"Destroyer 007 - Union Bust.pdb" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Remo)

'I mean how good?'
'Good.'
'Do you love your union?'
'Yeah. I guess so.'

'You guess so. If it were a choice between the union or going to jail, would you go to jail? Think about it.'
'You mean if someone were trying to break the union?' 'Right.'
Jimmy McQuade thought a moment. 'Yes/ he said. 'I'd go to jail.'
'Do you think union business is anybody else's business?'
'Well, not if we're not doing anything illegal.' 'I'm talking about giving information about union business to people outside the union.' 'Hell, no!'
'Even if they're some kind of cops?' 'Yeah. Even if they're some kind of cops.' 'You're a good union man. You've got a good union record and a good work record. There's a job starting that's important to all good union men. I can't tell you why, but it's important. And we don't want to go advertising it around.'
Jimmy McQuade nodded.
'I want you to select a fifteen-man crew of good union men, good workers who can keep their mouths shut. It's a job that would call for more than fifteen men, but that's the minimum, absolute minimum for completing this job in time. We don't want to be using any more people than we have to. If we had time, I'd do the damned thing myself. But we don't have time. Remember. Men who can work and keep quiet. There will be plenty of overtime.' The vice-president reached into his large desk and brought out two envelopes. He held forth the fatter one. 'This is for you. I find it good policy never to let anyone else know what I'm making. It will serve you well to follow it. There may be a lot of pressure in this job, and what may be a small friction at the beginning, becomes a bigger one later on. This smaller one is for the men. Don't take it out of the envelope in front of them. Individually, personally on the side.'
10

The vice-president handed Jimmy McQuade the smaller envelope.
'It'll take me about two weeks to get the right crew/ said Jimmy McQuade.
The vice-president looked at his watch. 'We got you for departure from Dulles in forty minutes. Maybe you can make some phone calls from the airport. You can also make a few from the plane.'
'You can't phone from an airplane, a commercial liner.'
'That should be your biggest worry. Believe me, on that flight the pilot will give you anything you want. Take a stewardess, too, if it won't tire you out. You begin tonight. It's a small suburb outside of Chicago. Nuihc Street. That's it. Funny name. It's a new street, named by the builders. Actually it's just an access road now. For the bulldozers and things.'
The vice-president rose to shake Jimmy McQuade's hand.
'Good luck. We're counting on you. And when you're through, there's more than just that envelope. What the hell are you doing with those envelopes?'
Jimmy looked at the envelopes, puzzled.
'Don't walk out of here holding them in your hand. Put them in your pocket.'
'Oh, yeah,' said Jimmy McQuade. 'Look, I'm working at another building and the company....'
'That's been squared. That's been squared. Get out of here. You're going to miss your plane.'
Jimmy McQuade had opened the envelopes in the cab taking him to the airport. There was $3,500 for him, and $1,500 for the men. He decided to switch envelopes and give the men the $3,500, keeping the $1,500 for himself. This resolution kept wavering all the way to the airport, descending on the men's side, ascending on his until he was back to the original split.
He sat in first class and ordered a drink. He wasn't going to ask the stewardess to let him make a phone call from the plane. He would sound like an idiot asking that.
11

Halfway through his rye and ginger, the pilot came down
the aisle. »
'McQuade?'
'Yes.'
'Why the hell are you sitting here? We got the linkup to ground telephone.'
'Oh. Yeah/ said Jimmy McQuade. 'I just wanted to finish my drink.'
'You're wasting a fortune in time. Take the drink with
you. ,
'Into the cockpit?'
'Yes. C'mon. Wait. You're right.'
'I thought so. Federal Aeronautics Authority rules.'
'The stewardess will bring it. No point unsettling the passengers.'
When the surprised telephone crew reached Nuihc
Street at two in the morning, they found only steel beams
and men working under floodlights.
Jimmy McQuade looked for the builder. He found him
guzzling coffee, yelling at a crane operator.
'I can't see the fuckin' roof. How the hell am I going to
set it right?' yelled the operator.
'We'll get a flood up there. We'll get a flood/ the