ooths, catering to people weary
of eavesdropping and overheard conversations. Shandor ordered beers,
then lit a smoke and leaned back facing Ann Ingersoll. It occurred to
him that she was exceptionally lovely, but he was almost frightened by
the look on her face, the suppressed excitement, the cold, bitter lines
about her mouth. Incongruously, the thought crossed his mind that he'd
hate to have this woman against him. She looked as though she would be
capable of more than he'd care to tangle with. For all her lovely face
there was an edge of thin ice to her smile, a razor-sharp, dangerous
quality that made him curiously uncomfortable. But now she was nervous,
withdrawing a cigarette from his pack with trembling fingers, fumbling
with his lighter until he struck a match for her. "Now," he said. "Why
the secrecy?"

She glanced at the closed door to the booth. "Mother would kill me if
she knew I was helping you. She hates you, and she hates the Public
Information Board. I think dad hated you, too."

Shandor took the folded letter from his pocket. "Then what do you think
of this?" he asked softly. "Doesn't this strike you a little odd?"

She read Ingersoll's letter carefully, then looked up at Tom, her eyes
wide with surprise. "So this is what that note was. This doesn't wash,
Tom."

"You're telling me it doesn't wash. Notice the wording. 'I believe that
man alone is qualified to handle this assignment.' Why me? And of all
things, why me _alone_? He knew my job, and he fought me and the PIB
every step of his career. Why a note like this?"

She looked up at him. "Do you have any idea?"

"Sure, I've got an idea. A crazy one, but an idea. I don't think he
wanted me because of the writing. I think he wanted me because I'm a
propagandist."

She scowled. "It still doesn't wash. There are lots of
propagandists--and why would he want a propagandist?"

Shandor's eyes narrowed. "Let's let it ride for a moment. How about his
files?"

"In his office in the State Department."

"He didn't keep anything personal at home?"

Her eyes grew wide. "Oh, no, he wouldn't have dared. Not the sort of
work he was doing. With his files under lock and key in the State
Department nothing could be touched without his knowledge, but at home
anybody might have walked in."

"Of course. How about enemies? Did he have any particular enemies?"

She laughed humorlessly. "Name anybody in the current administration. I
think he had more enemies t