'I can pull more than strings, friend, that's why you got me here. Right now I'm all for going out and really sounding off about what I know. How about that?' I sat back and listened to the quiet.
Pat broke the eerie stillness. 'Don't push him, Mr. Crane. The whole thing shook me for a minute, but I'd rather have him on our side.'
'Protecting yourself, Captain?'
'Another remark like that and you'll be protecting yourself, Mr. Crane. I'll rap you right in the mouth.'
The big man from the State Department took one look at Pat's face and the knuckles of his interlocking fingers whitened. 'Captain ...'
'You'll be better off just telling him, Mr. Crane. He isn't kidding.'
They could talk with their eyes, this bunch. They could just look at each other and have a conversation, hash the problem out and come to a decision. When it was made, Crane gave an almost imperceptible nod and stared at me again, his eyes cold. 'Very well. I don't approve, but considering how far out on a limb we are, we'll give you the story.'
'Why?' I asked.
'Simply because we can't afford to have anyone prying into this affair. After Eddie Dandy's report we'll have everyone in the news media asking questions. They don't like negative answers. They'll go directly to Dandy and we're hoping you can influence him to state that he was wrong in his premises.'
'Brother!' I snubbed my butt out and sat back in my chair. 'You don't know reporters very well, do you? Where is Eddie now?'
'Being briefed on the incident. He'll be here shortly.'
'You better have something good to tell him. Or me.'
Crane nodded. 'I think we have.'
'I'm listening.'
'Of course you realize the confidential nature of this matter?'
'I did before,' I said.
Mr. Crane managed a little of his State Department pomp and leaned back, mentally choosing his words. When he was satisfied, he said, 'In 1946 a Soviet agent was planted in this country by the regime then in power with specific instructions that at a certain time, when the economic and political factors were right, to totally sabotage certain key cities through the use of biological or chemical means. His orders were irrevocable. He was given the properties to accomplish his mission, and the persons he could contact who would relay the schedule of destruction. This was a top secret project that could in no way be canceled out. This agent had one contact who, like him, was only to relay the information of when it would take place, then set in motion the machinery that would take over after the destruction finished our present system of government'
'And that gay is dead,' I said.
'Very dead. Now we know the system he used. It was bacteriological. He's set everything in motion. It's a time delay affair. Unfortunately, he somehow got exposed himself and died.'
I looked over at Pat. 'You said it came out of our labs.'
Crane didn't let him answer. 'All research seems to come to the same conclusions. The strain of bacteria was similar, but not identical.'
'You got troubles, Mr. Crane, haven't you? We have ICBM's, Polaris, all the new goodies stored up in silos around the country that can reach anywhere around the world, and now that you know what's on our necks we can get in there for a first strike, only you're not striking. Why?'
That caught them a little off base. Maybe they thought I couldn't figure it out. Crane gave me a perceptive brush of his eyes and said, 'Because the Soviets are caught on their own horns. They don't want it either. They want it stopped right now and they're cooperating. There's a new regime in power and their entire political system has been changed in view of the Chinese situation. They can't afford to be hit from both sides. Only one of their personnel was able to hint at this development, but that was enough to get leads, process them and get the story. Do you see now why we can't afford a panic?'
'So you're buying time.'
'Exactly.'
Before he could answer another of the gray flannel boys came in, walked up and spoke to him. Crane nodded and said, 'Bring him in.'
Eddie Dandy looked like he had been wrung out in an old Maytag. Sweat had plastered his hair to his forehead, his sports jacket was rumpled and he couldn't keep his hands still at all. But his face still bore that hard stamp of the veteran newscaster with the 'show me or else' look. Apparently they hadn't mentioned me to him at all and his eyes registered momentary surprise when he saw me sitting there. I waved nonchalantly and winked and I knew damn well things were beginning to add up to him.
They gave him the same rundown they gave me, but he had saved up his little shocker for them. When Crane insisted just a little too hard on Eddie divulging his source of information, he simply said, 'Why it was you and Mr. Rollings who tipped me off.' I applauded with a laugh nobody appreciated. Pat gave me a tap with his foot.
'Please don't think everybody is stupid,' Eddie told them. 'I have to research news items and the death of that guy in the subway had certain earmarks that were familiar to me. Or did you forget the death of all those sheep out west when that nerve gas went in the wrong direction? Or the two lab workers whose families raised such hell about the cover-up when they kicked off? Seeing you two in the hospital was all it took to pin the probability down . . . that and a few inquiries made to knowledgeable scientists who don't approve of the more sophisticated methods of modern warfare.'
Somehow they all seemed to stop communicating then. Their exchanges of looks didn't bring any responses. Red-faced, Crane mustered all his eloquence and put the proposition right on the line. Eddie could be the turning point of panic. Until the location of the destruct cannisters could be determined and destroyed, Eddie was to retract his broadcast and maintain that position.
He looked at me and I shrugged. I said, 'There's a possibility a mass search for the stuff might help.'
'You'll get mass exodus from the cities and panic, Mr. Hammer,' Crane told me. 'No, we have competent people experienced in these matters and with help from the Soviets I'm confident it can be accomplished.'
'Sure, you trust the Soviets and you know what you'll get. You get screwed every time and you slobs are all afraid of screwing back. What happens if you
'We're not even considering that possibility,' he shot back. 'No . ..'
But Eddie cut him off right there. 'You're forgetting something. Now my neck is out with the network and the audience. I'll be coming off looking like a bumbling amateur. I'll be lucky if I can hang on to my job. So we make a deal.'
'Yes?'
'No other reporter, broadcaster or what-have-you gets any part of this story if you pull it off. All I need is a hint that this has been leaked and I'll blow the whole thing all
over your faces.
'We'll take it, Mr. Dandy,' Crane said. This time the communication was complete. Everybody else agreed too.
Pat took Eddie Dandy and me to a late supper at Dewey Wong's wild restaurant on East Fifty-eighth Street as a way of apology. I gave him a little private hell, but it didn't take long to get back on our old footing. He was red-faced about it, but too much cop to let it bother him. What really had him going was the maximum effort order that was out in the department, recalling all officers from vacation, assigning extra working hours, canceling days off and hoping to keep the reason for the project secret long enough to get the job done. With the same thing going on all over the country, it wasn't going to be easy. Until it was finished, every other investigation was going to be at a standstill. When we finished, Eddie took off to start working on his end and I rode back downtown with Pat. In the car I said, 'Velda told me about Lippy working the theater areas.'
'I hope it satisfies you.'
'Ahh ...'
'Come on, Mike, stay loose. It's pretty damn obvious, isn't it?'
'There's still a killer around.'
