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don’t see that’s doing anything for us.”
    Judd smiled at him. “We’ll just keep playing the game. I have a hunch that Zabiski will pass the ball to us when she’s ready.”
    “You really believe that?” Merlin asked.
    “Yes,” Judd said. “I looked into the old lady’s eyes and touched her hand. I felt her. We were together.”

6
    “Quaaludes and Interferon,” Judd said. “I don’t get it. It’s a crazy combination.”
    “It’s not as crazy as it seems,” Li Chuan said, leaning over the back of the jump seat in the limousine. “The bottom line is hard currency.” Li Chuan was an American-born Chinese who was the Asian sales manager of Crane Pharmaceuticals in Hong Kong. “By 1980 the production of Quaaludes will be almost banned in the Western world. Europe and Latin America have stopped manufacture already. Pressure in the U.S. is mounting and Lemon is quietly making plans to stop. Already most of the ludes are counterfeit and poor quality, and sold by street dealers.”
    “In that case, how come the Chinese are so into it?”
    “The Chinese seem to be more responsive to anti-depressants than Americans and most Caucasians. The drug is more effective for them because they metabolize it more slowly so they don’t get highs from it. So as far as they are concerned it’s a legitimate medical practice.” He paused. “The Chinese government takes the view that if their people pop Quaaludes instead of smoking opium, so much the better. Opium and work don’t mix.”
    “They know the attitude of the rest of the world,” Judd said.
    Li Chuan nodded.
    “So the bottom line is—they want Crane Pharmaceuticals to be their pushers around the world.”
    “Yes,” Li Chuan agreed. “But they’ll give you a plum. Maybe two hundred percent in the total world supply of interferon. And Crane Pharmaceuticals would be the sole distributor for that.”
    “Shit!” Judd stared out of the car. “We’re fucked if we do and we’re fucked if we don’t.”
    “If I know our friends,” Li Chuan said, “they are going to ship the Quaaludes anyway, whether we do or not. They smell a lot of money for them.”
    Judd said quietly, “Fuck ’em. Pass.” He glanced from the limousine to the plane waiting on the airfield. “I wonder if Sofia is awake yet.”
    Merlin smiled. “She should be if you didn’t slip her a mickey.”
    “I wouldn’t do a thing like that,” Judd smiled at him. He turned to Li Chuan. “Sofia is the Yugoslavian doctor I told you about.”
    Li Chuan nodded smoothly, though his expression had tightened when he heard Judd’s decision about the Quaaludes. “I have a feeling that she will prove interesting.”
    ***
    She awakened slowly into the darkness of her stateroom. It took a moment before she realized that the plane was on the ground and that the power of the jet engines was not gently vibrating her bed. She turned to the digital clock beside her. The soft blue light read 0310.
    She sat up in the bed, surprised that she had slept through the landing of the plane. She lifted a window shade and the electric floodlights on the ground around the plane came into her stateroom. Quickly she closed the shade and went into the small bathroom. In the corner of the room was a shower stall. She closed the Plexiglas shower door and took a telephone shower spray. The water was hot and soothing and she held its flow over her shoulders and down across her breasts. A small button on the wall was marked soap. She pressed it; the soap foamed, mixing with the water. Quickly she rinsed the water from herself, then aimed the nozzle of water across her hips. She climaxed almost instantly. She held her breath, afraid that some sound would escape her lips. Then she turned off the shower and pulled a towel around herself and stepped back into her stateroom.
    A stewardess was turning down her bed, her back toward her. The shower door clicked and the girl turned to her. “Good morning, Doctor,” the girl