ref: a00feb029ddcea6188f4324169e5f2b6a389de4e
dir: /troff/_-0109.ms/
.PP .ps 10 Shinji was gone and Cameron didn't care. The snow had come again, blanketing the evidence of filth out on the street. And Andrew was bereft. What now? .PP .ps 10 He'd saddled them with significant debt. Three shipments were en route, but the shippers might refuse to release their cargo if outstanding invoices were not paid in full. Classic cash flow roulette. Cameron just wanted to walk away from it all. And maybe she would. .PP .ps 10 There had been no word from that son of a bitch. He'd simply disappeared. .PP .ps 10 No such luck with her little brother Andrew. He could drive her crazy. He was already arranging some kind of insurance scam based on losses incurred from the three stuck shipments. If the shippers eventually relented, well, then, more money for the both of them. .PP .ps 10 Cameron just wanted out. .PP .ps 10 Shinji was tapped out. He'd spent the last of his savings on his ticket home to America (his uncle was generous, but perverse). If they'd already let his apartment, what could he do? .PP .ps 10 He unlocked the door on the roof and headed downstairs to his apartment. Well, .I the .R apartment, whomever it belonged to now. Maybe he was homeless. That would take some getting used to. .PP .ps 10 Carmine answered the door. He spoke abruptly, acted without thinking. .PP .ps 10 "Oh," he said, in apparent shock, and closed the door again. .PP .ps 10 Andrew was beside himself. The whole thing had come apart in his lap. All his carefully laid plans spilling onto the floor. How was he going to pay off the\(emNo, something would work out. It always did. He flashed on the real estate Shinji had left vacant in Japan. Shouldn't be much trouble taking possession. He had the papers of incorporation. It would just be a matter of convincing the property manager, and that guy was already on the payroll. Sometimes, family connections had their benefits. .PP .ps 10 Carmine had to think quickly. Much depended on what he said next. His cousin was a patient man, but even family ties could be stretched to their breaking point. He scanned first one, then another elaborate explanation through his mind, rocking the tape back and forth, searching with the knob of his tape machine for that sweet spot where the natural compression of the tape medium maximized the apparent quality of the signal it carried\(emhe'd know it when he heard it. .PP .ps 10 But nothing sounded good. .PP .ps 10 Finally, Carmine opened the door again, but this time he just stood there and said nothing. Shinji remained planted on the same spot in the hallway, just outside the door to his own apartment. Carmine's eyes darted left, then right, craning his neck for a better view down the hallway, then he leaned forward and kissed his cousin on the cheek. .PP .ps 10 Smiling, he stepped back and watched to see how Shinji would react.