somewhere for the CIA. That way he doesn’t have to account for you for maybe a year, until the file is reviewed. So a couple of months from now he’ll send down a report that your assignment fell through, then he’ll report that you’ve retired. As far as your file goes, nobody will ever know you were on the run for a year, dodging his fuckin’ goons.’
Rothschild typed in ‘ACCESS,PHOTO.SUBJECT,CURRENT’ and the letters appeared across the bottom of the monitor screen. He punched the return button on the keyboard and a computerized photo of O’Hara appeared on the screen. He was iii a navy uniform.
‘Hell, that picture was taken when I was in the Navy!’ O’Hara said.
‘You look like a child,’ said Joli.
‘It gets weird sometimes,’ said the Magician.
‘How did you get onto this thing, Michael?’
‘Would you believe I read about it in the New York Times? At first I thought it was just an expensive toy. Then I started realizing the potential. Man, I can tap into the Times, the Washington Post, United Press, You name it, I got it.’
‘Look, I think Izzy’s just great. Right now I’ve got other things on my mind.’
‘If you’re worried about missing Falmouth — I mean, if that’s what’s got you edgy, forget it. Falmouth told me to give you the letter whenever you showed up. lie said if the situation changed, he’d call me and I was to barn the envelope. So far he hasn’t called. If he does, I’ll tell him you’re on your way.’
‘What letter?’
Rothschild reached into a slot in the roll top desk and pulled out a business-size envelope and gave it to O’Hara.
‘You’re going to a travel agency in Fort Lauderdale,’ Rothschild said casually. ‘The agent there, a dame named Jackowitz, has your plans.’
O’Hara looked up at Rothschild. ‘You read my mail,’ he said with indignation.
Rothschild slumped and stared contritely at the floor. ‘Force of habit,’ he said. ‘I know it’s awful. Forgive me.’
‘He does it all the time, everybody’s mail,’ Joli said.
The envelope contained a ticket to Fort Lauderdale and a slip of paper with ‘See Carole Jackowitz, Anders Travel Agency,’ and the address and phone number of the agency written on
‘Doesn’t waste words, does he,’ Rothschild said.
‘What kind of merry-go-round is this? Why not send me straight to Lauderdale, why here?’
‘I guess because he trusts me. This Jackowitz woman is a travel agent. He needed me as a go-between in case something went wrong.’
‘Something went wrong with what?’
‘Whatever you two are up to. He didn’t tell me a thing, Sailor, just that the sanction had been lifted on you and he was expecting to meet up with you and it was very hush-hush, not something to gossip about. That’s all I know.’ He leaned over toward O’Hara with eyebrows arched quizzically and whispered, ‘Want to tell me about it?’
‘Oui,’ said Joli, ‘We have been trying to guess what it is for weeks.’
‘Not yet,’ O’Hara said.
‘Shit. My curiosity’s been eating me alive for three goddamn months and you say “Not yet.”
‘I don’t have anything to tell you.’
‘Well, you can be out of here at seven tonight and be in Miami by ten. Or you can wait until tomorrow morning and we’ll demolish this bottle of brandy and catch up on the past two years.’
‘I vote for the bottle,’ Joli said, offering another round.
‘Michael, I’ve been from Japan to Boston to here in less than three days. My tail is dragging. I’ve got jet lag. But the suspense is driving mc berserk and I’m gonna stay berserk until I find out what’s going on with Falmouth and I won’t know doodly-shit until I catch up with him. So, Joli, pour us some more brandy and make damn sure my jet’s on the way to Lauderdale tonight ... with me on it.’
When Hinge arrived at his hotel room, he took a shower and styled his hair with a blower, then he stood, naked, in front of the mirror. His body was hard and tight, sinews standing out like fishing lines along his biceps. He looked at his scars and smiled. Women loved them, loved to trace their fingers along the rigid tissue on his legs and arms and down his left side. He could have written a book with just the lies he had told about those scars. He returned to the bedroom and got dressed. Then he reached into the suitcase and took out a wide, rawhide belt with a large gold buckle on it and held it in his hand for several seconds as though weighing it. The buckle was engraved, its letters aglitter with small diamonds:
UNITED STATES RODEO ASSOCIATION
1963 National Champion
Cheyenne, Wyoming, January 6, 1964
He had come a long way from Del Ray, Texas.
