"Callahan 09 - Callahan's Key 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Spider)

"Yes." He gestured. "Mr. Shea. Ernie. I brought him back here from Ireland."
I felt like an idiot. In all the confusion, I had failed to think through the implications. The Lucky Duck was back!
The Duck gave me his most insolent grin. He held up his hairy right hand, its hairy fingers clenched in the makings of a fist. A shiny quarter rested atop them. "Call it," he told me, looking me in the eye, and snapped the coin straight up in the air with his thumb without looking at it.
As if I needed the demonstration. "On its edge," I said automatically, kept looking at his mocking grin, and waited for the sound of the coin hitting the floor. After a while I got tired of waiting and looked up. The quarter was neatly wedged into a small crack in the ceiling.
"I win," I said.
He spread his hands and bowed, a rude imitation of Tesla's bow to Erin. "Exactly."
I turned to Nikky. "This is all you bring me, to save the universe with. A half-breed pookah with the luck of the devil."
"Yes, Jake."
I nodded judiciously. "Should be enough. Okay, I guess the first-oh damn, again?"
Someone else was coming through the swinging doors, trailing snow.
Like any sensible person, he was swathed in clothing, including a ski mask, only his eyes showing and those in shadow. In stature and stance he rather resembled an orangutan, with slightly overlong arms, reminding me of a guy I knew. He carried a large, very old, very battered suitcase.
"We're closed, friend," I called out.
"And we're busy," the Duck added. "If you want to rob the joint, see the kid with the Magnum over there."
Without setting down his luggage, the newcomer shook off his other glove and reached upward. That's when I recognized him, before he even got the ski mask off: I saw the hand.
I glanced around and saw that everyone else recognized him too; they were all waiting for me. I took a deep breath, nodded a silent three-count, and we all chorused, at the top of our lungs: "EDDIE!"
Fast Eddie Costigan nodded, looking more like an orangutan than ever now that his face was visible. "Hiyez," he said, and waved.
We swarmed him. Well, all of us except Erin, who had to be content with dialing him up an Irish coffee (she knew his prescription) while the rest of us hugged and pounded and kissed him. He accepted all this stoically.
Fast Eddie is the greatest piano player alive. Of somewhat lesser importance, he is also the oldest member of the original Callahan's Place, save for Mike Callahan himself, and after Callahan's was destroyed by the nuclear weapon I mentioned earlier, he continued to fill the piano chair for me during the short happy life of Mary's Place. But I hadn't seen or heard a word of him since the day Inspector Grtozkzhnyi shut us down, almost a year and a half ago.
When the greeting rite was done, I said, "So what've you been up to, Eddie?." and before he could answer, turned to Zoey and mimed the words four words, tops. She looked dubious.
He didn't let me down. He brushed past me, heaved his suitcase up onto the bar next to Erin (nodding to her; she grinned back), popped the latches, and flung the lid open. "Got it, Boss," he said.
The suitcase was full of cash. Not neat stacks of wrapped crisp bills. Just a heap of used cash in varying denominations and conditions. It was a big suitcase.
I blinked at the swag, glanced briefly at the Lucky Duck-he was grinning like Daffy-and looked back at the money again. "So you have," I agreed. "How much is that?"
"Enough," he said.
"Well," I said, "I sure wouldn't want to ask a snoopy question or anything, but-"
"Poker," he said.
"Isn't that risky, Unde Eddie?" Erin piped up, sliding his coffee toward him.
Eddie looked at her, and slowly shook his head no.
"Oh," she said.
He picked up the mug, said, "T'anks," and rubbed her head. Then he took a sip, sighed, and turned back to me. "I know it ain't enough ta bribe Gargle-Name," he began. "He's a hard-on."
I hated to see him wasting words like that. "Of course not," I agreed, "but this is Long Island. For half that much cash we could get him and his two immediate superiors transferred to Guam, or fired for buggering sheep."
Eddie grinned. "Let's."
I sighed. "This morning I probably would have. I'd still like to. But you came in in the middle, Eddie." I gestured toward Tesla. "Nikky says we're on a mission for Mike again."
Eddie's eyes widened. "No shit."
"Yeah. Don't worry, we got a ten-year jump on it-but I don't think we ought to start with bad karma. Besides, I'm thinking of moving out of Inspector Grtozkzhnyi's jurisdiction, anyway. Things have happened today that make me feel I've finally had enough of Long Island. The whole New York area."
Zoey smiled broadly. Erin looked alert.
"How about you, Eddie? That work for you?"
"Open up someplace else?" Eddie's face is always a collection of wrinkles, but now they all sort of fractalized. "Where?"
I took Zoey's hand. "Any ideas, love?"
"Someplace warm," she said.
"That does sound good," I agreed. "But where do we find a warm place where all the ornery crackpot weirdo rugged individuals we know could unanimously agree to move to? The warm places in this country are all full of people wearing expensive golf shoes. Or worse."
"A challenge," she agreed.
"Nikky? Any idea where Ground Zero is going to be?"
"Not for another few years yet," he said. "But that need not affect your choice of immediate location. The thing is to make a start, reassemble the group."
"Roger that. Okay, anybody-any ideas? We need a place somewhere that's warm, hasn't got a whole lot of red tape, and will tolerate extreme weirdness. Anyone?"
Silence.
The phone rang.
"You're welcome, Stringbean," the Lucky Duck said.
Erin bent over the Call Identify box. "Daddy, it's Uncle Doc! In Key West!"
Invisible little tongues of fire appeared over every head in the room. As one, we began to grin.
"Thank you, Ernie," I said respectfully. "Put him on the speakerphone, honey."