Whom Gods Destroy by Clifton Adams Page B

on inside her until she said hoarsely, bitterly, “Oh, God, how I hate you!”
    And then I could laugh, because I knew that I had been right about her. I threw my head back and let my laughter roll and the sound of it filled the room.
    She sank into a chair, still holding her hands in front of her face. Her shoulders began shaking as I turned and walked out.
    It didn't take long for Lola to make her threat good. When I got back to my rooming house the hall phone was ringing and when I answered it, it was Sid.
    “Where the hell have you been?” He was mad.
    “Out making deliveries. I just checked in at the warehouse.”
    “I want to see you, and damn quick.”
    I knew that was the end of it. I hung up. When the phone started ringing again I let it ring. I went upstairs and numbly started putting clothes into a suitcase.
    I should have been panicky, but somehow I wasn't. I sat down and thought about it for a few minutes, and I still wasn't sorry for what had happened. But had it been worth it, really? How was the thing going to settle after the elation had worn off? Jesus, I thought, here I was within reach of money and power and I threw it all away on one crazy impulse!
    It began to come then, the big emptiness as the elation slipped away. If it would have done any good, I think I would have gone back out there and begged her to call it off. She could do it. But she wouldn't, and I knew she wouldn't. She would laugh and I would probably kill her, and that would really be the end of everything. God, I thought bitterly, if I only had Seaward's power!
    And I guess that's when I began to get the idea. If I only had the power Seaward had! That thought stuck in my brain and I couldn't get rid of it. All right, what was the power he had? Money, for one thing, and plenty of it. But, it wasn't the money that made him big, it was his political power and the knowledge that he could make or break any politician in Big Prairie County. He could make or break Paul Keating.
    Then the thought hit me, the whole plan, full grown. It stunned me for a moment. It's too simple, I thought, there must be a catch in it somewhere. I turned it over in my mind, looking at all sides of it for the flaw, but I couldn't see it. I came to my feet. “Well, I'll be damned!”
    The way I saw it, Paul Keating was the key to the whole thing. The key to Lola's weakness—her ambition. All I had to do was find a club to hold over Paul Keating's head. Or if I couldn't find a club, manufacture one. I couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't work, at least for a little while. Keating seemed spineless enough, which was probably the reason Seaward had put him in the county attorney's office in the first place.
    If I tried it and it didn't work—I didn't like to think of what would happen. I was in enough trouble already. Out of a job and in bad with Barney and Sid. And Vida hadn't had a chance to get the information I had to have to try the hijacking.
    It was settled, actually, even before I went over all the arguments against it. I had to try it. It was either that or lose everything.
    Not more than fifteen minutes had passed between the time Sid said he wanted to see me and I made up my mind to take the gamble. If I didn't show up pretty soon Sid would be looking for me, and probably some of Seaward's truck drivers as well, so I had to get out of there. I looked at my watch and it was three-thirty.'
    The first thing I did was visit a camera shop. Then I went to the Travelers Hotel and rented a room on the fourth floor. The bellhop hustled around the way hops do when they show a guest to a room, pulling blinds, raising windows, snapping lights off and on.
    “Will there be anything else, sir?”
    “Yes,” I said. “I want a girl.”
    He blinked, then grinned. Nothing much could jar him.
    “Yes, sir. Things're kind of hot on girls, but I think I can get you something.”
    “Not just something,” I said. “She has to be young, reasonably good-looking, and put