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“There would have to be two of them. Those boys don’t even go to the john by themselves.”

“So just lose ’em.”

Phil lost them. He went around blocks, dashed the wrong way on one-way streets, and shook both our tails in less than ten minutes. “It’s a hell of a thing,” he said, “when you have to worry more about your friends than your enemies. The Chief is very anxious to see you, Ta

“I know.”

“Well,” Phil said.

We rode the rest of the way in silence. Phil dropped us in front of a shoe-repair shop in a Negro slum. Joe and I entered a building by the door to the right of the shop and climbed three flights of squeaking stairs to the apartment on the top floor. He knocked. A deep voice invited us inside. Joe opened the door, and we went in.

Joe said, “Here’s Ta

“Good. Any trouble with CIA?”

“None there. They followed us, but Phil outran them. He’s good at that.”

“Yes,” the Chief said. “He’s a good man.”

“You want me to stick around?”

“No, that’s all, Joe.”

“Check.”

Joe left and closed the door. The Chief was a round-faced man, bald on top, with fleshy hands that remained in perfect repose on the desk in front of him. The desk was empty of papers. There was a box labeled IN and another labeled OUT. Both were empty. There was a globe on the desk and a map of the world on the wall behind him.

“Evan Michael Ta

We shook hands. He motioned me to a chair, and I sat down.

“Dallma

“Yes.”

“Shot down in Dublin, ironically enough. It must have happened just after he passed the papers to you.”

I nodded.

“I suspected you might be Dallma

“Yes,” I said.

“I encourage my men to develop their own operatives. Keep them secret, don’t let me know about them. When one of our men goes out on something, he goes alone. If he’s in trouble, he can’t call for help. If he’s caught, I don’t know him. So I didn’t know you were one of Dallma

“Thank you, sir.”

“It may well turn out to have been the biggest wedge driven in Yugoslav hegemony since the end of the war. They were astonished when that revolt broke out. Astonished. The last thing anyone expected was a blowup in Macedonia. I know Dallma

“That’s right.”

“And of course that fell in. Brilliant work of yours, picking up Dallma

I didn’t say anything. Dallma

The Chief looked down at his hands. “Strange situation in Ireland,” he said. “The Irish filched that set of plans out of London as neat as anything. The British didn’t even know who had them. But we knew and we couldn’t let them stay in Irish hands. Irish security isn’t the best in the world, you know. And those plans were fairly vital. Dallma



We both got a good laugh out of that one.

“The CIA give you a hard time, Ta

“It wasn’t too bad.”

“You don’t sleep, do you? Got that from your records. That must come in handy.”

“It does.”

“Um-hum. Imagine it would. Sorry I had to put you through three weeks of CIA interrogation. Understand you didn’t tell them a thing.”

“I had to give them the plans.”

“Well, that was all right. Couldn’t be helped.” He chuckled. “You must have given them the willies. You know their standard interrogation procedure? Nothing fancy, just let a man fall asleep, then wake him up and question him, then let him drift off to sleep again, then more questioning. They hit you at your weakest point that way. But they couldn’t do that to you, could they?”

“No.”

“Very handy. Never thought of insomnia as a survival mechanism. Very interesting.”

“Yes, sir.”

He got to his feet. “You have contacts with fringe groups and nut groups throughout the world, don’t you? Professional? Or a sideline?”

“Just a hobby.”

“Valuable one, isn’t it? You do much work for Dallma

“No. Just incidental work before this job. Nothing important.”

“Suspected as much. And yet you maintained discipline all the way, didn’t you? And handled yourself like a professional. Very interesting.”

For a long moment neither of us said anything. Then he came around the desk, and I got to my feet, and we shook hands again.

“What are your plans now, Ta

“I’ll go back to New York.”

“Back to business as usual, eh?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Very good.” He thought for a moment. “We might have a piece of work for you now and then.”

“All right.”

“We’re hell to work for. I don’t know exactly what sort of arrangement you had with Dallma

“Yes, sir.”

“So you might hear from us some time. If something comes up. Sound good to you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I like your style, Ta

“All right.”

“How are you fixed for money?”

“I could use plane fare. I’m out of ready cash.”

“Besides that.”

“I’m all right.” I thought for a moment. “I managed to…uh…pick up a little for myself this trip.”

He laughed aloud. “Just like Dallma

He gave me two hundred dollars for the plane and incidental expenses. We shook hands a third and final time, and I let myself out.