Read The Common Man Page 5

realizethat in all the world only four persons, including himself, were awareof the existence of the invisibility serum.

  He spent the first day in what Marx called in "Das Kapital" the"original accumulation of capital," although it would seem unlikely thateven in the wildest accusations of the most confirmed Marxist, no greatfortune was ever before begun in such wise.

  It was not necessary, he found, to walk into a large bank and simplyseemingly levitate the money out the front door. In fact, that wouldhave meant disaster. However, large sums of money are to be foundelsewhere on Manhattan and for eleven hours Crowley used his nativeingenuity and American know-how, most of which had been gleaned fromwatching TV crime shows. By the end of the day he had managed toaccumulate in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand dollars and wasreasonably sure that the news would not get back to his sponsors. Thefact was, he had cleaned out the treasuries of several numbers racketsand those of two bookies.

  It was important, he well realized, that he be well under way before thethree eggheads decided to lower the boom.

  The second day he spent making his preliminary contacts, an operationthat was helped by his activities of the day before. He was beginningalready to get the feel of the underworld element with which he haddecided he was going to have to work, at least in the early stages ofhis operations.

  Any leader, be he military, political or financial, knows that truegreatness lies in the ability to choose assistants. Be you a Napoleonwith his marshals, a Roosevelt with his brain trust, a J. P. Morgan withhis partners, the truism applies. No great leader has ever stood alone.

  But Crowley also knew instinctively that he was going to have to keepthe number of his immediate associates small. They were going to have toknow his secret, and no man is so naive as not to realize that while oneperson can keep a secret, it becomes twice as hard for two and from thatpoint on the likelihood fades in a geometric progression.

  On the fifth day he knocked on the door of the suite occupied by Dr.Braun and his younger associates and pushed his way in without waitingfor response.

  The three were sitting around awaiting his appearance and to issue himhis usual day's supply of serum. They greeted him variously, Patriciawith her usual brisk, almost condescending smile; Dr. Braun with agentle nod and a speaking of his first name; Ross Wooley sourly. Rossobviously had some misgivings, the exact nature of which he couldn'tquite put his finger upon.

  Crowley grinned and said, "Hello, everybody."

  "Sit down, Don," Braun said gently. "We have been discussing yourexperiment."

  While the newcomer was finding his seat, Patricia said testily,"Actually, we are not quite happy about your reports, Don. We feel an... if you'll pardon us ... an evasive quality about them. As though youaren't completely frank."

  "In short," Ross snapped, "have you been pulling things you haven't toldus about?"

  Crowley grinned at them. "Now you folks are downright suspicious."

  Dr. Braun indicated some notes on the coffee table before him. "It seemshardly possible that your activities would be confined largely to goingto the cinema, to the swankier night clubs and eating in the more famedrestaurants."

  Crowley's grin turned into a half embarrassed smirk. Patricia thought ofa small boy who had been caught in a mischief but was still somewhatproud of himself. He said, "Well, I gotta admit that there's been a fewthings. Come on over to my place and I'll show you." He looked at Braun."Hey, Doc, about how much is one of them Rembrandt paintings worth?"

  Braun rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, "Great Caesar," he murmured.He came to his feet and looked around at the rest of them. "Let us goover there and learn the worst," he said.

  At the curb, before the hotel, Ross Wooley looked up and down the streetfor a cab.

  Crowley said, his voice registering self-deprecation, "Over here."

  Over here was a several toned, fantastically huge hover-limousine, anattily dressed, sharp-looking, expressionless-faced young man behindthe wheel.

  The three looked at Crowley.

  He opened the door. "Climb in folks. Nothing too good for youscientists, eh?"

  Inside, sitting next to a window with Patricia beside him and Dr. Braunat the far window, and with Ross in a jump seat, Crowley saidexpansively, "This is Larry. Larry, this is Doc Braun and his friends Iwas telling you about, Ross Wooley and Pat O'Gara. They're likescientists."

