hair. “Better?”

“I take it you’re not going to allow me to carry out my mission.”

“Very impressive word—mission. A solo mission, at that. Why are you by yourself? I thought the police traveled in packs.”

“Maybe you’re not the only ones shorthanded these days.” I nodded at his empty guard post. Pointing would have meant moving my hands, and I didn’t want to do anything that put his finger back on the trigger.

He didn’t take his eyes off me. “I have to send some of them home. I’ve fed those I could with my own rations, but it’s not enough. So I send them back to their mothers to cluck over them. As if their families have more food than we do.” He holstered the pistol. “You can sit in the hut if you like while you try to explain why you’re here. Then I’ll decide what to do with you.”

“Do you mind if I go back to my car to get something?” The general didn’t reply, and the guards, after watching his face, stared at nothing.

3

When Jenö had asked me again to help him set up his meeting and told me who it was he wanted to meet, I drove back to the office and told Pak we needed to dump our visitor. Get rid of him, fast. He was going to get himself into serious trouble, and if we were standing next to him, we’d end up in the same pot. For the second time in the same day, Pak surprised me.

“We can’t dump him. You’d better go out and see what this is about.”

I was stupefied. “Are you kidding?”

“Sometimes, Inspector, it is better to bend a little. It’s unusual what he wants, but everything is unusual these days. There are winds blowing from places you and I don’t even know exist. Forget the Ministry; they don’t have to know, and if they find out, I’ll handle it.” He glanced at the envelope Jenö had given me. “Don’t open that,” he said. He reached into his desk and took out a small book of red coupons. I could see it had never been used. He tore off the first two tickets and handed them to me. “These should get you access to special rations. Notice I said ‘should.’ This booklet is three years old, and who knows what’s gone cockeyed in the meantime. I was told only to use the coupons in extreme situations. No one defined extreme, though, so I’m doing it myself.”

“You have access to grain?” I squeezed every drop of surprise out of my voice.

“I’ve thought about it a lot, Inspector. I don’t need your disapproving stare. I can’t use these for personal rations. I can’t, and I won’t.”

“But you can use them for this crazy foreigner?”

“Maybe the grain isn’t for him. Maybe it’s for something more important.”

“Really? And am I to be let in on this little secret, or do I just follow orders? These mysterious breezes, are they why you stood up to the special section when they were here last month? Was it because you knew more about the foreigner than you bothered to tell me?”

Pak put the coupon book back in the drawer and slammed it shut. “Don’t press me on this, Inspector. I’ve got a lot on my mind. Keep it simple. If those tickets really work and you can get a couple of bags of rice, throw them in the car and bring them out to your meeting. Take this along, too.” He took a piece of paper from his desk, folded it in thirds, and put it in a tan envelope with a red stripe in one corner. Then he pulled a strip of white paper from the flap and sealed it. “Amazing, isn’t it? The supplies some sections have.”

“A red stripe? Isn’t that a little melodramatic?”

“Just be glad it doesn’t have a black stripe.” Pak handed me the envelope. “This may come in handy. It’s from someone I used to know. Apparently, he wants our guest to have that meeting.”

“And we take orders from him? Since when?”

“Not orders, Inspector. Call it a favor.”

“Do I know him?”

“If you didn’t before, you do now.” Pak nodded at the envelope. “Don’t use it unless you have to. And try not to get yourself shot. You’ll be a long way out in the countryside, and I’m not sure we have the resources to go looking for bodies.”

At the ration depot, the red tickets only got me a few half-empty bags of rice and