Mission: Earth "The Enemy Within" Read Online Free PDF Page A

con artist!
    Heller and Bang-Bang and Izzy went down and, despite rush hour and parking jams, there was the armored truck. They got in and it roared away.
    A few minutes later, Heller took the hundred thousand out of his safe at the Gracious Palms. Izzy put it in a sack and away he and the armored truck went. Again, no receipt.
    In the lobby, Bang-Bang said, "Hey, who am I working for—Tahiti or Delaware? I forgot. Jesus, I never seen such office setups in my life. And in the Empire State Building! We're big time, kid. Do I wear a tuxedo or a general's uniform?"
    Vantagio came out. "Where's the bodies?"
    "Jesus, Vantagio," said Bang-Bang. "You ought to see this kid's offices!"
    "What offices?"
    "Half a whole God (bleeped) floor of the Empire State Building!" said Bang-Bang.
    Vantagio looked at Heller. "You got to keep Bang-Bang off the booze. He's getting the DTs. I came out to tell you Mike called and said your cab would be ready tomorrow. You better go over and get it, Bang-Bang."
    "Can't," said Bang-Bang. "It's not Saturday night."
    "Hey, what's this Saturday night?" said Heller.
    "That's when the Civic Betterment League meets," said Vantagio. "All the top officials of the city. So there's not much of anything checked up on at that time. Bang-Bang, being on parole, wouldn't risk much if he was out of town a few hours."
    "You mean everybody meets?" said Heller.
    "Yeah, the heads of police and the mayor and so on. It's a bad thing for us, too. Faustino Narcotici presides and he hands out all the Mafia payoff dough at that time. It's worse on the first Saturday night of the month– the governor and state officials are there, too."
    "Well, if it isn't Saturday night, I'll go over and get the cab myself," said Heller.
    "Hell, no, you can't do that!" said Vantagio. "Don't you know nobody under eighteen is permitted to drive at all in New York City? That's why you got to have a driver. I'll send one of the boys over for it. But what's this about the Empire State Building?"
    "Just a little sideline that came up," said Heller.
    Possibly it was the way Heller said it. Too casual. But a little stirring of alarm began to rise. Suppose Izzy didn't steal his money?
    In college, two cars, the Geological Survey and now this strange new development of the Empire State Building ... My wits simply would not mesh! Only one thing was loud: Heller was up to no good.
    And I had not had the slightest word from the New York office concerning agents Raht and Terb. Heller had to be stopped! I couldn't figure out what he was doing but it had to be stopped anyway. The man was a howling menace! A private office with a view of all lower Manhattan indeed!
Chapter 3
    Keeping the hours I kept due to time differences between New York and Turkey, I had fallen into the necessity of sleeping all morning. I was furious to find that old (bleepard) Karagoz standing beside my bed bowing and muttering. I stared at my watch. It was only eleven! I glared at him.
    "Two men in yard, Sultan Bey." He waved his hands helplessly. "They come in. They sit down on bench. They refuse to go away."
    "I'll make them go away!" I shouted. I grabbed a ten-gauge shotgun and sprang to the door.
    "Sultan Bey!" shouted Karagoz. "You got no clothes on!"
    I rushed out anyway. Nobody is going to tell me what to do!
    Two men were sitting on a bench, sure enough. They were faced the other way. I leaped in front of them, levelling the gun.
    It was Raht and Terb!
    Raht's mustache stuck out even further in surprise.
    Terb's swarthy, plump face went a bit white.
    "What in the name of seventeen brindle Devils are you doing here?" I thundered at them.
    Raht had the effrontery to put his finger to his lips to shush me.
    Terb was trying to get back on the bench.
    "Account for yourselves!" I thundered even louder.
    Raht was making even more urgent finger motions and I abruptly realized I had been speaking Voltarian. But no matter. When the staff sees me coming, they vanish.
    "We... we obeyed your