Chapter 1

This is the story about how I took down the greatest criminal mind in the Bay area. Well, the truth is, I had a little help. It was July 1941, and I hope I don't have to remind you how bad things were back in those days. The rest of the world was at war, and judging by the new jobs building airplanes, and the giant ships rolling into the bay, it wouldn't be long before we were in the thick of it too.

On top of that, the Depression was far from over. To say that times were tight would be an understatement. Some folks helped each other during those rough times...some struggled on their own, and other folks actually made life harder. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention; there was also the type of fellow who always knew how to move in and capitalize on a bad situation. In my experience, this type of guy was either running a city-wide crime syndicate-or he wanted to. In my town, that fellow was Redblock...Cyrus Redblock. Oh, you don't know who he is? Or was, I should say. That's okay, friend, because I'm going to tell you all about him.

As I said, the jobs situation was slowly looking up, mostly because the whispers in the street told us war was around the corner, and we'd better prepare. With everyone's lives hanging in the balance for the last decade, there was no shortage of trouble among my fellow citizens. You might think that I was rolling in dough so to speak, given my line of work, and given all of the heartache. But life wasn't easy, friend—not even for a private eye like me. Sure I was independent and learned to count always on number one-me. But after I left the police force in late '37 it was sink or swim those first few years, and more often than not my head was barely above the waves.

But everything changed when my cousin Gloria came back into town in the summer of '41. And as usual, when Gloria showed up, she brought trouble along with her. So, here goes…if I hear you start to snore, I might stop talking. After, all, I'm Dixon Hill, and I've got business to take care of.

July 8, 1941 2AM

I awoke with a start, and for a few moments, wasn't convinced I was really awake until I felt the cool breeze from the window. It was starting to look like a heat wave, but at least when night fell there was a breeze. I got out of bed and poured myself a drink, sipping it slowly as I leaned against the window-sill and watched two jokers down in the alleyway below. As usual, the dream had strangely energized me to a degree that I knew I wouldn't easily fall back asleep. So I counted on drinking enough whiskey to knock myself out. It wasn't a nightmare or nothin'…just something kind of wacko. It was just a variation on the same dream I'd had for about a week now, but it was starting to make me wonder if I was going nuts.

So…the dream. I had dreamed I was sitting on a strange chair with buttons covering the arms of it, and everything around me was real bright. A soft carpet lay underneath my boots, and I was wearing a pair of two-toned and red and black long underwear that made my body itch in really awkward ways. In the dream I was yelling orders at the people all around me. It reminded me of my military days in a way, except this time I was the one in charge.

As if the black and red long johns weren't enough, the most nutso thing was a giant screen, like from the picture shows, at the front of the room. But instead of Greta Garbo up there, it was just a black expanse full of stars. As I recalled the dream, that memory stirred an excitement in me, but for some reason during the dream it didn't seem like such a big deal. Eventually about an hour later I dozed off again, and this time I didn't dream a thing.

The next morning was so boiling hot that I could see the heat coming off of the pavement as I stepped out of my apartment.

"Hey, Dix!" I slowed my pace at the sound of a familiar gravelly voice ahead of me. I touched the brim of my hat out of respect for old Barney who was selling hot dogs on the corner. Like me, Barney was a war vet, but while I served in France during the Great War, he'd fought in the Spanish American War and was about twenty years my senior. Like I said… he was old. Barney waved me over, and I wasn't in a hurry or in the middle of a job, so I stopped for a bit. I eyed his product. I wasn't nearly hungry enough to eat one of his so called hot dogs.

"What can I get ya, Dix? How's about a hot dog?"

"Not if you're still makin' 'em out of real dogs, Barney," I said to him.

Barney scowled at me for a minute, but then grinned. "How's about a soda pop then?"

I nodded. "Gimme a Coke," I said, and handed him a nickel. I was sipping the sweet nectar when I saw her walk by. I nearly dropped the bottle, but quickly regained my composure. It was the second time I'd seen her, and my knees went a little weak. She slowed her pace only slightly to turn and glance at me, but I could tell by the way she looked at me that she'd mistaken me for someone else. Up until then I had only seen her from behind, which was a nice view, I won't lie—but when she turned back to look at me I saw her beautiful face for the first time. And that hair! Auburn, they called it. Anyway, I tried to play it cool-like, but I sipped the Coke too hard and the bubbles exploded in my nose. I coughed and cursed under my breath, wiping my chin.

