Free Hamilton, Donald - Matt Helm 14 by The Intriguers (v1.1)

and clicking.
Audibility wasn't even as good as the last time. When the familiar voice came
on, I could barely hear it. We went through the same identification procedure
as before.
                "Where are you, Eric?"
                I tilted the receiver so the girl
could hear. " Tucson , Arizona , sir," I said. "I had the bright
idea of spending the night at the ranch. That way I could start east with a
good, safe night's sleep, I figured, but I was wrong."
                "What's the matter?"
                "Have you had any contact with
the ranch recently, sir?"
                "Not for a week or so. There's
been no reason. Why?"
                "Something is very haywire
there," I said. "I ran into a deadfall, only it didn't fall quite
hard enough. I need a cleanup squad. Tell the boys to take State Road I gave the coordinates.
                "Tell them to look for a white
Falcon four-door and two bodies. One's in the car, the other was thrown out and
wound up in a little wash about twenty yards east of the shortest line between
the car and the road, about halfway out. A dreadful accident. You know how
treacherous those desert roads can be. They were driving too fast and failed to
make a curve. What did you say, sir?"
                "Nothing." There was a
little silence. "Did you determine the identities of these two men?"
                "Yes, sir. What's the Bureau of
Internal Security?"
                There was another pause. "I'm
afraid that's Herbert Leonard's private police force, Eric."
                "I see," I said slowly.
"He's got a special bunch of snoops to snoop on us snoops-with the highest
patriotic motives, of course. Well, he's got three less of them now, if
yesterday's marksman was one, and I think he was." I waited, but Mac did
not speak, so I said, "Even though the man has personal reasons not to like
me, dating from the last time we met, I can't believe he's merely engaging in a
private vendetta using government personnel. What's he actually doing, sir,
making war on our whole outfit? Wiping us out wherever he finds us? Jesus!
Either he's got delusions of grandeur, sicking one
government agency on another like that, or-"
                "Or what, Eric?"
                "Or they're not delusions. He's
got reason to think he'll have support higher up, even in murder. Of course, he
wouldn't call it murder, would he? He'd figure out some good disciplinary
reason. What excuse is he using in my case, sir?"
                The voice on the phone sounded
distant and very tired. "I don't know," it said softly. "I just
don't know. Of course, we've never been a very popular agency. Probably he's
afraid of us after the way we upset his plans a couple of years ago; he's
making certain it doesn't happen again. We've already lost several good agents
for bureaucratic or security reasons. He has scrutinized the files very
carefully and taken advantage of every slight irregularity. I didn't realize
what was happening in the field. I was aware that some of our people were
failing to report on schedule, but this often happens. I didn't realize. .
." His voice trailed off.
                I said, "Well, you'd better
pass the word for the boys and girls to take cover until the storm blows
over."
                "I wish I could be optimistic
enough to think it will," he said wearily. "But the political
situation here in Washington is very tense. All kinds of people are recommending all kinds of
violent and repressive measures to deal with people and movements they don't
like. Leonard is apparently just taking advantage of the general climate of
opinion to move himself into a position of real power. Since he sees us as an
obstacle, I'm afraid his intention is to decimate us to the last man on one
excuse or another. What the original reason was in your case, I have no idea,
but now that three