Gladiator-At-Law by Pohl Frederik & Kornbluth C. M

Author:Pohl, Frederik & Kornbluth, C. M. [Pohl, Frederik & Kornbluth, C. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adult
ISBN: 9780671655662
Google: GonjDAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0671655663
Barnesnoble: 0671655663
Goodreads: 484105
Publisher: Baen
Published: 1955-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

they spent the morning in Old Monmouth, Mundin and Lana and Norvie Bligh, who tagged along in a sort of vague secretarial capacity.

First they stopped by Mundin’s bank, where he plugged in his key, punched “Close Out Account,” and scooped up the bills that rolled out.

He counted morosely. Two hundred thirty-four dollars, plus eighty-five cents in change. Lana looked hungry, and Mundin recalled that he still owed her twenty-five dollars balance from the night before. He gave it to her reluctantly.

They ate in Hussein’s. Over coffee Lana brooded. “I guess

the big shots’ll ride out to Morristown in armored cars. Too bad we ain’t rich. Well, let’s get to the jumping-off place.”

A taxi took them through the Bay tunnel to the Long Island Railroad terminus in Old Brooklyn. Just for the record, they tried the ticket window.

“Nossir,” the man said positively. “One train a day, armored. For officials only. What the hell do you want in Morristown, anyway?”

They canvassed the bus companies by phone, without luck. Outside the railroad station, at the head of the cab rank, Lana began to cry.

“There, little girl,” one of the hackies soothed glaring at Mundin and Bligh. A fatherly type. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s my daddy,” Lana bawled heartrendingly. “He’s hi that terrible place an’ he’s lost an’ my mommy said we should go help him. Honest, mister, just take us to the edge, please? Please? An’ Uncle Norvie and Uncle Charlie won’t let anything bad happen if those has—if those bad men in Morristown try anything. Honest!”

He broke down and agreed to take them to the edge. It was a two-hour drive over bad roads.

The hackie let Lana ride next to him in the front. Swinging her little handbag gaily, with the volatility of a child, she chattered, all smiles, all the way. Uncle Norvie and Uncle Charlie exchanged looks. They knew what was in the little handbag.

Morristown, being older, was better organized than Belly Rave. The driver stopped a couple of weed-grown blocks from the customs barrier.

“Here we are, little girl,” he said tenderly.

The little girl reached into her handbag. She took out her busted bottle and conversed earnestly with the driver. He cursed, whined, and then drove on.

At the gate, a couple of men looked genially in. Lana whispered something—Mundin caught the words “Wabbits” and “Itty-Bitties”—and the men waved them on. A block past the gate, on Lana’s orders, the driver stopped at another checkpoint, manned by a pair of dirty-faced nine-year-olds with carbines.

They got a guide; an Itty-Bitty with a carbine. On their way through the busy, brawling streets to the Administration Building, not a few grown-ups turned white and got out of sight

when they saw him clinging to the cab.

At the Ad Building Lana said curtly to me driver, “Wait.” Mundin shook his head. “No,” he told her, pointing to the

rank of steel-plated wheeled and tracked vehicles drawn up in

the building’s parking lot. “We get out of here in one of those

or not at all.” Lana shrugged. “I don’t get it, but all right.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.