have to hear it,” I said.
“Yes, you will. Later you will. Now you may take me down to my room and I will expect you to pick me up at eight o’clock. You will be prompt?”
“When one tiger calls another comes running,” I said. “They have certain instincts.”
She crowded me enough so I could feel the pressure of her breast against my arm. “Perhaps you have heard the story already.”
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.”
chapter 6
I called Martin Grady directly as soon as I reached the street. I let him have my report and gave him the pitch on AmPet Corporation. To expedite matters he was turning over a major block of his stock to me until the assignment was completed, when it would be returned. Meanwhile, I’d be listed as a VIP with the outfit in case anybody investigated.
I said, “Well look, I can handle myself in conversation with the general details of oil exploration and refining, but supposing somebody gets specific about the AmPet operation.”
Grady grunted and I heard a cigarette lighter flick on. “I just anticipated that. Walter Milos, one of our lab men, is in New York right now. We’ll call him from here and have him brief you on the layout. You’re a quick study so pack it in. There will be some truth there to fool anybody familiar with our processes, but nothing specific enough to give them a lead to the actual formula. Besides, what you don’t know you can’t reveal and anybody probing with leading questions will only surmise that you’re not giving anything away free.”
“Where do we meet?”
“He’ll be in another of our suites in the Calvin where Lennie is staying. He checks out tonight so get with it.”
“Roger. How’s the investigation proceeding?”
Martin Grady chuckled, something I hadn’t heard him do in a long time. “Getting nowhere fast. They’re trying for any low blow, even to ringing in the tax men, but it pays to be honest. They picked up Steuben and Les to interrogate them on the Miller affair but their alibis held.”
“Hell, they only set Miller up. One of their own men knocked him off. They should have been grateful.”
“Not those boys. What they want is our leads to their infermation. Chet passed the word that you’re on their list too, so walk softly if you can. Don’t think Hal Randolph is the friendly type. He’ll go along far enough to drop a noose over your head.”
It was my turn to laugh. Randolph had been trying it for a long time but the knot kept coming untied. “No sweat there. Randolph has to go by the book and when a page is torn out he can’t move. I’ll report through Newark Control later. Anything you think I should know?”
“It’s your project, Tiger. You’re getting too old to advise any more.”
“Thanks a bunch,” I said. “I’m still waiting for word on Pete Moore.”
“Hang on a minute.” Somebody else had come into the office and I heard a few muffled words and the soft rustle of papers. When Grady came back on again he laid out the Selachin situation as briefly as he could.
So far Pete Moore had not made contact with our people in Selachin, but rumors were out already about some peculiar business in the area and behind the Iron Curtain there was a lot of consternation in Soviet circles that had a hand in the project. As for Teddy Tedesco, there was no word. We were going to have to wait until Moore located him.
When I hung up I flagged a cab and had the driver take me to the Taft. I took the elevator up to Harry’s room, tapped on his door and called out that it was me. Still cautious, he opened the door on the chain first before he was satisfied and let me in. He still hadn’t gotten over the shakes and grinned sheepishly when I noticed it.
“It was not the excitement, sir,” he told me. “It was the worry that I would be caught, then I would be back in the desert and soon thereafter my head would be off.”
“You’re out of it now,” I reassured him. “Look, you were with that guy in
“Yes, you will. Later you will. Now you may take me down to my room and I will expect you to pick me up at eight o’clock. You will be prompt?”
“When one tiger calls another comes running,” I said. “They have certain instincts.”
She crowded me enough so I could feel the pressure of her breast against my arm. “Perhaps you have heard the story already.”
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.”
chapter 6
I called Martin Grady directly as soon as I reached the street. I let him have my report and gave him the pitch on AmPet Corporation. To expedite matters he was turning over a major block of his stock to me until the assignment was completed, when it would be returned. Meanwhile, I’d be listed as a VIP with the outfit in case anybody investigated.
I said, “Well look, I can handle myself in conversation with the general details of oil exploration and refining, but supposing somebody gets specific about the AmPet operation.”
Grady grunted and I heard a cigarette lighter flick on. “I just anticipated that. Walter Milos, one of our lab men, is in New York right now. We’ll call him from here and have him brief you on the layout. You’re a quick study so pack it in. There will be some truth there to fool anybody familiar with our processes, but nothing specific enough to give them a lead to the actual formula. Besides, what you don’t know you can’t reveal and anybody probing with leading questions will only surmise that you’re not giving anything away free.”
“Where do we meet?”
“He’ll be in another of our suites in the Calvin where Lennie is staying. He checks out tonight so get with it.”
“Roger. How’s the investigation proceeding?”
Martin Grady chuckled, something I hadn’t heard him do in a long time. “Getting nowhere fast. They’re trying for any low blow, even to ringing in the tax men, but it pays to be honest. They picked up Steuben and Les to interrogate them on the Miller affair but their alibis held.”
“Hell, they only set Miller up. One of their own men knocked him off. They should have been grateful.”
“Not those boys. What they want is our leads to their infermation. Chet passed the word that you’re on their list too, so walk softly if you can. Don’t think Hal Randolph is the friendly type. He’ll go along far enough to drop a noose over your head.”
It was my turn to laugh. Randolph had been trying it for a long time but the knot kept coming untied. “No sweat there. Randolph has to go by the book and when a page is torn out he can’t move. I’ll report through Newark Control later. Anything you think I should know?”
“It’s your project, Tiger. You’re getting too old to advise any more.”
“Thanks a bunch,” I said. “I’m still waiting for word on Pete Moore.”
“Hang on a minute.” Somebody else had come into the office and I heard a few muffled words and the soft rustle of papers. When Grady came back on again he laid out the Selachin situation as briefly as he could.
So far Pete Moore had not made contact with our people in Selachin, but rumors were out already about some peculiar business in the area and behind the Iron Curtain there was a lot of consternation in Soviet circles that had a hand in the project. As for Teddy Tedesco, there was no word. We were going to have to wait until Moore located him.
When I hung up I flagged a cab and had the driver take me to the Taft. I took the elevator up to Harry’s room, tapped on his door and called out that it was me. Still cautious, he opened the door on the chain first before he was satisfied and let me in. He still hadn’t gotten over the shakes and grinned sheepishly when I noticed it.
“It was not the excitement, sir,” he told me. “It was the worry that I would be caught, then I would be back in the desert and soon thereafter my head would be off.”
“You’re out of it now,” I reassured him. “Look, you were with that guy in
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