Free San Diego Siege by Don Pendleton Page B

shaping up for better than an hour. The key men from Mexico had arrived and the boys from the California desert interior were expected at any moment. Additionally, a four-point telephone conference was being set up on scrambler circuits with New York, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.
    Ben Lucasi was not letting any Bolan dust settle on
him.
Maybe the other bosses around the country were reluctant to yell for help when the bastard came crashing in on them — not Big Ben Lucasi. He had been accorded the "Big" tag not by virtue of his physical dimensions but by the size of his ambitions and ideas.
    And Big Ben Lucasi did not take
this
brand of crap from anybody.
    When the telephone sounded off, he'd thought it to be the scrambler conference coming through … but it was only Tony Danger.
    "What th' hell, hang up," Lucasi ordered. "I'm expecting the national wire."
    "Here's something maybe you weren't expecting," his lieutenant advised him. 'That goddam Bolan came out here and conned my boat crew into taking him out to sea. He hit our French connection, bumped the guy, scattered the shipment on the high seas. Whattaya think of that, Ben? A million fuckin' bucks giving the fishes a thrill."
    "Th' rotten bastard!" Lucasi muttered angrily. "What the hell d'you think he's pulling this crap for?"
    "Well, he's not just tweaking our noses," Tony Danger assured the boss. "Bet your ass, he's got something very serious on his mind."
    "Awright, you get it on over here!" Lucasi demanded. "We're about ready to go to council. Listen, Tony, we're going to put an end to this bullshit here and now. You say he killed Beloit?"
    "Yeah. And there went four hard months of sweat and tears. I tell you, Ben, this stuff is getting hard to come by. We just can't afford to lose good brokers this way."
    "I know, I know," Lucasi replied, commiserating with his favorite lieutenant. "Well look, get it on back here. We'll take care of Mr. Smart-ass for good and all."
    "Be there in ten minutes," Tony Danger promised, and hung up.
    The delegates to the convention were all in the game room, quietly consoling their ruffled nerves with the best booze from the Lucasi liquor closet. He told his house captain, the Diver, "I'll be in there with the boys. That call comes through, you send it right in on the squawk box."
    "I just come in to tell you," Diver said, "that something funny is going on outside."
    "What d'you mean, funny?"
    "If you got just a second, I'd like to show you."
    Lucasi followed his chief bodyguard to the patio, his guts shivering just a little under this new "funny" business.
    The big guy was pointing up the street. "See that bread truck up there ... up inna next block?"
    Lucasi growled, "Yeah. So what?"
    "So it's been in this neighborhood for the past two hours."
    "Is the guy making deliveries?"
    "Seems to be. But, hell, how long can a guy spend in one neighborhood?"
    "Depends," Lucasi replied, with a stab at humor, "on how many stud-hungry housewives he's servicing, I guess. Is that what you brought me out here for?"
    "That's not all." The Diver swiveled about to sight along his outstretched arm in the opposite direction. "See that up there?"
    "I see a little green truck," the boss replied, with some irritation. "So what?"
    "So I seen the same damn truck over on the next street earlier this morning. Right after we got hit."
    Lucasi was attempting to appear unruffled. He drawled, "All right, I never accused you of bad instincts, Diver. What d'you think is so funny about this?"
    "I think maybe we're being watched."
    "Oh?" Lucasi thrust a cigar between his teeth and chewed on it for a few seconds, then said, "There was sure something funny about that hit here this morning. You thinking that, too?"
    The Diver soberly nodded his head. "It just isn't like Bolan."
    "He hit the
Pepe
awhile ago," Lucasi confided,
sotto voce.
"Bumped Beloit and dumped our shipment in the ocean."
    "Sounds like he's getting smarts somewheres," Diver muttered. His eyes were roaming the