. If you keep this up, it won't come out good."
    "So you're threatening me now?" Shane said, his voice turning cold with anger and betrayal.
    "I'm just passing along information. Use it, or don't."
    Then there was a long, tension-filled pause. Shane could hear Jody