ATDTDA (7): A major figure, 197-198

[Paul Nightingale]

At the outset we're reminded that Deuce and Sloat have
different MOs. Deuce reasons that this is "a special
job" and they're "in the big time now". Webb 
isn't, as Sloat puts it, "just some of the usual
ten-day trash". One might note, then, that Deuce has
inherited from his surrogate father this way of 
defining himself/his relations in terms of superior
knowledge: Deuce's mocking description of Webb ("a
major figure in the world of criminal Anarchism")
seems aimed at Sloat (who apparently has trouble
understanding) and Webb also, reminding him of their
late-night talks. Indeed, "along with the pain, worse,
he guessed" is the knowledge that he's been "a
hopeless damn fool", and "deadly wrong ... about this
kid". Deuce, his sadistic tendencies to the fore,  is
"thrilled"; while Sloat remains "professionally 
focused". Earlier, Sloat had suggested that Deuce "do
the old men, just leave the younger meat to the Big S
..." (195); here, he no longer thinks of Webb as
anything other than a task. Webb, however, thinks he
understands Sloat and hopes, briefly, "for a deal"
that will end it (198). Webb looks at Sloat, who looks
at Deuce, who speaks; Webb sees that Deuce's
explanatory (and still mocking) statement draws no
reaction from Sloat, and looks away.
 
Sloat, then, has become a kind of mediator between
Webb and Deuce: "a bunch of them proxy wives" is
another reference to Webb's lost family (and by 
extension his relationship with Deuce himself).