"Do you love me at all?"

I turned around and looked at this woman. She was mine now, beautiful, wise, the way a woman should be formed for a man like I was, lovely, always naked in my sight, always incredibly blond and incredibly tanned, the difference in color-or was it comparison-a shocking, sensual thing. I said, "I love you, Laura. Can I be mistaken?"

She said, "No, you can't be mistaken."

"I have to find her first. She's being hunted. Everybody is hunting her. I loved her a long time ago so I owe her that much. She asked for me."

"Find her, Mike."

I nodded. I had the other key now. "I'll find her. She's the most important thing in this old world today. What she knows will decide the fate of nations. Yes, I'll find her."

"Then will you come back?"

"Then I'll come back," I said.

Her arms reached out and encircled me, her hands holding my head, her fingers tight in my hair. I could feel every inch of her body pressed hard against mine, forcing itself to meet me, refusing to give at all.

"I'm going to fight her for you," she said.

"Why?"

"Because you're mine now."

"Girl," I said, "I'm no d.a.m.n good to anybody. Look good and you'll see a corn ear husked, you know?"

"I know. So I eat husks."

"d.a.m.n it, don't fool around!"

"Mike!"

"Laura-"

"You say it nice, Mike-but there's something in your voice that's terrible and I can sense it. If you find her, what will you do?"

"I can't tell."

"Will you still come back?"

"d.a.m.n it, I don't know."

"Why don't you know, Mike?"

I looked down at her. "Because I don't know what I'm really like anymore. Look-do you know what I was was? Do you know that a judge and jury took me down and the whole world once ripped me to little bits? It was only Velda who stayed with me then."

"That was then. How long ago was it?"

"Nine years maybe."

"Were you married?"

"No."

"Then I can claim part of you. I've had part of you." She let go of me and stood back, her eyes calm as they looked into mine. "Find her, Mike. Make your decision. Find her and take her. Have you ever had her at all?"

"No."

"You've had me me. Maybe you're more mine than hers."

"Maybe."

"Then find her." She stepped back, her hands at her side. "If what you said was true then she deserves this much. You find her, Mike. I'm willing to fight anybody for you-but not somebody you think is dead. Not somebody you think you owe a debt to. Let me love you my own way. It's enough for me at least. Do you understand that?"

For a while we stood there. I looked at her. I looked away. I said, "Yes, I understand."

"Come back when you've decided."

"You have all of Washington to entertain."

Laura shook her head. Her hair was a golden swirl and she said, "The h.e.l.l with Washington. I'll be waiting for you."

Velda, Laura. The names were so similar. Which one? After seven years of nothingness, which one? Knowing what I did, which one? Yesterday was then. Today was now. Which one?

I said, "All right, Laura, I'll find out, then I'll come back."

"Take my car."

"Thanks."

And now I had to take her. My fingers grabbed her arms and pulled her close to where I could kiss her and taste the inside of her mouth and feel the sensuous writhing of her tongue against mine because this was the woman I knew I was coming back to.

The Girl Hunters Girl Hunters. We all wanted the same one and for reasons of a long time ago. We would complete the hunt, but what would we do with the kill?

She said, "After that you shouldn't leave."

"I have to," I said.

"Why?"

"She had to get in this country someway. I think I know how."

"You'll find her, then come back?"

"Yes," I said, and let my hands roam over her body so that she knew there could never be anybody else, and when I was done I held her off and made her stay there while I went inside to put on the gun and the coat and go back to the new Babylon that was the city.

CHAPTER 11.

And once again it was night, the city coming into its nether life like a minion of Count Dracula. The bright light of day that could strip away the facade of sham and lay bare the coating of dirt was gone now, and to the onlooker the unreal became real, the dirt had changed into subtle colors under artificial lights and it was as if all of that vast pile of concrete and steel and gla.s.s had been built only to live at night.

I left the car at the Sportsmen's Parking Lot on the corner of Eighth and Fifty-second, called Hy Gardner and told him to meet me at the Blue Ribbon on Forty-fourth, then started my walk to the restaurant thinking of the little things I should have thought of earlier.

The whole thing didn't seem possible, all those years trapped in Europe. You could walk around the world half a dozen times in seven years. But you wouldn't be trapped then. The thing was, they were were trapped. Had Velda or Erlich been amateurs they would have been captured without much trouble, but being pros they edged out. Almost. That made Velda even better than he had been. trapped. Had Velda or Erlich been amateurs they would have been captured without much trouble, but being pros they edged out. Almost. That made Velda even better than he had been.

Somehow, it didn't seem possible.

But it was.

Hy had reached the Blue Ribbon before me and waited at a table sipping a stein of rich, dark beer. I nodded at the waiter and he went back for mine. We ordered, ate, and only then did Hy bother to give me his funny look over the cigar he lit up. "It's over?"

"It won't be long now."

"Do we talk about it here?"

"Here's as good as any. It's more than you can put in your column."

"You let me worry about s.p.a.ce."

So he sat back and let me tell him what I had told Laura, making occasional notes, because now was the time to make notes. I told him what I knew and what I thought and where everybody stood, and every minute or so he'd glance up from his sheets with an expression of pure incredulity, shake his head and write some more. When the implications of the total picture began really to penetrate, his teeth clamped down on the cigar until it was half hanging out of his mouth unlit, then he threw it down on his plate and put a fresh one in its place.

