The World in My Pocket

‘Your guess is as good as mine what will happen next,’ Morgan went on. ‘They may quit or they may start something. We’ve got to be ready for trouble. If the guard starts something,

Ed will wing him. I’ll do the same with the driver. This is something that’ll have to work itself out. We can’t make a forecast. Whatever happens I’ve got to stop the driver from pressing his buttons. It shouldn’t be difficult if everyone keeps his head.’ He looked at Bleck. ‘You’ll be shooting at twenty feet, if you have to shoot. You’ll have a rifle, and this guy is as big as a house. Make sure to shoot fast and straight.’

‘I’ll do that,’ Bleck said, but he looked anywhere but at Morgan.

‘Okay,’ Morgan said. ‘The guard and the driver out of action, I’ll blow the whistle for Kitson. You’ll be about five hundred yards down the road.’ He turned his head to look at Kitson.

‘Listen hard for the whistle, and when you hear it, come fast.’

Kitson nodded. He was beginning to breathe hard, snorting a little through his broken nose.

‘From then on, we’ll have to work fast,’ Morgan said. ‘The Buick arrives and turns, so the back of the caravan faces the front of the truck. I’ll drive the truck up the ramp and into the caravan. You, Ginny, will have to change your dress. Ed will collect the crowbars and the rifle and put them in the caravan, then he joins me in the truck. Ginny and Kitson get into the Buick; Kitson turns the car and the caravan and we go down the road fast for Gypo, who has started to walk back to meet us. He gets into the truck too. So we have Ginny and Kitson in the Buick, and the truck inside the caravan with we three in the cab of the truck, out of sight. We have to get to the highway as fast as we can, but that doesn’t mean Kitson takes any risks. If we’re in luck, we should get on to the highway in around fifteen minutes. By that time the Agency will have realized the truck has gone off the air. Maybe they will think the radio has broken down and they’ll check with the Research Station. I reckon we have half an hour before the nickel drops and the balloon goes up. Once on the highway, Kitson is not to drive faster than thirty miles an hour. By then there’ll be a lot of traffic on the road and no one will think anything of a caravan being hauled by two young people obviously on vacation. Any questions so far?’

Kitson screwed his fist into the palm of his hand as he said, ‘How about the driver and the guard? Do we leave them at the bottleneck or what do we do with them?’

Irritably, Morgan ran his fingers through his hair.

‘Don’t worry your brains about them. Ed and me will take care of them.’

Kitson began to sweat. He was sure now the guard and the driver were going to be murdered.

‘They’ll see the caravan,’ he said huskily. ‘They’ll be able to describe it and us as well.’

‘That’s okay,’ Morgan said, his voice suddenly bored. ‘That’s something we’ll have to take care of, won’t we? You don’t have to work yourself into a lather about it. Ed and me will fix it.’

Kitson looked over at Ginny. Her wooden expression gave him no comfort. Something inside him began to urge him to quit. This was going to be a murder rap. A blind man could see it. They wouldn’t dare leave the driver and the guard alive.

Morgan was saying, ‘Well, if there’re no more questions, I’ll get on.’

Gypo said nervously, ‘Look, Frank, this worries me. I want to get it straight. How are you going to fix the guard and the driver? How are you going to make sure they don’t give a description of us to the cops?’

Morgan’s eyes turned suddenly bleak and his face hardened.

‘Do you want me to draw you a goddamn map?’ he snarled. ‘How do you imagine we’re going to fix them? Now listen: you two voted on the job. I warned you if we slip up we’ll find ourselves on the hot squat. I told you to think it over before you voted. Well, you both voted. Don’t give me this crap about how are we going to stop them shooting their mouths off! You know as well as I do how we’ll do it! I’m not asking you to do it. Ed and me will handle it, but if you think you can back out now, you’ve made a mistake! We’re all in this together. I’m not going to have the skids put on this setup because you two are suddenly feeling righteous! Do you understand?’

Gypo gulped. The ruthless light in Morgan’s eyes chilled him. Right then he had an idea that Morgan wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in him if he protested further.

‘Okay,’ Gypo said in a small voice. ‘You’re the boss, Frank.’

‘You bet I’m the boss,’ Morgan said, then he swung around to stare fixedly at Kitson. ‘What do you say?’

Morgan didn’t scare Kitson, but Ginny did. If she had the nerve to go through with this, he knew he had to, too.

‘I just asked the question,’ he said, staring back at Morgan. ‘What’s wrong with that?’

‘Okay,’ Morgan said, relaxing a little. ‘You’ve got your answer. Now I can get on or do you two want to waste some more time?’

‘Go ahead,’ Kitson said, his face flushing.