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. Whynot?'
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