"Morning, Father." "Use some help?" "Oh, Harry, here?" "Well, Harry's ship came in, you might say." "His missis finally presented him with a son." "Here." " Join with Harry and be glad." " Thank you." " I'll take him home." " Okay, take care, Father." "Come on, Harry." "You know, I guess I've seen him at dawn, noon, night, whatever shift I'm on." "The guy keeps going anyway." "Well, he'd say God." "I say maybe." "Well, he's some kind of hombre in his own right." "You heard he used to ride the mainline didn't you?" "You're putting me on." "Junk?" "Yeah." "The way I heard it, he was in the Merchant Marines when he was a kid down in Burma, you know, where you can get the stuff easy." "He got hooked." "Almost cashed out." "I wonder how he kicked it." "Oh, he tossed it out in some rat hole with a Catholic priest." "You wanna get him to tell you the story sometime." "He's had a life and a half." "Hey, there's a java truck." "I wonder what it's doing here." "No business around this time of morning." "Oh, there's us." "Man, I'm glad to see you." "Go with coffee." "I'm sorry fella, I'm just closing up." "I'm headed home." "Closing up?" "You ought to be getting started." "I'm having trouble with my truck." "It's the water pump." "Hey, come on, you can do it for us, can't you?" "I've gotta fix the water pump." "Come on." "A little coffee, couple of sinkers." "Hey, where's all the food?" "What's going o--?" "You, on the stairs." "Freeze." "Abel." "Morgan was right here beside him." "Hospital says he's still unconscious." "Get him up off there." "Tell the watch captain to notify his wife before she hears it on the radio." "Okay, Mike." "Guy's just about cremated." "It's gonna take a while to make an ID." "You know, Morgan's gun was empty." "Wade never fired." "Well, I found these three." "Must have come from an automatic." "I don't think he'd take the time to stop and reload a revolver." " Gun's not here?" " Couldn't find it, no." "If these were here, then somebody was shooting." "And it makes him more than just a driver of a catering truck." "Was." "The inside had already been gutted." "Like someone was hauling something else besides food." "Cargo rip-off?" "Cargo hatch was open." "More than one man." "Could've been." "Morgan and Wade surprised them." "What set the truck off?" "Gas tank took a hit." "Let me show you." "Looks like a horse." " No, no." "It's a..." "What do you call it?" " It's a unicorn." "Unicorn, that's it." "What do you know about unicorns, buddy boy?" "Unicorn." "Singular." "Not more than one." "Used it a lot in ancient myths." " There's only one way to catch it." " How's that?" "Well, it lays its head in the lap of a virgin." "Well, now you would know that." "Information like that's gonna get you right to the top, buddy boy." "You know, it looks as though this was bolted to something." "Morgan's regained consciousness." "Wants to talk to you, Mike." "Oh, thanks." "Run down the engine numbers on that truck." " Find out who it belongs to." " Right." "Steve, check the docks." "Find out what that freighter was hauling." " Right." " Oh, and listen, find out what companies use a unicorn as a..." " Logo." " Yeah." "Right." "I'm going to the hospital." "Wade reached in for a danish and he saw something in there," "I don't know what." "And the other guy came off the ship with a crate." "The whole thing blew apart after that." "Wade never stood a chance." "He got it point blank." "Don't hold me to the sequence, but somewhere in there" "I must have hit the gas tank because the truck caught fire and the guy with the gun fell behind it." "What about this other fellow?" "The guy with the crate?" "I think I tagged him about dead center." "You couldn't recognize either one of them?" "I know the truck though, it's on the docks every day." "Only the two guys don't belong to it." "Who does?" "Name's Logan I think." "Passes out coffee, makes change." "Been doing it for years." "Well, was there anybody else around?" "No, just Father Scarne." "He was taking some drunk on home." "He was long gone before the balloon went up." "It's too bad about Wade." "Anybody see his wife yet?" "Oh, yeah, we took care of that." "Came off the dead man." " "J-O."" " Ties with Johnny Orton." "Night watchman on the cargo hold." "Instead of protecting the cargo, he chopped Wade." "Stone." "Oh, yeah, let me