There was just a touch of derision in the Don's voice and Hagen flushed.

For every square inch of wax, there were somewhere in the area of 19,000 hairs to be yanked. That is—to put it in technical terms—a fuckuva lot of adhesive force.

Don't fire till I give the word

... as in a contest one has with an enemy, by desiring he forewishes a victory still distant from him by an intervening time.