The Pariot GAme Read Online Free PDF Page B

barred door. Behind it there was a second, identical door. There was a desk behind a glass window to his right. It had a steel counter under it. There were three signs: ALL WEAPONS MUST BE CHECKED; VISITORS MUST IDENTIFY THEMSELVES; STATE NAME AND PURPOSE OF VISIT TO ATTENDANT . There was a sliding drawer under the glass and a speaking port about five feet off the brown linoleum floor in the center of the glass. Two guards sat on stools behind the glass, arguing about something. Riordan could not hear what they were saying. He rested his hands on the counter and rapped on the glass. The guard on the left interrupted the conversation and leaned forward. He spoke into a microphone. “Name, sir?” His voice was amplified, and carried through the room and the barred doors to Riordan’s left.
    Riordan spoke through the port. “Open the drawer,” he said.
    “Name, sir?” the guard said.
    “Open the drawer,” Riordan said. “My name’s on this.” He displayed the black morocco case. “I’ll put this in there.”
    “I have to have your name, sir,” the guard said.
    “You’re about to get it, if you’ll open the drawer,” Riordan said. “You think I’m going to climb into it, ride in and bite you?”
    The guard glared through the glass. “Come on, come on,” Riordan said, “open the drawer. I don’t know if you’ve got all day, but I haven’t.” The drawer slid open. Riordan put the credentials into it. The drawer slid shut. The guard removed the credentials on the other side of the glass and looked at them. He leaned toward the microphone. “Shut up,” Riordan said at once into the port. “I don’t want my visit announced to the whole damned prison population. That’s who I am. No damned need to treat me like the Duchess of Windsor at a goddamned cotillion. Put that back in the drawer and slide it back to me. I’ll take it out and put something else in it that you’ll want to keep until I come out.”
    The guard on the left looked puzzled. The guard on the right got off his stool abruptly. “Do what I tell you,” Riordan said. “Have your partner call the Superintendent.” The second guard told the guard at the mike that he was calling the Superintendent. “I read lips,” Riordan said. “Glad to hear it. Now open the damned drawer and be quick about it.” The drawer slid open with the credentials in it. Riordan took them and removed the magnum from its holster. He opened the cylinder and pushed the ejection rod to clear the chambers of the bullets. From his right front pocket he removed a trigger guard lock and snapped it onto the gun. He put the revolver, cylinder open, and the bullets, into the drawer. He spoke into the port. “You be damned careful with that thing,” he said. “It was balanced when I came in here and it’d better be balanced when I get it back.”
    The guard at the mike opened the drawer and removed the magnum. He tagged it. He took a small brown envelope from a drawer under his desk and put the bullets in it. He put the magnum and the bullets in a pigeonhole behind him. The guard on the telephone hung up and nodded to the guard on the stool. The guard on the stool pushed a button.
    The barred door to Riordan’s left began to slide open. The guard who had used the telephone left the booth. Riordanwalked toward the door. The guard came out of the booth as Riordan waited at the barred door. When it was open, Riordan went in and the guard patted him down. The barred door slid shut behind Riordan. The guard who had conducted the frisk opened the door to the booth and backed in. When it was shut, the second barred door in front of Riordan opened slowly.
    The floor beyond the second door was steel. Riordan turned right, his boots making a clanking sound, and went to the Superintendent’s office. He went in to the receptionist’s area and shut the door behind him. He grinned at the short, dark-haired woman behind the desk. “Ruthie” he said, “does the boss really