have it." "Burt Logan." "What's the address?" "824." "I got it." "Thanks a lot." "DMV got a make on that catering truck." " Go ahead." "Anybody see anything?" " Nope." "Well, what about the ship?" "Mostly bulk goods." "Tea, textile, tobacco." "Ports were Singapore and Hong Kong." " Now, the only thing" " Wait a minute now." "It's a long way between Singapore and Hong Kong." "What about the ports in between?" "Ship's agent just mentioned those." "Well, you better have somebody check that log." "I will." "I will." "Anyhow, the only things missing, according to the bills of lading, are two cases of cobra venom." " How's that?" " Poison from cobras, right." "Consignee, Jayson Chemicals, here in town." "I have Dr. Jayson outside." "So a guy with a catering truck hooks up with a seaman off a freighter to steal a couple of crates of cobra venom, why?" "They didn't know what they were taking." "Wasn't a whole lot you could have off that boat unless you had a crane." "Well, how did you make out with the companies using the unicorn symbol?" "Only one in the area." "Unicorn Enterprises." "They manufacture yo-yos." "Snake poison and yo-yos." "It's a great combination." " I guess we better see Dr. Jayson." " Right." "Dr. Jayson." "This is Lieutenant Stone." " Sit down, doctor." " How do you do?" "Have you any idea how much of my shipment was taken?" "It seems only about two cases of cobra venom." " Are you sure it was the venom?" " Yes, why?" "It's just that it's so difficult to obtain." "There's no such thing as a cooperative cobra." "What would anybody want with a couple of crates of snake poison?" "Research, lieutenant." "Cobra venom attacks the motor nerves." "We're using it right now in my company in an experimental program on muscle failure." " Dystrophy." "Spasms." "Myotoma." " Yeah, I see." "Well, what else does your company do?" "We do quite a bit of importing from Southeast Asia." "Rare drugs." "Gambage." "Cardamoms, lac, benzoin." "Is that for like perfume and condiments?" " And cathartics, yes." " Doctor, the rest of your shipment was intact." "What I don't understand is, why would anyone walk off with just a couple of crates of cobra venom?" "It's beyond me, gentlemen." "It has no other value outside my field." "And my competitors wouldn't have to steal it." "Well, do you know how much it's worth on the open market?" "There is no open market." "Just to make sure we're talking about the same crates, how were they packaged?" "Two small mahogany boxes." "Were there any identifying marks?" "Well, my supplier in Hong Kong likes to think that his snakes represent a contradiction." "That their poison is a kind of victory over disease." "Creatures of healing instead of death." "That's it." "That was it." "He used the old alchemist symbol of health and resurrection." "What are you doing here?" " Looking for you." " You alone?" "I'm alone." "How did you get that hole in your belly?" "How did you know where to find me?" "This is my backyard." " Let me take a look at you" " Hold it." "You take a slug?" "That garbage I heard true?" "About you being in Burma working with the missionaries?" "What about it?" "Kind of a bush doctor, were you?" "You need more than that." "Yeah?" "Well, you're all I got." "Here." "You gotta cut this thing out." " You need a doctor." " Sure." "And all the cops in town." "Look, I don't know what you've done, but it can't be that bad." "Two cops were shot with this gun." "You did that?" "Same as." "I was there." "No, it's not the same." "Not if you didn't pull the trigger." "It is to the law." "Not God's law." "I don't know nothing about God's law, Scarne." "But I do know what cops do to guys they think killed cops." "Give me the gun, Abel." " I'll walk you out of here." " Forget it." "This is a lousy place to die." "You should have thought about that yourself." "Before you made the trip." "Get going." " How badly was Abel hurt?" " We don't know, Mrs. Logan." "He's been building it, you know that." "All his life, your brother's been asking for something like this." "When they find him, the first thing, you'll help him, won't you?" "He could've come in with me." "I've always told you that, didn't I?" "About that truck, how did your brother-in-law happen to have it?" "Water pump." "Been acting up lately and Abel told me that he was a hot mechanic, let him have