‘Caracas.’
‘Programmed.’
‘Tracking.’
‘Programmed.’
‘Route and intersect.’
‘Routing... intersection .. . we have one candidate.’ ‘Name.’
‘Hinge.’
‘Subfile and reselect.’
‘Subfiled and reprogrammed.’
‘Delete tracking.
‘Tracking deleted.’
‘Route and intersect.’
‘Routing ... intersection ... we have four candidates.’
‘Names.’
‘Falmouth, Gazinsky, Hinge, Kimoto.’
‘File and hold.’
‘Filed ... holding.’
A long pause, then Quill said, ‘Delete Kimoto.’
‘Kimoto deleted.’
‘Hold.’
‘Holding.’
Another pause. Then: ‘Readout ... Falmouth, team ops, A-level.’
‘Falmouth, Tony ... prefers solo ops . . . two previous team ops.. . maximum team size: three.. . commander: one ops... command effectiveness rating: A-plus. . . overall effectiveness rating: A-plus, A-plus.’
‘Delete readout.’
‘Readout deleted.’
‘Readout ... Gazinsky, team ops,. A-level.’
‘Gazinsky, Rado ... four previous teams ops ... commander: one ops ... command effectiveness rating: C .. . overall effectiveness rating: C, A-minus, B, B-plus.’
‘File overall effectiveness rating and delete.’
‘Information deleted... holding.
‘Readout... Hinge, team ops, A—level.’
‘Hinge, Raymond ... four previous team ops ... commander: two ops . . . command effectiveness rating: A, B- plus
overall effectiveness rating: A, B-plus, A, B-plus.’
‘Intersect overall effectiveness rating and score.’
‘Intersection ... scoring: Falmouth, A-plus ... Hinge, A-minus ... Gazinsky, B.’
Falmouth and Hinge were obviously the best men for the job.
As was his custom, Falmouth placed a long-distance call to a 404 area code at eleven o’clock. The telephone was in a small efficiency apartment on the Buford Highway in Atlanta. The apartment contained a small desk, a chair and a telephone with a Code-A-Phone 1400 answering machine. Falmouth paid the rent by the year. Since the phone was used only to collect incoming calls, the bill was fixed and was paid each month by money order. ft answered on the first ring and the recorded voice said: ‘Hello, this is the University Magazine Service. At the tone, please leave your name, number and the time you called. Thank you.’ A beep followed.
Falmouth held a small yellow plastic beeper to the mouthpiece of the phone and pressed the button on the side. A series of musical tones emitted from the beeper. Falmouth could hear the tape in the answering machine rewinding.
‘Skit,’ he said to himself.
The first call was transmitted.
‘This is Quill, eleven-ten, Thursday, 730-037-370. Urgent.’ The second call was almost the same:
‘Quill, eleven fifty-five, Thursday, 730-037-370. Red urgent. One hour.’
Deciphered, that meant Quill had a hot one and needed to make contact with Falmouth within an hour. Falmouth looked at his watch. It was twelve-ten. He had forty-five minutes to get back to Quill.
He had to make a decision fast. Time was running out. Howe had three days left to deliver O’Hara. But if Falmouth failed to call Quill, it could blow his whole plan. His back was against the wall, He decided to make the call.
