Heller had been smoking at his desk non-stop, one cigarette after another.
Not that he finished every one, at least not initially.
But soon, he would take just three or four, maybe five puffs from each one before letting it burn slowly between his fingers, then snuffing it out in the ashtray.
Without something to hold, he felt uneasy.
At this moment, cigarettes represented not merely a consumable, but also a psychological comfort.
"Nothing unexpected will happen, will it?"
"All of us here?"
He glanced at the other two trusted subordinates in his office, one seated and the other standing. The standing man confirmed Heller's belief, "No accidents, boss."
"Though I hate to admit it, I must acknowledge that our guys are all professional gangsters whose crimes are so numerous they make your skin crawl."
"And what about the other side?"
"Just a small gang of former dock workers barely scraping by, they're no match for us."