the truck for a couple of hours and he'd fix it, he said." " What time was that?" " Six, maybe." " We were getting ready to eat supper." " Do you know where your brother is?" "No." "There's a lot of good in Abel." "Please believe that." "Mrs. Logan, we're going to put out an all points bulletin on your brother." "If you see him or hear from him, tell him it would be better for him if he turned himself in." " Stuff in that box must be worth a lot." " Gotta be." "What's in it?" "Sells, Arizona." "I don't get it." "Place I heard of once." "Kid I worked with over on 34 came from there." "Hated it." "Been landlocked all his life." "Loved the stinking ocean." "Can you beat it?" "Said nothing would ever get him back to good old Sells." "Sounded kind of like paradise to me." "Inside." "Hot and dry." "A handful of people." "Lots of space." "Yeah, dock orders got this baby set to be towed at 10 a.m. in the morning." "I'll be stowed away down here when she makes San Diego." "Me and my meal ticket." "And then," "I hop a freight to Sells." "Use the bread to open myself a little garage." "Big business in dirt bikes in the desert." "Buggies too." "Somebody's gotta be around to fix them up when they break, right?" "You don't know what's in it." "I know, it's worth 500 bucks to some slick-suited dudes for me to cop it." "I'm gonna keep it, sell it myself." "It's gotta be worth 10, 20 times that much." "That's all I need." "Abel." "Don't worry." "This is one trip I'm gonna make." " A good dream, Abel." "Bad bet." " Don't talk to me about dreams." "I know the dreams you dish out to those losers over at your mission." "Nothing matters now." "It'll be better in heaven." "Well, I want it, and I'm gonna get it." "I'm talking about that gut shot." "Left side, below the ribs." "That tears up the liver, spleen, pancreas." "Without a doctor, you've got about eight or 10 hours before you bleed to death." "Or peritonitis sets in." "I thought you knew more than you let on." "You gonna use that knife?" "No." "I can't help you with a rusty jackknife." " But I can help you with the police." " Oh, sure." "Then you get a merit badge for lifesaving." "A gold star from God, right?" "I can tell them you're not a killer." "You had a chance to kill me and you didn't." "And don't throw the Lord's name at me." "You're one of his children whether you like it or not." "Abel." "Eight, 10 hours you say?" "No more." "You better go get what you need and bring it back here." " I'll be up in one of the cabins." " You're asking the impossible." "A miracle?" "That's what that collar's all about, isn't it?" "But you better come back here alone." "Anybody shows their face down here, they get what's left in this clip." "Except the last one, that's for me." "Human life isn't ours to take." "Not even our own." "Then you and the Lord got a problem." " A lot of territory on the docks." " Yeah." " Here." " Thanks." "You're wounded, you can't go see your sister because your brother-in-law hates your guts, you know the docks because you've been here all your life." "It's like home to you." "Where do you go when you're hurt?" "Far enough so they can't hurt you anymore." "Maybe." "Let's try India Basin." "We've been there." "It was all locked up." "Well, let's check it again." "If you find a way in, it's a good place to hide." "So's a boat to Shanghai." "That's out of our jurisdiction." "That's him." "This is mobile unit XK14847, I wanna make a local call." "The number is 824-7996." "Hello." "Yeah, I want a cab for a Dr. Robert Jayson." "The Sutro Ruins." "Thank you." "Get in." "I tried to call Vegas this morning." "Nobody would talk with me." "You talked to the police." "I had to." "They called me down, I had to turn in a report, verify what was missing." " You said the shipment was..?" " Cobra venom." "Just like it said on the bill of lading." "Look," "I have to know where I stand." "You stand in the same place you did yesterday, doc." "You owe my people a shade under a quarter of a mil." "Where we going?" "What else do the police know?" "Nothing." "I didn't tell them anything." "What did they find out on the docks?" "Just the one burned crate." "Now that's a pretty expensive fire." "Well, the other box has half." "It's still worth more than I owe you." "Yeah, but we don't have the other box either." "That longshoreman has