Keith Laumer: End as a Hero

I sauntered over. “I’m from Iowa City,” I said. “Now, the rest of the group didn’t come—said they’d rather rest one day. But I like to see it all. After all, I paid—”

“Just a minute,” the guard said, holding up a palm. “You must be lost, fella. This here ain’t no tourist attraction. You can’t come in here.”

“This is the cameo works?” I said anxiously.

He shook his head. “Too bad you let your cab go. It’s an hour yet till the bus comes.”

A dun-painted staff car came into view, slowed and swung wide to turn in. I fingered the driver’s mind. The car swerved, braked to a halt. A portly man in the back seat leaned forward, frowning. I touched him. He relaxed. The driver leaned across and opened the door. I went around and got in. The guard was watching, open-mouthed.

I gave him a two-finger salute, and the car pulled through the gate.

“Stop in front of the electronics section,” I said. The car pulled up. I got out, went up the steps and pushed through the double glass doors. The car sat for a moment, then moved slowly off. The passenger would be wondering why the driver had stopped—but the driver wouldn’t remember.

I was inside the building now; that was a start. I didn’t like robbery in broad daylight, but it was a lot easier this way. I wasn’t equal to climbing any walls or breaking down any locked doors—not until I’d had a transfusion, a skin graft and about three months’ vacation on a warm beach somewhere.

A man in a white smock emerged from a door. He started past me, spun—

“I’m here about the garbage,” I said. “Damn fools will put the cans in with the edible. Are you the one called?”

“How’s that?”

“I ain’t got all the morning!” I shrilled. “You scientist fellers are all alike. Which way is the watchamacallit—equipment lab?”

“Right along there.” He pointed. I didn’t bother to thank him. It wouldn’t have been in character.

A thin man with a brush mustache eyed me sharply as I pushed through the door. I looked at him, nodding absently. “Carry on with your work,” I said. “The audit will be carried out in such a way as to disturb you as little as possible. Just show me your voucher file, if you please.”

He sighed and waved toward a filing cabinet. I went to it and pulled a drawer open, glancing about the room. Full shelves were visible through an inner door.

Twenty minutes later I left the building, carrying a sheet metal carton containing the electronic components I needed to build a matter transmitter—except for the parts I’d have to fabricate myself from raw materials. The load was heavy—too heavy for me to carry very far. I parked it at the door and waited until a pick-up truck came along.

It pulled over. The driver climbed out and came up the walk to me. “Are you—uh… ?” He scratched his head.

“Right.” I waved at my loot. “Put it in the back.” He obliged. Together we rolled toward the gate. The guard held up his hand, came forward to check the truck. He looked surprised when he saw me.

“Just who are you, fella?” he said.

I didn’t like tampering with people any more than I had to. It was a lot like stealing from a blind man: easy, but nothing to feel proud of. I gave him a light touch—just the suggestion that what I would say would be full of deep meaning.

“You know—the regular Wednesday shipment,” I said darkly. “Keep it quiet. We’re all relying on you.”

“Sure thing,” he said, stepping back. We gunned through the gate. I glanced back to see him looking after the truck, thinking about the Wednesday shipment on a Friday. He decided it was logical, nodded his head and forgot the whole thing.

I’d been riding high for a couple of hours, enjoying the success of the tricks I’d stolen from the Gool. Now I suddenly felt like something the student morticians had been practicing on. I guided my driver through a second-rate residential section, looking for an M.D. shingle on a front lawn.

The one I found didn’t inspire much confidence—you could hardly see it for the weeds—but I didn’t want to make a big splash. I had to have an assist from the driver to make it to the front door. He got me inside, parked my box beside me and went off to finish his rounds, under the impression that it had been a dull morning.

The doctor was a seedy, seventyish G.P. with a gross tremor of the hands that a good belt of Scotch would have helped. He looked at me as though I’d interrupted something that was either more fun or paid better than anything I was likely to come up with.

“I need my dressing changed, Doc,” I said. “And maybe a shot to keep me going.”

“I’m not a dope peddler,” he snapped. “You’ve got the wrong place.”

“Just a little medication—whatever’s usual. It’s a burn.”

“Who told you to come here?”

I looked at him meaningfully. “The word gets around.”

He glared at me, gnashed his plates, then gestured toward a black-varnished door. “Go right in there.”

He gaped at my arm when the bandages were off. I took a quick glance and wished I hadn’t.

“How did you do this?”

“Smoking in bed,” I said. “Have you got… something that…”

He caught me before I hit the floor, got me into a chair. Then he had that Scotch he’d been wanting, gave me a shot as an afterthought, and looked at me narrowly.

“I suppose you fell out of that same bed and broke your leg,” he said.

“Right. Hell of a dangerous bed.”

“I’ll be right back.” He turned to the door. “Don’t go away. I’ll just… get some gauze.”

“Better stay here, Doc. There’s plenty of gauze right on that table.”

“See here—”

“Skip it, Doc. I know all about you.”

“What?”

“I said all about you.”

He set to work then; a guilty conscience is a tough argument to answer.

He plastered my arm with something and rewrapped it, then looked the leg over and made a couple of adjustments to the brace. He clucked over the stitches in my scalp, dabbed something on them that hurt like hell, then shoved an old-fashioned stickpin needle into my good arm.

“That’s all I can do for you,” he said. He handed me a bottle of pills. “Here are some tablets to take in an emergency. Now get out.”

“Call me a cab, Doc.”

I listened while he called, then lit a cigarette and watched through the curtains. The doc stood by, worrying his upper plate and eyeing me. So far I hadn’t had to tinker with his mind, but it would be a good idea to check. I felt my way delicately.

— oh God, why did I… long time ago… Mary ever knew… go to Arizona, start again, too old… I saw the nest of fears that gnawed at him, the frustration and the faint flicker of hope but not quite dead. I touched his mind, wiped away scars…

“Here’s your car,” he said. He opened the door, looking at me. I started past him.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he said.

“Sure, Pop. And don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”

The driver put my boxes on the back seat. I got in beside him and told him to take me to a men’s clothing store. He waited while I changed my hand-me-downs for an off-the-hook suit, new shirt and underwear and a replacement beret. It was the only kind of hat that didn’t hurt. My issue shoes were still good, but I traded them in on a new pair, added a light raincoat, and threw in a sturdy suitcase for good measure. The clerk said something about money and I dropped an idea into his mind, paused long enough to add a memory of a fabulous night with a redhead. He hardly noticed me leaving.