Part 9 (2/2)

Murdoch shook his head. ”In the first place, I'm not registered.”

Izzy grinned. ”Every cop's registered in his own precinct; Wayne got the honor system fixed for us. Show your papers and go into any booth in your territory. That's all. And you'd better be seen voting often, too, Cap'n. What's your precinct?”

”Eleventh, but I'm not voting. I'd like to come along with you to observe, but I wouldn't make any choice between Wayne and Nolan.”

Downstairs, the rear room was locked, with one of Mother Corey's guards at the door. From inside came the rare sound of water splas.h.i.+ng, mixed with a wheezing, off-key caterwauling. Mother Corey was apparently making good on his promise to take a bath. As they reached the hall, one of Trench's lieutenants came through the entrance, waving his badge at the protesting man outside.

He spotted the three, and jerked his thumb. ”Come on, you. We're late.

And I ain't staying on the streets when it gets going.”

A small police car was waiting outside, and they headed for it. Bruce Gordon looked at the debacle left behind the drunken, looting mob. Most of the barricades were down. Here and there, a few citizens were rus.h.i.+ng about trying to restore them, keeping wary eyes on the mobsters who had pa.s.sed out on the streets.

Suddenly a siren blasted out in sharp bursts, and the lieutenant jumped.

”Come on, you gees. I gotta be back in half an hour.”

They piled inside, and the little electric car took off at its top speed. But now the quietness had been broken. There were trucks coming out of the plastics plant, and mobsters were gathering up their drunks, and chasing the citizens back into their houses. Some of them were wearing the forbidden guns, but it wouldn't matter on a day when no police were on duty.

In the Ninth Precinct, the Planters were the biggest gang, and all the others were temporarily enrolled under them. Here, there were less signs of trouble. The joints had been better barricaded, and the looting had been kept to a minimum.

The three got off. A scooter pulled up alongside them almost at once, with a gun-carrying mobster riding it. ”You mugs get the h.e.l.l out of--Oh, cops! Okay, better pin these on.”

He handed out gaudy arm bands, and the three fastened them in place.

Nearly everyone else already had them showing. The Planters were moving efficiently. They were grouped around the booths, and they had begun to line up their men, putting them in position to begin voting at once.

Then the siren hooted again, a long, steady blast. The bunting in front of the booths was pulled off, and the lines began to move. Izzy led the way to the one at the rich end of their beat, and moved toward the head of the line. ”Cops,” he said to the six mobsters who surrounded the booth. ”We got territory to cover.”

A thumb indicated that they could go in. Murdoch remained outside, and one of the thugs reached for him. Izzy cut him off. ”Just a friend on the way to his own route. Eleventh Precinct.”

There were scowls, but they let it go. Then Gordon was in the little booth. It seemed to be in order. There were the books of registration, with a checker for Wayne, one for Nolan, and a third, supposedly neutral, behind the plank that served as a desk. The Nolan man was protesting.

”He's been dead for ten years. I know him. He's my uncle.”

”There's a Mike Thaler registered, and this guy says he's Thaler,” the Wayne man said decisively. ”He votes.”

One of the Planters pa.s.sed his gun to the inspector for the Wayne side.

The Nolan man gulped, and nodded. ”Heh-heh, yes, just a mix-up. He's registered, so he votes.”

The next man Gordon recognized as being from one of the small shops on his beat. The fellow's eyes were desperate, but he was forcing himself to go through with it. ”Murtagh,” he said, and his voice broke on the second syllable. ”Owen Murtagh.”

”Murtang.... No registration!” The Wayne checker shrugged. ”Next!”

”It's Murtagh. M-U-R-T-A-G-H. Owen Murtagh, of 738 Morrisy--”

”Protest!” The Wayne man cut off the frantic wriggling of the Nolan checker's finger toward the line in the book. ”When a man can't get the name straight the first time, it's suspicious.”

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