al shrader, the man in the red hat, had become widely suspected as being an informer, as someone to avoid.
he had been told this to his face by bud brown, who had recruited him as an informer to begin with. bud had been almost apologetic, and had given him the word more in sorrow than in anger.
“i am just passing the word to you, brother,” bud had told him as they sat sipping coffee from styrofoam cups in a deserted fish and chips shop at three in the morning. “it looks like you been a little too keen. maybe you should just take a break, say for a few months.”
al had been crushed, but thought he had kept from showing it too obviously. “and then what?” he asked bud. “after a few months?”
“hard to say, man,” bud answered. “people have long memories.”
“but suppose - suppose i see a real good chance at some good information,” al asked. “what do i do then?”
“i am not telling you what to do, brother. use your own judgment, that is all i got to say. i am just passing on the message.”
al had no reply to that, and bud changed the subject to football. after they went through the motions of talking about the upcoming season, bud took his leave and left al to his thoughts.
with bud gone, al’s thoughts took a very unpleasant turn. might the bureau - or whoever bud was working for he had never come right out and sad who - decide to eliminate him? him, al shrader, who had been nothing for so long, and who had only recently come to enjoy the pleasant feeling of being somebody?
what a fool he had been! being nobody wasn’t so great but it was better than being dead.
should he get the next bus out of town? he knew the bus to port city, where an old pal of his might take him in for a few days, left at the crack of dawn - in about five hours.
al decided to go over to dave’s card room, which was not that far from the bus station. he would kill some time there, and if he got lucky, make a little extra money for his trip.
if he was really lucky, he might see some bum who owed him money, and collect. yeah, right. well, he could dream, couldn’t he? after the bad luck he had just got, he deserved a break/
so it was that al was seated at the two table at dave’s when clorinda and carlo had come in with george. al had noticed the two young people right away as real class, though not necessarily as royalty.
but when he saw george talking to gonzalvo, a character definitely known and on the list, and saw george introduce the two youngsters to gonzalvo, he was on full alert.
and then the girl actually left with gonzalvo!
something was going on! this was his chance! his chance to prove himself to bud and bud’s bosses!
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