it." "Where?" "Somewhere." "Where we going?" "Now look," "I did my part." "I told you when the shipment was coming in." "You hired that man and the other man on the boat." "If they failed, it's your responsibility not mine." "Doc, how are you gonna get that box back?" "Get it back?" "I can't get it back." "Well, yes, well, maybe if I stayed close to the police." "They saw your man run." "They thought he was wounded." " Wounded?" " Yes." " How badly?" " Well, I don't know." "They don't know." "He could be dead." "And that box could be at the bottom of the bay." "No." "No." "They think he's somewhere around the docks." "And if I stayed close to them," "I could know what they're doing and where they're looking." "And then I could let you know." "Where are we?" "You tell me, doc." "Can you guarantee what you were just trying to sell?" "About the police?" "Well, yes." "I'm sure that I can." "I'll stay close to them." "And I'll let you know everything they're doing." "Goodbye, doctor." "Please, I can do it." " I will." " Get out." "Please." "Please." "One of you guys Dr. Robert Jayson?" "You know how to reach me, doctor." "We'll always know where to find you." "Do you have any further leads yet?" "No." "Not a one, doctor." "Are you sure you're giving all the men you can to the job?" " Doctor" " Our research is at a critical point" "Doctor." "Doctor." "A first-rate young cop, Frank Wade, was killed." "And we are going to find the guy who did it." "You know what's still bothering us more than anything else, doctor?" "How anyone went directly to those two crates out of all the cargo on that ship." "You have any reason for that?" "No." "Not yet." "I've heard that there's a lot of pilferage on the docks these days." "Doctor, did anybody else know about that shipment, besides you?" "Well, my supplier, the bonding company, shipping agents, secretaries, dozens of people." "Could you give us a list of those names?" " Certainly." " Thank you." "Father, come in." " You got a minute, Mike?" " Always." "Dr. Jayson, Father Scarne." " Doctor." " How do you do?" "Steve, why don't you get that list from the doctor?" "Right." " Steve, sorry to barge in." " No problem." "Close the door." "I'm glad you came, Joe." "I was gonna look you up." " You hear about Morgan and Wade?" " Yeah." "Morgan tells me that you were on the docks just before they got hit." "I didn't see it happen, Mike." "If that's what you're driving at." "It is." "And I got my answer." "Come on, pull up a chair." " What can I do for you?" " I can't stay." "I've been all over town." "I saw every doctor I have any drive with." "Mike," "I need some help." "I'm listening." "I need medical supplies." "I thought you gave up practicing when you walked out of the jungles." "Please, Mike." "One of my boys is in trouble." " You're talking about Abel Hoffman." " Yeah." "He's hurt bad, Mike." "He needs more than I can give him." "But I can't get him out and he won't let a doctor in." "I'm just asking for a chance to save his life." " Where is he?" " Well, no, Mike." " You know better than that." " Does he still have the gun?" " He does." " And he came to you and confessed." " He did." " But you couldn't give him absolution." "Not without him giving you that gun." "You're right, I couldn't." "And I didn't." "Look, we're both pros, Mike." "We both go to the book for all our answers." "Only there's a difference in the books." "That man put his trust in me." "I'll tell you what else he did." "He put one cop in the hospital and another in the morgue." " Oh, no, no, Mike, not him" " Joe" "He didn't kill anybody." "And he won't if you go along with me." "Listen to me, will you?" " Let me handle this." "I'm a cop." " And I'm a priest." "My way, nobody has to get hurt." "Your way, Abel Hoffman has to kill." "If not one of your men, himself." "He say that?" "He said he'd save one bullet." "I believe him." "And I don't want that on my conscience, do you?" " Not if I can help it." " You can help, Mike." "Get me these medical supplies." "Then what?" "Well, it's up to me to get through to him." "But he has to be alive for me to do that." "I can't swing a deal like that, Joe." "Not without authorization." "Well, you can get to the man who can." "Steve, follow him." " What's going on?" " He found Hoffman." "Nobody moves in, not even you." " I just wanna know where he