The Blind Pig Read Online Free Page A

“Python,” .357 magnum. Dennis claimed he needed the cannon for its knockdown power; precinct wags wondered how much consideration he had given to, say, a rock.
    “Did Stanos shoot this bird with a popgun?” Mulheisen asked.
    “For Christ's sake, the guy shot at his partner!” Dennis shouted. “What the hell's he supposed to do?” Noell went into a mock British accent: “Oh, I beg your pardon, sir, would you please deposit your firearm in the proper receptacle . . . It ain't like that, Mul. It's war out there. You gotta whack ’em.”
    Mulheisen had a pretty good idea what Noell meant by that. In the rear window of the Big 4 cruiser there was prominently displayed a Thompson .45-caliber submachinegun, the classic style with the drum magazine. The gun was meant to be seen, as the Big 4 themselves were meantto be seen. The Big 4's function as detectives was somewhat different from Mulheisen's. You don't put four huge monsters in a well-marked Chrysler and parade them around town during “prime time” for the purpose of detection. They are there to inhibit crime.
    Besides the Thompson, Mulheisen knew that the Big 4 carried a Stoner rifle, a Sten gun, a full complement of Winchester Model 97 12-gauge pump shotguns, and a supply of ax handles. The Stoner Weapons System, to use the proper nomenclature, is a .223-caliber semi or fully automatic rifle that fires 12.5 bullets per second. The bullets have high velocity and low mass. As a consequence, they develop a phenomenon known as hydrostatic shock, which is simply a super-sonic shock wave that arrives at the impact site immediately after the bullet does and causes widespread damage to animal tissue. The Big 4 customarily used a 30-shot banana clip. A 30-shot clip is exhausted in slightly more than two seconds, therefore two clips are taped end to end for quick reversal and resumption of fire.
    The Sten gun was usually carried in a pocket behind the front seat. It is a 9-mm. automatic carbine that is very simple and hardy, an inexpensive, even crudely made weapon compared with the elegant Thompson. But it has a high rate of fire, it's compact and quite reliable, even if it is sometimes known as the Plumber's Delight, or the Woolworth Gun.
    But the sight of the Big 4 walking into a barroom with ax handles dangling from their meaty paws was enough to quell most disturbances and banish thoughts of malefaction for hours at a time.
    “You gotta whack ‘em, Mul,” Dennis said again. “You let up for a minute and they'll kill you.”
    “Kill you?” Mulheisen said. Somehow, it didn't seem likely.
    Noell ignored him. “Now you take this creep I busted yesterday—”
    Mulheisen winced, thinking that Noell gave new significanceto the verb “busted” that went beyond the notion of mere arrest.
    “—this Jackson. Calvin ‘Speedball’ Jackson. I been after this crud for years. You know how old he is? Eighteen. He's been stealing, dealing, trashing, since he was ten. But some-how, I remembered that Speedball turned eighteen this week. Don't ask me how I remembered; it's funny how things stick in your mind.
    “So we're out cruising and everything's dead, so I says to Clay, ‘Hey, it's Speedball's time. Let's go get him.’ ‘No warrant,’ Clay says. ‘We'll use the ol’ Tennessee Search Warrant,’ I says.
    “Speedball's got him a nice little shack over on McClellan, the wages of smack. So I send Clay around to the back and I go up on the porch. Knock, knock, knock, real hard. No answer. Then Clay yells, ‘C'mon in!’ So I go in. Only the door is locked, so I had to open it with my shoe. Whaddaya think? The asshole's got his old lady sittin’ right in front of the door and the door is all busted up on top of her! Ha, ha! What the hell was he thinking about? She supposed to be a decoy or something? I don't know.
    “Anyway, this chick is all crying and everything, but I don't say shit to her. I go straight for the bathroom, but Speedball ain't there. I go into