Page 14 (1/2)

1

Now Jack Mort knew the gunslinger was here If he had been another person - an Eddie Dean or an Odetta Walker, for instance - Roland would have held palaver with the man, if only to ease his natural panic and confusion at suddenly finding one&039;s self shoved rudely into the passenger seat of the body one&039;s brain had driven one&039;s whole life

But because Mort was a monster - worse, than Detta Walker ever had been or could be - he made no effort to explain or speak at all He could hear theto er concentrated on his short list of necessities, using the s becaarding them

The only way he could reard him as no more than a combination atlas and encyclopedia Mort had all the inforh was often better than s, there were no creatures in the universe more different than Roland and Jack Mort

When you planned rough, you allowed room for improvisation And improvisation at short notice had always been one of Roland&039;s strong points

2

A fat man with lenses over his eyes, like the bald man who had poked his head into Mort&039;s office five minutes earlier (it seemed that in Eddie&039;s world lasses"), got into the elevator with him He looked at the briefcase in the hand of the man who he believed to be Jack Mort and then at Mort hi to see Dorf

"If you think you can talk hi, I can tell you it&039;s a waste of tiue took a quick step backward The doors of the little box closed and suddenly they were falling

He clawed at Mort&039;s ht The fall was controlled

"If I spoke out of turn, I&039;ht: This one is afraid, too "You&039;ve handled the jerk better than anyone else in the firer said nothing He waited only to be out of this falling coffin

"I say so, too," the fat erly "Why, just yesterday I was at lunch with - "

Jack Mort&039;s head turned, and behind Jack Mort&039;s gold-rilasses, eyes that seemed a somehow different shade of blue than Jack&039;s eyes had ever been before stared at the fat er said tonelessly

Color fell from the fat man&039;s face and he took two quick steps backward His flabby buttocks s coffin, which suddenly stopped The doors opened and the gunslinger, wearing Jack Mort&039;s body like a tight-fitting set of clothes, stepped out with no look back The fat er on the DOOR OPEN button of the elevator and waited inside until Mort was out of sight Always did have a screw loose, the fat ht, but this could be serious This could be a breakdown

The fat man found that the idea of Jack Mort tucked safely away in a sanitariuer wouldn&039;t have been surprised

3

So room which his Mortcypedia identified as a lobby, to wit, a place of entry and exit froht sunshine of street (his Mortcypedia identified this street as both 6th Avenue and Avenue of the A of Roland&039;s host stopped Mort had not died of fright; the gunslinger felt with a deep instinct which was the sa that if Mort died, their kas would be expelled forever, into that void of possibility which lay beyond all physical worlds Not dead - fainted Fainted at the overload of terror and strangeness, as Roland hi theof destinies too great to be coincidence

He was glad Mort had fainted As long as the man&039;s unconsciousness hadn&039;t affected Roland&039;s access to the e and lad to have him out of the way

The yellow cars were public conveyences called Tack-Sees or Cabs or Hax The tribes which drove them, the Mortcypedia told him, were two: Spix and Mockies To make one stop, you held your hand up like a pupil in a classroom

Roland did this, and after several Tack-Sees which were obviously eone by hins which read Off-Duty Since these were Great Letters, the gunslinger didn&039;t need Mort&039;s help He waited, then put his hand up again This tiot into the back seat He smelled old smoke, old sweat, old perfume It smelled like a coach in his oorld

"Where to, my friend?" the driver asked - Roland had no idea if he was of the Spix or Mockies tribe, and had no intention of asking It ht be impolite in this world

"I&039;m not sure," Roland said

"This ain&039;t no encounter group, my friend Ti down, the Mortcypedia told hi down," Roland said

"That ain&039;t rolling nothing but time," the driver replied

Tell him you&039;ll tip him five bux, the Mortcypedia advised

"I&039;ll tip you five bucks," Roland said

"Let&039;s see it," the cabbie replied "Money talks, bullshit walks"

Ask hio fuck himself, the Mortcypedia advised instantly

"Do you want the o fuck yourself?" Roland asked in a cold, dead voice

The cabbie&039;s eyes glanced apprehensively into the rear-view mirror for just a moment, and he said no more

