WIFE OR PRISONER?
Something cold and damp against his forehead brought Gordon part way out
of his unconsciousness finally. There was the softness of a bed under
him and the bitter aftertaste of Migrainol on his tongue. He tried to
move, but nothing happened. The drug killed pain, but only at the
expense of a temporary paralysis of all voluntary motion.
There was a sudden withdrawal of the cooling touch on his forehead, and
then hasty steps that went away from him, and the sound of a door
closing.
Steps sounded from outside; his door opened, and there was the sound of
two men crossing the room, one with the heavy shuffle of Mother Corey.
"No wonder the boys couldn't find where you'd stashed him, Mother. Must
be a bloody big false section you've got in that trick mattress of
yours!"
"Big enough for him and for Trench, Izzy," Mother Corey's wheezing voice
agreed. "Had to be big to fit me."
"You mean you hid Trench out, too?" Izzy asked.
There was a thick chuckle and the sound of hands being rubbed together.
"A respectable landlord has to protect himself, Izzy. For hiding and a
convoy back, our Captain Trench gave me a paper with immunity from the
Municipal Force. Used that, with a bit of my old reputation, to get your
Mayor Gannett to give me the same from the Legals. Gannett didn't want
Mother Corey to think the Municipals were kinder than the Legals, so
you're in the only neutral territory in Marsport. Not that you deserve
it."
"Lay off, Mother," Izzy said sharply. "I told you I had to do it. I take
care of the side that pays my cut, and the bloody administration pulled
the plug on my beat twice. Only honest thing to do was to join the
Legals."
"And get your rating upped to a lieutenant," Mother Corey observed.
"Without telling cobber Gordon!"
"Like I say, honesty pays, Mother--when you know how to collect. Hell, I
figured Bruce would do the same. He's a right gee."
Mother Corey chuckled. "Yeah, when he forgets he's a machine. How about
a game of shanks?"
The steps moved away; the door closed again. Bruce Gordon got both eyes
open and managed to sit up. The effects of the drug were almost gone,
but it took a straining of every nerve to reach his uniform pouch. His
fingers, clumsy and uncertain, groped back and forth for a badge that
wasn't there!
He heard the door open softly, but made no effort to look up. The
reaction from his effort had drained him.
Fingers touched his head carefully, brushing the hair back delicately
from the side of his skull. Then there was the biting sting of
antiseptic, sharp enough to bring a groan from his lips. Sheila's hair
fell over her face as she bent to replace his bandages.
Her eyes wandered toward his, and the scissors and bandages on her lap
hit the floor as she jumped to her feet. She turned toward her room,
then hesitated as he grinned crookedly at her. "Hi, Cuddles," he said
flatly.
She bit her lips and turned back, while a slow flush ran over her face.
Her voice was uncertain. "Hello, Bruce. You okay?"
"How long have I been like this?"
"Fifteen hours, I guess. It's almost midnight." She bent over to pick up
the bandages and to finish with his head. "Are you hungry? There's some
canned soup--I took the money from your pocket. Or coffee..."
"Coffee." He forced himself up again; Sheila propped the flimsy pillow
behind him, then went into her room to come back with a plastic cup
filled with brown liquid that passed for coffee here. It was loaded with
caffeine, at least.
"Why'd you come back?" he asked suddenly. "You were anxious enough to
pick the lock and get out."
"I didn't pick it--you forgot to lock it."
He couldn't remember what he'd done after he found the badge. "Okay, my
mistake. But why the change of heart?"
"Because I needed a meal ticket!" she said harshly. "When I saw that
Legal cop ready to take you, I had to go running out to save you.
Because I don't have the iron guts to starve like a Martian!"
It rocked him back on his mental heels. He'd thought that she had been
attacking him on the street; but it made more sense this way, at that.
"You're a fool!" he told her bitterly. "You bought a punched meal
ticket. Right now, I probably have six death warrants out on me, and
about as much chance of making a living as--"
"I'll stick to my chances. I don't have any others now." She grimaced.
"You get things done. Now that you've got a wife to support, you'll
support her. Just remember, it was your idea."
He'd had a lot of ideas, it seemed. "I've got a wife who's holding onto
a notebook that belongs to me, then. Where is it?"
She shook her head. "I'm keeping the notebook for insurance. Blackmail,
Bruce. You should understand that! And you won't find it, so don't
bother looking..." She went into the other room and shut the door.
There was the sound of the lock being worked, and then silence.
He stared at the door foolishly, swearing at all women; then grimaced
and turned back to the chair where his uniform still lay. He could stay
here fighting with her, or he could face his troubles on the outside.
The whole thing hinged on Trench; unless Trench had shown the badge to
others, his problem boiled down to a single man.
Gordon found one tablet of painkiller left in the bottle and swallowed
it with the dregs of the coffee. He made sure his knife was in its
sheath and that the gun at his side was loaded. He found his police
club, checked the loop at its end, and slipped it onto his wrist.
At the door to the hall, he hesitated, staring at Sheila's room. Wife or
prisoner? He turned it over in his mind, knowing that her words couldn't
change the facts. But in the end, he dropped the key and half his money
beside her door, along with a spare knife and one of his guns.
He went by Izzy's room without stopping; technically, the boy was an
enemy to all Municipals. This might be neutral territory, but there was
no use pressing it. Gordon went down the stairs and out through the seal
onto the street entrance, still in the shadows.
His eyes covered the street in two quick scans. Far up, a Legal cop was
passing beyond the range of the single dim light. At the other end, a
pair of figures skulked along, trying the door of each house they
passed. With the cops busy fighting each other, this was better pickings
than outside the dome.
