He laughed. “Not so’s you could notice it!” Then he held out his hand. “Well,” he said, “I think you’re the sort of fellow I’d like to have with me in a real row. This is going to be a real row. Don’t make any mistake about that. But I believe we’re going to pull it off, eh?”
“I’ll give you mine on that,” I told him, and we shook hands.
Chapter IV.
Roving Commissions
After the Chief left, Moore gave me my instructions for that night. We were to leave the room separately. I was to get into the same taxi which I would find waiting and I was to pick up Moore at the corner of Waverley Place and Fifth Avenue.
I followed instructions, found the taxi waiting and told the man to drive to Washington Square. Five minutes later my driver stopped without being told and Moore jumped in beside me. The driver started off uptown at once.
Moore turned to me with a smile. “Well, I guess you’ll do. You caught the idea like a shot. Now let’s get to business, for we’ve got one heluva lot to talk about.”
“Fire ahead.”
“One of the first things I am to impress on you is the fact that from now on both our lives may depend upon eternal vigilance. A single false step, a single unguarded word or glance may easily mean—finish—for us. Stow that away in your brain and don’t forget it. Take it out and look at it every five minutes if you can.” He paused a moment. “I’m not fussy myself, Clayton. I’ve gone into this game for my own reasons. But this is the meanest-looking job I’ve ever tackled, and that’s the truth. And I don’t want to get bumped off before we’ve put the job through.”
“I’ll remember,” I told him, “and I’m just as eager to put it through as you are.”
“I know,” he answered. “Well, I want to tell you something about the plan for you and me, so far as we’ve mapped it out. The Chief told you his theory—that these abductions and the smuggled drugs are the work of the same gang. And he told you his reasons for believing that the gang is highly placed, or has members highly placed, socially.”