Roland consulted Jack Mort&039;s acculanced up again, quickly, during the fifteen seconds his fare spent sihtly lowered and his left hand spread across his brow, as if he had an Excedrin Headache The cabbie had decided to tell the guy to get out or he&039;d yell for a cop when the fare looked up and said mildly, "I&039;d like you to take me to Seventh Avenue and Forty-Ninth streetFor this trip I will pay you ten dollars over the fare on your taxi meter, no matter what your tribe"

A weirdo, the driver (a WASP froht, but ear "We&039;re there, buddy," he said, and pulling into traffic he added mentally, And the sooner the better

4

Ier saw the blue-and-white parked down the block when he got out, and read Police as Posse without checking Mort&039;s store of knowledge Two gunslingers inside, drinking soers, yes - but they looked fat and lax

He reached into Jack Mort&039;s wallet (except it was much too s as a purse and could carry all of atoo heavy) and gave the driver a bill with the number 20 on it The cabbie drove away fast It was easily the biggest tip he&039;d uy was so freaky he felt he had earned every cent of it

The gunslinger looked at the sign over the shop

CLEMENTS GUNS AND SPORTING GOODS, it said AMMO, FISHING TACKLE, OFFICIAL FACSIMILES

He didn&039;t understand all of the words, but one look in the as all it took for hiht place There ristbands on display, badges of rankand guns Rifles, mostly, but pistols as well They were chained, but that didn&039;t matter

He would knohat he needed when - if - he saw it

Roland consulted Jack Mort&039;s h to suit his purposes - for more than a minute

5

One of the cops in the blue-and-white elbowed the other "Now that," he said, "is a serious cohed "Oh God," he said in an effelasses finished his study of the merchandise on display and went inside "I think he jutht dethided on the lavender handcuffths"

The first cop choked on a mouthful of lukewarust of laughter

6

A clerk came over almost at once and asked if he could be of help

"I wonder," the man in the conservative blue suit replied, "if you have a paper " He paused, appeared to think deeply, and then looked up "A chart, I mean, which shows pictures of revolver ammunition"

"You mean a caliber chart?" the clerk asked

The customer paused, then said, "Yes My brother has a revolver I have fired it, but it&039;s been a good many years I think I will know the bullets if I see them"

"Well, you may think so," the clerk replied, "but it can be hard to tell Was it a 22? A 38? Or maybe - "

"If you have a chart, I&039;ll know," Roland said

"Just a sec" The clerk looked at the ed Fuck, the custoif he had the dough to pay, that was Money talked, bullshit walked "I got a Shooter&039;s Bible Maybe that&039;s what you ought to look at"

"Yes" He smiled Shooter&039;s Bible It was a noble naed under the counter and brought out a well-thuer had ever seen in his life - and yet this man seemed to handle it as if it were no more valuable than a handful of stones

He opened it on the counter and turned it around "Take a look Although if it&039;s been years, you&039;re shootin&039; in the dark" He looked surprised, then smiled "Pardon my pun"

Roland didn&039;t hear He was bent over the book, studying pictures which sees they represented, raffs

He turned the pages slowly Nonono

He had almost lost hope when he saw it He looked up at the clerk with such blazing excitement that the clerk felt a little afraid

"There!" he said "There! Right there!"

The photograph he was tapping was one of a Winchester 45 pistol shell It was not exactly the same as his own shells, because it hadn&039;t been hand-thrown or hand-loaded, but he could see without even consulting the figures (which would haveto hiuns

"Well, all right, I guess you found it," the clerk said, "but don&039;t cream your jeans, fella I mean, they&039;re just bullets"

"You have them?"

"Sure How many boxes do you want?"

"How an to look at the gunslinger with real suspicion If the guy was planning to buy shells, he must know he&039;d have to show a Peruns; it was the law in the borough of ManhattanAnd if this dude had a handgun permit, how come he didn&039;t kno many shells cauy was staring at hiht

The clerk edged a bit to his left, a bit nearer the cash registerand, not so coincidentally, a bit nearer to his own gun, a 357 Mag which he kept fully loaded in a spring clip under the counter

"Fifty!" the gunslinger repeated He had expected five, ten, perhaps as many as a dozen, but thisthis

How much money do you have? he asked the Mortcypedia The Mortcypedia didn&039;t know, not exactly, but thought there was at least sixty bux in his wallet

"And how much does a box cost?" It would be ht be persuaded to sell him part of a box, or -

"Seventeen-fifty," the clerk said "But, mister - "

Jack Mort was an accountant, and this ti; translation and answer caer said "Three boxes" He tapped the Fotergraff of the shells with one finger One hundred and fifty rounds! Ye gods! What a mad storehouse of riches this world was!

