Dead Men's Dust

    'This better be good,' grunted a man's voice.

    'That'll depend on your perspective,' I grunted right back.

    'My perspective is always from the bottom of a deep dark place, you should know that by now.'

    My laughter was humorless. 'You should get out more. Get a little sunshine on your face. You spend too much time in your little cubbyhole.'

    'Tell me about it,' the man said. Over the line came a minuscule shift in the white noise as buttons were flicked. 'You can speak now, Hunter. Line's secure.'

    'I've got a favor to ask,' I told him.

    'So much for the pleasantries, huh? Straight down to business. Even after all this time.'

    'No time for pleasantries, I'm afraid. It could be that we're sitting on opposite sides of the fence on this one.'

    I heard the creak of leather: Walter Hayes Conrad IV shifting uneasily in his chair. By that subtle shift of his body, I knew I'd struck an uneasy chord with him.

    'Opposite sides of the fence? I thought you were no longer in the game, Hunter?'

    'I'm not in your game.'

    'So you're still retired?'

    'Retired, yeah, but not out to pasture yet.'

    'I take it this is a private job we're talking about, then?'

    'It was private until I heard some of your boys might be involved.'

    'Oh?' Walter shifted again, and I could visualize him reaching for the on switch for the recorder.

    'Just give me a minute before you make our conversation public,' I said.

'Like I said, Hunter, the line's secure.'

'Yeah, so let's keep it that way for now?'

    'You know I can't promise you that, Hunter. If this concerns one of our operations, I can't let it go off the record.'

    I sniffed. 'All I'm asking is that you confirm if the CIA is involved.'

    'That'll depend.'

    'I appreciate that. I'm not asking for specifics. A simple yes or no will do.'

    'Then the answer's no.'

    'Is that what you term plausible denial?'

    'Nah, there's nothing plausible about it.'

    'You're right there,' I said. 'Considering I haven't even told you what job I'm involved in.'

    'There's no need. I haven't heard your name mentioned, Hunter.'

    'Well, there's a surprise,' I said.

    'We did wonder what you were doing on our home soil,' Walter said. Walter doesn't offer information for nothing.

    'So you knew I was in the country?'

    'Of course. What kind of intelligence community doesn't track foreign agents flying in?'

    'I'm not a foreign agent, Walt. I'm retired. Remember?'

    'Same difference.'

    It wasn't overly surprising that my presence in the USA had rung warning bells. Neither would it surprise me if Walter had already made calls to my old commanders at Arrowsake to check that I wasn't back on the payroll of the British government. Or—worse case scenario— that I was on someone else's payroll.

    'You needn't worry, Walter. I haven't turned to the dark side.'

    Walter laughed as if he were choking on a bitter pill.

    'So what's the deal? I know you hooked up with Jared Rington. Believe me, Hunter, we dropped it there. Not interested.'

'Rink's with me now,' I said. 'He says hi.'

'I'm sure he does,' Walter said scornfully. All part of the act.

    'I find it hard to believe that you aren't wondering what I'm up to,' I said.

    'To be honest, we ain't the least bit interested. Far as we're concerned you're here visiting your old buddy. We're prepared to leave it at that. So long as nothing else comes to our attention.'

    'Appreciate it, Walt. But now that I have come to your attention, how are you going to play it?'

    Walter sucked air through his teeth. Not the nicest sound in your ear. 'Depends on the job you're about to describe.'

    'The one you've already told me you're not involved in?'