The deputy-chief arrived, followed moments later by the chief himself.

A reporter from the San Diego Union, San Diego Union, probably picking up the vibrations of something hot, tried to get in. He was all but probably picking up the vibrations of something hot, tried to get in. He was all but thrown thrown back out. back out.

The battery of lawyers representing the Lucasi bunch were still out there beyond those doors, raising h.e.l.l louder and louder and demanding to know what was going on.

At almost exactly twenty minutes after the awful event, the duty warden looked up from a phone call he'd just answered and called out, "Is there a Sergeant Carl Lyons in here?"

There was.

But who the h.e.l.l would be calling him here? here?

Who the h.e.l.l even knew knew that he was ... oh h.e.l.l, it couldn't be. that he was ... oh h.e.l.l, it couldn't be.

In a tight voice he told Captain Tatum, "Don't cancel any bets," and stepped forward to take the call.

Yeah, G.o.d was still in heaven.

It was Bolan, sounding sober and troubled as he announced, "I've got Tony Danger, Lyons."

He threw an eye signal to Tatum as he replied, "Man, you know how to hurt, don't you. Never mind the throat, just rip the heart out."

That flinty voice told him, 'Tell your buddies not to worry. Ill take good care of their prisoner. Just borrowed him for awhile."

"You better tell 'em yourself. Here, I'll-"

"No wait, Lyons. I'm almost ready to pa.s.s this town. But first I have to set something up. As long as you're around...."

The Sergeant chuckled drily. "You know I can't-"

"You can this one. Listen to it, anyway,"

"I'm going to put another man on the line with us, Mack. Cap'n Tatum, Homicide. Good man, take my word for it."

"All right, but shake it. I'm on short numbers."

Tatum was already at the extension phone. He took Lyons' nod and picked it up. "Tatum, Homicide," he announced. "Is that you, Mack Bolan?"

The Captain's eyes lifted to Lyons as that steely other voice vibrated the receivers, some indefinable emotion registering there in that locked gaze -not awe exactly, but something closely approaching it. Tatum was a cop who could respect greatness, under the law or not.

"It's me. Sorry if I shook your cage. I'd rather not. I'll return your prisoner as soon as he gives me what I need. An hour, maybe. Two at the most. Meanwhile I need something from your end. Soon as I get it, I'll pa.s.s this town. Didn't want to come here in the first place. Good town, San Diego. But you're infected with the creeping rot. I wouldn't even know where to begin carving it out. But I'm going to tip the bucket. It's up to you if it becomes a floor or not."

"Wait," Tatum rasped. "Let's talk about Tony Dan-"

"You wait," the frigid voice snapped back. "The mob boys in your town are second stringers. There's not a Capo Capo among them, not even a serious pretender. Your real trouble is in your environment, and I'm not talking about air pollution. You've got a community structure that allows second-stringers like Lucasi and Tony Danger to get a strangle-hold on everything that's good here. Are you with me, Tatum?" among them, not even a serious pretender. Your real trouble is in your environment, and I'm not talking about air pollution. You've got a community structure that allows second-stringers like Lucasi and Tony Danger to get a strangle-hold on everything that's good here. Are you with me, Tatum?"

"I'm following you," the Captain replied, almost meekly.

Lyons could not believe it. The big tough cop was standing there getting a lecture, even responding to it with humility. Well, maybe he had it coming and knew it. He was a big man.

Bolan was telling him, "One of your proudest citizens-Maxwell Thornton. He's not the great white father he's cracked up to be. He's a sick, miserable, harried man. The mob has the spurs in him, and they're riding the guy into the mud. Maybe he deserves it, but San Diego doesn't."

"Yes," Tatum commented quietly. "Thornton is an important cog in our little overgrown country-club here. He's been accused of rawhiding business practices but...."

"But nothing. He's covered with dirt. You'd be doing the guy a favor to bust him. One-to-five is a better rap than the one he's serving now. Okay, Thornton isn't the only one, but he'd be the crack in the dam. Get him, and all the other dirty straights will fall through the hole. When that happens, Lucasi and company will be out of business in this town. That's all I want. Scratch my back, Tatum, and I'll pa.s.s your town."

"All right," the Captain replied soberly. Tell me where the itch is."

Bolan began the telling, but Lyons only half-heard. The marvel was not the story that Mack Bolan was revealing.

The marvel was that big tough rawhide cop, who was standing there like an adolescent boy receiving the first full course in s.e.x education from a dad who did not believe in pulling punches, a boy with eyes opened wide in wonderment and fascination and awe ... afraid to believe and afraid not to, daring to hope and hoping to dare.

Yeah.

