01. Labyrinth of Dreams by Jack L. Chalker Page A

using a credit card in that name. Given a couple of more days for the bureaucracy and procedures, even Kennedy or Little Jimmy could have tracked them here, at least to Bend. Without that business card, though, they might not figure on McInerney, not unless it was in fact a big Whitlock account.
    I called Little Jimmy from the airport in Bend, while Brandy was filling out the car-rental form. It was four in the afternoon, but I'd almost forgotten the time difference and it was seven back at that phone booth.
    "I got him," I told the contact. "Ready to deliver."
    "Call the number I'm gonna give ya," the punk replied, sounding not at all impressed. "The man said to tell you to call it no matter when you called or why. Do it now."
    I took down the number, puzzled, and called it, and was very surprised to hear Little Jimmy's voice on the other end of the line. He listened while I told him everything to date.
    "Well, drop it," he responded. "Keep the dough, keep the cards until the end of the month if you want, but that's it."
    "Uh uh. No welching. We did this for a percentage."
    "Horowitz—I'm telling you to back off. Let it go. Let him go."
    "You telling me there never was any money?"
    "The son of a bitch stole every dime I said. He can keep it. There's no way I want anything more to do with him, ever. Even this distance is too close. If you know what's good for you, you'll go back to San Francisco, have a nice vacation, maybe find a job there if you like it. You want some references? You're good. Damned good. I think I could get both of you a nice position with some solid firm out there."
    "Listen, Nkrumah, what in hell is this?" I growled. The fact was, Little Jimmy wasn't sounding like himself at all. He was sounding very, very scared. "The feds nail you?"
    "No, no." He sighed. "All right, if you must know—I was set up all along. It was a scam. They busted Big Tony Guliano this morning, and at almost the same time they hit almost every cog in the smuggling game through which the merchandise passed. Every one! They have tied me to both Tri-State and Guliano, and I am about to visit the Cayman Islands for a while. Perhaps a long while."
    "On what?" I asked him, not quite believing all this. If this pair was part of a federal scam, why this crazy scene with the transvestism and the rest of it? I was sure Kennedy hadn't known about that apartment until I told him. I'd still bet what I had left of Little Jimmy's money on it. "They stole your poke."
    "That is none of your affair. My loans are being bought out if I am outside the country by tomorrow night. I still have a future, but not for a little while. Now it is time to take a much overdue vacation. I will make certain your references are on file in the right places, and will send you a list care of the main post office general-delivery window in San Francisco. This is it, Horowitz. I'm sorry, but it is over. I truly am impressed with your work, though. Truly impressed."
    "Thanks for very little," I grumbled. This was smelling as bad as Marty Whitlock's girlfriend. "Don't write if you set up again."
    "Horowitz—I want to emphasize only one thing, and then I am gone. Don't take it upon yourselves to follow them any further, and do not get near that town or that company. You are ignorant of what you are dealing with, as I was. I know more than I wish now, but I want nothing more to do with them. Be smart. Take that lovely lady of yours and enjoy. Forget that couple and that company. If you don't, you will either be dead or you will pray to God that you die. That is all I will say. None of my numbers will work from now on. Farewell."
    And, before I could say another word, the weasel hung up on me, leaving me standing there, stunned, with the phone still in my hand.
    Now what the hell was this? There was no way around it but to find Brandy, brief her, and then call Agent Kennedy.
    Brandy was even more intrigued by this than I was. While up to now I had been willing to rest on my