Arena jiggled his foot. “I like your style,” he said. “You handled Heavy real good. He’s supposed to be my toughest boy.”
“What about the combat car? More friends of yours?”
“Nah,” be said, chuckling easily. “Some Jersey boys heard I had a caller. They figured to knock him off on general principles. A nifty.” He stopped laughing. “The Gyrob was mine; a remoted job. Nice piece of equipment. You cost me real dough tonight.”
“Gee,” I said. “That’s tough.”
“And besides,” he said, “I know who you are.”
I waited. He leaned over and picked something off the table. It was my wallet.
“I used to be in the Navy myself. Academy man, believe it or not. Almost, anyway. Kicked out three weeks before graduation. A frame. Well, practically a frame; there was plenty of guys doing what I was doing.”
“That where you learned to talk like a hood?”
For a second Arena almost didn’t smile.
“I am perfectly capable of expressing myself like a little gentleman, when I feel so inclined,” he said, “but I say to hell with it.”
“You must have been before my time,” I said.
“A year or two. And I was using a different name then. But that wasn’t my only hitch with the Service. When the Trouble started, I enlisted. I wanted some action. When the Navy found out they had a qualified Power Section man on their hands, I went up fast. Within fourteen months I was a J. G. How about that?”
“Very commendable.”
“So that’s how I knew about the trick I. D. under the emulsion on the snapshot. You should have ditched it, Maclamore. Or should I say Captain Maclamore?”
My mouth opened, but I couldn’t think of a snappy answer to that one. I was in trouble. I had meant to play it by ear once I reached Arena to get the information I needed. That was out now. He knew me. He had topped my aces before I played them.
Suddenly Arena was serious. “You came to the right man, Maclamore. You heard I had one of your buddies here, right? I let the word leak; I thought it might bring more of you in. I was lucky to get Admiral Hayle’s deputy.”
“What do you want with me?”
Arena leaned forward. “There were eight of you. Hayle and his aide, Wolfgang, were shot when they wouldn’t spill to the Provisional Government—or whatever that mob calls itself. Margan got himself killed in some kind of tangle near Denver. The other four boys pulled a fast one and ducked out with the scout you guys came back in. They were riding dry tanks—the scout had maybe thirty ton/hours fuel aboard—so they haven’t left the planet. That leaves you stranded. With six sets of Federal law looking for you. Right?”
“I can’t argue with what’s in the newspapers,” I said.
“Well, I don’t know. I got a couple newspapers. But here’s where I smell a deal, Maclamore. You want to know where that scout boat is. Played right, you figure you got a good chance of a raid on an arsenal or a power plant to pick up a few slugs of the heavy stuff; then you hightail out, join up with the rest of the squadron and, with the ordnance you pack, you can sit off and dictate the next move.” Arena leaned back and took a deep breath. His eyes didn’t leave me.
“Okay. I got one of you here. I found out something from him. He gave me enough I know you boys got something up your sleeve. But he don’t have the whole picture. I need more info. You can give it to me. If I like what I hear, I’m in a position to help—like, for example, with the fuel problem. And you cut me in for half. Fair enough?”
“Who is it you’ve got?”
He shook his head. “Uh-uh.”
“What did he tell you?”
“Not enough. What was Hayle holding out? You birds found something out there. What was it?”
“We found a few artifacts on Mars,” I said. “Not Martian in origin; visitors. We surveyed—”
“Don’t string me, Maclamore. I’m willing to give you a fair deal, but if you make it tough for me—”
“How do you know I haven’t got a detonator buried under my left ear,” I said. “You can’t pry information out of me, Arena.”
“I think you want to live, Maclamore. I think you got something you want to live for. I want a piece of it.”
“I can make a deal with you, Arena,” I said. “Return me and my shipmate to our scout boat. Fuel us up. You might throw in two qualified men to help handle the ship—minus their blackjacks, preferably—then clear out. We’ll handle the rest. And I’ll remember, with gratitude.”
Arena was silent for a long moment.
* * *
“Yeah, I could do that, Maclamore,” he said finally. “But I won’t. Max Arena is not a guy to pick up the crumbs—or wait around for handouts. I want in. All the way in.”
“This time you’ll have to settle for what you can get, Arena.” I put the gun away and stood up.
I had a feeling I would have to put it over now or not at all.
“The rest of the squadron is still out there. If we don’t show, they’ll carry on alone. They’re supplied for a century’s operation. They don’t need us.”
That was true up to a point. The squadron had everything—except fuel.
“You figure you got it made if you can get your hands on that scout boat,” Arena said. “You figure to pick up fuel pretty easy by knocking off say the Lackawanna Pile.”
“It shouldn’t be too tough; a fleet boat of the Navy packs a wallop.”
Arena tapped his teeth with a slim paper cutter.
“You’re worried your outfit will wind up Max Arena’s private Navy, right? I’ll tell you something. You think I’m sitting on top of the world, huh? I own this town, and everybody in it. All the luxury and fancy dinners and women I can use. And you know what? I’m bored.”
“And you think running the Navy might be diverting?”
“Call it whatever you want to. There’s something big going on out there, and I don’t plan to be left out.”
“Arena, when I clear atmosphere, we’ll talk. Take it or leave it.”
The smile was gone now. Arena looked at me, rubbing a finger along his blue cheek.
“Suppose I was to tell you I know where your other three boys are, Maclamore?”
“Do you?” I said.
“And the boat,” Arena said. “The works.”
“If you’ve got them here, I want to see them, Arena. If not, don’t waste my time.”
“I haven’t exactly got ’em here, Maclamore. But I know a guy that knows where they are.”
“Yeah.” I said.
Arena looked mad. “Okay, I’ll give it to you, Maclamore. I got a partner in this deal. Between us we got plenty. But we need what you got, too.”
“I’ve made my offer, Arena. It stands.”
“Have I got your word on that, Maclamore?” He stood up and came over to stand before me. “The old Academy word. You wouldn’t break that, would you Maelamore?”
“I’ll do what I said.”
Arena walked to his desk, a massive boulder of jadeite, cleaved and polished to a mirror surface. He thumbed a key.
“Send him in here,” he said.
I waited. Arena sat down and looked across at me.
Thirty seconds passed and then the door opened and Stenn walked in.
* * *
Stenn glanced at me.
“Well,” he said. “Mr. Smith.”
“The Smith routine is just a gag,” Arena said. “His name is—Maclamore.”
For an instant, I thought I saw a flash of expression on Stenn’s face. He crossed the room and sat down.
“Well,” he said. “A very rational move, your coming here. I trust you struck a profitable bargain?” He looked hard at me, and this time there was expression. Hate, I would call it, offhand.
“Not much of a deal at that, Stenn,” Arena said. “The Captain is a tough nut to crack. He wants my help with no strings attached. I think I’m going to buy it.”
“How much information has he given you?”
Arena laughed. “Nothing,” he said. “Max Arena going for a deal like that. Funny, huh? But that’s the way the fall out fogs ’em.”
“And what have you arranged?”
“I turn him loose, him and Williams. I figure you’ll go along, Stenn, and let him have the three guys you got. Williams will tell him where the scout boat is, so there’s no percentage in your holding out.”
“What else?”
“What else is there?” Arena spread his hands. “They pick up the boat, fuel up—someplace—and they’re off. And the Captain here gives me the old Academy word he cuts me in, once he’s clear.”
There was a long silence. Arena smiled comfortably; Stenn sat calmly, looking at each of us in turn. I crossed my fingers and tried to look bored.