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They held to the blindfold routine all the way into the city I didn&039;t care much for it, but if they felt safer and leftto put up with the farce
It spared ain, but I foundbout of car sickness The vehicle&039;sonly at the turns, which was enough to set me off It had to mean I was tired, not so ht had been too busy already and wasn&039;t nearly over yet
A quiet bunch for the first few , finally broke the silence "You trust this Sullivan?"
Calloway didn&039;t take much time to answer "No Can&039;t trust any of &039;em"
"Then ork for him?"
"Because we don&039;t have a choice We&039;re in too far"
"What about the boys at the hotel? What if they screwed up or tip on us?"
"Then we say we don&039;t knohat they&039;re talking about and stick to it, no ot that?"
The reement I kept my trap shut and didn&039;t join in the chorus Noasn&039;t the time to play wiseacre Sed souts would settle soon I&039;d read someplace that dizziness had to do with your ears, so as it that your stomach was always the focus of all the misery?
"What about the punk, then? Sullivan doesn&039;t trust hi ear"
"Our word against his We&039;re safe You hear that, Fleonna ht up with Sullivan All I want is out of this mess with a whole skin"
Another one of his short, unpleasant laughs I knew I sounded like a sucker to hiive a tinker&039;s daiven o free and clear wasn&039;t going to happen if he had anything to do with it Once the books were back with Sullivan, I&039;d be written up in theh I could hope to avert a s, I couldn&039;t kideither side would letin my favor was that Sullivan didn&039;t quite buy Calloway&039;s suspicions about me All I had to do was ditch the cop, corner Sullivan alone for a private talk, and the world would be e
Of course, first I had to talk to Angela, since the same and more went for her At soo, if only to avoid getting shot by her as a turncoat to Daddy Frank, then I could really get the show on the road Well, soed, just wait until he was off guard and ju nap
We slowed and stopped once or twice, probably for traffic and signal lights My dizziness eased during the pauses I tried to guess where ere, then gave it up So long as the trip ended at the hotel I didn&039;t need to trouble myself on details- except where it caht I wondered if there was a reason for that particular hour, or if Maxas just being dramatic
Final stop I could tell because Baker set the hand brake just before cutting the motor A door was opened and the rush of chill air brushed away the last of my nausea Next time I&039;d ask to travel in the front seat with theslightly cracked
"Youoffthe blindfold "It&039;s a little too noticeable"
I heard so around and one of the cops pulled the cloth up overfor the ride Had to blink a few tih the inside of the car was still in noruna few inches froain I could see the rounded nubs of the bullets tucked inside the chaly, his tone worse "You try anything fancy and you&039;ll wish to God you hadn&039;t You understand etting shot, but would just as soon go on living without further experiences of that sort
"Okay Get hi about hionna make trouble"
"Just try, and see what happens"
It took a minute for us all to trade the shelter of the car for the cutting wind of the sidewalk Baker had parked half a block down under a broken streetlight and now stood behind ainst ood
We made a slow approach They must have wanted to make sure it was safe for them, but there was no need to worry By nowwas over The trip out to the roadhouse and back and all the talking in between had chewed up a lot of tiation had taken place here was ing about we had yet to see I tried to check the darker nooks along the street, but that gun in my spine was a hell of a distraction
The front of the hotel still showed soht and life Sawhorse barriers had been set up around it to keep people clear A single cop car with two ht of the bloodstains and the chalk outline where the body had fallen on the paveotten to sweep the street: Brass shell casings froun were all over the place Maybe tomorrow the morbidly curious would have their chance to collect a uard duty to Baker and walked ahead to the car to speak with the officers From his manner I couldn&039;t tell if they were in on the take with hiet out into the wind I strained to hear, but they were too far away even for estured at theserious and syed, nodding Calloway had apparently convinced him we had business at the hotel; there was no hitch about any of us going in
