address. Your telephone number. And the embassy’s. And a wallet full of
Argentine money.’
Hal pronounced Argentine, ‘Argentyne.’ David wondered how he could be given
a course in hypodermic injection; who would read the labels? On the other
hand, his partner Johnny -less talkative, more knowing somehow-was
obviously the leader of the two.
‘Well, these things are usually fouled up. Communications break down all
the time…. Did you have a good flight down, doctor?’
‘It wasn’t bad,’ answered Hal. ‘But bumpy as a son of a bitch over Cuba.’
‘Those were probably heavy air masses coming up from the island,’ said
David, watching Lyons out of the comer of his eye. The physicist responded
now; a slight glance at Spaulding. And there was humor in the look.
‘Yeah,’ replied Hal knowingly, ‘that’s what the stewardess said.’
Lyons smiled a thin smile.
David was about to capitalize on the small breakthrough when he saw a
disturbing sight in the driver’s rear-view mirror – instinctively he’d been
glancing at the glass.
It was the narrow grill of an automobile he’d previously spotted, though
with no alarm. He had seen it twice: on the long curb in the taxi lineup
and again on the turnout of the front park. Now it was there again, and
David slowly shifted his position and looked out the taxi’s rear window.
Lyons seemed to sense that Spaulding was concerned; he moved to accommodate
him.
The car was a 1937 La Salle, black, with rusted chrome on the
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grillwork and around the headlights. It remained fifty to sixty yards
behind, but the driver – a blond-haired man – refused to let other vehicles
come between them. He would accelerate each time his position was
threatened. The blond-haired man, it appeared, was either inexperienced or
careless. If he was following them.
David spoke to the taxi driver in urgent but quiet Spanish. He offered the
man five dollars over the meter if he would reverse his direction and head
away from San Telmo for the next several minutes. The porteho was less of
an amateur than the driver of the La Salle; he understood immediately, with
one look in his mirror. He nodded silently to Spaulding, made a sudden,
awkwardly dangerous U-turn, and sped west. He kept the taxi on a fast
zigzag course, weaving in and around the traffic, then turned abruptly to
his right and accelerated the car south along the ocean drive. The sight of
the water reminded David of Ocho Calle.
He wanted very much to deposit Eugene Lyons in San Telmo and get back to
Ocho Calle.
The La Salle was no longer a problem.
‘Christ!’ said Hal. ‘What the hell was that?’ And then he answered his own
question. ‘We were being followed, right?’
‘We weren’t sure,’ said David.
Lyons was watching him, his look inexpressive. Johnny spoke from the front
seat.
‘Does that mean we can expect problems? You had this guy tooling pretty
hard. Mr. Kendall didn’t mention anything about trouble…. Just our job.’
Johnny did not tum around as he spoke.
‘Would it bother you if there were?’
Johnny turned to face Spaulding; he was a very serious fellow, thought
David. ‘It depends,’ said the male nurse. ‘Our job is to watch out for the
professor. Take care of him. If any trouble interfered with that, I don’t
think I’d like it.’
‘I see. What would you do?’
‘Get him the hell out of here,’ answered Johnny simply.
‘Dr. Lyons has a job to do in Buenos Aires. Kendall must have told you
that.’
Johnny’s eyes leveled with Spaulding’s. ‘I’ll tell you straight, mister.
That dirty pig can go screw. I never took so much shit from anyone in my
life.’
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‘Why don’t you quiff
‘We don’t work for Kendall,’ said Johnny, as if the thought was repulsive.
‘We’re paid by the Research Center of Meridian Aircraft. That son of a
bitch isn’t even from Meridian. He’s a lousy bookkeeper.’
‘You understand, Mr. Spaulding,’ said Hal, retreating from his partner’s
aggressiveness. ‘We have to do what’s best for the professor. That’s what
the Research Center hires us for.’
.’I understand. I’m in constant touch with Meridian Research. The last
thing anyone would wish is to harm Dr. Lyons. I can assure you of that.’
