Nubian Spirit: The African Legacy of the Nile Vallley Page #2

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So you're Internal Affairs now, huh?

I must have missed that memo.

Come on, it was a judgment call.

I gave it my best shot.

I got one officer an inch from dying,

another, his head yanked off...

...because you went off half-cocked

after The Octopus.

You're damn right

I'm going after The Octopus!

And you're going through my men

like toilet paper.

You been to Dropsie Avenue and C?

- Have you seen those girls?

- Yeah.

Some just learning how to ride a bike,

there they are, selling their souls...

...slaves to The Octopus

and his poison.

Maybe you and your force

could use a little obsession, Dolan.

Maybe you and your force

could work a little harder.

Ellen's right. You're off your rocker,

talking about cops like that.

Maybe if you and your force

could find The Octopus...

...I wouldn't have to play it solo.

- Solo, huh?

Solo?

That wasn't our deal, hotshot.

Well, then maybe we don't have a deal

anymore, commissioner.

Why, you...

You're living at the edge of a cliff, son.

And all you got is a tired old man

trying to hold you back.

Look, we're both tired.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Just give me 10 minutes.

Hell, I don't know why I even bother

to try and talk to you anymore.

Just give me 10 minutes.

Just to clear my head.

Right. Sure.

What's 10 minutes

in a man's life anyway?

Spirit?

Sir.

That cliff I was talking about?

There's no bottom.

Don't jump.

"What are you?"

That's what the woman asked me.

It's a good question.

I wish I had an answer for her.

Am I a crazy man?

Or am I a man at all?

Some nights, like this one...

... when the wind bites deep,

bone deep...

... and even my city

seems to leave me behind, I wonder:

Am I some sort of ghost?

Some sort of Flying Dutchman?

If the wind picked up

hard enough...

... would I just blow away?

I'm not a cop.

Not anymore.

Not even a dead man.

Not even a spirit.

We made it, boss.

Just like you said we would.

You still here?

Of course I'm still here. I'm your trigger.

I blowed holes right through The Spirit.

You're a trigger, Pathos.

Just look at you.

Quick Draw McGraw himself.

I'll be great.

I don't have any bones sticking out.

A couple of splints, I'll be good to go.

Yeah, just hop right over to St. Alice's,

get fixed up all nice and new.

I'll have to explain why

a criminal mastermind like myself...

...doesn't provide his employees

with medical insurance.

That'd be egg on my face, Pathos.

You know I don't like

egg on my face.

- Hadn't thought of that.

- No.

Using your brain?

That, you weren't built for.

Just tell me

where the emergency room is.

I'll tell them I'm one of the homelesses.

They don't make them pay.

Homelesses always get hurt.

Because it's free.

- That'll work!

- So will this.

No egg on my face!

Not a glob!

Not a glob.

Any other case, little buddy.

Any other job.

If it were anyone but her.

Sand.

Sand Saref.

Where's your bike?

You scrape your knee,

or are you scared for a race?

No, I got sick of that stupid bike.

You got sick of losing races to me

is more like it.

Where'd you put it?

I pawned it over at Fellman's.

- I got a few bucks for it.

- Pawned it?

Look there.

I bet those are real diamonds.

You see how they catch the light,

Denny?

Only real ones do that.

What's with you?

Nothing much.

- He's not drinking again, is he?

- No, no, he's not drinking.

What's got you needing money, then?

Just something that I saw

over at the window at Kurtzman's.

Is it a badge, like my dad's?

No, no. It wasn't a badge.

Good, you ain't hardly

earned a badge.

Well, it was something

that I thought that, you know...

...you might like seeing

as how you like shiny things and all.

It opens up too.

You can take it and look at the picture.

If you don't like it, old man Kurtzman

said he'd take it back.

Do you like it?

So you want me to be your girl?

Yeah, sure. I mean, if...

You know, if it's all the same to you.

Well, I suppose I can wear it

now and then.

- But that doesn't make me your girl.

- Yeah. Doesn't make...

Yeah, we had us a time, all right.

The way only city kids could.

I love it!

It says here Heracles himself

fought with the Argonauts.

Imagine Jason and Heracles

back-to-back.

- Yeah.

- Jason gleaming in his Golden Fleece.

Yeah. Yeah.

Then everything went right

straight to hell.

My Uncle Pete was

a has-been fighter.

Sand's dad, a beat cop who was

always looking out for dumb old Pete.

Hey, Pete! What's all this?

What's all...?

My Uncle Pete did the only thing

his punch-battered brain...

... could tell him to do.

Sand got there

a few minutes before me.

Come on.

I tried to be strong for both of us.

Come on.

I said some stuff.

I can't remember what.

And then that jerk reporter

latched onto us.

Sol, I can't miss this.

So, kids, just how does this

make you feel?

Are you scared?

- We ain't talking, so leave us alone.

- You gotta give me something.

I'll give you something.

I'll give you three words.

I hate cops.

Just leave us alone, will you?

I know you're heartbroke, Sand.

So am I,

but you didn't mean what you said.

Leave me alone, stay away.

- Give it a while.

- Give it a while?

- What? What, us?

- Well, yeah, that's what I mean.

So, sure, we grow up

and we have kids in this sinkhole?

You're just not talking straight.

And you become a cop

just like you always wanted to.

Yeah. Yeah, maybe I do.

Yeah, and then some punched-out

drunk of an old boxer shoots you dead?

- Do you think I want that?

- It wasn't Pete!

- It was that guido, and you know that.

- Who cares?

You know what?

I don't want your world.

I want diamonds,

and I want sports cars...

...and I want long dresses

and I want money. And I want lots of it.

And where are you going to find

all that, Sand?

I'm not gonna find it here.

Not in this toilet of a town.

So you're too good for me?

You're too good for all of us? Is that it?

I am too good for you,

and I am too good for this dump.

- I'm going away, I'm going far away.

- All right.

I'm gonna go

all over the world, become rich...

...and no one is ever gonna know

that I came from this hole!

No one.

And I am never coming back.

Then do whatever you want, Sand!

I don't care about you neither.

I never even wanna see you again!

I hate you, Sand.

I never saw her again.

Word is she took off for Europe.

I never knew if she was alive or dead.

Until now.

There's only one way this locket

ended up in poor Sussman's hand.

She was there. She was wearing it.

She is implicated.

If she's doing business

with The Octopus...

...then my feelings

don't mean a damn.

I must find Sand Saref...

...and bring her in.

My beautiful Sand Saref.

Are you missing something, my love?

Nothing important.

Just something I lost a long time ago.

Mark this moment, all of you.

A new age begins.

An age of great deeds.

An age of great power.

Yes.

All mine.

The blood of Heracles is mine.

I am sorely disappointed.

Which one of you brought me this?

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