The bullet-pocked entry doors were in the sa wide and eone, only it was h The old er, in an ancient coat with a tattered wool muffler wrapped around his head, had a box of thu layers of newspaper over the openings He also had the nervous twitches, looking up fast the instant he heard us coe anything froot out of the way to let us pass No questions for us, though
Probably too scared
Broken glass from the doors and as scattered all over the e Stray bullets had created brief plow lines in its surface where it hadn&039;t cracked apart altogether Wherever you looked at eye level fro the stairs They only went up so high, like soe of fire froood, though Itkick for theh for anybody who&039;d been in the way
I wondered if the shooting would hurt or help the business Probably the latter, once word got out When the feds and the East Chicago police had taken down Dillinger a couple years back, the Biograph Theater had done a boo the pilgrie had to stop after the show to stare at the alleyhere he&039;d fallen and look for blood Nothing of it was left, though; previous souvenir hunters had seen to that, sopping it up with handkerchiefs, scrap paper, and bits of torn cardboard, or so Escott had told me
On the other hand, the dead er, but a crooked cop who&039;d run out of luck By the time the papers came out tomorrow, the world would know the truth or honor hier to coht angle to the street, parallel to the bullet paths No holes in the wood except for the ones already there
"Yeah?" Thewould please him more than to be miles away from us
Everyone stared expectantly at ela Paco," I said "Tell her Jack Fle&039;s back and needs to talk I&039;ll be in the same room as before"
"Huh?" As an imitation of lack of comprehension, it ful
"You knohat I mean If you don&039;t have her number, you&039;ll know someone who does Make whatever calls you need to contact her, but do it fast"
He shook his head, gaze darting nervously over us all, silently pleading for et you, un Shoved it up under the old man&039;s chin, in fact The lobby was e with or without witnesses "You get this, Pops? I thought so Go do what you&039;re told" He lowered the naled to the two uniforet funny I don&039;t want Angela doing a repeat of what happened here"
"So you think she was behind the hit?" I asked hied up the stairs
"Who else would have a reason? Probably still pissed that we stuck with Sullivan instead of her after Kyler bought the farm"
"What about your new boss? Could have been him You see the look on his face when I mentioned it?"
A hesitation Then: "Why should he?"
"Hued the topin their own people to take their place Don&039;t tell h those hoops"
"It ain&039;t like that here Not with this setup"
"Sure about that? Maybe Sullivan was thinking of triood to the New York bosses What&039;s a few cops more or less to him?"
"Shaddup," said Baker, as just behind otten a rise out of hi siain, maybe both of theround his teeth Didn&039;t knohat good itthem off balance and even more mistrustful of Sullivan couldn&039;t hurt
We reached the door at the end of the hall It was half off its hinges where they&039;d broken through earlier I&039;d left Calloway right up against it before hightailing out the fire escape, so you couldhies now that there were fewer distractions Have to allow he&039;d be in a bad temper froe of it
Inside, the room was the same as before, but much colder Apparently no one had troubled to close theI&039;d used Calloway coveredhis distance, and sent Baker to take care of the problem and look at the heater
"It&039;s on," he reported froood"
"What&039;s the time?" I asked
Calloway checked his watch "Half-past ten Better hope your girlfriend wants to talk soon Or else"
"Maxwell didn&039;t say anything about an &039;or else&039; I&039;m just supposed to call hiun in hand, tossed the blindfold in my lap
"Put it on"
"Jeez, are you kidding? What the hell do you think I-"
"I don&039;t know, but until I do, you&039;re gonna wear that Put it on"
Arguing wouldn&039;t have gotten me anywhere, so I wrapped it loosely aroundlike an idiot
"What the hell&039;s this?" asked Baker, coeneral direction, crossing my ar a talkie of The Sheik and I got the lead"
"You&039;re cute, so cute I should drop you off a bridge Can we do that after this is done, Lieutenant?"
"Maybe if we ask Sullivan real nice," answered Calloway I didn&039;t need to see to know about the smirk on his narrow face The whole of it was in his voice He should have been on radio
Baker groused on "God, but I hate punks like hiht interest "Punks like me or punks like Sullivan?"
