used. "Sorry," I said, pouring a
drink and handing it to her.
She said, as if there had been no
irrelevant interruption, "There is also the consideration that your father
is not supernatural, Miss Borden. We respect him, but we do not attribute
unearthly powers to him. Specifically, we do not consider him murder-proof or
kidnap-proof."
"What do you mean?"
"There are people all over the
world who have reason not to like him very much," Lorna said. "He
could be shot down in the street today or turn up missing tomorrow. In either
case, there would be decisions for us to make. If he were killed, we might want
to avenge him. If he were to disappear, we'd certainly want to find him. In
either eventuality, we'd need a better starting point than a three-letter
nickname."
"Well, Daddy hasn't died or
vanished yet, thank God," Martha said. "He was still answering his
phone this afternoon-I guess that's yesterday afternoon now. Matt talked with
him. But, as a matter of fact, he does seem to be expecting trouble, serious
trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
Lorna asked.
"I don't really know. He didn't
say. But if worse comes to worst, he's planning to do just as you say:
disappear, for a while at least."
"That figures," I said.
"He's a sitting duck as long as he stays in Washington . If Herbie Leonard feels secure enough to take over the ranch by force and send the
extermination squads after individual agents like me, he's not going to
hesitate to try for the head man when he figures the time is right.
"Whiskey?"
Martha frowned. "What?"
"Do you want a drink?"
"Oh. Oh, no, thanks.. . . Well,
all right, just a little one. Matt, what's happening? What's it all
about?"
I handed her a glass, lightly
loaded. "I was hoping you could tell me."
She shook her head. "No, Daddy
kept saying that the less I knew the better, except for the names I had to
memorize for you. He said he was giving you enough information so you could
figure it out, as long as I was sure to tell you the code was double
negative."
I saw Lorna check a slight start and
glance my way. I nodded minutely and spoke to the younger woman:
"Okay, you've told me. Let's
try to work it out from what we know. There's obviously a lot of political
power involved. Somebody wants something big and is going to great lengths to
get it. Well, we know what Senator Love wants: she wants her mail delivered to
a certain address on Pennsylvania Avenue . In a Latin-American country, she'd be
setting the stage for a coup d'etat by making sure of
the army. Here in the US where we don't change governments that way,
she seems to be going about it a little differently. She's apparently making
sure of the nation's intelligence services well before election time. How she
plans to use Herbie Leonard and his newly conquered
undercover empire remains to be seen, but obviously her first concern, and his,
is to make certain he's actually in solid control. That means eliminating any
oddball organizations that might not go along with the big takeover, like Mac's
Murderous Mavericks and their notoriously independent chief."
Lorna frowned, sipping her drink.
"I'm rather surprised they haven't struck at Mac already."
"Maybe they have," I said.
"That's, silly!" Martha
protested quickly. "He sounded perfectly all right when we . . . when you
talked with him, Matt. A little tired, but otherwise all right."
"Maybe that's what got him
tired, ducking knives and bombs and bullets," I said, and went on before
the girl could speak again: "Look, Mac's been taking care of himself for a
long time. I suppose he
drink and handing it to her.
She said, as if there had been no
irrelevant interruption, "There is also the consideration that your father
is not supernatural, Miss Borden. We respect him, but we do not attribute
unearthly powers to him. Specifically, we do not consider him murder-proof or
kidnap-proof."
"What do you mean?"
"There are people all over the
world who have reason not to like him very much," Lorna said. "He
could be shot down in the street today or turn up missing tomorrow. In either
case, there would be decisions for us to make. If he were killed, we might want
to avenge him. If he were to disappear, we'd certainly want to find him. In
either eventuality, we'd need a better starting point than a three-letter
nickname."
"Well, Daddy hasn't died or
vanished yet, thank God," Martha said. "He was still answering his
phone this afternoon-I guess that's yesterday afternoon now. Matt talked with
him. But, as a matter of fact, he does seem to be expecting trouble, serious
trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
Lorna asked.
"I don't really know. He didn't
say. But if worse comes to worst, he's planning to do just as you say:
disappear, for a while at least."
"That figures," I said.
"He's a sitting duck as long as he stays in Washington . If Herbie Leonard feels secure enough to take over the ranch by force and send the
extermination squads after individual agents like me, he's not going to
hesitate to try for the head man when he figures the time is right.
"Whiskey?"
Martha frowned. "What?"
"Do you want a drink?"
"Oh. Oh, no, thanks.. . . Well,
all right, just a little one. Matt, what's happening? What's it all
about?"
I handed her a glass, lightly
loaded. "I was hoping you could tell me."
She shook her head. "No, Daddy
kept saying that the less I knew the better, except for the names I had to
memorize for you. He said he was giving you enough information so you could
figure it out, as long as I was sure to tell you the code was double
negative."
I saw Lorna check a slight start and
glance my way. I nodded minutely and spoke to the younger woman:
"Okay, you've told me. Let's
try to work it out from what we know. There's obviously a lot of political
power involved. Somebody wants something big and is going to great lengths to
get it. Well, we know what Senator Love wants: she wants her mail delivered to
a certain address on Pennsylvania Avenue . In a Latin-American country, she'd be
setting the stage for a coup d'etat by making sure of
the army. Here in the US where we don't change governments that way,
she seems to be going about it a little differently. She's apparently making
sure of the nation's intelligence services well before election time. How she
plans to use Herbie Leonard and his newly conquered
undercover empire remains to be seen, but obviously her first concern, and his,
is to make certain he's actually in solid control. That means eliminating any
oddball organizations that might not go along with the big takeover, like Mac's
Murderous Mavericks and their notoriously independent chief."
Lorna frowned, sipping her drink.
"I'm rather surprised they haven't struck at Mac already."
"Maybe they have," I said.
"That's, silly!" Martha
protested quickly. "He sounded perfectly all right when we . . . when you
talked with him, Matt. A little tired, but otherwise all right."
"Maybe that's what got him
tired, ducking knives and bombs and bullets," I said, and went on before
the girl could speak again: "Look, Mac's been taking care of himself for a
long time. I suppose he
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