r invective would get him nowhere, he settled back
in his seat, said: "Aah, forget it," and started the car with a small
but perceptible jerk.

Malone decided not to get into the argument. He was tired, and it was
late. He rested his head on the back seat and tried to relax, but all
he could do was think about red Cadillacs.

He wished he had never even heard of red Cadillacs.

II.

And it had all started so simply, too. Malone remembered very clearly
the first time he had had any indication that red Cadillacs were
anything unusual, or special. Before that, he'd viewed them all with
slightly wistful eyes: red, blue, green, gray, white or even black
Cadillacs were all the same to him. They spelled luxury and wealth and
display and a lot of other nice things.

[Illustration]

Now, he wasn't at all sure what they spelled. Except that it was
definitely uncomfortable, and highly baffling.

He'd walked into the offices of Andrew J. Burris, Director of the FBI,
just one week ago. It was a beautiful office, pine paneled and spacious,
and it boasted an enormous polished desk. And behind the desk Burris
himself sat, looking both tired and somehow a little kindly.

"You sent for me, chief?" Malone said.

"That's right." Burris nodded. "Malone, you've been working too hard
lately."

Now, Malone thought, it was coming. The dismissal he'd always feared. At
least Burris had found out that he wasn't the bright, intelligent,
fearless and alert FBI agent he was supposed to be. Burris had
discovered that he was nothing more or less than lucky, and that all the
"fine jobs" he was supposed to have done were only the result of luck.

Oh, well, Malone thought. Not being an FBI agent wouldn't be so bad. He
could always find another job.

Only at the moment he couldn't think of one he liked.

He decided to make one last plea.

"I haven't been working so hard, chief," he said. "Not too hard, anyhow.
I'm in great shape. I--"

"I've taken advantage of you, Malone, that's what I've done," Burris
said, just as if Malone hadn't spoken at all. "Just because you're the
best agent I've got, that's no reason for me to hand you all the tough
ones."

"Just because I'm what?" Malone said, feeling slightly faint.

"I've given you the tough ones because you could handle them," Burris
said. "But that's no reason to keep loading jobs on you. After that job
you did on the Gorelik kidnapping, and the way you wrapped up the
Transom c