‘We are. Couple of things first…. There’s a rear exit, isn% there?’
‘Several. Back gate.’
‘I want to use an embassy vehicle. Any trouble?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Your secretary. Could you spare her for a long lunchT
:You’re sweet. I had the insane idea you were taking me.’
I am. Could she put her hair up and wear a floppy hat?’
‘Any woman can.’
‘Good. Get that yellow coat you wore last night. And point out any man
around here relatively my size. One that your secretary might enjoy that
long lunch with. Preferably wearing dark trousers. He’ll have my jacket.’
:What areyou doing?’
Our friends are good at playing jokes on other people. Let’s see how they
take it when one’s played on thern.’
Spaulding watched from the third-floor window, concealed by the full-length
drapes. He held the binoculars to his eyes. Below, on the front steps,
Jean’s secretary – in a wide-brimmed hat and Jean’s yellow coat -walked
rapidly down to the curb of the driveway. Following her was one of
Ballard’s assistants, a tall man in dark trousers and David’s jacket. Both
wore sunglasses. Ballard’s man paused momentarily on the top step, looking
at an unfolded road map. His face was covered by the awkward mass of
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paper. He descended the stairs and together he and the girl climbed into the
embassy limousine – an upper-level vehicle with curtains.
Spaulding scanned the Avenida Corrientes in front of the gates. As the
limousine was passed through, a Mercedes coupe parked on the south side of
the street pulled away from tho curb and followed it. And then a second
automobile on the north side made a cautious U-turn and took up its
position several vehicles behind the Mercedes.
Satisfied, David put down the binoculars and went out of the room. In the
corridor he turned left and walked swiftly past doors and around staircases
toward the rear of the building, until be came to a room that corresponded
to his observation post in front. Bobby Ballard sat in an armchair by the
window; he turned around at the sound of David’s footsteps, binoculars in
his hands.
‘Anything?’ Spaulding asked.
‘Two,’ answered the cryp. ‘Parked facing opposite directions. They just
drove away.’
‘Same up front. They’re in radio contact!
‘Thorough, aren’t they?’
‘Not as much as they think,’ Spaulding said.
Ballard’s sports coat was loose around the midsection and short in the
-sleeves, but it showed off David’s new wristwatch. Jean was pleased about
that. It was a very fine chronometer.
The restaurant was small, a virtual hole-in-the-wall on a side street near
San Martfn. The front door was open; a short awning protected the few
outside tables from the sun. Their table, however, was inside. Spaulding
sat facing the entrance, able to see clearly the passersby on the sidewalk.
But he was not watching them now. He was looking at Jean. And what he saw
in her face caused him to say the words without thinking.
‘It’s going to be over soon. I’m getting out.’
She took his hand, searching his eyes. She did not reply for several
moments. It was as if she wanted his words suspended, isolated, thought
about. ‘That’s a remarkable thing to say. I’m not sure what it means.’
‘It means I want to spend years and years with you. The rest of my life….
I don’t know any other way to put it.’
Jean closed her eyes briefly, for the duration of a single breath of
silence. ‘I think you’ve put it … very beautifully.’
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How could he fell her? How could he explain? He had to try. It was so
damned important. ‘Less than a month ago,’ he began softly, ‘something
happened in a field. At night, in Spain. By a campfire…. To me. The
circumstances aren’t important, but what happened to me was … the most
frightening thing I could imagine. And it had nothing to do with the
calculated risks in my work; nothing to do with being afraid – and I was
always afraid, you can bet your life on that…. But I suddenly found I had
no feeling. No feeling at all. I was given a report that should have shaken
me up – made me weep, or made me angry, goddamned angry. But I didn’t feel
anything. I was numb. I accepted the news and criticized the man for
withholding it. I told him not to make that mistake again…. That I did
not act rashly under any conditions. . . . You see, he rightfully thought
that I would.’ David stopped and put his hand over Jean’s. ‘What I’m trying
to tell you is that you’ve given me back something I thought I’d lost. I
don’t ever want to take the chance of losing it again.’
