flowered cotton dress printed with daisies. 'Good afternoon,' he said.
She looked up. He took off his sunglasses. Her eyes widened in surprise at his appearance. 'Hello! How can I help you?'
With mock sincerity, he said: 'Ma'am, I'm looking for a wife who won't beat me up.'
Marigold burst out laughing.
Anthony pulled up a chair and sat to one side of her desk. 'I'm from Colonel Hickam's office,' he said. 'I'm looking for Marigold Clark. Where is she?'
'That's me.'
'Oh, no. The Miz Clark I'm looking for is a grown woman. You're just a young girl.'
'Now, you stop your jive,' she said, but she smiled broadly.
'Dr Lucas is on his way here - I guess you knew that'
'He called me this morning.'
'What time do you expect him?'
'His plane lands at two twenty-three.'
That was useful. 'So he'll be here around three.'
'Not necessarily.'
'Ah. Why not?'
She gave him what he wanted. 'Dr Lucas said he's going home first, then he'll stop by here/
That was perfect Anthony could hardly believe his luck. Luke was going from the airport straight to his house. Anthony could go there and wait, then shoot Luke as soon as he walked in the door. There would be no witnesses. If he used the silencer, no one would even hear a shot; Anthony would leave the body where it fell and drive away. With Elspeth in Florida, the corpse might not be found for days.
Thank you,' he said to Marigold. He stood up. 'It was a pleasure to meet you.' He left the room before she could ask his name.
He returned to the car and drove to the headquarters building, a long three-storey monolith that looked like a prison. He found Colonel Hickam's office. The colonel was out, but a sergeant showed him to an empty room with a phone.
He called Q Building, but did not speak to his boss, Carl Hobart. Instead he asked for Carl's superior, George Cooperman. 'What's up, George?' he said.
'Did you shoot at someone last night?' said Cooperman, his smoker's voice sounding even more gravelly than usual.
With an effort, Anthony put on the swashbuckling persona that appealed to Cooperman. 'Aw, hell, who told you that?'
'Some colonel from the Pentagon called Tom Ealy in the Director's office, and Ealy told Carl Hobart, who had an orgasm.'
'There's no proof. I picked up all the slugs.'
'This colonel found a hole in the rucking wall about nine millimetres wide and he guessed what caused it. Did you hit anybody?'
'Unfortunately not'
You're in Huntsville now, right?'
'Yeah.'
'You're supposed to come back immediately,'
'Then it's a good thing I didn't talk to you.'
'Listen, Anthony, I always cut you as much slack as I can, because you get results. But I can't do any more for you on this one. You're on your own from here buddy.'
'That's how I like it'
'Good luck.'
Anthony hung up and sat staring at the phone. He did not have much more time. His Billy the Kid act was wearing thin. He could disobey orders for only so long. He needed to wrap this up fast...
He called Cape Canaveral and got, Elspeth on the phone. 'Have you talked to Luke?' he asked her;
'He called me at six-thirty this morning.' She sounded shaky.
'Where from?'
'He wouldn't say where he was, where he was going, or what he intended to do, because he; was afraid my phone might be tapped. But. he told me; you were responsible for his amnesia.'
'He's on his way to Huntsville. I'm at Redstone Arsenal now. I'm going to your house to wait for him there. Will I be able to get in?'
She answered with another question. 'Are you still trying to protect him?'
'Of course.' .
'Will he be okay?'
'All I can do is my best.'
There was a moment's pause, then she said: 'There's a key under the bougainvillea pot in the back yard.'
'Thanks.'
'Take care of Luke, won't you?'
'I said I would do my best!'
'Don't snap at me,' she said with some of her more usual spirit I'll take care of him.' He hung up.
He stood up to go, and the phone rang.
He wondered whether to answer. It might be Hobart But Hobart did not know he was hi Colonel Hickam's office. Only Pete knew that... he thought He picked up.
It was Pete. 'Dr Josephson's here!' he said.
'Shit' Anthony had felt sure she was out of the picture. 'She just got off a plane?'
'Yeah, it must have been a fester flight than the one Lucas is on. She's sitting in the terminal building, like she's waiting.'
'For him,' Anthony said decisively. 'Damn her. She's come to warn him that we're here. You have to get her out of there.'
'How?'
'I don't care -just get rid of her!'
.
12 NOON
The Explorer's orbit will be at thirty-four degrees to the equator. Relative to the Earth's surface, it will head south-east-across the Atlantic Ocean to the southern tip of Africa, then northeast across the Indian Ocean and Indonesia to the Pacific.
Huntsville Airport was small but busy. The single terminal building had a Hertz desk, some vending machines and a row of phone booths. As soon as she arrived, Billie checked on Luke's flight and learned it was running almost an hour late, and would land in Huntsville-at three fifteen. She had three hours to kill.
She got a candy bar and a Dr Pepper from a machine. She put down the attache case that contained her Colt and stood leaning against a wall, thinking. How was she going to handle this? As soon as she saw Luke, she would warn him that Anthony was here. Luke would be on his guard, and could take precautions - but he could not go into hiding. He had to find out what he had done here on Monday, and for that he would need to move around. He had to take risks. Could she do anything to help protect him?
As she was racking her brains, a girl in Capital Airlines uniform approached her. 'Are you Dr Josephson?'
Yes.'
'I have a phone message for you.' She handed over an envelope.
Billie frowned. Who knew she was here? 'Thanks,' she muttered, tearing it open.
'You're very welcome. Please let us know if there's any way we can be of further service.'
Billie looked up and smiled. She had forgotten how polite people were in the South. 'I sure will,' she said. 'I appreciate that'
