Or somebody was being sent down to take his place. Or for some other reason. It

doesn't matter." Sonny shrugged. "Thank God it was Paulie. We'll need Clemenza

bad."

34 Michael asked hesitantly, "Is it going to be an all-out war?"

35 Sonny's eyes were hard. "That's how I'm going to play it as soon as Tom

checks in. Until the old man tells me different."

36 Michael asked, "So why don't you wait until the old man can tell you?"

37 Sonny looked at him curiously. "How the hell did you win those combat

medals? We are under the gun, man, we gotta fight. I'm just afraid they won't let

Tom go."

38 Michael was surprised at this. "Why not?"

39 Again Sonny's voice was patient "They snatched Tom because they figured

The old man was finished and they could make a deal with me and Tom would be

The sit-down guy in the preliminary stages, carry the proposition. Now with the

old man alive they know I can't make a deal so Tom's no good to them. They can

Turn him loose or dump him, depending how Sollozzo feels. If they dump him, it

would be just to show us they really mean business, trying to bulldoze us."

40 Michael said quietly, "What think he could get a deal with you?"

41 Sonny flushed and he didn't answer for a moment. Then he said, "We had a

Meeting a few months ago, Sollozzo came to us with a proposition on drugs. The