Me hood by Mickey Spillane

Author:Mickey Spillane
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

I hopped a cab to 34th St., picked up an envelope at General Delivery in the Post Office and opened it on the street.

The laddies were real efficient. Usually it took a month to get a gun permit. This one came through quick. I tucked it in my pocket and looked at the other slip of paper. There were seven digits there, and the first two had to be exchange letters. I found a pay phone and dialed.

A male voice said, “Yes?”

I said, “Big Man?”

He said, “That you, Ryan?”

“Me. And don’t trace this.”

His voice sounded strained. “What do you need, Irish?”

“Two guys. They work a ship that was in around the week a certain Juan Gonzales was killed. All I know is the alias. One’s Spanish Tom, the other ’Fredo . . . probably Alfredo. You big enough to handle it?”

“We’re big enough.”

I left the booth, walked to the corner and had two minutes before the unmarked cruiser drew up and the guys hopped out. Another one blocked off the street at the other end and a fast, systematic search started. I laughed at the slobs and walked away. Big Man was playing both ends from the middle.

I gave him an hour. It was plenty of time. They had men and equipment and millions and could do nearly any damn thing they wanted when they wanted.

I called and said, “Big Man?”

He said, “Both men are on the Gastry. It’s in port now. Spanish Tom is Tomas Escalante. The other one is Alfredo Lias. Both from Lisbon. They’ve been on the same ship since ’46. Both have had numerous drunk arrests in various ports but nothing more serious. The line vouches for their honesty.”

“Thanks. You haven’t bothered to look for them, have you?”

He caught the sarcasm. “They’re in port, Ryan. We’ve been looking but so far we haven’t found them.”

I laughed. “What would you ask them if you did?”

“We’d think of something.”

“Good for you,” I said. “There’s just one more thing I never bothered asking. You guys don’t operate without certain facts or at the most without ideas.”

“So?”

“What did you suspect Billings of having for sale?”

Quietly, he said, “A month ago two skin divers, were killedgoing down on the wreck of the Andrea Doria.”

“I read about it.”

“There were three on the expedition. The last one hasn’t shown.”

“Go on.”

“It should be obvious. Highly classified material went downin that wreck and if foimd by the wrong parties could jeopardizethe safety of the whole country. Possibly the whole world.”

After a moment he said, “That enough?”

I said, “That’s enough,” and hung up.

Nobody was outside and I walked away from the phone thinking about it. There were just too many possibilities now. Some of them had to go. I walked slowly and let things dribble through my mind. A pattern began to come out of it.

Further down the street I stepped into another phone booth, rang the apartment to see if Art was there. I let it ring a dozen times then decided he was either asleep or passed out, then gave up.

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.