Mario Puzo - Крестный отец, часть 1. Английский язык с Марио Пьюзо.

Clemenza said sourly to Gatto, "Damn that Sonny, he's running scared. He's already thinking of going to the mattresses. We have to find a place on the West Side. Paulie, you and Rocco gotta staff and supply it until the word comes down for the rest of the soldiers to use it. You know a good location?"

As he had expected, Gatto's eyes became greedily interested. Paulie had swallowed the bait and because he was thinking how much the information was worth to Sollozzo, he was forgetting to think about whether he was in danger. Also, Lampone was acting his part perfectly, staring out the window in a disinterested, relaxed way. Clemenza congratulated himself on his choice.

Gatto shrugged. "I'd have to think about it," he said.

Clemenza grunted. "Drive while you think, I want to get to New York today."

Paulie was an expert driver and traffic going into the city was light at this time in the afternoon, so the early winter darkness was just beginning to fall when they arrived. There was no small talk in the car. Clemenza directed Paulie to drive up to the Washington Heights section. He checked a few apartment buildings and told him to park near Arthur Avenue and wait. He also left Rocco Lampone in the car. He went into the Vera Mario Restaurant and had a light dinner of veal and salad, nodding his hello's to some acquaintances. After an hour had gone by he walked the several blocks to where the car was parked and entered it. Gatto and Lampone were still waiting. "Shit," Clemenza said, "they want us back in Long Beach. They got some other job for us now. Sonny says we can let this one go until later. Rocco, you live in the city, can we drop you off?"

Rocco said quietly, "I have my car out at your place and my old lady needs it first thing in the morning."

"That's right," Clemenza said. "Then you have to come back with us, after all."

Again on the ride back to Long Beach nothing was said. On the stretch of road that led into the city, Clemenza said suddenly, "Paulie, pull over, I gotta take a leak." From working together so long, Gatto knew the fat caporegime had a weak bladder. He had often made such a request. Gatto pulled the car off the highway onto the soft earth that led to the swamp. Clemenza climbed out of the car and took a few steps into the bushes. He actually relieved himself. Then as he opened the door to get back into the car he took a quick look up and down the highway. There were no lights, the road was completely dark. "Go ahead," Clemenza said. A second later the interior of the car reverberated with the report of a gun. Paulie Gatto seemed to jump forward, his body flinging against the steering wheel and then slumping over to the seat. Clemenza had stepped back hastily to avoid being hit with fragments of skull bone and blood.

Rocco Lampone scrambled out of the back seat. He still held the gun and he threw it into the swamp. He and Clemenza walked hastily to a car parked nearby and got in. Lampone reached underneath the seat and found the key that had been left for them. He started the car and drove Clemenza to his home. Then instead of going back by the same route, he took the Jones Beach Causeway right on through to the town of Merrick and onto the Meadowbrook Parkway until he reached the Northern State Parkway. He rode that to the Long Island Expressway and then continued on to the Whitestone Bridge and through the Bronx to his home in Manhattan.

On the night before the shooting of Don Corleone, his strongest and most loyal and most feared retainer (cлуга /постоянно живущий в семье/) prepared to meet with the enemy. Luca Brasi had made contact with the forces of Sollozzo several months before. He had done so on the orders of Don Corleone himself. He had done so by frequenting the nightclubs (посещая; to frequent [fri:’kwent] – часто посещать, бывать) controlled by the Tattaglia Family and by taking up with one of their top call girls (завязав отношения, занявшись одной из их основных девушек по вызову). In bed with this call girl he grumbled about how he was held down in the Corleone Family (ворчал, что ему не дают ходу; to hold down – удерживать, держать в подчинении), how his worth was not recognized (его достоинство /то, на что он способен/, не признается, не ценится; to recognize [‘rek∂gnaız] – признавать). After a week of this affair with the call girl (affair [∂'fe∂] – связь), Luca was approached by Bruno Tattaglia (к нему обратился; to approach [∂‘pr∂ut∫] – приближаться, подходить; обращаться /с просьбой, предложением/), manager of the nightclub. Bruno was the youngest son, and ostensibly not connected (якобы, по видимости не связанный, не причастный) with the Family business of prostitution. But his famous nightclub with its dancing line of long-stemmed beauties (длинноногих красоток; stem – стебель; long-stemmed – c длинным стеблем; длинноногая) was the finishing school for many of the city hookers (уличных проституток).

The first meeting was all above-board (открытый, прямой), Tattaglia offering him a job to work in the Family business as enforcer (enforcer – «принудитель», член гангстерской банды, функцией которого является принуждение к выполнению ее требований или приведение в исполнение ее приговоров). The flirtation went on for nearly a month. Luca played his role of man infatuated with a young beautiful girl (to infatuate [ın’fætjueıt] – свести с ума, внушить сильную страсть), Bruno Tattaglia the role of a businessman trying to recruit an able executive from a rival (от соперника, конкурента). At one such meeting, Luca pretended to be swayed (сделал вид, что соглашается: «что уговорен»; to sway – качаться, колебаться; склонять /к чему-либо/), then said, "But one thing must be understood. I will never go against the Godfather. Don Corleone is a man I respect. I understand that he must put his sons before me in the Family business."

