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flying leap for yourself." She sipped at the water. "That could be
very impressive from this height."
He put his hand on her wrist and, still smiling, squeezed hard. of
this shit, Sis," he said in a low voice. "I swear to God if you don't
quit this goddamn sulking, I'll---"
"You'll what, Rollo? Have a couple of thugs shoot me in the
He tightened his grasp, then let go. "What are you hinting at?" "You
killed Dwight Grossman," she said.
"Don't say things like that here. You know I had nothing to do--"
"He's dead. You'll agree to that much, won't you?"
Rowland took a gold-plated pillbox out of his jacket pocket, popped it
open, and selected a bright crimson tablet. After swallowing it, he
stood up. "We're partners, Sis, equal partners," he reminded her,
leaning over the table. "And you know what they say about twins. If
something bad happens to one of them, why, the other one feels pain,
too. I'd hate to have you suffer."
Rebecca turned away and stared into the blackness outside. was back
behind his desk. He sat very stiff and still, eyes narrowed, saying
nothing.
From her chair Karin Tanoshi said, "It's now nearly twenty minutes past
nine P.M."
"Being an excellent detective myself," the chief of the Cosmos
Detective Agency told her, "I was already able to figure out what time
it was entirely on my own."
"What Karin means," interpreted Roy Anselmo, "is that you called this
special meeting for nine, Walt, and that all the rest of the Grossman
case team are here except, as might be expected, Cardigan and Gomez.
So why don't we simply--" "Whilst I was behind stone walls and
iron bars, Roy, you were things," Bascom said. "Now that I am, however
fleetingly,
On the outside once more, I intend to be in charge." "I only meant
that--" "We'll wait for them."
Kay Norwood, who was seated close to his desk, leaned toward him and
said quietly, "Can you modify the gruffness,
Walt?"
"No," he answered, scowling. "Those bastards can't threaten you and
not--"
"Has Miss Norwood been threatened?" asked Leo Anson, who was standing
near one of the blanked windows.
"We'll get to that," promised Bascom.
The door at the far end of the large office slid open, admitting
Gomez and Jake.
"Welcome back, jefe." Gomez worked his way through the scatter of
operatives. "Did you get the bouquet I sent you while you were in the
lockup? Consisted of roses, violets, pansies, and--"
"Sit down and dummy up," advised his boss.
Moving a chair near the holostage, Jake straddled it. "I'd like to
explain, Walt, why we're late."
"No, I want to outline to you all what happened while Kay was me home
from the hoosegow," countered Bascom. "Then
J want prelim reports from each of you as to "
"Before we get to that," interrupted Gomez, who was still on his
"you better attend to what we have to say."
"Goddamn it, Sid, don't start talking to me like I'm some rookie who
just--"
; "Whoa, Walt," Jake cut in, "this really is important and has to do
with who's in charge here." "You're telling me you've got
something more important than the fact that these bastards will kill
Kay if I don't drop this investigation, roll over, and let them
railroad me for murder?"
"It's more a question of something that has to be dealt with before we
get to that. Trust me on this, will you?"
Kay said, "Walt, I appreciate your concern, but don't push so hard.
Listen to Jake and Gomez first."
"All right, okay." Biscom hunched in his chair and nodded at Jake and
then his partner. "What is it that has you two lads so riled up?"
Smiling, Gomez perched on the edge of the chiefs desk. "Jake and I
were comparing notes on our day's activities awhile ago, sir," he
began. "It struck us--riled us up, in fact--that we'd been anticipated
a good deal. In the interest of our continued survival and well-being,
we decided to nose around some."
"You were doing that," said Kirin, annoyed, "while we were sitting here
and waiting for you to show up."
"Chiquita, think of how it hurt me to stay away from you.
Nevertheless, stern duty drove me to--"
"Sid," requested Biscom, "less frills."
Jake said, "When I went to talk to the folks at Thelwell, where
Grossman worked, I found a hairless lout waiting there to assault
me."
"And several of the informants I was planning to call on today," added
Gomez, "had been persuaded to set up debilitating booby traps for
me."
"Obviously the opposition was aware that the agency would be
investigating the Grossman murder," picked up Jake. "But Sid and I
concluded that these folks knew our exact itinerary in some instances."
"Although we're not confiding types, jefe, we did share some of our
plans for today," said Gomez, his left foot swinging slowly back and
forth as he spoke. "We reported here on some of what we were intending
to---"
"Hold it, you son of a bitch." Anselmo was up out of his chair.
"Are you saying, Gomez, that I sold out the--"
"Remain calm," advised Jake. "You're not the one who passed along news
to the other side."
"Who is the other side?" asked Bascom.
"We don't know all the players yet," answered Gomez, "but there are
definitely Tek hombres involved along with--"
"My investigations confirm that," said Anson, moving away from the
window. "When we get to our reports, you'll notice--"
"You won't be giving a report, Leo," said Jake.
"What the hell are you talking about, Cardigan?"
"For one thing," said Jake, "we're concerned about how come you
deposited $5,000 in that secret account you maintain in the
Laguna Sector branch of the Bam system."
"There's nothing secret about that account. And I won the if money in
a--"
"No, you got it as a fee for collaborating with representatives of some
Teklords," corrected Gomez. "Believe me, cabr6n, I found this all out
by consulting two very reliable informants and one world-class stool
pigeon
"I'm tired of all your wiseass accusations, you grease ball
An son head low, came charging at him.
"Violence doesn't solve anything," advised Jake, thrusting out foot and
tripping the husky detective.
Anson stumbled, fell, hit the floor flat out.
Before he could rise, Jake was crouched beside him. He gave three [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]