Lyons could say it with a certainty now.

Mack Bolan was a guy who made his own odds.

When the conversation was ended, Tatum stepped over to the duty desk and told the warden, "Just hang onto those receipts, Tom. And log out Tony Danger. Show him released to his own recognizance, as of the time of those receipts."

The jailor looked dumbfounded, but he nodded his head in understanding.

Then the Captain grabbed Carl Lyons by the arm and propelled him toward the big office at the end of the hall. "Time for the summit conference," he declared in a heavy voice.

"What's the play?" Lyons wanted to know.

"Maybe I'm crazy-or maybe I was crazy. Anyway, we're releasing that pack of filth. They'll get no protection from the law in this this town. They made their lousy bed, now they can die in it." town. They made their lousy bed, now they can die in it."

"You don't mean that," Lyons feebly protested.

"The h.e.l.l," Captain Tatum said, "I don't."

Yeah. That guy also wrote his own numbers.

17:

TRAP PLAY.

Tony Danger was bound, gagged and curled into the cramped luggage compartment of the foreign sportster-no doubt suffering the intimations of unavoidable death which were far more agonizing than the final act itself could ever be.

Bolan had shed the police uniform and was now rigged for open warfare. A military web-belt encircled the waist of the black combat outfit, supporting the AutoMag's leather plus a variety of personal munitions-among these, several small fragmentation grenades and a couple of firesticks.

The silent black Beretta was slung into a snap-out shoulder rig at his left side. Another belt crossed the chest from the other shoulder, bearing spare clips for the two autos.

It could be a h.e.l.l of a hot one.

He hoped that Tatum had bought the idea ...and that he would find some way to sell it higher-up.

The Ferrari was parked in the shadows of the marina clubhouse at Mission Bay. Bolan had already established the fact that Danger's Folly Folly was in her berth and crewed. He glanced at his watch and tried not to fidget ... the numbers were getting too d.a.m.ned close ... where the h.e.l.l was the girl? was in her berth and crewed. He glanced at his watch and tried not to fidget ... the numbers were getting too d.a.m.ned close ... where the h.e.l.l was the girl?

The pre-arranged check-in by Blanca.n.a.les and Schwarz had brought encouraging news.

Schwarz had reported: "Well it's a pretty cold trail, but I think I may have something. Been talking to some of the technicians out at Thornton Electronics. I believe that's where they rea.s.sembled the data-link gear. I got a rumble from one of the guys about some rough-terrain vehicles they brought in last month. He said a special crew was working nights only, some secret project, packaging something very mysterious into those vehicles. I didn't want to push it too hard, but I managed to get some approximate dimensions on the vehicles. Enough to say yeah, it could be. Then I picked up some cross-intelligence. Those mobile rigs, if that was them, weren't driven out of there under their own power. They were hauled away in two big vans from Thornton's trucking line. Again, at night and under tight security wraps. I'm following up on that."

"Okay," Bolan had told him. "Play it cool, Gadgets, not too close. If you get in a jam, beep the Politician. My numbers are too tight."

The report from Blanca.n.a.les was almost as promising. "She's not in very good shape, Sarge. Tore up over Howlie, but it's more than that. She's scared out of her skull. I finally got her opened up enough to admit that it wasn't her that burnt the papers, but she won't say who did. Doesn't trust anybody, she's really frozen. She didn't know that was you, last night, by the way. I guess she's not thinking too clearly, sort of numb from the shoulders up. Know what I mean? I believe I could blast her loose if I could convince her that you're really on the job. I don't suppose you could make it up here?"

Bolan had to tell him, "No, I'm right on the numbers. But turn on a radio or a TV. The press is into it with both feet now. Maybe she'll believe them."

"Good idea."

"Keep your sentinel tuned in. I may want to beep you for a later report. Also stand ready to give Gadgets some close support. He's on a tight one."

"Yeah, I heard."

Twenty minutes had pa.s.sed since the receipt of those reports. Bolan was getting edgy. Marsha Thornton was five minutes late for their rendezvous.

He got out of the car and went around to check on Tony Danger's air supply. The guy gave him one of those pleading looks when he opened the trunk door, but he seemed to be breathing all right.

Bolan told him, "Pretty soon now, Tony. Then well see."

She arrived a minute later, leaving her car in the regular parking area and stumbling breathlessly into the shadows to redeem a raincheck issued to one of the few men who had, lately, treated her with dignity and understanding.

At the moment, Bolan was finding it difficult to go on understanding. She was still wearing the d.a.m.n bikini, except that she had added a skimpy top to complete the almost non-existent ensemble.