The clerk wasn&039;t unslinger said He felt no real surprise It had been too good to be true A dreaot 45s up the kazoo" The clerk took another step to the left, a step closer to the cash register and the gun If the guy was a nut, so the clerk expected to find out for sure any second now, he was soon going to be a nut with an extreot 45 a What I want to know, ot the card"

"Card?"

"A handgun perun ammo unless you can show onna hafta go up to Westchester "

The gunslinger stared at the abble to hiue notion of what the ue to be trusted in this case Mort had never owned a gun in his life He did his nasty work in other ways

Thehis eyes froht: He&039;s got a gun He expects me to make troubleor maybe he wants me to make trouble Wants an excuse to shoot unslingers sitting in their blue and white carriage down the street Gunslingers, yes, peacekeepers,on But these had looked - at least on a passing glance - to be nearly as soft and unobservant as everyone else in this world of lotus-eaters; just two men in unifore, drinking coffee He ed He hoped for all their sakes - that he had not

"Oh! I understand," the gunslinger said, and drew an apologetic suess I haven&039;t kept track of how un"

"No haruy was all right Or

"I wonder if I could look at that cleaning kit?" Roland pointed to a shelf behind the clerk

"Sure" The clerk turned to get it, and when he did, the gunslinger removed the wallet from Mort&039;s inside jacket pocket He did this with the flickering speed of a fast draw The clerk&039;s back was to him for less than four seconds, but when he turned back to Mort, the wallet was on the floor

"It&039;s a beaut," the clerk said, suy was okay after all Hell, he kne lousy you felt when you made a horse&039;s ass of yourself He had done it in the Marines enough tiodda kit, either Ain&039;t freedoer said seriously, and pretended to look closely at the cleaning kit, although a single glance was enough to show hi in a shoddy box While he looked, he carefully pushed Mort&039;s wallet under the counter with his foot

After a ret "I&039;ht," the clerk said, losing interest abruptly Since the guy wasn&039;t crazy and was obviously a looker, not a buyer, their relationship was at an end Bullshit walks "Anything else?" His et out

"No, thank you" The gunslinger walked out without a look back Mort&039;s wallet was deep under the counter Roland had set out his own honeypot

7

Officers Carl Delevan and George O&039;Mearah had finished their coffee and were about to move on when the man in the blue suit came out of Clements&039; - which both cops believed to be a powderhorn (police slang for a legal gunshop which souns to independent stick-up men with proven credentials and which does business, sometimes in bulk, to the Mafia), and approached their squad car

He leaned down and looked in the passenger sideat O&039;Mearah O&039;Mearah expected the guy to sound like a fruit - probably as fruity as his routine about the lavender handcuffths had suggested, but a pouf all the same Guns aside, Cleal in Manhattan , andthem weren&039;t amateur Houdinis (the cops didn&039;t like it, but when had what the cops thought on any given subject ever changed things?) The buyers were homos with a little taste for s &at all His voice was flat and expressionless, polite but somehow dead

"The tradesman in there took htened up fast They had been itching to bust Justin Clements for a year and a half If it could be done, maybe the two of thees Probably just a pipe-dreaood to be true - but just the same

"The tradesman The - " A brief pause "The clerk"

O&039;Mearah and Carl Delevan exchanged a glance

"Black hair?" Delevan asked "On the stocky side?"

Again there was the briefest pause "Yes His eyes were brown S about the guyO&039;Mearah couldn&039;t put his finger on it then, but res to think about The chief of which, of course, was the sie didn&039;tonto the jobs they had would be a pure brassy-ass miracle

But years later there was a brief moment of epiphany when O&039;Mearah took his two sons to the Museum of Science in BostonThey had a machine there - a computer - that played tic-tac-toe, and unless you put your X in the middle square on your first move, the machine fucked you over every time But there was always a pause as it checked its ambits He and his boys had been fascinated But there was so spooky about itand then he remembered Blue-Suit He re habit Talking to hi to a robot

