Read The Score: A Parker Novel for Free Online

the way I get it.”
    “I might look into it. Thanks for thinking of me.”
    “Anytime, Chuck. Send me a bathing beauty.”
    Parker left the booth, had a beer to get rid of some change and to cool off a little, and then walked back to the hotel. He phoned down to have his bill made up, made a reservation on a jet flight to Newark, and packed. He left the hotel room, and five hours later he walked into the hotel room in Jersey City. Then he met Edgars and heard the proposition.
    Knock over a city. A whole goddam city.
    It was so stupid it might even work. But it would have to be planned right. This one would have to be planned right on down to the shoe leather.
    If Edgars wouldn't louse it up some way.
    If they had every communications outlet in town figured.
    If they could work out a sensible getaway route to a reliable hideout.
    If they could get the right men.
    If they could think of every possibility.
    Right now, it was still just an idea, not a job yet. Maybe it never would be a job. He'd sleep on it.

4
    F ire department,” said Parker. “They got to be in touch with other fire departments around the state.”
    Edgars frowned around his cigar. “God damn it,” he said. “I forgot about that.”
    They were sitting around the dining-room table again, the five of them. Paulus was taking notes. The screen was up, at the far end of the room. The projector stood slightly up-angled on the table like a naval gun, but they weren't using it right now, so the spaceship ceiling light was on.
    Wycza said, “That's another man. To sit by the phone in the firehouse. And now we got firemen to keep on ice. Firemen, policemen, gate guards, telephone girls, the whole goddam town.”
    Parker nodded. “There's too many angles.”
    Paulus looked up from his note-taking. “Why not just takethe payroll? In and out fast. We five here could do it, keep it simple and neat.”
    Edgars shook his head. “No good at all,” he said. “Don't you remember that map?” He put his hands down on the tabletop. “Here's your payroll, with a cliff in back, a cliff on the right, a cliff on the left, and the whole city spread out in front. You couldn't get through the city in the first place, and if you did there's still only one road out.”
    “Past that goddam state police barracks,” said Wycza.
    Edgars said, “That's right. Nobody's ever even tried to steal that payroll, because it just can't be done.”
    Parker said, “It's no good trying for any one thing in that town. The payroll or a bank. You've got to hit the whole town, or nothing.”
    “What about the fire department?” asked Paulus. “That's an eleventh man.”
    Grofield said, “Not necessarily. Give them a diversion.”
    Wycza looked at him. “A what?”
    “A fire.”
    They all looked at him. Grofield grinned and shrugged, then turned to Paulus, sitting next to him on the right. Still grinning, he drove his left fist at Paulus' face. Paulus cried out and threw his hands up. Grofield's left stopped in midair, and his right hand dug painfully into Paulus' ribs. “Feint,” he said. “Feint and attack. Give the boys of the fire brigade a real ripsnorter to think about, in a quiet corner of town where they'll see no evil, hear no evil, get wise to no evil.”
    Paulus said, “You keep your hands to yourself, buddy.”He'd dropped the pencil he was taking notes with, and stooped over to get it.
    Grofield grinned at his back. “Just a graphic illustration of the point, dear heart,” he said. “Essence of theater.”
    “That's not a bad idea,” said Edgars.
    Parker shook his head. “A six-hour fire? They'll be done before we are.”
    Wycza said, “We need an eleventh man, that's all.”
    “We need one, anyway,” Parker told him. “We need one man loose, to troubleshoot anyplace something unexpected comes up. If we need another one for the fire department, that's twelve.” He turned to Edgars. “Where's the firehouse?”
    “Across the street from the police