is." " Right." "Goodbye, doctor." "Hoffman, is that the longshoreman you were looking for?" " Doctor, did you finish the list?" " I'm afraid it's not quite complete." "But maybe if I went back to my office and checked my records." "Fine." "Phone it in when you've got it completed." "Right away." "In about 10 seconds, he'll be coming down that dock." " I don't want him to follow me, Harry." " He won't, Father." "Yes." "This is Dr. Jayson." "I've got what you need." ""Vung Tàu."" ""Vung Tàu."" "Mike." "What are you doing here?" "Well, you know that old expression, "They take care of their own"?" "You lost him." "He had a little help from his friends, believe me." "Okay, where was the last place you saw him?" " Pier 31." " The busiest pier on the docks." "I know." "I know." "Well, he must have known somebody was following him." " Want some coffee?" " No, I don't want any coffee." "Well, he set you up, buddy boy." "He must have doubled back somewhere else." "Looks that way, yep." "What do you wanna do now?" "We keep the faith until he comes here for his supplies." "Here, take a look." "The log from that freighter." "Ports of call between Hong Kong and Bangkok." " These are heroin ports." " How did you know?" "This area here, Burma, Thailand, Laos." "They call it the Golden Triangle." "Seventy percent of the world's opium right there." "Bring the raw stuff down to Saigon, Bangkok, some of these other ports, process some into morphine, ship some to Marseilles and the rest goes to Hong Kong for shipment to the U.S." "Then you must know what was in those crates." "Well, it sure ain't cobra venom." "What have you got, Ben?" "Your hunch is right, Mike." "These ashes prove it." "Heroin." "High grade." "Come on." "Let's get a book on Jayson." "Hello, this is Father Scarne." "I'm just checking again on my calls." "Did a Mike Stone phone in?" "Sure, I see." "Nothing at all about medical supplies." "No." "Thank you." "I can't be reached for a while." "Father." "Father." "There's been an accident." "Someone's hurt real bad." "They wanna see you right away." " Where?" " Over at the loading shed." "I think he's dying." "This is the right place, Father." "You're just a little bit early." "The accident hasn't happened yet." "Gentlemen, I don't have the vaguest idea of what you're talking about." "You were framed, right?" " Yes." " Wrong." "We've got the book on you, Dr. Jayson." "Your life is a mess." "How long you been in trouble in Vegas, doctor?" " What?" " He said Vegas." "That's where the Scirocco hotel is and that's why you're in trouble." "Three months ago you endorsed a $50,000 policy to the Scirocco hotel." " I Don't know what you mean." " You Don't know what we mean?" "Well, we do." "All right, book him." "Murder." " Let narco make out the rest." " No, wait." "I didn't kill anyone." "I didn't know anyone was to be killed." " Who did it?" " I don't even know their names." "Or what the arrangements were." "Just steal it from my consignment when the freighter got into port." "How much was in the two boxes?" "Maybe a half a million dollars' worth." "You owe them that much?" "A little over 200,000." "It was crazy." "I'm not a serious gambler." "But that night, I kept losing at the tables." "And I couldn't quit and I couldn't cover it." "They did research, found your company imports Asian chemicals, and made you an offer you couldn't refuse." "It was either that or losing my company." "Your passport shows you spent some time in Bangkok about six weeks ago." "Was that on a buying trip?" "That's right." "They arranged all of it." "When's the last time you talked to them?" "Just a little while ago." "Right after I left you." "Well, what did you tell them?" "Your profile said that you're a Catholic." "You told them about Father Scarne, didn't you?" "How he happened to find Hoffman." "I had to." "They threatened my life." "What about his life?" "I didn't think." "Well, you better think now." "You may have just set up a priest." "That's enough." "One last chance, Father." "Where is he?" "I can't tell you that." "That's too bad, Father." "Go on, get out of here." "Before I change my mind again." "What's the percentage in that?" "A dead priest ain't no good to nobody." "But a priest that's on a crusade, that's a valuable man." "That's a man who should be watched." "Clint, my friend." "How did you