Delevan had no such feeling, but nine years later, when he took his own son (then eighteen and about to start college) to the ht, Delevan would rise unexpectedly to his feet about thirty minutes into the feature and screauy in the fucking blue suit! The guy as at Cle - "

Somebody would shout Down in front! but needn&039;t have bothered; Delevan, seventy pounds overweight and a heavy smoker, would be struck by a fatal heart attack before the coot to the second word The man in the blue suit who approached their cruiser that day and told them about his stolen wallet didn&039;t look like the star of the movie, but the dead delivery of words had been the saraceful way he moved

The movie, of course, had been The Terlance Theabout wasn&039;t Cleood: "Fat Johnny" Holden, Cle as totally duuy&039;s wallet would be -

- would be right up that gink&039;s alley, O&039;Mearah&039;s mind finished, and he had to put a hand to his rin

"Maybe you better tell us exactly what happened," Delevan said "You can start with your naain, the , a little off-beat In this city, where it sometimes seemed that seventy per cent of the population believed Go fuck yourself was Auy to say so to get it back forTwenty Questions?

But there was the nicely cut suit, thewith bureaucratic bullshit In truth, George O&039;Mearah didn&039;t carehim as a lever on Arnold Clements made O&039;Mearah&039;s mouth water For one dizzy et Cleuys - that wop Balazar, for instance, or maybe Ginelli That wouldn&039;t be too tacky Not too tacky at all

"My name is Jack Mort," the man said

Delevan had taken a butt-warped pad froht pause Like the ain A moment of silence, then an almost audible click

" 409 Park Avenue South "

Delevan jotted it down

"Social Security nuht pause, Mort recited it

"Want you to understand I gotta ask you these questions for identification purposes If the guy did take your wallet, it&039;s nice if I can say you told me certain stuff before I take it into my possession You understand"

"Yes" Now there was the slightest hint of impatience in the man&039;s voice It made O&039;Mearah feel a little better about hi it out any more than you have to Tis have a way of happening, yeah, I dig"

"Things have a way of happening," the reed "Yes"

"Do you have a photo in your wallet that&039;s distinctive?"

A pause Then: "A picture ofOn the back is written: &039;It was a wonderful day and a wonderful view Love, Mom&039; "

Delevan jotted furiously, then snapped his notebook closed "Okay That should do it Only other thing&039;ll be to have you write your signature if we get the wallet back and cos on your driver&039;s license, credit cards, stuff like that Okay?"

Roland nodded, although part of hih he could draw on Jack Mort&039;s e of this world as much as he needed, he hadn&039;t a chance in hell of duplicating Mort&039;s signature with Mort&039;s consciousness absent, as it was now

"Tell us what happened"

"I went in to buy shells for my brother He has a 45 Winchester revolver The man asked me if I had a Permit to Carry I said of course He asked to see it"

Pause

"I took out my wallet I showed hi, he ht pause " - twenties in there I am a tax accountant I have a client named Dorfman who just won a sation The suht hundred dollars, but this est prick we handle" Pause "Pardon my pun"

O&039;Mearah ran the ot it The biggest prick we handle Not bad He laughed Thoughts of robots and uy was real enough, just upset and trying to hide it by being cool

"Anyway, Dorfman wanted cash He insisted on cash"

"You think Fat Johnny got a look at your client&039;s dough," Delevan said He and O&039;Mearah got out of the blue-and-white

"Is that what you call the man in the that shop?"

"Oh, we call him worse than that on occasion," Delevan said "What happened after you showed him your PC, Mr Mort?"

"He asked for a closer look I gave him my wallet but he didn&039;t look at the picture He dropped it on the floor I asked him what he did that for He said that was a stupid question Then I told hiive me back h, looking at the uess this hed I started to coet it That hen he pulled the gun"

They had been walking toward the shop Now they stopped They looked excited rather than fearful "Gun?" O&039;Mearah asked, wanting to be sure he had heard right

"It was under the counter, by the cash register," the man in the blue suit said Roland reinal plan and gone for the ers why he hadn&039;t He wanted to use theet them killed "I think it was in a docker&039;s clutch"

"A what?" O&039;Mearah asked

"A longer pause this time The man&039;s forehead wrinkled "I don&039;t know exactly how to say ita thing you put your gun into No one can grab it but you unless they kno to push - "

