Benny Muscles In

Chapter Twenty

The car ahead threw enough dust to make the road itself invisible. There were a few gray trees along the way, but they only made the cracked landscape more barren. The cars wound through a few more turns and then the plane showed in the field ahead. It said “Maisy” on the nose, somebody Alverato used to know a while back. The big Cessna stood headed into the warm wind and both engines were going.

“Look good to you?” Alverato turned in the front seat and grinned at Benny.

“Looks great.”

“And the little lady?”

Pat didn’t answer. She looked bad and it was a good thing she was drowsy. Alverato kept grinning at her, his tanned skin shiny over the well-fed cheeks. His black button eyes kept hunting Pat’s face.

Alverato gave up. “Pull up next to him,” he said to the driver. The car had bumped off the road and onto the field where the plane was waiting. “And stop bumping,” Alverato said.

The car ahead stopped with a wild dipping of the long antenna. The cop got out. He waited for the others to pull up, looking sweaty and solicitous. When they stopped, he opened the door for Alverato and stood back as if he were going to salute. “Mr. Alverato,” he said, chomping his plates around.

Big Al helped Pat out of the car and took her over to the plane. The pilot was waiting at the open door. They got her in and then Alverato went back to the cop, who kept wiping his hands on his trousers. “Here’s the other half,” and he handed the cop a roll of bills that started to flutter in the prop wash.

“Mr. Alverato, sir, a gentleman like you happens maybe never in a place like ours, and I want you to know-”

“Can it. You don’t think ten grand grows on trees?”

“Nosiree, and well I know. Now I grant you, Bud over here had me fooled for a while-”

“What did you call me?” Benny stepped up and one hand clamped onto the front of the uniform. A button popped.

“Forget it, Benny.” Alverato jerked his head toward the plane.

Benny let go of the cop and went to the Cessna.

Through the window of the plane he could see Big Al, hands in pockets, chatting with the cop. Birdie was climbing into the police car. When the cop started to turn, Big Al grabbed him by the shoulders and laughed. He was laughing and talking as if something was a big joke. In the police car Birdie was tearing the short-wave box off the wires. Then Big Al shook hands with the cop and came into the plane.

“Al, you’re not going to let that flatfoot-”

“Shut up. Watch.”

Birdie had stepped around the cop, who stuck his hand out to say good-by. Birdie clapped the butt of his gun across the knuckles and then he whipped it over the cop’s face, which just a minute ago had been all grease and smiles. It wasn’t any more. Birdie did a few more things, then he stooped over the huddled figure on the dusty ground, pulled the bills out of the shirt, pulled some more out of the pants pockets, and climbed into the plane. When they started to taxi, the cop struggled up on one elbow for a minute, looking like a sack that was half empty, but that’s as far as he got. The prop wash threw a heavy cloud of dust in his face and he fell on his side.

While the plane climbed, they sat strapped in their seats without talking. At four thousand feet a little light came on over the pilot’s door and Alverato unbuckled his belt. “Feel better?” He beamed at Benny and offered him a cigar.

“No, thanks. Better? Climbing doesn’t scare me.”

“I mean about your friend, fat boy with the badge.”

“Yeah.” Benny thought about what he had seen through the window. “Yeah. Much better.”

“That’s just the start, kid. Here,” and Alverato handed him the fistful of crumpled bills that Birdie had brought back. “Take it. It’s yours.”

Benny took the bills and looked at them.

“Ten thousand, kid. All yours. You did a job and a good one. Now have yourself a time.” Alverato gave a fat, satisfied laugh.

Benny straightened the bills and put them in his pocket. He started to relax a little, for the first time in weeks, and he didn’t know how to say it. “Thanks, Al. That’s-that’s big of you. Thanks.”

“Forget it, kid. You deserve it. And from here on in, the fun really starts. Wait till Pendleton gets a load of the pitch! Wait till old wrinkle-ass finds out why his pet was gone so long!” He kept laughing and rubbing his hands.

“Al, listen.” Benny leaned over to where Alverato sat, across the isle. “There’s something else about this deal that’s come up.” He glanced back at Pat, who was drowsing in her seat.

“I’ll handle everything just so, Benny. I got it all worked out.”

“You don’t get it, Al. There’s a new wrinkle in this. When you didn’t show up and I had to keep stalling her-”

“You made it, didn’t you?” Alverato was hardly listening. “Leave it to me, boy. Your worries are over. You take your ten grand and have yourself a ball someplace. In fact,” Alverato lowered his voice a little, “I guess you know Pendleton’s after your skin. Take my advice, boy, and use that stake you got to keep out of the way for a while. Later, come around some time and maybe I’ll have something else for you. Will you do that, Benny?” Alverato looked almost paternal. Then Benny caught on. His pocket was full with the payoff; he had been up, and he was out Alverato was through with him.

For a second he held his breath as if he were afraid to let go, afraid he’d sink into a small, crumbly ball once he let go.

“I’m through?” he managed to say.

Alverato gave him a look, seeing Benny for the first time.

“You’re sending me packing? You paid me off for a job and that’s it?” Benny’s voice didn’t get louder, but it had turned insistent and hard.

Alverato stopped sucking his smoke. “Something eating you kid? Ten grand isn’t enough, maybe?”

“Sure. It’s bigger than-”

“So what’s your beef?” Alverato wasn’t laughing any more.

Benny clamped his teeth on his lip and kept still. He was out on his ear and there was no bucking Big Al. Not now, anyway. Let the big ape find out for himself. Benny could wait. For once he would wait his turn, because there was one more ace in the hole that nobody knew about but him. And Pat.

“No beef, Al. Just trying to help.”

“When I need help, I’ll let you know, O.K.? When Big Al needs your help-”

“I’ll be around,” Benny said. “I’ll let you know where to find me.” He got up, not waiting for Alverato to answer, and sat in the back with Pat.

For the rest of the trip he didn’t talk. Alverato played cards with Birdie, while Pat lay in a fitful sleep, her thin body curled on the seat. Benny sat watching. She’d lost too much weight, she wasn’t well. He wondered for a moment how she’d come out of it all. She’d served her purpose, or almost, now, and it wouldn’t be long before she’d be out of the picture. For a moment he thought of her as the girl he had never got to know, never bothered to know; then he stopped there. A little later he gave her one more jolt in a glass of the raw whisky he’d bought. He hoped it would make her feel better.

After they landed, she left the field on Alverato’s arm. It was a gray, rainy day and she said she loved a gray day. She was hopped up again and didn’t even miss him.

Benny watched them leave across the flat runway, shiny with rain. Birdie was carrying a suitcase. Then Benny left the plane. Just a while back he had thought it was going to be different. He had thought about leaving the plane and feeling different. Not so tense any longer, not waiting so hard any more.

He turned up his collar and walked away. It hadn’t worked. He was going to wait again.