Free The Fracas Factor by Mack Reynolds Page B

work turn out otherwise?”
    “I think I’ve made a good contact. I don’t know if you’ve met Freddy Soligen. I guess not. He was the telly reporter who tried to build up my image in the eyes of the fracas buffs. At any rate, he’s had the dream of bettering his condition under People’s Capitalism as long as I have. And he’s a fighter. Ambitious. He’s also one of the most experienced reporters in the Category Communications. He wants to get out of reporting the fracases. I suggested to him that possibly we could swing him into a job as a Rank Commentator, if he joined our team.”
    Nadine considered it, and said finally, “I don’t see why not. Both Frank Hodgson and Phil Holland have close personal friends, school chums and that sort of thing, in Communications.”
    “Organization members?”
    “No, I don’t think so. Just friends, but the kind of friends you can twist an arm on, when it comes to a favor.”
    Joe grimaced and said, “You know, it occurs to me that in all of these months the only members of the organization I’ve ever met were you, Frank Hodgson, Phil Holland and General George Armstrong in Budapest, and you’re all in the upper echelons of the organization. I haven’t met a single other member, except those new two hundred headed by Zavala down in Mexico.”
    She shook her head, laughed, and said, “Haven’t you figured that out, Joe? We don’t want anybody else to know about you. You’ve become our ace trouble-shooter. If you’re not known, you can’t be betrayed. And any subversive organization is rotten ripe for betrayal. If any Category Security or Nathan Hale Society members have infiltrated our ranks at a lower level, our plans will be ruined.”
    “I suppose so,” he said and switching subjects. “How’d you make out today?”
    “As I told you, we have an appointment with Doctor Lawrence Mitfield, the head of the Sons of Liberty. Happily, he’s right here in the area. Over in the Richmond section of Greater Washington.”
    “I’ve just vaguely heard of this Sons of Liberty group. What do they stand for?”
    “I don’t really know. I understand that they’ve put out various pamphlets and that they have an underground newspaper. They’re on the Category Security list as a subversive organization. But that doesn’t mean much. You can be listed as a subversive if you prefer vanilla ice cream instead of the chocolate that Wallace Pepper, the head of the North American Bureau of Investigation, likes.”
    “Yeah,” Joe said in resignation. “When do we go see this Doctor Mitfield?”
    “Now.”
    Phil Holland nodded and said, “It seems to me I’ve heard of them myself. Have you any idea at all of how to make contact?”
    She said, “As I recall, A Doctor Lawrence Mitfield is the Greater Washington head. They have various branches throughout the country.”
    Holland stood, having finished his drink. “All right. You two look him up and sound him out. Meanwhile, my dear, I think that I should refrain from seeing too much of you, much though I hate to say it. Your brother may get ideas as a result of our association, much as he has seemingly done with Joe, here.” He looked at Joe. “As I said, we’ve got to speed up our recruiting, especially among those who have connections with publicity, news reporting, that sort of thing. When our day of action comes, we’ve got to be able to contact people wholesale. If you have any ideas, utilize them.”
    ‘I’ll work on it,’ Joe said. “Only remember that I have damn little background or experience except in the world of the fracases.”
    “Okay,” Holland said. “I’ve got to get back to the office.” He smiled cynically. “And do the work of the Upper who is supposedly our Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
    When he was gone, Nadine stood and came over to Joe. She took his hand and said impishly, “Come along.”
    She seemed a different Nadine than the one he had known. Mystified, he came to his feet and let