But then she explained, "I'm late, sorry. Max came home, first time this month he's been in by midnight. I had to lie to him. He thinks I'm on the beach."

Bolan told her, "Maybe it was the last lie. Guess that will be up to you. Tony Danger tells me the film is on board the Folly. Folly. Ill want you to make sure it's the real thing." Ill want you to make sure it's the real thing."

"But he told Max he'd sent it to New York."

"Sure, that took the heat off him and put more of a screw into your husband. But a guy like Tony likes to keep his goodies close by. Anyway, he's seen the light, and he wants to let you off the hook." He pulled her to the rear of the car and opened the trunk. "There's your pa.s.sport from h.e.l.l," he told her.

She said, "Oh wow," in a voice just a decibel above a whisper.

Bolan instructed her, "Get in the car and sit tight. If you hear a ruckus, take off."

She showed him saucer eyes and a pained smile, then stepped inside the Ferrari.

Bolan hauled his prisoner from the trunk, set him on his feet, then shoved him toward the docks. "Breathe very carefully and live awhile," he suggested.

The caporegime, caporegime, such a strutting peac.o.c.k a short while earlier, was now at the verge of collapse. These guys sometimes went this way, such a strutting peac.o.c.k a short while earlier, was now at the verge of collapse. These guys sometimes went this way, Bolan reflected. Beneath those c.o.c.ky, bullyboy exteriors often beat the fluttering heart of a perpetually frightened little kid-born into despair, reared in panic, matured with violence and an outward show of disrespect for everything feared, which meant every every thing. These were the guys who died blubbering and pleading-because they had found nothing to justify their lives and even less to crown their deaths. It had something to do with visions of immortality, Bolan suspected; these guys had no visions whatever beyond their own grubby little noses. thing. These were the guys who died blubbering and pleading-because they had found nothing to justify their lives and even less to crown their deaths. It had something to do with visions of immortality, Bolan suspected; these guys had no visions whatever beyond their own grubby little noses.

He had to half-carry, half-shove the terrified prisoner to the docks. As their feet touched the gangway, a soft voice from the Folly's Folly's deck exclaimed, deck exclaimed, "It's that guyl" "It's that guyl"

The Executioner's death voice quickly warned those aboard, "Stand loose, sailors. I've got a cannon down your master's throat."

They boarded, Bolan slamming Tony Danger against the cabin bulkhead with a knee in his belly, the muzzle of the Beretta resting directly between the twitching eyes.

He ripped the tape-gag away and commanded, "Tell 'em, Tony."

It took the guy several tries to find his voice. When it came, it was a death rattle. "Do as he says! Don't d.i.c.k around!" he says! Don't d.i.c.k around!"

Turtle Tarantini stepped out of the shadows near the main cabin. He was giving Bolan that same fawning look of respect accorded him earlier, under far different circ.u.mstances, and it offered Bolan a variation on his numbers.

"Welcome aboard, Mr. Bolan sir," sir," the Turtle greeted him, the voice shaking just a little. the Turtle greeted him, the voice shaking just a little.

Bolan snapped, "Where's your crew?"

"Right here, sir. Behind me. You better tell 'em it's okay to come out. We're not armed, sir."

"Step forward and stand to the rail for a frisk. I've got nothing hard for you guys, unless you give me something."

The other two showed themselves, moving carefully, then one by one they came to the rail opposite Bolan's position and presented themselves for the weapons shakedown.

Each one he frisked and sent over the gangway with the instructions, "Don't even look back."

Then it was just Mack Bolan and the guy who, with perhaps some weird presentiment, had named this sleek pleasure craft Danger's Folly. Danger's Folly.

The man who had fully learned the true meaning of folly folly was cringing against the cabin bulkhead, wild eyes framed around the black barrel of the Beretta. was cringing against the cabin bulkhead, wild eyes framed around the black barrel of the Beretta.

Bolan gave him plenty of time to get the feel of imminent death, then he pulled the pistol away and sheathed it. "Get the film," he commanded.

The guy staggered into the main cabin, Bolan close behind. He slid back a wall panel, fumbled with the dial of a safe, and a moment later dropped a small film cannister into Bolan's outstretched hand.

"That's all?" Bolan asked.

"I swear."

'If it's not, I'll be back to see you."

"I swear!" swear!"

"Let's go," Bolan said.

They returned to the car-Tony Danger puffing and weaving on unsteady legs.

Marsha Thornton stepped out to greet them.

The deadpan gaze slid the full length of Tony Danger and she said, quietly, "Just look at that."

Bolan opened the can of film and pa.s.sed it over to her. He also handed her a pencil-flash and told her, "Make sure it's the one."