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"THE ADVENTURES OF VIC SOCOTRA, PRIVATE DICK"
TODAY'S EPISODE: "SAY THAT AGAIN, SAM" I HAD SEEN SOME TOUGH COOKIES IN MY YEARS ON THE MEAN STREETS OF L.A. but that fella with the round silver doo-dads just about turned me inside out. Apparently this guy was higher up in the Organization than ENS Dracman. A pall as thick as death fell over the dining room at his words. I suddenly remembered urgent business elsewhere and grabbed a pork chop and bolted for the door. I had to get somewhere quiet to think this thing out. I raced down the long, narrow hallway and smashed my knee on a piece of steel somebody had cunningly welded to the floor. As I was getting up, I noticed a little steel tag on the wall that said "Fan Room." I undid the clips and slipped inside. It was as dark as the bottom of Big Tajunga Canyon at midnight. I closed the hatch behind me and collapsed on the floor. I lit up a Lucky Strike from one of the eight packs in my pockets and gnawed on my pork chop. Somewhere in this mess had to be the clue that would take me to the Fat Man. I knotted up my brain muscles and got down to some serious pondering. Point one: This thing was a whole lot bigger than I had thought. I had seen hundreds and hundreds of men walking around with tools and driving those little yellow taxicabs. Either they were planning a convention or something bigger was afoot. Point two: It seemed like there was an underlying method in all the confusion. Once, while I was watching some fellows working on one of the dozens of airplanes, a guy walked up and told me to put out my smoke.
A hard case.
Point three: This pork chop was greasy. Wait a minute, I thought…big organization…giant steel boat…plenty of airplanes…
Suddenly it came to me like the wet kiss at the end of a hot fist.
The Fat Man was going to hi-jack the L.A. International AirportI It had to be!!
All the pieces fit!!!
Just as I was lighting up another Lucky and congratulating myself on another stroke of detecting genius, I heard something move over in the comer. I was not alone.
A low voice said, "Hi there, big fella. Want to play?"
I went for the door, and in my rush I hit my head on the steel portal. I was down for the count.
TOMORROW: "MEETING WITH THE FAT MAN" |