Broadway Bounty

Chapter Sixteen

As it turned out, he did enjoy it.

He found himself wondering how the man with the bat could possibly hit the ball, given the speed with which it was being thrown. Also, he wondered why there were times a man could hit the ball so solidly, and yet get nothing for it, and other times he didn’t hit the ball at all and was awarded “first base.”

“I can’t quite understand the rules of this game. It must take years of practice to play it correctly,” he said to her at one point.

“I’m sure it does,” she said.

New York was playing St. Louis. She explained that they were in something called “the National League,” the first really organized “league.” The game had been played by amateurs until as recently as 1869 and then had became a professional sport.

“You mean they get paid to play a game?”

“Oh, yes, indeed.”

“How do you know so much about baseball?”

“I used to see one of the players,” she said. “I got tired of him but got very interested in the game.”

“I’m glad,” he said. She looked at him, and he added, “That you’re so interested in the game, I mean. You’re able to explain it to me so well.”

“Of course,” she said and went back to watching.

“This is your city. A park?”

“Yes,” Bolan said, “Central Park. Perfect. Together, or separately?”

“Separately.”

“It’s just as well,” Bolan said. “If these two got together, they’d probably kill each other.”

They agreed on two different times for the meetings, later that evening.

“What are their names?” Ready asked.

“One is called Razor,” Bolan said, “the other man’s name is Armand Coles.”

“Set it up with Razor first, and then Coles.”

“As you wish,” Bolan said. “Uh, I’ll need the down payment we agreed on yesterday.”

Ready took an envelope out of his jacket and slapped it down on the counter.

“The rest when the job is done,” he said.

“As agreed,” Bolan said, nodding.

Ready went to the door, flipped the sign back around and left.

Decker sat up and watched as Linda got dressed.

“Are you going to just look or get dressed?” she asked him.

He smiled and said, “I’ll get dressed after you. I don’t want to miss a single move.”

“I said it before and I’ll say it again,” she said. “You’re sweet.”

There was not even a hint of the awkwardness that had been between them the night before.