Free The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald Page A

that
     
     
The Green Ripper your identity is correct, that you are not into the coke or grass trade, and that you are not political."
     
     
"Who is we?" Meyer asked.
     
     
'Eve won't go into that. Just as I told Mr. McGee, we won't go into names either. And we won't show identification. And if you check the register later, it won't do you a bit of good. And, 111 be frank with you, the names and the connections wouldn't mean much to you. We are going to ask questions. Lots of them. This might take a long time. But we start with evidence of good faith."
     
     
Swimmer went to the closet and came bac} with a nine-by-twelve manila envelope and handed it to Weightlifter.
     
     
"Before I show you these," Weightlifter said, Y must explain how we happened to luck out. Dr. Tower reported the symptoms to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta They have had standing orders for over a year to report any case which has those same symptoms to a certain branch of the Federal Government. An expert in forensic medicine flew down to Atlanta from New York, starting about an hour after word came to Washington. When it became obvious to Dr. Tower that Mrs. Howard was going to die, he phoned Atlanta. The expert came down here in time to participate in the autopsy. He found what we had instructed him to look for. Take a look at these prints."
     
     
I had been watching him covertly. He was lefthadded. He wore a sport shirt that hung outside his trousers, and once when he moved I had identified the bulge on his right side, halfway between the belly button and the point of the hip bone.
     
     
He handed me the print, and when he turned to take the other one over to Meyer, I let mine slip to the floor, moved quickly behind him, locked his left arm, and reached around and under with the right hand and yanked the belly holster out, gun, belt clip, and all, and then slammed him into Swimmer, who was heading for the closet. They went into a lamp table and snapped a couple of slender legs as they brought it down.
     
     
By then I had the short-barreled revolver properly in hand, and Meyer was standing beside me.
     
     
"Slow and easy," I said, and they did indeed move slowly as they separated themselves from each other and from the pieces of lamp and table. There was nothing pleasant about their faces, but nothing ugly either. No sign of strain or worry. A watchful competence, like a very good boxer waiting for the opening.
     
     
I have to go on instinct. Sometimes it has betrayed me. Never fatally, fortunately. Most of the time it works for me.
     
     
I said, "Well play it your way, gentlemen. I didn't want you to go away with the impression we're a pair of clowns. It is a matter of pride with me. Let's say our relationship has reached a new level. First names would help."
     
     
The Green Ripper
     
     
I tossed the gun onto the nearest bed and extended my hand to Weightlifter. As he tools it and I pulled him to his feet, he said, "Max. He's Jake."
     
     
Jake got up and cocked his head as he stared at me. "Maybe if I hadn't read off the name of that walkie-talkie?"
     
     
"Maybe. I don't know."
     
     
Max slid the revolver into the holster after checking it over, and clipped the holster to his pants and smoothed the sport shirt down over the bulge. He looked thoughtful. 'McGee, you may be half again as big as I expected, and you are certainly twice as quick as anybody your size I've ever seen, but it was still a hell of a risk. It was a stupid risk. You miss the gun and maybe I kill you as I am falling. From instinct. From training. From too long doing what I do."
     
     
"He wanted to mate an impression on you," Meyer said.
     
     
Jake said, "There are some folks we work with and work for who would never let us forget how we got taken."
     
     
"And never understand it," Max said.
     
     
'Tut they weren't here to watch," I said.
     
     
I saw the tension going out of him, little by lithe. Jake had a bad bruise on his shin. It