Free Shadow of the Condor by James Grady Page A

case officer were sketchy."
    The other man laughed. "They would be. He didn't think much of our outfit, didn't like to ' work with the CO until he had pretty much finished everything himself. Then he'd giye them one of his ten-pound reports, complete with charts, notes, pictures, the whole schmeer, all of which justified the way he worked, even if the project wasn't worth a damn. Kept the Firm from coming down on him too hard. Parky always said the brass mucked things up if they got involved.
    Kevin's companion took a small swig of beer before continuing. "You sure you want everything? It might take awhile."
    Kevin looked around. They sat at a table in the far comer opposite the door. The booth behind them was empty, the crowd was light. The nearest person sat almost fifteen feet away. Kevin faced the door and the bar. He could see anyone who approached their table. He doubted the place was bugged, and the odds of an agent entering the bar and recognizing the two of them seemed slim. "We have all the time we need. I want everything you cangive me.
    The other man shrugged and began. "I first met him at the introductory briefing the general gave our section, The old 'good luck team' speech. We didn't talk much, and I didn't really get to know him until we both turned up in the English section two months afterward. Then. . . ."
    Two hours later Kevin stifled a yawn. He wasn't bored, he was tired. The eager, hopeful concentration his listening entailed was more difficult than physical labor. The little man talked almost steadily, with little prompting from Kevin. The little man liked to talk, and that plus some of the stories he told made Kevin very glad, the little man and he were not working together. The reminiscences left straight, chronological narrative and were now well into the impressions stage. With five beers under his belt, the general's man was also becoming less concise. Kevin was afraid to cut his ramblings too shot. One never knew what tidbit turned out to be important.
    ". . . and so that's why Parky kept the extra London flat, a nice place to go to ground. Actually, I think he never intended to use it for that. I think it was a nice little pad for Parky to play in, but he got the old general to foot the bill.
    "Parky always liked England , though for the life of me I can't see why. Miserable weather. Duty pay there not so great. He said it was a good country to have as a backup too. Once he told me you could depend on them to hold things for you." Kevin’s mind clicked. "What? What do you mean, hold things for you?"
    The little man shrugged. "I don't know. He never said. He just said you could depend on them to hold things for you.
    Carefully trying not to frighten the slightly drunk man by showing too much eagerness, Kevin leaned forward and said, "Well, do you remember why he said it, what you were talking about?"
    "Hmm." The little man swayed back in his chair, frowning, his eyes closed. "Let me think, let me think. Oh, that's right, I remember. It was in "seventy-three, right after one of our boys in Rome lost a bunch of stuff. We never figured out whether the opposition burgled him or he just lost it. Parky kind of thought somebody ripped him off. He said that would have been easy 'cause everybody, including the CO, was so careless and stupid. I remember I asked him if he meant me. It made me pretty mad, him saying we were all a little stupid. I don't figure I'm stupid."
    Kevin swallowed, resisting an urge to contradict the man. "And what did he say?"
    His companion opened his eyes. "Well, what do you think he said? That I was stupid?"
    Kevin quickly held up a hand to hush the Air Force ace. "No, not about that, and watch your voice! What did he say about England holding things?"
    "Oh, that. He after he told me I wasn’t stupid, you understand-he said you could always depend on England's government to hold things for you, that the guy in Rome should have sent the stuff to the English because their