‘You’ll make me cry,’ she said quietly, her eyes moist, her lips trembling
to a smi-le. ‘Don’t you know girls cry when things like that are said to
them? … I’ll have to teach you so much…. Oh, Lord,’ she whispered.
‘Please, please … years.’
David leaned over the small table; their lips touched and as theyheld
lightly together, he removed his hand from hers and gently ran his fingers
over the side of her face.
The tears were there.
He felt them, too. They would not come for him, but he felt them.
‘I’m going back with you, of course,’ she said.
Her words brought back the reality … the other reality, the lesser
one.’Not with me. But soon. I’m going to need a couple of weeks to settle
things…. And you’ll have to transfer your work down here.’
She looked at him questioningly but did not ask a question. There are …
special arrangements for you to take back the blueprints or designs or
whatever they are.’
‘Yes.’
‘When?’
‘If everything goes as we expect, in a day or two. At the most, three.’
‘Then why do you need a couple of weeksT
He hesitated before answering. And then he realized he
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wanted to tell her the truth. It was part of the beginning for him. The
truth. ‘There’s a breach of security in a place called Fairfax…. 9
‘Fairfax,’ she interrupted. ‘That was in your Me.’
‘It’s an intelligence center in Virginia. Very classified. A man was killed
there. He was a friend of mine. I purposely withheld information that might
stop the leaks and, more important, find out who killed him.’
‘For heaven’s sake, why?’
‘In a way, I was forced to. The men in Fairfax weren’t cleared for the
information I had; the one man who was, is ineffectual . . . especially in
something like this. He’s not Intelligence oriented; he’s a requisition
general. He buys things.’
‘Like gyroscopic designsT
‘Yes. When I get back I’ll force him to clear the data.’ David paused and
then spoke as much to himself as to Jean. ‘Actually, I don’t give a damn
whether he does or not. I’ve got a long accumulated leave coming to me.
I’ll use a week or two of it in Fairfax. There’s a German agent walking
around in that compound with a four-zero rating. He killed a very good
man.’
‘That frightens me.’
‘It shouldn’t.’ David smiled, answering her with the truth. ‘I have no
intention of risking those years we talked about. If I have to, I’ll
operate from a maximum security cell…. Don’t worry.’
She nodded. ‘I won’t. I believe you…. I’ll join you in, say, three weeks.
I owe that to Henderson; there will be a lot of adjustments for him. Also,
I’ll have something done about Ellis.’
‘Don’t touch him. We don’t know anything yet. If we find out he’s on an
outside payroll he can be valuable right where he is. Reverse conduits are
jewels. When we uncover one we make sure he’s the healthiest man – or woman
– around.’
‘What kind of a world do you live in?’ Jean asked the question with
concern, not humor.
‘One that you’ll help me leave…. After Fairfax, I’m finished.’
Eugene Lyons edged into the back seat of the taxi between Spaulding and the
male nurse named Hal. The other attendant, Johnny, sat in front with the
driver. David gave his instructions in Spanish; the driver started out the
long, smooth roadway of the Aeroparque.
David looked at Lyons; it wasn’t easy to do so. The proximity
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of the sad, emaciated face emphasized,the realization that what he saw was
self-inflicted. Lyons’s eyes were not responding; he was exhausted from the
flight, suspicious of the new surroundings, annoyed by David’s aggressive
efficiency at hurrying them all out of the terminal.
‘It’s good to see you again,’ David told him.
Lyons blinked; Spaulding wasn’t sure whether it was a greeting or not.
‘We didn’t expect you,’ said Johnny from the front seat. ‘We expected to
get the professor set ourselves.’
‘We’ve got it all written down,’ added Hal, leaning forward on Lyons’s
right, taking a number of index cards out of his pocket. ‘Look. The