"No one&039;s talkin&039; to you"
"Just wanted some clarification is all," I said, all injured innocence
"That&039;s what I&039; out with the five-dollar college words and pretending to be so tough Well, you ain&039;t so frigging tough, pretty boy You don&039;t have any idea what tough really is"
"Calloway,me so bad I wanna puke"
"Both of you lay off, before you give rowled so under his breath I didn&039;t catch, but it must have been aimed at me since Calloway didn&039;t take exception to it I kept shut and let him have the last word for now My turn would co around listening to the the process That I was spared fro was another consolation Calloould just throw me more hate-filled looks, and then I&039;d probably sniff and rub ain Try Now that Opal was out of the reckoning, I was more or less free to take some chances
God, I hoped she&039;d be okay
Just have to wait on that one Find out later Bide ela called-and take my best chance when it offered itself
Soon now Maybe
Calloway had the right idea with the blindfold There&039;s a lot of power in the eyes
You don&039;t need to be a vampire to influence others with a stare, just have to have the knack for it Some people are naturals, others learn how to control it How much is bluff and how much is real depends on the individual and how others react to them I had a reporter friend back in New York who once saw Hitler in person and said it was the look in his eyes that grabbed people first and pinned &039;em to the wall You either fell under his spell and loved hie to shoot him My friend wanted to shoot, which he found to be extre since he&039;d been raised a Quaker
Maybe Calloway, now that he&039;d had a sa it, was having a similar reaction to me Only in this case he didn&039;t have any objections to using violence based on his religion, or based on anything else for thato-ahead, like he&039;d tried in front of the hotel, only this tiave a shudder in spite of myself
"Whatsamatter? You cold?" Baker turned it into a jeer
I wasn&039;t but said I was "Must not have done such a great job with the heater"
"I&039;ll give you heat, you-"
"He&039;s right," said Calloway "Go turn it up"
"It is turned up"
"Then check it again and see what&039;s wrong I can seein the air"
Soon
I leaned ainst the wall It allowed e of the blindfold A slice of floor and Calloway&039;s feet slid into view He was in the chair by the radio I&039;d used earlier when I&039;d been here with Opal
Heard Baker tinkering with the heater,to himself
He&039;d be back any second
No time like the present
Calloway had suspicions about the hypnosis, but not a single clue about
One instant in front of hione and on the ape at
In this state a blindfold is a pretty useless hindrance against me, since I can&039;t see anyway I used my memory and what sense of touch remained to whip around behind Calloway It happened so fast he had no time to react either verbally or physically He was still seated and trying to take in the impossible when I re-formed, tore off the cloth, snaked a hand around to cover his un in place
Now he did start a ruckus, kicking and flailing like a crazyit crash over I dragged him clear, then spun hi on his wide-open eyes and telling him to take a nap
He slowed, but didn&039;t collapse Too on guard againstsounds- it was fear, absolute terror-and tried to wrest his gun free My hand was closed tight around the cylinder, else he&039;d have fired it by now; I&039;d already felt his trigger fingerthe atte instinct kicked in, and I tried a less exotic but highly effective fist on his jaw,too fast for hih; I didn&039;t want to kill his
Baker was next onaround with his pal and charged in all ready for the worst I went sereat for avoiding bullets while still being able to see the shooter
He froze, absolutely froze,Couldn&039;t blah a guy to see the room beyond must be pretty hard on the old rational facilities Must have been especially hard on Baker; fro his brain must have completely closed down for the winter Or maybe even until further notice Since I didn&039;t have that long to play garadually went solid His whole horrified attention was on o back to the other room, and climb into the bed for a nice nap
Oh, yeah-I told hihost It was for his own good That kind of inexplicable thing is hard for a person to live with, better for everyone that he not remember any of it
I surveyed the battlefield-no perave ood to be in charge again
Just to give hted the toppled chair and dragged Calloway&039;s extreet hiht While I was at it I lifted his watch froot on the side, he was s so pricey from the Boston Store
No heirloom, so my conscience didn&039;t chafe much He could afford a replacement-
that is, he could if Sullivan still wanted him on the payoff roster after this latest failure
