The twins were a rare teamindeed. They wanted to builda printing plant on a garbagedump. When Muldoon asked themwhy, their answer was entirelylogical:
"Because we live here."
LEASE
TO
DOOMSDAY
By LEE ARCHER
It was the lack of sense inthe ad that made him goback to it again. He was havinghis breakfast coffee in thecafeteria next to the midtownhotel where he lived. The classifiedsection of the New YorkTimes was spread before him.
WANTED: Live wire Real Estate broker—No selling—30-40. Room 657 SilversBuilding—9-12 Monday morning.
The ad made no sense forseveral reasons. One: you justdon't go around advertisingfor brokers with four pages ofthem in the classified phonebook. Two: how can one be alive wire broker, without havingto sell? Kevin Muldoonshook his head. Just no damnsense. The Silvers Building—H'm!Not too far off. Helooked at his strap watch. Fifteenminutes of nine. He couldwalk it in that time.
"Don't be a fool," he saidto himself. "It's obviously acome-on of some kind."
He got up, paid the checkand went out. It wasn't till hewas on Third Ave. that he wasconscious he had started to gocrosstown when his office wasin the opposite direction. Hesmiled wryly. Might as wellinvestigate, he thought. Can'tdo any harm, and it won'ttake long.
There were four otherswaiting in the small anteroom.The outer door bore nolegend other than the roomnumber, and the inner doorwas blank altogether. Muldoonmade a quick appraisalof those waiting. Three wereobviously past middle-age, thefourth about Muldoon's age.The inner door opened andMuldoon looked up. A tall mancame out first, a man in hisearly sixties, perhaps. Immediatelybehind him came aslightly shorter man, but veryheavy and with a head thatwas bald as a billiard ball. Theolder man marched straight tothe door, opened it and wentout without a second lookback. The fat man lookedaround, his face beaming in awide smile, eyes almost closedbehind fleshy lids.
The weird machine clicked and clattered while the twinsdreamed of tomorrow."And now, who's next?" heasked.
The one who was aboutMuldoon's age stepped forward.The fat man motionedfor the other to precede him.The door closed. Not morethan a minute went by, andthe door opened again and thesame act as before with theolder man was gone through.
"And now, who's next?" thefat man asked.
Muldoon noted even the inflectionwas the same.
So it went with the threewho were left, until it wasMuldoon's turn. And nowthere were six others besidehimself also waiting to be interviewed.
It was a squarish room,simply furnished, with acouple of desks set side-by-sidewith a narrow space betweenthem. A chair was setup facing the desks, obviouslymeant for the one to be interviewed.Seated behind one ofthe desks was the twin of theman now coming to seat himselfat the other desk. Theirsmiles were identical as theywaited for Muldoon to makehimself comfortable.
For a moment there was ablank silence. Muldoon studiedthem, and they, smilingstill, studied him. Muldoonbroke the silence.
"You know," Muldoon said,"your ad didn't make sense tome."
The twins hunched forwardslightly at their desks. Theireyes brightened in anticipation."No-o?..." said the onewho had been waiting forMuldoon. "Why?"
"With some four pages ofbrokers in the classified directory,