David lied convincingly. He couldn’t give assurance because he himself was
far from sure. His only course with Johnny and Hal was to turn this
newfound liability into an asset. The key would be Meridian’s Research
Center and his fictional relationship to it; and a common repugnance for
Kendall.
The taxi slowed down, turning a comer into a quiet San Telmo street. The
driver pulled up to a narrow, three-storied, white stucco house with a
sloping, rust-tiled roof. It was 15 Terraza Verde. The first floor was
leased to Eugene Lyons and his $assistants.’
‘Here we are.’ said Spaulding, opening the door.
Lyons climbed out after David. He stood on the sidewalk and looked up at
the quaint, colorful little house on the peaceful street. The trees by the
curb were sculptured. Everything had a scrubbed look; there was an Old
World serenity about the area. David had the feeling that Lyons had
suddenly found something he’d been looking for.
And then he thought he saw what it was. Eugene Lyons was looking up at a
lovely resting place. A final resting place. A grave.
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34
There wasn’t the time David thought there would be. He had told Stoltz to
call him after five at C6rdoba; it was nearly four now.
The first boats were coming into the piers, whistles blowing, men throwing
and catching heavy ropes, nets everywhere, hanging out for the late drying
rays of the sun.
Ocho Calle was in the DArsena Norte, east of the Retiro freight yards in a
relatively secluded section of La Boca. Railroad tracks, long out of use,
were implanted in the streets along the row of warehouses. Ocho Calle was
not a prime storage or loading area. Its access to the sea channels wasn’t
as cumbersome as the inner units of the La Plata, but the facilities were
outmoded. It was as if the management couldn’t decide whether to sell its
fair waterfront real estate or put it into good operating order. The
indecision resulted in virtual abandonment.
Spaulding was in shirtsleeves; he had left Ballard’s tan jacket at Terraza
Verde. Over his shoulder was a large used net he had bought at an outdoor
stall. The damn thing was rancid from rotting hemp and dead fish but it
served its purpose. He could cover his face at will and move easily,
comfortably among his surroundings – at one with them. David thought that
should he ever – God forbid! – instruct recruits at Fairfax, he’d stress
the factor of comfort. Psychological comfort. One could feel it
immediately; just as swiftly as one felt the discomfort of artificiality.
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He followed the sidewalk until it was no more. The final block of Ocho
Calle was lined on the far side by a few old buildings and fenced-off
abandoned lots once used for outside storage, now overgrown with tall
weeds. On the water side were two huge warehouses connected to each other
by a framed open area. The midships of a trawler could be seen moored
between the two buildings. The next pier was across a stretch of water at
least a quarter of a mile away. The Ocho Calle warehouses were secluded
indeed.
David stopped. The block was like a miniature peninsula; there were few
people on it. No side streets, no buildings beyond the row of houses on his
left, only what appeared to be other lots behind the houses and further
pilings that were sunk into the earth, holding back the water of a small
channel.
The last stretch of Ocho Calle was a peninsula. The ware. houses were not
only secluded, they were isolated.
David swung the net off his right shoulder and hoisted it over his left.
Two seamen walked out of a building; on the second floor a woman opened a
window and shouted down, berating her husband about the projected hour of
his return. An old man with dark Indian features sat in a wooden chair on
a small, dilapidaied stoop in front of a filthy bait store. Inside, through
the glass stained with salt and dirt, other old men could be seen drinking
from wine bottles. In the last house, a ]one whore leaned out a first-floor
window, saw David and opened her blouse, displaying a large, sagging
breast. She squeezed it several times and pointed the nipple at Spaulding.
Ocho Calle was the end of a particular section of the earth.
He walked up to the old Indian, greeted him casually, and went into the
bait store. The stench was overpowering, a combination of urine and rot.
There were three men inside, more drunk than sober, nearer seventy than
sixty.
. The man behind the planked boards which served as a counter seemed