I watched theto the next a few ti before Callooke up so I could whammy him like Baker My idea was to make sure their stories matched-the details of which would depend on the outco her oeet tiain now that I was back in control of this little piece of my world, I paced around as before to work it off Didn&039;t feel like dancing, though
No partner I circled the room, chewed the inside of my lower lip, and offered a prayer or two for Opal God, she was only a kid with a raw deal on life, so raw that she didn&039;t really kno to live yet The potential was there, if only she could have the chance to see it, reach for it Sullivan had daood care of her or I&039;d take it out of his Harvard hide
Wanted toto Escott and Coldfield would have to wait to keep the line free
Line What if it wasn&039;t working? Picked up the receiver, very quickly Heard the reassuring hureat, wonderful
Now everything depended on the scared old man below I couldn&039;t run down to check on hi, not with the other two cops on duty
Kept telling myself there was really no need If there&039;d been a problem, one of them would have come up to report it to Calloway by now I alet the drop on them That would simplify my exit from this joint when the time came
Checked the hall Empty Pushed the door more securely shut If anyone knocked, chances were it&039;d fall down fro of privacy a closed door is, the saeyet you, he would, but until that time came, you were safe under the covers with your illusions
Phone
I let it ring a couple ti, you son of a bitch, what the hell kind of scaela yelled instart "So nice to hear from you, too, sweetheart"
"First you pull a raid-"
"Not me, I told you that was Sullivan&039;s-"
"Then a hit on the hotel You were trying to set me up"
"And did a piss-poor job of it since you weren&039;t anywhere around when it happened"
"You were trying to get ht in front of the guns while they were shooting, not you"
"Fle!"
So the lady wasn&039;t interested inthis up for hours and needed a release I was just the ela, callad to let you knohat&039;s been going on between me and your Irish friend"
"You&039;re a dead ue so as not to tell her she ay too late for that and waited until she&039;d cooled enough to talk After a minute her curiosity would win out over W
tein the preliminaries
"Well?" she de to her cursing and threats
"First off, Opal&039;s still alive"
"Alive?" That changed her tune "I thought-"
"She took a bullet, but they have Doc looking after her"
"What? Doc&039;s supposed to be he hadn&039;t called in and I thought he&039;d gone on a drunk"
"Nope, they snagged hihed hi as usual I think the idea is to use hie like Kyler used your father"
She gave a snort "Doc&039;s not my father, and he knows it What about Opal?"
"She&039;s not feeling so good, no thanks to the hit on the hotel, Doc&039;s pretty worried about her You should have sent your boys to collect us faster and we ht have avoided a lot of trouble"
"Don&039;t go bla snake Sullivan&039;s the one behind it"
Right, so Sullivan thought Angela had ht him to be responsible That left one other possible player, and I still hated the idea: Gordy Daht When it came to this kind of cold-blooded business, no one could be your friend I still hadn&039;t figured what specific advantage killing Opal would gain hieneral terht get hit in the process, too, was part of it, and that madewith very, very few others, knew I could survive such an attack
"I&039;ll have that Irish bastard&039;s balls on aon about her new competition
"And he sends you his love, as well" No point in ht now I&039;d have to take care of hi, what&039;s your angle?"
"That&039;s where it gets complicated I need to talk to you face-to-face You never knoho "
"I&039; to finish what he started"
"If that was the case then I&039;d have a much better story to feed you than the truth, which is pretty grim, lady Doc and your wizard accountant are in Sullivan&039;s hands and the only person who has a chance in hell of getting the pause
"Angela?"
"Yeah, okay" She sounded more subdued "What is it you want?"
"Just a little talk so we can get sohed once, a hard onna let you within afor another chance to finish the job
The er said you walked in with those dime an hour cops like you owned the place"
"So I did, but your uns jabbing into my back at the time He&039;s too scared to noticehim"
"And how is it you&039;re able to-"
"Oh, I was under guard, but these s have mackerel for brains Two of therabbed an opportunity and got the drop on the a nice snooze in the honeymoon suite"
"Uh-huh" By her tone she didn&039;t believe any of it Too bad
"All I have to do is slip out the back way andall the muscle you want, make it public or private, let &039;em searchyou I just want to talk"
"Anywhere, huh?"
I was ga water, like the lake Had a way clear of that hitch, though "There&039;s one thing: I gotta be able to get to a phone I&039; hardball with Doc He could also get one to notice"
"You ?"