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"He didn't tell you about the fracas I had with Deputy Director
Waugh?"
"Would that be Gerald H. Waugh of the United States Internal
Security Office?"
"Well, yes. Who else:"
Gomez snapped his fingers. "Ah, of course," he said. "Waugh and
Bascom are longtime chums. The ISO must be the US government agency
that hired Cosmos to dig into this."
"That's exactly what happened," Jenny said. "I assumed you two knew
whom you were working for."
"Bascom is ofttimes fond of keeping us in the dark as to who our client
might be," explained Gomez.
"Well, I told Waugh that I was perfectly capable of handling this
myself," continued the young woman. "I didn't need a couple of moronic
ex cops stumbling around Berlin, making buffoons of themselves and
generally getting in my way."
Gomez smiled at her. "I bet you never studied public relations or
diplomacy in school."
Jake asked, "You work with Internal Sec, Miss Keaton?" "Obviously.
The ISO was assigned the job of investigating the possibility that
someone in the International Drug Control
Agency might be involved in some way with these assassinations."
"You have any credentials?"
Sighing impatiently, she yanked out an ID packet and tossed it at him.
"Here."
"Did you drop in on us to suggest we work together on this,
chiquita?" inquired Gomez. "That we pool our resources and become a
jolly team dedicated to--"
"Far as I know, you don't have any resources." She stood up.
"No, I simply came by to warn you bozos."
Jake had finished looking over her IDs. "These are authentic."
He flipped the packet in her direction. "Says you're an Assistant
Director with the ISO. I keep getting mixed up--is that higher or
lower than an Associate Director?"
"Lower." She slipped the IDs away inside her coat.
"You were going to warn us about something," prompted Gomez.
"To stay the heck out of my way," she said. "I had to cajole and yell
to get this assignment. I don't intend to let either of you foul me
up."
"Could it be," suggested Jake, getting slowly to his feet, "that the
reason Deputy Director Waugh brought in an outside agency is because he
doesn't quite trust everybody in his own outfit either?"
"He trusts me."
"But you had to cajole and yell to get sent here."
"Okay, you know how Tek money can sometimes reach pretty high," she
said. "Right now--well, certain people in Washington are suspicious of
each other. Personally I don't for a second believe that anyone in our
agency is unreliable."
"You couldn't convince Waugh of that, huh?"
"Not completely," she admitted. "But I did get him to agree to let me
work on the assassination case. Independently and entirely on my own."
She crossed to the door. "To sum up, gents--stay clear, please, of me
and I'll stay clear of you. Keep in mind, too, that if I find out
you're crooked, I won't hesitate to run you in."
"That's understood." Jake opened the door for her. "And we'll do the
same for you."
At dawn Jake tapped on the door of Gomez's room. Then he opened it and
went in.
Gomez sat up. "Trouble, amigo?"
"Nope, I'm just letting you know that I'm heading out."
"This is, if my body clock is functioning properly, an ungodly hour in
the morning."
"Around six x.vl.," said Jake. "I didn't want you to find me absent
and think I was off frequenting some Berlin Tek Parlor." "So where are
you going?" "To talk to Will Goldberg."
"I had the impression the Berlin cops don't want you to do that."
"When Spellman was out in Greater LA some years ago, I did him a couple
of favors."
"And you've convinced him he owes you one?"
Jake nodded. "Spellman's going to sneak me into the hospital where
they're holding Goldberg."
"I'll probably loll around in bed for at least another hour," his
partner told him. "Then I'll venture forth to look up some of my old
contacts in town."
"You have contacts just about everywhere."
"Despite what Jenny Keaton says, I'm a very personable and winning
fellow," Gomez said. "And the last time I worked a case in Berlin I
was generous with my payoffs and bribes. Which is why so many local
informers will remember me fondly." The fog persisted. The early
morning sky over Berlin was thick with it as Inspector Spellman piloted
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