When I finished he said, "Mike-do you realize what you have hold of?"

"I know."

"How can you stay so d.a.m.n calm?"

"Because the rough part has just started."

"Ye G.o.ds, man-"

"You know what's missing, don't you?"

"Sure. You're missing something in the head. You're trying to stand off a whole political scheme that comes at you with every force imaginable no matter where you are. Mike, you don't fight these guys alone!"

"Nuts. It looks like I have to. I'm not exactly an accredited type character. Who would listen to me?"

"Couldn't this Art Rickerby-"

"He has one purpose in mind. He wants whoever killed Richie Cole."

"That doesn't seem likely. He's a trained federal agent."

"So what? When something hits you personally, patriotism can go by the boards awhile. There are plenty of other agents. He wants a killer and knows I'll eventually come up with him. Like Velda's a key to one thing, I'm a key to another. They think that I'm going to stumble over whatever it was Richie Cole left for me. I know what it was now. So do you, don't you?"

"Yes," Hy said. "It was Velda's location, wherever she is."

"That's right. They don't know if I know or if I'll find out. You can d.a.m.n well bet that they know he stayed alive waiting for me to show. They can't even be sure if he just clued me. They can't be sure of anything, but they know that I have to stay alive if they want to find Velda too."

Hy's eyes went deep in thought. "Alive? They tried to shoot you twice, didn't they?"

"Fine, but neither shot connected and I can't see a top a.s.sa.s.sin missing a shot. Both times I was a perfect target."

"Why the attempt then?"

"I'll tell you why," I said. I leaned on the table feeling my hands go open and shut wanting to squeeze the life out of somebody. "Both tries were deliberately sour. They were pushing me. They wanted me to move fast, and if anything can stir a guy up it's getting shot at. If I had anything to hide or to work at, it would come out in a hurry."

"But you didn't bring anything out?"

I grinned at him and I could see my reflection in the gla.s.s facing of the autographed pictures behind his head. It wasn't a pretty face at all, teeth and hate and some wildness hard to describe. "No, I didn't. So now I'm a real target because I know too much. They know I don't don't have Velda's location and from now on I can only be trouble to them. I'll bet you that right now a hunt is on for me." have Velda's location and from now on I can only be trouble to them. I'll bet you that right now a hunt is on for me."

"Mike-if you called Pat-"

"Come off it. He's no friend anymore. He'll do anything to nail my a.s.s down and don't you forget it."

"Does he know the facts?"

"No. The h.e.l.l with him."

Hy pushed his gla.s.ses up on his head, frowning. "Well, what are you going to do?"

"Do, old buddy? I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going after the missing piece. If I weren't so d.a.m.n slow after all those years I would have caught it before. I'm going after the facts that can wrap up the ball game and you're going with me."

"But you said-"

"Uh-uh. I didn't say anything. I don't don't know where she is, but I do know a few other things. Richie Cole came blasting back into this country when he shouldn't have and ducked out to look for me. That had a big fat meaning and I m.u.f.fed it. d.a.m.n it, I m.u.f.fed it!" know where she is, but I do know a few other things. Richie Cole came blasting back into this country when he shouldn't have and ducked out to look for me. That had a big fat meaning and I m.u.f.fed it. d.a.m.n it, I m.u.f.fed it!"

"But how?"

"Come on, Hy-Richie was a sailor-he smuggled her on the ship he came in on. He never left her in Europe! He got her back in this country!" He never left her in Europe! He got her back in this country!"

He put the cigar down slowly, getting the implication.

I said, "He had to smuggle her out, otherwise they would have killed her. If they took a plane they would have blown it over the ocean, or if she sailed under an a.s.sumed name and cover ident.i.ty they would have had enough time to locate her and a pa.s.senger would simply fall overboard. No, he smuggled her out. He got her on that ship and got her into this country."

"You make it sound easy."

"Sure it's easy! You think there wasn't some cooperation with others in the crew! Those boys love to outfox the captain and the customs. What would they care as long as it was on Cole's head? He was on a tramp steamer and they can do practically anything on those babies if they know how and want to. Look, you want me to cite you examples?"

"I know it could be done."

"All right, then here's the catch. Richie realized how close The Dragon was to Velda when they left. He had no time. He had to act on his own. This was a project bigger than any going in the world at the time, big enough to break regulations for. He got her out-but he didn't underestimate the enemy either. He knew they'd figure it and be waiting.

"They were, too," I continued. "The Dragon was there all right, and he followed Cole thinking he was going to an appointed place where he had already hidden Velda, but when he realized that Cole wasn't doing anything of the kind he figured the angles quickly. He shot Cole, had to leave because of the crowd that collected and didn't have a chance until later to reach Old Dewey, then found out about me. Don't ask me the details about how how they can do it-they have resources at their fingertips everywhere. Later he went back, killed Dewey, didn't find the note Cole left and had to stick with me to see where I led him." they can do it-they have resources at their fingertips everywhere. Later he went back, killed Dewey, didn't find the note Cole left and had to stick with me to see where I led him."