Bruno Tattaglia was one of the new generation with a barely hidden contempt (с едва скрываемым презрением) for the old Moustache Petes like Luca Brasi, Don Corleone and even his own father. He was just a little too respectful. Now he said, "My father wouldn't expect you to do anything against the Corleones. Why should he? Everybody gets along with everybody else now (все уживаются, договариваются), it's not like the old days. It's just that if you're looking for a new job, I can pass along the word to my father (передать). There's always need for a man like you in our business. It's a hard business and it needs hard men to keep it running smooth. Let me know if you ever make up your mind (если надумаешь)."

Luca shrugged. "It's not so bad where I'm at." And so they left it.

The general idea had been to lead the Tattaglias to believe that he knew about the lucrative narcotics operation (lucrative [‘lu:kr∂tıv] – прибыльный) and that he wanted a piece of it free-lance. In that fashion he might hear something about Sollozzo's plans if the Turk had any, or whether he was getting ready to step on the toes of Don Corleone (собирается ли он что-либо предпринять против Дона Корлеоне: «наступить на пальцы ног»). After waiting for two months with nothing else happening, Luca reported to the Don that obviously Sollozzo was taking his defeat graciously (gracious ['greı∫∂s] – милостивый; любезный, обходительный, вежливый). The Don had told him to keep trying but merely as a sideline, not to press it.

Luca had dropped into the nightclub the evening before Don Corleone's being shot. Almost immediately Bruno Tattaglia had come to his table and sat down.

"I have a friend who wants to talk to you," he said.

"Bring him over," Luca said. "I'll talk to any friend of yours."

"No," Bruno said. "He wants to see you in private."

"Who is he?" Luca asked.

"Just a friend of mine," Bruno Tattaglia said. "He wants to put a proposition to you. Can you meet him later on tonight?"

"Sure," Luca said. "What time and where?"

Tattaglia said softly, "The club closes at four in the morning. Why don't you meet in here while the waiters are cleaning up?"

They knew his habits (привычки ['hæbıt]), Luca thought, they must have been checking him out (они, должно быть, следили за ним, выслеживали его). He usually got up about three or four in the afternoon and had breakfast, then amused himself by gambling with cronies in the Family (crony – закадычный друг, дружок) or had a girl. Sometimes he saw one of the midnight movies and then would drop in for a drink at one of the clubs. He never went to bed before dawn. So the suggestion (предложение) of a four A.M. meeting was not as outlandish (странным, диковинным: «заморским») as it seemed.

"Sure, sure," he said. "I'll be back at four." He left the club and caught a cab to his furnished room on Tenth Avenue. He boarded (проживал; board – обеденный, накрытый стол; board – столоваться, проживать /за плату/) with an Italian family to which he was distantly related (в отдаленном родстве). His two rooms were separated from the rest of their railroad flat by a special door. He liked the arrangement (этот порядок, такое устройство, положение вещей) because it gave him some family life and also protection against surprise where he was most vulnerable.

The sly Turkish fox was going to show his bushy tail (хитрая лиса покажет свой пышный хвост), Luca thought. If things went far enough, if Sollozzo committed himself tonight (раскроется, выдаст себя; to commit – совершать /выходящее за какие-либо рамки действие/; вверять; компрометировать), maybe the whole thing could be wound up as a Christmas present for the Don. In his room, Luca unlocked the trunk (сундук) beneath the bed and took out a bulletproof vest (пуленепробиваемый жилет). It was heavy. He undressed and put it on over his woolen underwear, then put his shirt and jacket over it. He thought for a moment of calling the Don's house at Long Beach to tell him of this new development but he knew the Don never talked over the phone, to anyone, and the Don had given him this assignment (задание: «назначение» [∂'saınm∂nt]) in secret and so did not want anyone, not even Hagen or his eldest son, to know about it.

Luca always carried a gun. He had a license to carry a gun, probably the most expensive gun license ever issued anyplace, anytime (to issue [‘ı∫u:], [‘ısju:] – исходить, вытекать; выдавать). It had cost a total of ten thousand dollars but it would keep him out of jail if he was frisked by the cops (to frisk – скакать, прыгать; обыскивать /в поисках оружия – сленг/). As a top executive operating official of the Family he rated the license (заслуживал, удостоился). But tonight, just in case he could finish off the job, he wanted a "safe" gun. One that could not possibly be traced. But then thinking the matter over, he decided that he would just listen to the proposition tonight and report back to the Godfather, Don Corleone.