wasn’t anything else I could do, Major. I didn’t dare keep it on my person, not in jail.”
“Couldn’t you have just kept on swallowing it?”
Greenwood gave a greenish smile. “Not after the first time I got it back,” he said.
“Mm–mm,” the Major admitted reluctantly. He looked at Dortmunder.
“Well? What now?”
Dortmunder said, “We’re divided. Two for, two against, and one uncertain.”
“You mean, whether or not to go after the emerald again?”
“Right.”
“But —” The Major spread his hands. “Why wouldn’t you go after it? If you’ve successfully broken into a prison, surely an ordinary precinct house —”
“That’s just it,” Dortmunder said. “My feeling is we’re pushing our luck. We’ve given you two capers for the price of one as it is. We can’t just keep busting into places forever. Sooner or later the odds have to catch up with us.”
The Major said, “Odds? Luck? But it isn’t odds and luck that have helped you, Mr. Dortmunder, it’s skill and planning and experience. You still have just as much skill and are capable of just as much planning as in last night’s affair, and now you have even more experience.”
“I just have a feeling,” Dortmunder said. “This is turning into one of those dreams where you keep running down the same corridor and you never get anywhere.”
“But surely if Mr. Greenwood hid the emerald, and knows where he hid it, and —” The Major looked at Greenwood. “It is hidden well, is it not?”
“It’s hidden well,” Greenwood assured him. “It’ll still be there.”
The Major spread his hands. “Then I don’t see the problem. Mr. Dortmunder, I take it you are one of the two opposed.”
“That’s right,” Dortmunder said. “Chefwick is with me. Greenwood wants to go after it, and Kelp is on his side. Murch doesn’t know.”
“I’ll go along with the majority,” Murch said. “I got no opinion.”
Chefwick said, “My opposition is similarly based to Dortmunder’s. I believe one can reach the point where one is throwing good expertise after bad, and I fear we have reached that point.”
Greenwood said to Chefwick, “It’s a cinch. I tell you, it’s a precinct house. You know what that means, the joint is full of guys typing. The last thing they’ll expect is somebody breaking in. It’ll be easier than the jug you just got me out of.”
“Besides,” Kelp said, also talking to Chefwick, “we’ve worked at the damn thing this long, I hate to give it up.”
“I understand that,” Chefwick said, “and in some ways I sympathize with it. But at the same time I do feel the mathematical pressure of the odds against us. We have performed two operations now, and none of us is dead, none of us is in jail, none of us is even wounded. Only Greenwood has had his cover blown, and being a single man with no dependents, it won’t be at all hard for him to rebuild. I believe we should consider ourselves very lucky to have done as well as we have, and I believe we should retire and consider some other job somewhere else.”
“Say,” said Kelp, “that’s just the point. We’re still all of us on our uppers, we’ve still got to find a caper somewhere to get us squared away. We know about this emerald, why not go after it?”
Dortmunder said, “Three jobs for the price of one?”
The Major said, “You’re right about that, Mr. Dortmunder. You are doing more work than you contracted for, and you should be paid more. Instead of the thirty thousand dollars a man we originally agreed to, we’ll make it —” The Major paused, thinking, then said, “Thirty–two thousand. An extra ten thousand to be split among you.”
Dortmunder snorted. “Two thousand dollars to break into a police station? I wouldn’t break into a tollbooth for money like that.”
Kelp looked at the Major with the expression of a man disappointed in an old friend and protege. “That’s awful little,
“Couldn’t you have just kept on swallowing it?”
Greenwood gave a greenish smile. “Not after the first time I got it back,” he said.
“Mm–mm,” the Major admitted reluctantly. He looked at Dortmunder.
“Well? What now?”
Dortmunder said, “We’re divided. Two for, two against, and one uncertain.”
“You mean, whether or not to go after the emerald again?”
“Right.”
“But —” The Major spread his hands. “Why wouldn’t you go after it? If you’ve successfully broken into a prison, surely an ordinary precinct house —”
“That’s just it,” Dortmunder said. “My feeling is we’re pushing our luck. We’ve given you two capers for the price of one as it is. We can’t just keep busting into places forever. Sooner or later the odds have to catch up with us.”
The Major said, “Odds? Luck? But it isn’t odds and luck that have helped you, Mr. Dortmunder, it’s skill and planning and experience. You still have just as much skill and are capable of just as much planning as in last night’s affair, and now you have even more experience.”
“I just have a feeling,” Dortmunder said. “This is turning into one of those dreams where you keep running down the same corridor and you never get anywhere.”
“But surely if Mr. Greenwood hid the emerald, and knows where he hid it, and —” The Major looked at Greenwood. “It is hidden well, is it not?”
“It’s hidden well,” Greenwood assured him. “It’ll still be there.”
The Major spread his hands. “Then I don’t see the problem. Mr. Dortmunder, I take it you are one of the two opposed.”
“That’s right,” Dortmunder said. “Chefwick is with me. Greenwood wants to go after it, and Kelp is on his side. Murch doesn’t know.”
“I’ll go along with the majority,” Murch said. “I got no opinion.”
Chefwick said, “My opposition is similarly based to Dortmunder’s. I believe one can reach the point where one is throwing good expertise after bad, and I fear we have reached that point.”
Greenwood said to Chefwick, “It’s a cinch. I tell you, it’s a precinct house. You know what that means, the joint is full of guys typing. The last thing they’ll expect is somebody breaking in. It’ll be easier than the jug you just got me out of.”
“Besides,” Kelp said, also talking to Chefwick, “we’ve worked at the damn thing this long, I hate to give it up.”
“I understand that,” Chefwick said, “and in some ways I sympathize with it. But at the same time I do feel the mathematical pressure of the odds against us. We have performed two operations now, and none of us is dead, none of us is in jail, none of us is even wounded. Only Greenwood has had his cover blown, and being a single man with no dependents, it won’t be at all hard for him to rebuild. I believe we should consider ourselves very lucky to have done as well as we have, and I believe we should retire and consider some other job somewhere else.”
“Say,” said Kelp, “that’s just the point. We’re still all of us on our uppers, we’ve still got to find a caper somewhere to get us squared away. We know about this emerald, why not go after it?”
Dortmunder said, “Three jobs for the price of one?”
The Major said, “You’re right about that, Mr. Dortmunder. You are doing more work than you contracted for, and you should be paid more. Instead of the thirty thousand dollars a man we originally agreed to, we’ll make it —” The Major paused, thinking, then said, “Thirty–two thousand. An extra ten thousand to be split among you.”
Dortmunder snorted. “Two thousand dollars to break into a police station? I wouldn’t break into a tollbooth for money like that.”
Kelp looked at the Major with the expression of a man disappointed in an old friend and protege. “That’s awful little,
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