Part 2 (2/2)

”No hard feelings, gov'nor, now! They paid me to stall you, so I did.

You bonused me to protect you, and I b.l.o.o.d.y well tried. Honest Izzy, that's me. Gonna buy me a job as a cop. That's why I needed the scratch.

Okay, gov'nor?”

Gordon hauled back his hand to knock the other from his feet, and then dropped it. A grin writhed onto his face, and broke into sudden grudging laughter.

”Okay, Izzy,” he admitted. ”For this stinking planet, I guess you're something of a saint. Come along, and we'll both apply for that job--after I get my stuff.”

He might as well join the law. Security had wanted him to police their d.a.m.ned planet for them--and he might as well do it officially.

He tossed the girl's knife down beside her, motioned to Izzy, and began heading for Mother Corey's.

Chapter III

THE GRAFT IS GREEN

Izzy seemed surprised when he found that Gordon was turning in to the quasi-secret entrance to Mother Corey's. ”Coming here myself,” he explained. ”Mother got ahold of a load of snow, and sent me out to contact a big pusher. Coming back, the goons picked me up and gave me the job on you. Hey, Mother!”

Bruce Gordon didn't ask how Mother Corey had acquired the dope. When Earth had deported all addicts two decades before, it had practically begged for dope smuggling.

The gross hulk of Mother Corey appeared almost at once. ”Izzy and Bruce.

Didn't know you'd met, cobbers. Contact, Izzy?”

”Ninety per cent for uncut,” Izzy answered.

They went up to Gordon's hole-in-the-wall, with Mother Corey wheezing behind, while the rotten wood of the stairs groaned under his grotesque bulk. At his questions, Gordon told the story tersely.

Mother Corey nodded. ”Same old angles, eh? Get enough to do the job, they mug you. Stop halfway, and the halls are closed to you. Pretty soon, they'll be trick-proof, anyhow; they're changing over to electric eyes. Eh, you haven't forgotten me, cobber?”

Gordon hadn't. The old wreck had demanded five per cent of his winnings for tipping him off. Mother Corey had too many cheap hoods among his friends to be fooled with. Gordon counted out the money reluctantly, while Izzy explained that they were going to be cops.

The old man shook his head, estimating what was left to Gordon. ”Enough to buy a corporal's job, pay for your suit, and maybe get by,” he decided. ”Don't do it, cobber. You're the wrong kind. You take what you're doing serious. When you set out to tinhorn a living, you're a crook. Get you in a cop's outfit, and you'll turn honest. No place here for an honest cop--not with elections coming up, cobber. Well, I guess you gotta find out for yourself. Want a good room?”

Gordon's lips twitched. ”Thanks, Mother, but I'll be staying inside the dome, I guess.”

”So'll I,” the old man gloated. ”Setting in a chair all day, being an honest citizen. Cobber, I already own a joint there--a nice one, they tell me. Lights. Two water closets. Big rooms, six-by-ten--fifty of them, big enough for whole families. And strictly on the level, cobber.

It's no hide-out, like this.”

He rolled the money in his greasy fingers. ”Now, with what I get from the pusher, I can buy off that hot spot on the police blotter. I can go in the dome and walk around, just like you.” His eyes watered, and a tear went dripping down his nose. ”I'm getting old. They'll be calling me 'Grandmother' pretty soon. So I'm turning my Chicken House over to my granddaughter and I'm going honest. Want a room?”

Gordon grinned, and nodded. Mother Corey knew the ropes, and could be trusted. ”Didn't know you had a granddaughter.”

Izzy snorted, and Mother Corey grinned wolfishly. ”You met her, cobber.

The blonde you shook down! Came up from Earth eight years ago, looking for me. I sold her to the head of the East Point gang. Since she killed him, she's been doing pretty well on her own. Mostly. Except when she makes a fool of herself, like she did with you. But she'll come around to where I'm proud of her, yet.... If you two want to carry in the snow, collect, and turn it over to Commissioner Arliss for me--I can't pa.s.s the dome till he gets it--I'll give you both rooms for six months free.

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