He saw the Legal cop move out of sight and stepped onto the street,
trying to look like another petty crook on the prowl. He headed for the
nearest alley, which led through the truckyard of Nick the Croop.
The entrance was in nearly complete darkness. Gordon loosened his knife
and tightened his grip on the locust stick.
Suddenly a whisper of sound caught his ears. He stopped, not too
quickly, and listened, but everything was still. A hundred feet farther
on, and within twenty yards of the trucks, a swishing rustle reached his
ears and light slashed hotly into his eyes. Hands grabbed at his arms,
and a club swung down toward his knife. But the warning had been enough.
Gordon's arms jerked upwards to avoid the reaching hands. His boot
lifted, and the flashlight spun aside, broken and dark. With a
continuous motion, he switched the knife to his left hand in a thumb-up
position and brought it back. There was a grunt of pain; he stepped
backwards and twisted. His hands caught the man behind, lifted across a
hip, and heaved, just before the front man reached him.
The two ambushers were down in a tangled mess. There was just enough
light to make out faint outlines, and Gordon brought his locust club
down twice, with the hollow thud of wood on skulls.
His head was swimming in a hot maelstrom of pain, but it was quieting as
his breathing returned to normal. As long as his opponents were slower
or less ruthless, he could take care of himself.
The trouble, though, was that Isaiah Trench was neither slow nor
squeamish.
Gordon gathered the two hoodlums under his arms and dragged them with
him. He came out in the truckyard and began searching. Nick the Croop
had ridden his reputation long enough to be careless, and the third
truck had its key still in the lock. He threw the two into the back and
struck a cautious light.
One of them was Jurgens' apelike follower, his stupid face relaxed and
vacant. The other was probably also one of Jurgens' growing mob of
protection racketeers. Gordon yanked out the man's wallet, but there was
no identification; it held only a small sheaf of bills.
He stripped out the money--and finally put half of it back into the
wallet and dropped it beside the hoodlum. Even in jail, a man had to
have smokes.
He stuck to the alleys, not using the headlights, after he had locked
the two in and started the electric motor. He had no clear idea of how
the battles were going, but it looked as if the Seventh Precinct was
still in Municipal hands.
There was no one at the side entrance to Seventh Precinct Headquarters
and only two corporals on duty inside; the rest were probably out
fighting the Legals, or worrying about it. One of the corporals started
to stand up and halt him, but wavered at the sight of the captain's star
that was still pinned to his uniform.
"Special prisoners," Gordon told him sharply. "I've got to get
information to Trench--and in private!"
The corporal stuttered. Gordon knocked him out of the way with his
elbow, reached for the door to Trench's private office, and yanked it
open. He stepped through, drawing it shut behind him, while his eyes
checked the position of his gun at his hip. Then he looked up.
There was no sign of Trench. In his place, and in the uniform of a
Municipal captain, sat the heavy figure of Jurgens. "Outside!" he
snapped. Then his eyes narrowed, and a stiff smile came onto his lips as
he laid the pen down. "Oh, it's you, Gordon?"
"Where's Captain Trench?"
The heavy features didn't change as Jurgens chuckled. "Commissioner
Trench, Gordon. It seems Arliss decided to get rid of Mayor Wayne, but
didn't count on Wayne's spies being better than his. So Trench got
promoted--and I got his job for loyal service in helping the Force
recruit. My boys always wanted to be cops, you know."
Gordon tried to grin in return as he moved closer, slipping the heavy
locust club off his wrist.
"I sent Ape and Mullins out to get in touch with you," Jurgens said.
"But I guess they didn't reach you before you left."
Gordon shook his head slightly, while the nerves bunched and tingled in
his neck. "They hadn't arrived when I left the house," he said
truthfully enough.
Jurgens reached out for tobacco and filled a pipe. He fumbled in his
pockets, as if looking for a light. "Too bad. I knew you weren't in top
shape, so I figured a convoy might be handy. Well, no matter. Trench
left some instructions about you, and--"
His voice was perfectly normal, but Gordon saw the hand move suddenly
toward the drawer that was half-open. And the cigarette lighter was
attached to the other side of the desk.
The locust stick left Gordon's hand with a snap. It cut through the air
a scant eight feet, jerked to a stop against Jurgens' forehead and
clattered onto the top of the desk, while Jurgens folded over, his mouth
still open, his hand slumping out of the drawer. The club rolled toward
Gordon, who caught it before it could reach the floor.
But Jurgens was only momentarily out. As Gordon slipped the loop over
his wrist again, one of the new captain's hands groped, seeking a button
on the edge of the desk.
The two corporals were at the door when Gordon threw it open, but they
drew back at the sight of his drawn gun. Feet were pounding below as he
found the entrance that led to the truck. He hit the seat and rammed
down the throttle with his foot before he could get his hands on the
wheel.
It was a full minute before sirens sounded behind him, and Nick the
Croop had fast trucks. He spotted the squad car far behind, ducked
through a maze of alleys, and lost it for another few precious minutes.
Then a barricade lay ahead.
The truck faltered as it hit the nearly finished obstacle, and Gordon
felt his stomach squashing down onto the wheel. He kept his foot to the
floor, strewing bits of the barricade behind him, until he was beyond
the range of the Legal guns that were firing suddenly. Then he stopped
and got out carefully, with his hands up.
"Captain Bruce Gordon, with two prisoners--bodyguards of Captain
Jurgens," he reported to the three men in bright new Legal uniform who
were approaching warily. "How do I sign up with you?"