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Authors: Dan J. Marlowe
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own. I reached beneath her when the bugles sounded the charge, filled my hands, and pulled her tightly against me. She yipped encouragingly until like a boxer’s one-two punch the double explosion threw us sideways on the bed.
“Was it a good one?” she murmured after several silent moments.
“You know it was.”
A short time later we showered together in the bathroom’s ceramic-tile cubicle. My ribs were discolored from the pressure of her thighs, while she had sets of fingerprint impressions in her buttocks. We soaped and rinsed each other several times while clouds of steam billowed around the bathroom. In a previous incarnation we must have been whales together. A lot of our Florida good times were embedded in my memory in connection with shower rooms.
Back in the bedroom, Hazel padded naked to her handbag on the bureau and removed from it a wrapped- and-tied package that she handed to me. “It’s in fifties,” she said. “I was afraid anything smaller would be too bulky.”
I hefted the package on my palm. “Quite a stud fee,” I said. “Maybe I should get myself syndicated?”
“Why, you egotistical—!” She aimed a punch at me. I blocked it and slapped her firmly in her bare belly. She went “Whuff!!” and staggered to the bed and sat down.
I put the package into the top bureau drawer. “You should get back to the ranch in the morning and then get down to Key West as soon as you can,” I told her.
“See?” she pouted. “Already he wants to get rid of me.” I went to the phone and placed a six A.M . awakening call with the front desk. When I returned to Hazel, she was smiling. “Any impressions of life in California you’d like me to take to Florida with me?” she asked archly.
I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but I produced a few fresh impressions for Hazel to take along on her trip.
“See you in a week, horseman,” was the last thing I remembered hearing her say before sleep moved in relentlessly.
CHAPTER SIX
TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE
Erikson and Slater were due to arrive in the morning, I called downstairs to the bell captain’s desk and had a card table sent up to my room. When it came, I set it up in the center of the room so that it would be the first thing visible to anyone entering the room.
Then I went to the bureau drawer and took out the wrapped package of Hazel’s money. I stripped off twine and paper, fanned the thousand fifty-dollar bills out in a crisp semicircle, and placed the fan on the card table so that the corner of each bill could be seen individually.
When their knock came at the door I let them in, Slater eyed the display greedily, Erikson impassively. The blond man extracted a bill from the center of the fan, held it up to the light and examined it, crackled it sharply several times, then returned it to the pile. “Afraid of counterfeit?” I asked Erikson.
“That’s right,” he said. “Counterfeit would have been a complication we couldn’t use on this job.”
“Pretty pictures,” Slater said approvingly. He was still eyeing the bills. “Pretty, pretty pictures. Well, I guess that’s the last hurdle.” He glanced at Erikson who nodded in confirmation. “Where we meetin’ in Key West, Drake?”
“At a bar called The Castaways. It’s on Margaret Street, near the docks. It has rooms on the second floor we’ll take over so we can stay out of sight.”
“We should travel to Key West separately,” Erikson said. Nobody disagreed. “So I suggest that the money be split in half. I’ll buy the components of the shortwave radio and other electronic gear we’ll need. I’ll buy it in different places and assemble it in Key West. I’ll also put up the deposit on the fishing cruiser as soon as I get there and check it out.” He looked at me. “You can finance Slater’s expenses to Key West.”
“One correction,” I countered. “We’ll all check out the cruiser when the time comes, and I’ll put up the deposit. That way you
“Was it a good one?” she murmured after several silent moments.
“You know it was.”
A short time later we showered together in the bathroom’s ceramic-tile cubicle. My ribs were discolored from the pressure of her thighs, while she had sets of fingerprint impressions in her buttocks. We soaped and rinsed each other several times while clouds of steam billowed around the bathroom. In a previous incarnation we must have been whales together. A lot of our Florida good times were embedded in my memory in connection with shower rooms.
Back in the bedroom, Hazel padded naked to her handbag on the bureau and removed from it a wrapped- and-tied package that she handed to me. “It’s in fifties,” she said. “I was afraid anything smaller would be too bulky.”
I hefted the package on my palm. “Quite a stud fee,” I said. “Maybe I should get myself syndicated?”
“Why, you egotistical—!” She aimed a punch at me. I blocked it and slapped her firmly in her bare belly. She went “Whuff!!” and staggered to the bed and sat down.
I put the package into the top bureau drawer. “You should get back to the ranch in the morning and then get down to Key West as soon as you can,” I told her.
“See?” she pouted. “Already he wants to get rid of me.” I went to the phone and placed a six A.M . awakening call with the front desk. When I returned to Hazel, she was smiling. “Any impressions of life in California you’d like me to take to Florida with me?” she asked archly.
I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but I produced a few fresh impressions for Hazel to take along on her trip.
“See you in a week, horseman,” was the last thing I remembered hearing her say before sleep moved in relentlessly.
CHAPTER SIX
TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE
Erikson and Slater were due to arrive in the morning, I called downstairs to the bell captain’s desk and had a card table sent up to my room. When it came, I set it up in the center of the room so that it would be the first thing visible to anyone entering the room.
Then I went to the bureau drawer and took out the wrapped package of Hazel’s money. I stripped off twine and paper, fanned the thousand fifty-dollar bills out in a crisp semicircle, and placed the fan on the card table so that the corner of each bill could be seen individually.
When their knock came at the door I let them in, Slater eyed the display greedily, Erikson impassively. The blond man extracted a bill from the center of the fan, held it up to the light and examined it, crackled it sharply several times, then returned it to the pile. “Afraid of counterfeit?” I asked Erikson.
“That’s right,” he said. “Counterfeit would have been a complication we couldn’t use on this job.”
“Pretty pictures,” Slater said approvingly. He was still eyeing the bills. “Pretty, pretty pictures. Well, I guess that’s the last hurdle.” He glanced at Erikson who nodded in confirmation. “Where we meetin’ in Key West, Drake?”
“At a bar called The Castaways. It’s on Margaret Street, near the docks. It has rooms on the second floor we’ll take over so we can stay out of sight.”
“We should travel to Key West separately,” Erikson said. Nobody disagreed. “So I suggest that the money be split in half. I’ll buy the components of the shortwave radio and other electronic gear we’ll need. I’ll buy it in different places and assemble it in Key West. I’ll also put up the deposit on the fishing cruiser as soon as I get there and check it out.” He looked at me. “You can finance Slater’s expenses to Key West.”
“One correction,” I countered. “We’ll all check out the cruiser when the time comes, and I’ll put up the deposit. That way you
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