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you have some idea why
we’re here, Garrett. But there’re a couple points I
want to make sure you understand.”
    “Amateurs,” I said again. “Pros know when to
take their losses.”
    “That money didn’t belong to Denny, Garrett. Not
more than a third of it, anyway.”
    “Pros don’t put all their eggs in one basket. And
they don’t put the basket where they can’t get at it.
If I was you boys I’d find a new line of business. Without
Denny’s contacts your old one is going to turn into a
crapshoot.”
    Vasco winced. I knew too much. “We’ve got that angle
covered, Garrett. All we need to do is get hold of Denny’s
papers and study up on his style. There weren’t any secret
codes or anything. The other end doesn’t have to know that
he’s gone.”
    Might be workable at that. Maybe they were not so dumb after
all.
    Those records and notes and letters might be a silver mine.
    “What did you do with them, Garrett?”
    “So we get to the crux, eh?”
    “Yes. I’ll lay it out. We can take the loss on the
silver if we get the papers and you stay away from the Cantard end.
We ain’t going to like it, but we can take it. My
recommendation to you is, pocket your retainer and walk. Next best
thing, if you think you have to make a show, is leave town for a
while, then come back and say you couldn’t find her. Or fake
up a waiver and forge her chop.”
    “Sounds good,” I said. “A practical solution
to all our problems.”
    They looked relieved.
    “Trouble is, when I got out of the Marines I decided I
wasn’t going to let anybody else run my life ever again. You
guys were in the army. You know how it is.”
    It stunned them momentarily. Then Vasco said, “You look
like you’ve had a bad day already, Garrett. I wouldn’t
want to give a man bruises on his bruises. Maybe you could reassess
your position.”
    “You had your say. I made my position clear. You’d
better be leaving. I’m not usually this tolerant of uninvited
guests.”
    Vasco sighed. My old drill sergeant used to sigh that way when a
recruit was particularly stubborn about learning. “Quinn,
watch the breed.”
    I set myself. I’d picked my first move already.
    “Stand aside, Garrett.” That same sound of
exasperation filled Morley’s voice. “It’s time
for a little of that old elfin magic.”
    “Vee?”
    “Take him, Quinn.”
    When Morley goes into action he seems to grow about six extra
limbs. He uses them all so fast you hardly see them move. And when
he isn’t kicking or punching he’s biting, head-butting,
hip-jugging, or knee-dropping.
    He opened by leaping up and giving Quinn the heels of both feet,
bap! bap!
right between the eyes. He flew to another
victim without touching down. Quinn folded his cards and went to
dreamland.
    Vasco came after me.
    I learned that you do not duke it out with a guy almost as good
as you are when your whole body is stiff and sore from the last
whipping you took.
    He got me into a clinch that turned into a giant bear hug on the
floor. He kept trying to bang his forehead off my temple. I got my
teeth into his ear and chomped. That discouraged him. He threw
himself away from me. From flat on my back I flicked out a heel and
clipped him at the base of the skull. He went wobbly.
    I jumped up, seized the moment by the scruff of the neck and
seat of the pants, and ran him out the door to the accompaniment of
appropriate old-time remarks about seedy little army types who
failed to acknowledge the natural superiority of their overlords,
the Marines.
    A great glassy crash sent me hurtling back inside to help
Morley.
    He had polished off his share. He was eyeballing
Quinn. “Grab the other end and help me throw him
out.”
    “You broke my window.”
    “I’m charging you double rate for this one, Garrett.
You provoked them.”
    “I’m not paying you squat. You threw somebody out my
window.”
    “You never heard a word I said about truth and sincerity.
You had a perfect chance to close it all