“Yes.”
“I was called into a room where the gun who acts as the main guy in the absence of the real chief, Rogers, received us, one by one, and each one alone. I don’t know just how far down the list my name was, but I was pretty close to the last that was called in. You see, the outfit hasn’t got on to my curves yet. They don’t know whether they can quite trust me or not.”
“I see. Go on.”
“Well, when he got me in there he looked me over with a sort of quizzical expression which I didn’t like, and presently I told him so. ‘If you’re looking for a continuous performance show,’ I said to him, ‘it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to mosey down to Keith’s. I’m not supplying any star attractions just now.’
“I won’t try to quote him; I’ll just tell what happened. He told me that he thought I had been pretty well informed as to the purpose of the organization, but for my especial benefit he’d go over the ground a little. Then he opened with an account of the desire to liberate Rogers and expatiated on all that Rogers could and would do for the gang when once he was at liberty; and then he said this:
“‘Primarily, this is a play for a hundred million dollars’ haul—the biggest that was ever made in the open in the history of the world. There have been hauls quite as big made by a class of men who pose as philanthropists, but there was never such a one by thieves pure and simple. This is a play for a hundred millions, and it’s dead easy if we follow the lead of Paul Rogers without question. In order to make it a success, there are three men and two women to be put out of existence.’
“I stopped him right there with the remark that I would not consent to take part in one murder for a billion, to say nothing of a million. That I wouldn’t even consent to be an accessory, and that if he had anything of that kind on the paper he had better count me out of it on the start, before he told me any more about their plans.
“‘Well,’ said he, ‘we have counted you out of that. Your friends who brought you here told us that much on the start; but there is one thing which we want you to do which will make you solid with the gang, and that is to help us to get rid of the detective, Nick Carter.’
“Then he reminded me that I had been up the State doing a term of five years because you had sent me there, and he told me that every member of the gang had some complaint to make against you and some grudge to make good. He said the whole bunch had sworn away your life, one by one, each in his own particular way, and that he wanted to find out just what my method would be.
“That was when I got wise, Mr. Carter. I figured around a little so as to see his hand, if possible, only I didn’t succeed in seeing much, for all that. But I gave him the bluff that a man who handed out a proposition like he wanted me to do was a fool to start with. That if I made up my mind to put Nick Carter or anybody else to sleep, I certainly wouldn’t start in by giving my hand away before I made a play. Nit.