The mark made a break for it…I took off after him like a seagull in a hurricane. I turned the corner and spotted my man jumping into a cab so I did the same. He led me across town to a little dive on 13th street and got out of his cab. My boy parked up the block and we watched while Walker looked around for a tail. When he was satisfied he’d given me the shake, he went in. I paid off my cabbie and followed. It was another bar, and Walker wasn’t anywhere in the room. I sat down, ordered a beer and waited. After about ten minutes I saw a couple of guys wander out of a door in the back. A couple of minutes later, a couple of more came wandering out, so I wandered in.

It was a small time gambling setup… the kind you can throw into the back of your car if the cops come. I started getting that lousy feeling again. You don’t just walk into a place like that unless someone wants you to…and if they do, it’s usually because they’ve got a fix so you’ll stay around… maybe permanently. It was about that time I became aware of a lumbering hulk behind me… before I could react, a sharp rap on the back of my skull told me that it was naptime.