  Larry said, "Hi," without inflection, and tooled the heavy car out intothe traffic.

  Ross spun on Crowley. "Don, where'd you get this car?"

  Crowley laughed. "You'll see. Take it easy. You'll see a lot of things."

  * * *

  They were too caught up in their own thoughts and in the barrage ofdemands they were leveling at Crowley to notice direction. It wasn'tuntil they were already on the George Washington Bridge that Patriciablurted, "Don, this isn't the way to your hotel!"

  Crowley said tolerantly, "Take it easy, Pat. We're taking a shortdetour. Something I have to show you in Jersey."

  "I don't like this," Ross snapped. The redhead shifted his heavyshoulders in a reflexive protest against the confining tweed coat hewore.

  "Relax," Crowley told him reasonably. "I've been thinking things outquite a bit and I've got a lot to discuss with you folks."

  They were across the bridge now and Larry headed into the maze whichfinally unraveled itself to the point that it was obvious they wereheading north. Larry hit the lift lever and they rose ten feet from thesurface.

  Dr. Braun said evenly, "You had no intention of taking us to your room.You used that as a ruse to get us out of our hotel and, further, acrossthe bridge until we are now in a position where it's quite impossiblefor us to summon police assistance."

  Crowley grinned. "That's right, Doc. Didn't I tell you these three werereal eggheads, Larry? Look how quick he figured that out."

  Larry grunted in what might have been amusement.

  Ross, growling low in his throat, turned suddenly in his jump seat andgrabbed Crowley by the coat front. "What's going on here?"

  Crowley snapped, "Larry!"

  From seemingly nowhere, the chauffeur had produced a thin blackautomatic and was now lazily pointing it, not so much at Ross Wooley asat Dr. Braun and Patricia. He said evenly, softly, "Easy, friend."

  Ross released his grip, "Put that thing away," he blurted.

  "Sure, sure," Larry said, his voice all but disinterested. The gundisappeared.

  Crowley, only slightly ruffled, said now, "Take it easy, Ross. Nothing'sgoing to happen to you. I'm going to need you folks and I'm going totreat you right."

  "Where are we going?" Ross growled.

  "I had the boys rent me a big estate like up in the Catskills. Bigplace, nice and quiet. In fact, the last tenants used it for one ofthese rest sanitariums. You know, rich people with DTs or trying to geta monkey off their back."

  "The boys?" Patricia said softly.

  He looked at her and grinned again. Crowley was obviously enjoyinghimself. "I got a few people working for me," he explained.

  Dr. Braun blurted, "You fool! You mean you've revealed the existence ofthe process Pat, Ross and I worked out to a group of ignoramuses?"

  Crowley said angrily, "Now look, Doc, let's don't get on that bit. MaybeI'm just a country boy but I'm as smart as the next man. Just becausesome of you eggheads spend half your life in college don't mean you'vegot any monopoly on good common sense. I went to the school of hardknocks, understand, and I got plenty of diplomas to prove it. Take iteasy on that ignoramus talk."

  Patricia said suddenly, "Don's right, Dr. Braun. I think you've badlyunderestimated him."

  Ross snorted sourly at that remark. "We've all underestimated him. Well,I think you'll agree that our friend Don will get no more injections ofthe invisibility serum."

  Crowley chuckled.

  They looked at him. Three sinkings of stomach taking placesimultaneously.

  "Now, you know I thought that might be your altitude...."

 
; "Attitude," Ross muttered.

  "... So I went to the trouble of coming up to your suite last night andsort of confiscating the supply. By the looks of it, I'd say there wasenough for another ten shots or so."

  "See," Patricia said to Ross. "You're not as smart as you thought youwere. Don's one up on you."

  * * * * *

  The estate which the "boys" had secured for Crowley was two or threemiles out of Tannersville on a mountainside and quite remote. He tookconsiderable pride in showing them about, although it was obvious thathe had been here before