Steve tensed. His ugly features settled into an angry scowl.
"Why me?" he demanded.
"I gotta have somebody reliable that I can trust to handle it right."
"Why don't you do it yourself?" For a long moment Tony stared at his subordinate while fury gathered in his eyes. He strangled it with an obvious effort.
"Because I don't choose to. As head of the mob, I think my duty is to stay in the background and run things."
Libati laughed sarcastically. Tony's eyes blazed.
"I could get Bruno," he snapped furiously, "and do it within forty-eight hours. Don't think I wouldn't like to. And I will if necessary. But with my position now, I feel I shouldn't take chances like that if I don't have to. Just the same. I'll never ask a man in this mob to do anything that I can't or won't do myself. I got Jerry Hoffman and I got others. A good many times I proved I got guts enough for anything. But I never heard yet of you provin' that you had any. Now's your chance."
Libati paled at the insinuation and his cruel
