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.The FBI loaned them to us; we have file copies that I borrow over theweekends.""The paintings and drawings, are they all at home?""Yes, in a file folder.""Tonight I want you to throw them all away.Forget you ever did them.instead, you'll remember having spent the time watching television.And youwill never draw or paint a picture of me again.""Okay.""You will forget that you ever suspected I was Foley.If anyone else suspectsthat while I'm here, you will tell me immediately.And not let the otherperson know you've told me." He nodded."You will follow these commandswithout remembering that I gave them to you.You came to the men's room because you had to urinate.After I count to three,you will use the urinal and then return to our table with me.You will remember nothing of our conversation.One.two.""Wait." He had a pained look."Yes?""I-I'm confused.It's as if.it's like I have to do anything you say.""That's right.""But why?""Three." He turned to the urinal and used it while I waited at the door.Walking back to the table, he looked puzzled."What's wrong?""I don't know.Fugue state, I guess.Like my brain put in the clutch for aminute." Nervous laugh."This Foley business, I guess.It's getting to me."The next morning I showed up at the office at nine and met all the staff asthey reported to work.One by one, I managed to get them alone and ask, withthe aid of the watch, whether they passed information on to the KGB.Thethird, Roberta Bender, said yes.Iasked her to come up to my hotel room after work, giving her the number of theextra room I'd arranged for, in case I had to talk to someone in private.Ididn't think the CIA routinely bugged the rooms of visiting firemen, but thiswas far from being a routine case.She knocked on the door promptly at 5:30.She was a single woman in herforties, figure well cared for, face handsome but hard under too muchwell-applied makeup.I had a vague sense that I'd seen her before, but wasn'tsure where.She had probably picked up one of my dead drops.I installed her in the easy chair and found my notebook, then sat on the bedacross from her."I'm going to ask you several questions.You will give me detailed answers.When I say, 'Forget this,' you will gohome, have some dinner, go to bed, and sleep soundly.When you get home, youwill forget having met me." She nodded.I asked whether she was beingmonitored, and she said no."Is your KGB contact Vladimir Borachev?""No.I know him, of course, from the office and what Jake said about theirmeeting.My contact is Mr.Tarakan."Mister Cockroach."-Do you speak Russian?""I didn't understand that.I don't speak Russian.""Do you meet with Tarakan regularly?""I go to the statue of Samuel Eliot Morison, on Commonwealth, every otherWednesday at noon.He is often there.We walk through the Common and talk.""Why do you do it?""They pay me the same as my salary, in cash."Page 48ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Patriotism or love of communism doesn't enter into it?""No," she said harshly."It's a game.""Do you know what's happened to Valerie Foley?""She's being held.""Where?""I don't know.Tarakan said she's not in Boston, anymore.""Is she all right?""The last I heard, she was.But now there's this new man on her case.""The Scalpel." Jefferson had told me about him."He wants to find Foley and send him one of her ears.That's worked before.Then another ear and so forth.""They're that sure Foley wouldn't call the police?""They seem to be.I'm not.""Why?""They're acting as if Foley is a normal person.But he obviously isn't; he's amadman.There's no way to tell what he might do.I think he wants her dead.Otherwise he would have done something with whatever that power of his is."That stopped me for a moment.Could there be truth in that? Ichanged the subject."Do you have any idea why you report to Tarakan ratherthan Borachev?""I think they knew years ago that Borachev was unreliable.It certainly hasturned out to be the case.Maybe everyone working underBorachev has a counterpart working with Tarakan.He's implied that.""What has Tarakan said about Foley?""He doesn't say much about anything.He listens.But, let me see, he did sayhe expected Foley to return to Boston and that we would know when that was,unless he drives up.and he doesn't have a licens e.The FBI's watching allthe airports and so forth, and we have someone pretty high up there.""All right.Will you be meeting Tarakan tomorrow?""If he comes."I was trying to remember what that area looked like."After you meet him atthe statue, do you go through the Public Garden on the way to the Common?""Yes, always.""I'll meet you mere.You won't show any sign of recognizing me."She nodded."Forget this." She picked up her coat and left without a word.So it would be soon now.Time to start carrying the gun again, or guns.Istill had the small automatic I'd taken from the dope dealer the night I leftBoston, as well as the modified nine-millimeter Browning I'dbought in Iowa long ago.I took the shoulder harness out of my luggage andtightened up a couple of straps to make it fit my new frame.It lookeddisappointingly obvious with the new suit coats; I'd long since gotten rid ofthe one that had been tailored to conceal it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]