make out?" "We started digging as soon as I got your call, lieutenant, but so far, I haven't come up with very much for you." "Narrowed down the possibilities some, maybe, but that's about it." "I can show you here on the map, it covers the entire waterfront." "Now these crosses are the places we've cleared up." "And the circles are all possibles." "It's a good place for a man to lose himself." " Okay, how about this area here?" " Those are salvage docks." "Salvage docks?" "That's where they tie up those old rust buckets, isn't it?" "It would be a pretty good place for a guy to hide." "Yeah, it would if there's anything in salvage." " Sure." " Excuse me, sir." "I think there might be." "They brought in an old junker late Friday." "Stripped it out and gonna haul it out in the morning, I think." "Where did you say Scarne gave you the slip?" "Pier 31." "Right here." "Thirty-one." "It's halfway down the Embarcadero." "That's just about the way he'd do it too." "Say, if I were you, I'd double-check that salvage dock." "Right away." "Yes, Port Commission, what do you got down there on 36?" "The Santa Alisio." "Being towed down to San Diego." "All right." "Thanks." "Well, he says that they" "Padre, did you get the stuff you need?" " Not yet." " What do you mean, not yet?" "What happened to you?" "Abel, you've gotta get out of here." "Somebody worked you over, didn't they?" "Now, Abel, they're looking for you." " Who?" " The men who hired you." "They did that to you?" "A turn collar?" "That's pretty heavy." "They want what's in this box pretty bad." "Maybe it's worth more than I thought it was." "It is." "You know what it is?" "There's only one thing it could be, they'd go after this way." "A boat from Asia." "A box that size." "Junk." "You mean I broke up a connection." "Oh, baby." "I better look, see what's inside here." "If it's the white stuff, it's worth a gold mine." "It's hell, Abel." "Pure hell to anybody who has anything to do with it." "Leave it here." "Let them have it." "Let me get you out of here." "No way, Padre." "That bad bet you were talking about, looks pretty good now, doesn't it?" "Abel, listen to me." "We're leaving here." "We can go to the church and wait for the supplies I ordered." "Or go straight to the hospital." "Whichever you want." "But I'm not gonna let you just throw your life away." "You mean that, don't you?" "You really care." "You took that beating and you came back here anyway." "Let's go." "You're out of your skull, Padre, you know that?" "You're really out of your skull." "Leave the crate here." "If I do that, I'm as crazy as you are." "Crazier." "At least I know why I'm doing this now." "It's not just hoping it's one thing or another." "Put that gun away." "I do and they'll put us away." "Give me the box." "Why?" "If I let them see me with it, you can get away." "You would do that, wouldn't you?" "Give it to me." "Sure." "What do you say, boys?" "If I go, it goes." "Hoffman, we got a deal." "Yeah," "I take the chances and you get the money." " Okay, new deal." " Like what?" "You give us the stuff, we'll get you out of the country." "Sure." "On a slab." "Hey, this place is lousy with cops." "You wanna get out of here alive?" "You forget, I got the insurance." "I got" " Mike." " Hold it." "Maybe you were right, Mike." "Maybe we should have played it your way." "Joe." "Who knows which way is right?" "Look at him." "One heck of a guy." "That's not what you were saying about him yesterday." "Well, that was yesterday." "But look at him today." "Out there like always." "Pounding the pavement like a good cop." "Give him a blast." "Oh, one heck of a guy." "You know, someone who's spent all his time traveling around the world, spent as much time in places as he did." "Really must be difficult to settle down in one spot." "Why is that?" "I don't know." "Maybe it's because I've never done it." "But I see those big steamers out there, you know?" "And I just start thinking about places like Tahiti, Fiji, Bora Bora." "Don't you ever do that?" " No." "Not anymore." " But you used to, huh?" "Yeah, I used to a long time ago." "But no more." " Hear that?" " Yeah." "They don't have that sound in Bora Bora." "All units in the Embarcadero area." "Two-eleven in progress at corner of California and Battery." "Please respond." "Move it." "Inspectors 81 responding."