"A spring-clip!" Delevan said "Holy shit!" Another exchange of glances between the partners Neither wanted to be the first to tell this guy that Fat Johnny had probably harvested the cash from his wallet already, shucked his buns out the back door, and tossed it over the wall of the alley behind the buildingbut a gun in a spring-clipthat was different Robbery was a possible, but all at once a concealed weapons charge looked like a sure thing Maybe not as good, but a foot in the door

"What then?" O&039;Mearah asked

"Then he told me I didn&039;t have a wallet He said - &039;&039; pause " - that I got my picket pocked - my pocket picked, I mean - on the street and I&039;d better re a police car parked up the block and I thought you ht still be there So I left"

"Okay," Delevan said "Me andin first, and fast Give us about a minute - a full minute - just in case there&039;s some trouble Then come in, but stand by the door Do you understand?"

"Yes"

"Okay Let&039;s bust this motherfucker"

The two cops went in Roland waited thirty seconds and then followed the

"Guy&039;s crazy! Guy comes in here, doesn&039;t even knohat he wants, then, when he sees it in the Shooter&039;s Bible, he don&039;t kno many comes in a box, how much they cost, and what he says about est pile of shit I ever heard, because he don&039;t have no Permit to - " Fat Johnny broke off "There he is! There&039;s the creep! Right there! I see you, buddy! I see your face! Next tiuarantee you that! I fuckin guarantee - "

"You don&039;t have this man&039;s wallet?" O&039;Mearah asked

"You know I don&039;t have his wallet!"

"You mind if we take a look behind this display case?" Delevan countered "Just to be sure?"

"Jesus-fuckin-julass! You see any wallets there?"

"No, not thereI ister His voice was a cat&039;s purr At this point a chro strip almost two feet wide ran down the shelves of the case Delevan looked back at the uys out of here right now," Fat Johnny said He had lost some of his color "You come back with a warrant, that&039;s different But for noant you the fuck out Still a free fuckin country, you kn - hey! hey! HEY, QUIT THAT!"

O&039;Mearah was peering over the counter

"That&039;s illegal!" Fat Johnny was howling "That&039;s fuckin illegal, the Constitution ht now or - "

"I just wanted a closer look at the lass in your display case is so fucking dirty That&039;s why I looked over Isn&039;t it, Carl?"

"True shit, buddy," Delevan said solemnly

"And look what I found"

Roland heard a click, and suddenly the gunslinger in the blue uniforun in his hand

Fat Johnny, who had finally realized he was the only person in the room ould tell a story that differed fro, turned sullen

"I got a permit," he said

"To carry?" Delevan asked

"Yeah"

"To carry concealed?"

"Yeah"

"This gun registered?" O&039;Mearah asked "It is, isn&039;t it?"

"WellI ht be it&039;s hot, and you forgot that, too"

"Fuck you I&039; my lawyer"

Fat Johnny started to turn away Delevan grabbed him

"Then there&039;s the question of whether or not you got a per-clip device," he said in the sa question, because so far as I know, the City of New York doesn&039;t issue a per at Fat Johnny; Fat Johnny was glaring back at the in the door from OPEN to CLOSED

"Maybe we could start to resolve this entleman&039;s wallet," O&039;Mearah said Satan hienial persuasiveness "Maybe he just dropped it, you know"

"I told you! 1 don&039;t know nothing about the guy&039;s wallet! Guy&039;s out of his mind!"

Roland bent down "There it is," he reot his foot on it"

This was a lie, but Delevan, whose hand was still on Fat Johnny&039;s shoulder, shoved the man back so rapidly that it was impossible to tell if the man&039;s foot had been there or not

It had to be now Roland glided silently toward the counter as the two gunslingers bent to peer under the counter Because they were standing side by side, this brought their heads close together O&039;Mearah still had the gun the clerk had kept under the counter in his right hand

"Goddam, it&039;s there!" Delevan said excitedly "I see it!"

Roland snapped a quick glance at thetoto ainst the wall - pushing against it, actually, as if wishing he could push hi at his sides and his eyes great wounded O&039;s He looked like ahow come his horoscope hadn&039;t told him to beware this day

No probleleefully The two men peered under the counter, hands on uniformed knees Now O&039;Mearah&039;s left his knee and he reached out to snag the wallet "I see it, t - "