"Mr. Scarface Willy Talese's first appointment is with Sales. With
Georgette, to be precise. So, we wait an hour or so and see how much
Georgette can soften him up. Then we bring him upstairs to see you. How
does it sound?"
"Great, lady," Fanetti said, going over to Laara and raising the flat
of his hand to repeat the optimistic thumping he had administered to
Heck's spine.
"If you use that thing on me, Fanetti," Laura shouted, "you're finished
here."
"Aw, lady," Fanetti said, looking at his hand. In repose his hand was
not very big. In repose it looked only half the size of a whale's fluke.
They waited. For Heck, time crawled. Not that he was in a hurry to see
Scarface Willy. But time crawled agonizingly because he didn't know
exactly what Willy wanted and knew he'd have to wait a while before
he found out. It was hard to believe that three days ago he was a
salesman in love with his work and in love with his girl. Now he wasn't
a salesman any longer although that had seemed to be Baldid's original
idea. Now he hardly had time for his girl....
* * * * *
_Buzz_ went the intercom. "Yes?" said Laara.
"This is Sophie," said a voice. Sophie was the madam-like woman. "Mr.
Talese was here."
"What do you mean, _was_ there?" asked Laara.
"Because he's come and gone. He wouldn't even look at Georgette. He had
too much business on his mind to think of dames, he said. He meant it,
Miss Laara. He said the only kind of dames he really liked, anyhow, was
tall redheads with plenty of Irish in them. So--" here Sophie's voice
suddenly took on a foxy quality--"I sent him right up to Mr. Finch's
office."
"Mr. Finch's office?" repeated Laara. "But he was supposed to see us
right here in Procurement. After all, it's a procurement problem."
"But a tall redhead with plenty of Irish in her!" cried Sophie with
professional enthusiasm. "Don't you see?"
"Patty!" shouted Heck in dismay. "You want Patty to try what
Georgette--"
He forgot all about teleportation. He began to run from the room.
"Stop him, Fanetti!" Laara cried. "Stop him!"
"The Boss?" Fanetti asked in an awed voice.
"You're in Procurement. You work for me. I'm The Boss. Stop him. Stop
him or you're fired."
Fanetti let out what sounded almost like a sob, but rushed across the
room at Heck. They came together and went down in a heap and in a
moment Fanetti sat on Heck, pinning him to the floor.
"If you don't get the hell up, you oaf, you're fired," Heck said.
"And you're fired if you don't stay where you are," Laara said.
Clearly, Fanetti did not know what to do. He sat there looking sadly at
Heck, looking sadly at Laara.
Then Heck remembered.
Heck teleported.
But Fanetti clung to him.
* * * * *
"I don't get you dames a-tall," Scarface Willy Talese said. "The skinny
little strawberry blonde was all for it. I figure, that's the general
idea. But I don't go for the skinny little strawberry blonde. You know?
Some dames you go for and some dames you don't."
"I wouldn't know," Patty said coldly.
"Well, I go for you, baby," Scarface Willy said. "I go for you in a big
way. And what Willy Talese goes for, he gets."
Patty stood behind the desk, her balance forward on the balls of
her feet, her hands tensed on the edge of the desk, ready to run
either way. Scarface Willy, a surprisingly small and dapper-looking
middle-aged gentleman with only a very small scar pulling down the
outside corner of his left eye and a custom-tailored outfit which must
have cost him a cool three hundred dollars, stood in front of the desk.
He went one way. Patty went the other way. Scarface Willy lunged over
the desk. Patty hit him with a paperweight but he bobbed like a clever
boxer and it only grazed his forehead. "Irish," he said. "I like your
Irish, girl. I like everything about you."
"I--I'll bop you again," Patty vowed. "Or else I'll scream. Yes, I'll
scream."
Willy was confused. Downstairs they hadn't behaved this way at all. The
other girl was nothing like this. The other girl was all eagerness. It
was always that way, though. The good things came tough.
Willy lunged a second time. Patty swung and missed him with the
paperweight.
Heck and Fanetti materialized on the desktop. Fanetti was still sitting
on Heck.
"Get off me," Heck said.
Fanetti got off, and vaulted off the desk.
"Fanetti, you!" screamed the surprised Scarface Willy.
"Aw, Boss," Fanetti bleated. It seemed he had a passion for calling
people boss.
* * * * *
Scarface Willy clawed at the lapel of his custom-tailored suit. He
withdrew a snub-nosed wide-bored automatic and made a fanning motion
with it around the room. "All right," he said. "All right. Talese's had
enough. Talese don't get treated like this. Talese gives protection,
see? When Talese gives protection, he wants it to stick. See? You,
Fanetti!"
"Yeah, Boss?"
"Sit on that guy again. You did that real good."
Fanetti looked at Scarface Willy. He looked at Heck. He shifted his
feet uncomfortably.
"Because I'm getting out of here," Scarface Willy said. "With the dame.
I don't like this joint. Dames who throw themselves at you. Dames who
don't. People who pop up out of nowheres. A madam who calls herself a
sales director. Maybe Red here can straighten me out. Can't you, Red?"
"I won't tell you a thing," Patty told him coldly.
Scarface Willy shrugged. "Not here, you won't. At my place. Are you
going to sit on him, Fanetti?"
"N-no," Fanetti said after a while. The word was defiant. The tone was
not.
Scarface Willy shrugged again. "I'll remember that, Fanetti. When the
time comes. You!" Waving the gun.
"Me?" said Heck.
"Yeah, you. Come with me. We're going downstairs together. You and me
and Red here. I'll have the gun in my pocket. You'll escort me to the
street. Me and Red."
"You wouldn't dare kill us."
"Who said anything about killing you? Think I wanta face a murder-one
rap? Fanetti!"
"Yeah?" Fanetti said.
"Come here."
Fanetti walked slowly in front of Scarface Willy. Then Fanetti saw
the look on Willy's face and began to back away. He had a look of
fascinated horror on his face. Coldly, contemptuously, Willy reached
into his jacket again. He took out a long, barrel-tubed contraption
and slowly screwed it on the end of his automatic. Fanetti backed away
faster. He opened his mouth to say no.
Before he could say it, though, Scarface Willy shot him twice, once in
the meaty part of each thigh. The silencer muffled the twin explosions
almost completely. Fanetti crumpled in pain, writhing on the floor.
Willy unscrewed the silencer from his gun and put it away. "Shall we
go?" he said.
* * * * *
With a numbness clouding his mind and making coherent thought all but
impossible, Heck walked in front of Scarface Willy and Patty to the
office door. He jerked the door open and heard them walking behind him.
He also heard Fanetti's moan. He told the receptionist:
"You'd better get a doctor, quick as you can."
"A doctor?"