The World in My Pocket

‘Yeah.’ Morgan took his cigarette from between his lips and stared at the glowing tip. ‘The plan’s right, but all depends on the way it’s carried out. There’re a number of weak links. Gypo bothers me. It’s crap for the girl to say we have all the time in the world to bust open the truck. We haven’t. Okay, we have a certain amount of time, but that’s all. Once they start searching for it, the heat will be on good, and the quicker we bust it, the safer for us it’s going to be. So Gypo will have to work under pressure. That’s something he’s never done. It’ll be nervy work. He could flip his lid.’

‘Then it’s up to us to see he doesn’t,’ Bleck said. ‘I’m not worrying about him.’ He glanced at Morgan, his pale eyes hard and restless. ‘The more I think about the setup the more obvious it becomes we’ll have to kill these two guys. If we don’t, they’ll have a description of us, and that could cook us.’

Morgan shrugged his shoulders.

‘Yeah, I know, but you don’t have to spread it around. The other two are jittery enough already.’

Bleck looked at him.

‘She isn’t.’

‘That’s a fact.’

‘Who is she, Frank?’

Morgan shrugged his shoulders.

‘I don’t know. She doesn’t belong to this town. It’s my bet she’s worked with some outfit before.’

‘That’s what I think.’ Bleck glanced at his wristwatch. ‘Know what? I don’t believe she worked this plan out herself. I don’t believe a kid of her age could dream up all the answers the way she claims to have done. It wouldn’t surprise me some mob has already worked on the job - a mob she was in with - and they either got cold feet or they’re going to pull the job and she’s stolen their plan and is trying to beat them to it. Maybe they wouldn’t give her a big enough cut. We’ve got to watch her, Frank. It wouldn’t do for another mob to move in at the same time as we do, and it wouldn’t do for them to beat us to it.’

‘Yeah.’ Morgan pushed his hat to the back of his head irritably and frowned. ‘I’ve thought of all that. We’ve got to take a chance. We can’t do it before Friday week, if then. There’s a lot to be done. How’s the time?’

‘Just on half-past eight.’

‘The bus is due then.’

‘Yeah.’

They looked down the road to the bus stop where a group of people were waiting.

‘She’s a sexy piece, isn’t she?’ Bleck said, staring through the windshield. ‘She’s got a shape on her like a roller coaster.’

Morgan stiffened. His flat, black eyes moved on to Bleck’s face.

‘Since you’ve dragged up the subject, let me tell you something,’ he said, his voice harsh. ‘This girl’s to be left strictly alone. There’s going to be no monkey business. She’ll be with us for a couple of weeks; probably longer. The way we’ll be living could make it tricky. She’s going to be right bang in the middle of us for twenty-four hours of the day. I don’t want any of you to get wrong ideas about her. No monkey business. Let’s get that straight from the start.’

Bleck lifted his eyebrows, a cynical expression on his handsome face.

‘Have you reserved her for yourself, Frank?’

Morgan shook his head.

‘No. I’m telling you: this is strictly business. This setup is much too important and the take much too big for us to have woman trouble as well. There’s going to be no monkey business and I mean that. Whoever tries to start something with her is going to walk into a belly load of trouble from me.’

Bleck met the cold, snake’s eyes and grinned a little uneasily.

‘Have you talked to Kitson? He’s the boy to watch. He was staring at her last night like a stricken bull.’

‘You all three want watching,’ Morgan said curtly. ‘You’re no plaster saint yourself nor is Gypo.’

A little gleam of anger appeared in Bleck’s eyes.

‘Did you polish your halo this morning, Frank?’

Morgan started an angry retort, but then stopped short as he saw the bus coming around the corner.

‘Here it is,’ he said. ‘Keep your eyes skinned.’

Both men leaned forward to stare through the windshield.

The bus pulled up at the stop and two men got off. One of them was short and skinny; the other was around six foot tall, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted and he held himself stiffly upright. He was wearing the bluff blouse and slacks of the Welling Armoured Truck Agency’s uniform. Set squarely on his head was the peak cap with its glittering cap badge His shoes had been polished until they looked like patent leather, so too was his pistol belt and holster. He walked with a quick, springy step, and his movements were those of an athlete in training.

The two men in the Buick watched him pull the brass bell knob at the gate.

‘That him?’ Bleck asked.

‘Yeah.’ Morgan’s eyes were running over the man and what he saw gave him a little stab of uneasiness. ‘That’s Dirkson. Thomas will be on the next bus, coming the other way.’

‘He could be a sonofabitch,’ Bleck said, also not liking the look of the guard. ‘He’ll be as quick as a snake, and he’s got guts. Look at that chin!’