Barney snorted. "She's way outta your league, Dix."

"What?" I said, trying to play it off. "Who?"

Barney clanged a metal spoon into a big pot of beans, and shouted at a customer, who hurried away with his lunch. "You pay me next time, or else, yeah?! This ain't no soup kitchen." He turned to me, and I pretended to be just interested enough in the woman who'd just passed—but I let him tell me what I wanted to know. "She's some kind of scientist or something. Works down at the base."

My eyebrows levitated. A dish like that who was also a scientist? "The Presidio?"

Barney punched me in the shoulder with his boney knuckles. "Is there another Army base around here, genius?"

"How do you know any of this? She doesn't look like a hot dog and bean connoisseur to me."

"You of all people should know looks can be deceiving, Dix. But I'm not lying when I say she's out of your league. That there is a thinking woman, Dix. You can't just approach her the same way you do the rest of the girls you chase through the streets."

I finished my soda, and set it down on Barney's cart. "Well, you old geezer, I can sure as hell try," I said and started to walk away. I was calculating how quickly I could catch up to the mystery woman without looking like too much of a jerk. The problem was I was so keen to catch her that I didn't see my cousin run out of nowhere and crash into me.

"Gloria!" I was surprised and glad to see her, but she was cramping my style. I grabbed a hold of her as she stumbled into me, and watched in frustration as the red-haired damsel disappeared into the crowd. I looked down at my cousin with curiosity. As much as I was dismayed to abandon the chase, curiosity was what fueled my life. And with Gloria's reappearance, my curiosity was peaked. "Where have you been?"

Gloria clutched at my jacket and turned to look behind her. "Dixon, I gotta get out of here, the G-Men are after me!"

"C'mon! What on earth would the Feds want with you, Gloria?"

"You still have an office?"

I pushed her at arms-length to look at her. I'll admit I was kind of insulted. "Yeah, of course I still have an office. You've been gone six months and you think I already went belly-up? Come on Gloria, quit busting my chops."

"Sorry Dixon, but this is no time for your ego to get bruised." She looked up at me with her brown eyes and in a rare moment, looked kind of worried. "They think I'm in league with the South American Kid."

"The South American Kid?"

She shook her head in frustration. "Don't tell me you've never heard of him! He's got pale skin, yellow eyes and absolutely no emotional capacity, Dixon. And he's planning a showdown with Redblock."

Redblock. I cleared my throat. For the moment all thoughts of the red haired lovely escaped me. Instead, I was now feeling the fear I saw in Gloria's eyes. I tried to smile. "Okay, kid. Let's go back to my office, where you can tell me all about it."

After pulling a chair out for my long lost cousin, I sat down behind my desk and put my feet up. I took off my fedora, set it on my knee, and waited for Gloria to spill the beans.

Gloria looked at me from over my shoes and said, "how about a drink first?"

I smiled. "Of course, how rude of me," I said, and reached into a drawer. Several items lay inside; a bottle of whiskey, two glasses, a pen and notepad, a pack of cigarettes, a pack of chewing gum, a handkerchief and a loaded 38 special. I had all kinds of visitors to my office and they weren't always customers...and on top of that they weren't always friendly. Good thing the items inside my drawer covered just about every contingency. I thought of the elegant woman from the Presidio for a moment, and how it'd be real swell if she'd pay me a visit. But I might never see that beautiful woman again, so told myself I had better cool down. Thinking literally I reached up and turned on my ceiling fan, and it slowly began to spin, pushing hot air around the room.

As I poured Gloria's drink, I noticed for the first time how outlandish my cousin's getup was. She was dressed to the nines alright, in a black dress with bright pink piping and a matching hat. Still she actually seemed nervous, and this was unusual.

"You in mourning or something?" I mentioned, nodding at her outfit.

Gloria made a face as she drained her glass in one gulp. "No Dixon. Look, the G men are after me...I hope you don't mind, I told them there was no way I could be mixed up in nothin' too criminal because I'm your cousin. Would you believe they didn't buy that we're related? Said we looked nothing alike." She laughed. "What a couple of morons."

"Idiots," I agreed, bringing the glass to my lips. So there were two agents on Gloria's trail. I had started to calculate the odds and so far they weren't so bad. Slowly I placed the glass back down. "Gloria, assuming these Feds would even know who I am-"

"They do," she reassured me.

I frowned. "They do? How?"

She poured herself another drink and looked at me. "Your secretary is a red."

