Free Assignment — Angelina by Edward S. Aarons

first," Mark said.
    They stood in the dark behind Corbin's cabin, while Erich fiddled with the control valves on the small steel tank Jessie had picked up in New Orleans. If Erich was aware of Slago's fear, he paid no attention. But Jessie knew.
    "Are you all right, Mark?"
    "Fine," he said quickly.
    "You, Slago?"
    "I ain't gonna do it," Slago muttered.
    "Yes, you are," Mark said. "Either you do it, or you can start walking away and don't come back."
    "Who stops me from comin' back?"
    "I do," Mark said.
    Slago licked his lips and shrugged. Mark pushed him ahead into Corbin's cabin and closed the door behind them. The air in here felt icy after the dense humidity outside. Jessie's perfume clung lightly in the air. The air conditioner hummed in the back window. Mark turned the bolt in the door and walked around Slago, who stood frozen in the dim light of the bed lamp. Corbin rapped on the window.
    "All right," Mark said to Slago. 'This is it. Sit down and relax."
    Slago made a thin sound in his throat and suddenly whirled, clawing at the door to escape. Mark jumped after him and brought the butt of his gun hard on the cropped salt-and-pepper skull. Slago half turned, his mouth opened, his eyes glazing. He fell to his knees, making queer sounds. Blood ran down from the cut in his scalp.
    Mark looked down at him and laughed.
    He deliberately drew several deep, long breaths. He didn't smell anything, didn't feel anything.
    He heard a faint hissing over the hum of the air conditioner and then he felt just a faint giddiness before his legs buckled as if every muscle had been cut and he went sliding into sudden darkness. He fell over Slago and felt the man swing at him feebly and he kept on laughing until the darkness washed over him in a great, drowning wave. Only then did he feel a sudden, despairing panic.

Chapter Seven
    "We're golden," Slago said triumphantly, grinning broadly. "Erich, you're a genius."
    "It was not too difficult"
    "I'm not even sore at you, Mark."
    "Thanks for nothing," Mark said.
    Erich smiled. "You both feel all right? No ill effects?"
    "It was as smooth as whipped cream," Mark said.
    It would have been better if Slago had not fallen and hurt his head. It leaves a question about the potency of the amount of gas I allowed to be pulled into the room."
    Slago said quickly: "So I stumbled and fell. I was on my way to dreamland, anyway." He looked at Mark. "Right?"
    "You didn't stumble. I slugged you, because you were ready to chicken out," Mark said. "Now shut up."
    It was twenty minutes later. They were gathered in Corbin's cabin. The air conditioner again hummed innocuously, and the air was cool and refreshing. Mark felt infinitely better about everything. His stomach was quiet now. He took the sketches he had made of the Peche Rouge National Bank and spread them on the bed. His hand brushed Jessie's hip, but she did not move, and Erich said nothing.
    "We take the bank tomorrow," Mark said. "Every window is sealed tight, and the doors are kept closed, too. They open at nine, as usual. Slago and I go in at nine-thirty. Erich, you looked at the air vents today. Can you reach them easily?"
    Corbin nodded and poked his rimless glasses up on his sharp nose. "In the alley. I can reach the ducts."
    "The cylinder isn't too heavy?"
    "I can do my part."
    "What about the nose guards?"
    "They are ready. How do you think I came in here to wake you up?" He held out two small rolls of saturated cotton wadding that he had withdrawn from his nostrils earlier. "The gas will not affect either of you, so long as you remember to breathe through these, in your nose. When the people in the bank go down, you just help yourselves. Take all the money you want. You will have more than ten minutes, and nobody will remember you."
    Slago slapped his thick leg. "We're golden, I tell you. Think of it, buddy boy. Every goddam bank in the country has air conditioning these days, all summer long, especially down around here. There ain't a building