you ingrate."

"There's a dame called Paula Ralston. Runs a business called Ralston
Personnel Consultants. How soon can you get anything on her?"

"How soon do you need it?"

"Today, if possible. You can call me at home. Any hour."

After promising Frank to meet him for lunch one day Harry sank into an
easy chair and tried to shake the unnerving effect the seven men had had
on him.

Maybe he shouldn't have called Frank. This might be something he should
have informed the army about. No. They'd want to know what business he
had seeing the seven men in the first place. He didn't have much of an
answer for that one.

* * * * *

Driving along Woodward Street toward Fourth Avenue, Harry was beset with
one nagging question. Why had Paula Ralston never brought any of her
clients to see him before? He was the dispenser of over a hundred good
jobs that offered high salaries. The answer was just as persistent as
the question. _Lab Technician was the only security job he handled._ She
was determined that one of her men get that job at any cost.

It wasn't a very pleasant thought. Harry didn't want to believe it. He
didn't want to believe that Paula Ralston was going to mean trouble for
him. And yet he knew that's exactly what she meant.

* * * * *

She was waiting for him at Maria's. She kissed him as he slipped into
the booth beside her. Through four drinks and a six-course dinner he
watched her smile. That smile could melt down the door on a bank vault.
He noticed how she laughed at all of his wisecracks. When it was her
turn to talk she talked about him. She offered a toast to their closer
friendship, with special emphasis on the word "closer."

But she did not mention the seven men. That was the smart approach,
Harry ventured. She'd save that until she got home and slipped into
something more comfortable.

* * * * *

He stood alone in Paula's living room nursing a scotch on the rocks. The
night before he had been too concerned about his progress with this
latter-day Aphrodite to give a damn about the place she lived in. He
glanced around the room. Every inch reeked of success. The furniture was
sleek, modern, exquisitely contoured ... like its owner. There wasn't
much question about it, Paula Ralston made a lot more dough than he did.
But how? That was the question.

She came out of the bedroom and mixed herself a drin