LITMIR.BIZ

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Medina,” Parker said, poking his slick head out of the car window.

      The guard rested one polished boot on the running board. He stared hard at Parker, then at me. If I hadn’t been told he was an ex-cop, I would have known it by the sneering toughness in his eyes.

      “This is a private road,” he said with elaborate sarcasm. “It says so a half a mile back. The Santa Medina road branches to the left, and there’s a notice four yards square telling you just that little thing. What do you want up here?”

      While he was shooting off his mouth, I had time to study the walls. They were as smooth as glass, and on top was a three-stranded barbed-wire fence. The prickles on the wire looked sharp enough to slice meat—my meat at that.

      “I thought the road to the left was the private road,” Parker was saying. He smiled emptily at the guard. “Sorry if we’re trespassing.”

      I saw something else, too: a dog sitting by the guard’s lodge—a wolfhound. It was yawning in the sunlight. You could hang a hat on its fangs.

      “Beat it,” the guard said. “When you’ve got the time, learn yourself to read. You’re missing a lot.”

      Around the guard’s thick waist was a revolver belt. There was no flap to the holster and the butt of the .45 was shiny with use.

      “You don’t have to be impertinent,” Parker returned gently. He was still very distant and polite. “We all make mistakes.”

      “Yeah, your mother made a beauty,” the guard said and laughed.

      Parker flushed pink.

      “That’s an objectionable remark,” he said sharply. “I’ll complain to your employer.”

      “Scram,” the guard said, growling. “Take this lump of iron the hell out of here or I’ll give you something to complain about.”

      We drove away the way we had come. I watched the guard in the rearview mirror. He stood in the middle of the road, his hands on his hips, staring after us: a real twelve-minute egg.

      “Nice fella,” I said and grinned.

      “There’s another like him. They’re both on duty at night.”

      “See the dog?”

      “Dog?” He glanced at me. “No. What dog?”

      “Just a dog. Nice teeth. If anything he looked a little tougher than the guard and sort of hungry. And the barbed wire. Good stuff. Sharp. I guess I’ll have to ask for a little more dough. I’ve got to get me insured.”

      “You’re not going to get any more money from us, if that’s what you mean,” Parker snapped.

      “That’s what I do mean. Pity you missed the dog. It should be a lot of fun having that cutie roaming around in the dark. Yeah, I guess you’ll have to dip into your sock again, brother.”

      “A thousand or nothing,” Parker said, his face hardening. “Please yourself.”

      “You’ll have to revise your ideas. I’m in a buyer’s market. You know, Brett might pay me for information. Don’t tell me to please myself unless you want me to.” I glanced at him, saw his eyes narrow. That hit him where it hurt.

      “Don’t try that stuff with me, Jackson.”

      “Talk it over with Fatso. I want another five hundred or I don’t go ahead. Fatso didn’t tell me about the guards or the dog or the alarms or the wire. He made out it was a soft job—a job you could do in your sleep.”

      “I’m warning you, Jackson,” Parker said between his teeth. “You can’t monkey with us. You made a deal and you’ve accepted part payment. You’re going through with it.”

      “That’s right. But the fee’s jacked up to fifteen centuries. My union don’t let me fool around with dogs.”

      “You’ll take your thousand or you’ll be sorry,” he said, and his hands gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “I’m not going to be blackmailed by you, you cheap crook.”

      “Don’t blame me. Blame Fatso. I’m not a sucker.”

      He began to drive fast and we got back to the house in half the time it took us to leave it.

      “We’ll see Gorman,” he said.

      We saw Gorman.

      Fatso sat in a chair and stroked his hard pink face and listened.

      “I told him he couldn’t make a monkey out of us,” Parker said. He was white and his eyes had a feverish look.

      Gorman stared at me.

      “You’d better not try any tricks, Mr. Jackson.”

      “No tricks,” I said, smiling at him. “Just another five hundred to take care of the insurance. You want to see the guard and you want to take a gander at the dog. When you’ve seen them, you’ve seen plenty.”

      He brooded for a long minute.

      “All right,” he said suddenly. “I didn’t know about the guards or the dog myself. I’ll make it another five hundred, but it’s the last you’ll get.”

      Parker let out a little explosion of sound.

      “Don’t get excited, Dominic,” Gorman said, frowning at him. “If you knew about the guards you should have told me.”

      “He’s blackmailing us!” Parker stormed. “You’re crazy to pay him. Where’s it going to stop?”

      “Leave this to me,” Gorman said, cool as a cucumber.

      Parker stood glaring at me, then he went out.

      “I’ll have the dough now,” I said. “It wouldn’t be much use to me if I run into that dog.”

      We argued back and forth. After a while we agreed to split it and Gorman handed over two hundred and fifty.

      I borrowed an envelope and a sheet of notepaper and prepared another surprise for my bank manager. There was a mailbox just outside the house. I went down the drive and mailed the letter while Gorman watched me from the window.

      Well, I was coming along. I had collected four hundred and fifty iron men for nothing so far, and they were where neither of these guys could reach them.

      All the same I didn’t like the easy way Gorman had parted with the money. I knew I wouldn’t have screwed it out of Parker. But Gorman was a lot trickier than Parker. When he had parted with the money, his face had been expressionless. But that didn’t fool me. I began to think it was going to be a lot harder to collect the balance of the money when I had handed over the compact. I was all right now, but the moment I had handed it over I had a feeling Gorman would go into action. I felt it the way you feel a hunch, and it kept growing. I remembered what Max had said about Parker’s gun. Right now they wanted me to do a job Gorman was too fat to do and Parker hadn’t the guts to do. But when I’d done it, I’d be of no further use to them. I’d be a danger to them. That’s when I should have to watch out. And I told myself I’d watch out all right.

      Later, Max came to tell me lunch was ready. I was sitting on the terrace overlooking the lawn, and when I was going to speak to him he frowned a warning.

      I glanced over my shoulder and there was my pal Parker standing in the French windows watching us. He came over, a little stiff, but controlled.

      “I have everything you need for tonight,” he said when Max had gone away. “I’ll come with you as far as the wall and I’ll wait there in the car.”

      “Come in with me. You can take care of the dog.”

      He ignored this, and we went into the dining room. The lunch was nothing to rave about. While we toyed with the food, Parker told me what he had got together for me.

      “You’ll want a

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