et it."

"Come on, now," Malone said. "I know that room was bugged, just as
well as you do. It was the sensible thing for you to pull, and you
pulled it. You've got the whole thing recorded, haven't you?"

"Me?" Lynch said. "Why would I--"

"Oh, cut it out," Malone said impatiently. "Let's not play games,
okay?"

There was a second of silence.

"All right," Lynch said. "So I recorded the conversation. Kill me.
Crucify me. I'm stealing FBI secrets. I'm a spy secretly working for a
foreign power. Take me out and electrocute me."

"I don't want to fight you," Malone said wearily. "So you've got the
stuff recorded. That's your business."

"My business?"

"Sure," Malone said cheerfully. "As long as you don't try to use it."

"Now, Malone--" Lynch began.

"This is touchy stuff," Malone said. "We're going to have to take a
lot of care in handling it. And I don't want you throwing raids all
over the place and mixing everything up."

"Malone, I--"

"Eventually," Malone said, "I'm going to need your help with these
kids. But for right now, I want to handle this my way, without any
interference."

"I wouldn't think of--"

"You wanted information," Malone said. "Fine. That's all right with
me. You got the information, and that's okay too. But if you try to
use it before I say the word, I'll--I'll talk to good old Uncle John
Henry Fernack. And he'll help me out; he'll give you a refresher
course on How To Be A Beat Cop. In Kew Gardens. It's nice and lonely
out there now, Lynch, You'd love it."

"Malone," Lynch said tiredly.

"Don't give me any arguments," Malone said. "I don't want any
arguments."

"I won't argue with you, Malone," Lynch said. "I've been trying to
tell you something."

Malone stepped away from the desk. "All right," he said. "Go ahead."

Lynch took a deep breath. "Malone, I'm not trying to queer your
pitch," he said. "If I were going to pull a raid, here's what I'd have
to do: get my own cops together, then call the precinct that covers
that old warehouse. We don't cover the warehouse from here, Malone,
and we'd need the responsible precinct's aid in anything we did down
there."

Malone said, "Well, all I--"

"Not only that," Lynch said. "I'd have to call Safe and Loft, and get
them in on it. A warehouse raid would probably be their baby first of
all. That means it takes this precinct, the warehouse precinct, and
the Safe and Loft Squad, all together, to raid that warehouse. Malone,
wo