The Snake

'Some people have foresight,' I reminded him.

'Do I leave now?' Pat said. 'Do I go along with the Federal bit and take off?'

For the first time Art Rickerby spoke. He was quiet as always and I knew that there were no ends left untied in the past I had just left. He said, 'Captain... there are times when... there are times. It was you who forced Mr. Hammer into circumstances he could hardly cope with. It was a dead man and me who made him stick to it. If he's anathema out of the past, then it's our fault. We brought a man back who should have died a long time ago. The present can't stand a man like that any more. Now they want indecision and compromise and reluctance and fear... and we've dropped a hot iron in society's lap. We've brought a man back who almost shouldn't be here and now you and me and society are stuck with him.'

'Thanks a bunch,' I said.

'Sure,' Pat said to Art, 'he's always been in the special-privilege class, but now it's over my head. You got the pull, Rickerby. I don't get all the picture, but I've been around long enough to figure a few things out. Just clue me on this one. '

'Pat...' I started.

'Not you, Mike. Him.' He smiled with that gentle deceptiveness. 'And make it good. We have two dead men here and I'm not writing that off for anybody. No more I'm not.'

Art nodded and glanced at his watch. 'The girl Velda,' he said, 'she was the crux. She has information this country depends upon. A team of assassins was assigned to kill her and nobody could get to that team we called 'The Dragon' but him because nobody could be as terrible as they were. It turned out that he was even worse. If that is a good word. For that information this country would pay any price and part of the cost was to rehabilitate this man in a sense and give him back his privilege and his gun.

'The Dragon team is gone now. There is only the girl Velda. There is still that price to pay and he can call the tune. You have no choice but to back him up. Is that clear?'

'No, but it's coming through,' Pat said. 'I know most of the story but I find it hard to believe.'

I said, 'Pat...'

'What?'

'Let's leave it, kid. We were both right. So she's still mine. If you want her then take her away, but you have, to fight me for her and you haven't got a chance in the world of winning.'

'Not as long as you're alive,' he told me.

'Sure, Pat.'

'And the law of averages is on my side.'

'Why sure.'

I didn't think he could do it, but he did. He grinned and stuck out his hand and instinctively I took it. 'Okay, boy. It's like before now. We start fresh. Do I get the story or does he?'

'First him, buddy,' I said, nodding toward Art, 'then you. It's bigger than local and I'm not just a private cop any more.'

'They told me about your ticket. Smart.'

'You know me. Never travel small.'

'That's right. Somebody's got to be the hero.'

'Nuts, if I'm on a dead play, then I want odds that will pay off.'

'They did.'

'Damn right they did. I stuck it up and broke it off. Everybody wanted me dead and instead it turned all the way around. So I got the payoff. A big ticket and the rod back and nobody puts the bull on me until I flub it royally... and this, friend, I'm not about to do again.'

'No?'

'Watch.'

'My pleasure, big buddy.' He grinned. Again. 'Mind if I leave and you talk it out with Mister Government here?'

'No. But be at your office soon. She'll be there and so will I.'

'Soon?'

'An hour.'

'I'll be waiting, hero.'

When he left Art Rickerby said, 'She has to talk right away. Where is she?'

'I told you... in an hour... , at Pat's office.'

'There were dead men here.'

'So...'

'Don't piddle with me, Mike.'

'Don't piddle with me, Art.'

'Who were they?'

'I damn well don't know, but this you'll do and damn well do it right.'

'Don't tell me what to do.'

'No? I shove it up your tail if I want to, Art, and don't you forget it. You do this one my way. This is something else from your personal angle and leave it alone. Let those dead men be. As far as anybody is concerned they're part of The Dragon group and the last part at that. There ain't no more, the end, finis. They came for Velda and I was here to lay on the gravy like I did the rest and you go along with it. What's here is not part of your business at all, but for the moment you can cover me. Do it.'

'Mike...'

'Just do it and shut up.'

'Mike...'

I said softly, 'I gave you The Dragon, didn't I?'

'Yes.'

'I was dead. You exhumed me. You made me do things that were goddamned near impossible and when I didn't die doing them you were surprised. So be surprised now. Do like I tell you.'

'Or... ?'

'Or Velda won't come in.'

'You're sure?'

'Positive, friend.'

'It will be done.'

'Thanks '

'No trouble.'

And Velda told them the next day. She spelled it out in detail and a government organization collapsed. In Moscow thirty men died and in the East Zone of Berlin five more disappeared and in South America there was a series of accidents and several untimely deaths and across the face of the globe the living went to the dead in unaccountable numbers and codes and files were rearranged and meetings hastily brought about and summit conferences planned and in the U.N. buildings whole new philosophies were adopted and decisions brought about in a changed light and as suddenly as she had been a threat to a different world, she had become a person again. She had nothing more to give and in the world of politics there was no retribution as long as you knew nothing new and really didn't care at all.

But there was something new. There were two dead men to tell about it and somewhere in the city was another with a bullet in his gut looking for somebody to take it out and if the little blonde didn't tell, one of these would.

You just didn't lay dead men at your feet without someone coming looking for you.

And I had them at my feet.

Chapter Two

I knew I had a tail on me when I left the D.A.'s office. It had been nicely set up even though Rickerby had put the fix in for me. No local police force likes to be queered out of a deal in their own back yard, and if they could