I picked my hat off of my knee and whacked it against my leg, like I did sometimes when I was thinking things through. Madeline, a Communist? I didn't care for politics either way, but I didn't like attention from the Feds either. "What? Where'd you hear that?"

"All those hot dates with her fellas have actually been political meetings after work, Dixon. And Rex told me the FBI showed up at his joint one night right after she left. They cased the place, asked a few questions, and left."

I shrugged. Like I said, I didn't care for politics. But Madeline was a peach, and a real good secretary. I'd talk to her about being more discreet, but her business was her business, that is as long as it didn't interfere with mine. Suddenly I sat forward. "You went to Rex's bar without me, Gloria? Just how long have you been in town?"

"Long enough to get into trouble," she said.

"You ever going to tell me what kind of trouble you're in?"

She leaned forward intently. "You know what game Redblock is into these days?"

"Every kind there is," I said. "Guns, gambling, prostitution, narcotics..."

Gloria nodded. "But no one's been able to take him down, right? Not even the Bureau."

"Well, if they weren't so concerned with taking down my secretary, they might have more time on their hands."

"For whatever reason they've been letting him slide. But now he's got competition," she added.

"This South American Guy?"

"Kid...The South American Kid," she corrected me. "And they are interested in him. In fact they've got the Kid in their sights."

I shook my head and got up from my desk. I was losing interest so I walked over to the window and glanced out through the shade. A bunch of drunks having a scuffle out in the street. Same thing every day and night. "And why should I care?" I said turning back to look at her.

"Because I've been working for the Kid as a middle man."

"Gloria! Weren't you having enough fun in Cleveland? Why'd you have to come back to Frisco and get yourself into even more problems?"

She laughed. "No one has any fun in Cleveland, Dixon, you know that."

I walked back over to stand next to her and she looked up at me. I put my hand on her shoulder. "Gloria, you're in over your head this time, I can see it in your eyes. It's not just the Bureau that wants to bring you in...Redblock wants you dead doesn't he?"

She nodded slowly. "He doesn't like operations encroaching on his business."

This whole subject was really starting to get me steamed. "If you want my help you gotta stop being coy about it! What's the operation, Gloria? Spill it!"

"Okay, okay," she said quickly. "The Kid is running a special drug...And Redblock don't like it. Some kind of miracle cure from Peru. The Kid's shipping it in small quantities and he's only got one customer. Here's where it gets weird...She works at the Army base."

I walked back to my desk, sat back down and reached into my trusty drawer again and pulled out the pack of Lucky Strikes. I lit one up and stretched back in my chair. I took a slow drag to try and calm my nerves. "She?"

Gloria was looking at me like I was crazy. "Yeah, she's some kind of government doctor or scientist or something. Whatever she's working on is top secret, Dixon. But the thing is, if you ask me, her bosses don't know she's bringing this stuff into the country. Not the way she's acting."

I thought of the beautiful woman I'd seen in the crowd. "What's her name?" I'll admit, I was kind of in a daze.

Gloria scoffed. "Dixon, we don't discuss names. I have no idea what her name is. I just supply her with what she needs." I could feel her studying me. Maybe in that moment she knew I was wondering if I'd already seen the lady she was talking about. Then she tried to reel me in. "Have I mentioned she's quite the looker? I mean...she's way out of your league, cousin, but that's never stopped you before..."

I almost didn't hear the jab. She was out of my league, I'll admit to this day. But Gloria was right; that wasn't going to slow me down too much. I had to meet this woman. But I didn't want Gloria to know how much it meant to me. And to be honest, I didn't realize why it mattered so much. "Is she in danger?"

"Where Redblock is concerned we're all in danger, Dixon."

"What do you want me to do?"

"There's a shipment coming in town in a few days, which means I'll need to make a delivery to the Presidio. The Kid expects there to be someone from Redblock's crew there. I hate to put you in harm's way, Dixon, but...we need you to make a distraction. Just long enough so I can get her the goods." She grabbed her purse and stood up. "You're the only one I can trust."

I rocked back in my chair and twirled my hat on my index finger. "I'll think about it, Gloria, I really will."

She walked to the door and turned around. "Time is running out, Dixon. Let me know by 9am tomorrow?" She opened the door.

"How much is the pay?"

She grinned. "Same old Dixon. I'll ask the Kid. Meet me tomorrow in front of Rex's place at 9 and I'll give you the cash then."

After Gloria left, I leaned back and closed my eyes. By then I knew I was in big trouble.