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hint as to the identity of the consignee?”
    “Not a whisper.”
    “Are there any guests here at the hotel who’d make likely prospects? He must have picked the place for some reason.”
    “He may have picked it simply because it’s centrally located—most of the other big hotels, the newer ones, are farther out. We haven’t spotted anybody interesting staying there. Of course, there’s a tremendous daily turnover. If any promising candidates show up at the last minute, we’ll try to let you know.”
    She sounded as if she were part of a sizable local unit, which was a welcome change. I mean, we’re not the CIA or any of those other well-financed agencies with worldwide networks of operatives ready to spring into action by squads, platoons, or regiments, as required. In a foreign city we’re likely to find—if we’re lucky and the place is large enough—one shy individual on standby duty, experienced only in communications, useful chiefly for maintaining contact with Washington. Since this girl sounded as if she had the will and the manpower to tackle more onerous duties, I tried her out with an easy one.
    “How about a car, or a car and driver, preferably the latter? Without a little practice, which I haven’t got time for, I hate to tackle this backwards traffic of yours.”
    My unseen contact laughed. “Whether it’s backwards or forwards rather depends on the way you’re accustomed to facing, doesn’t it, Eric? Anyway, you already have a driver. Fred will be available whenever you need him. He says you’re a nice man and a generous tipper.”
    I was a little disappointed at learning that my guide had not, after all, been a representative specimen of local manhood. “Tell him thanks for the tour,” I said. “About tomorrow, do I cover the airport in case our friend’s plans change abruptly, or do you?”
    “Stay in your room. We’ll escort him to the hotel and see that he’s checked in; after that he’s all yours. Fred will let you know.”
    I said, “Okay, I’ll wait for the word. Now, what are the chances of getting a reasonably safe connection with the top?”
    “Can do.”
    A minute or so later, Mac came on. “Yes, Eric?” he said from faraway Washington, D.C. At least that’s where I thought he was, which didn’t mean he had to be there.
    I said, “This vengeful Tejano to whom you’ve indentured me. How many people do I kill for him, assuming I can locate suitable targets.”
    “As many as necessary,” Mac said calmly. “I do not believe in coincidence. We were already under orders to shift some manpower to the Bahamas when Mr. Haseltine descended on me.... It is really remarkable how much a man can learn by waving hundred-dollar bills around, isn’t it, Eric?”
    “I wouldn’t know, sir,” I said. “I’ve never been properly equipped by my government for using that particular information-gathering technique.”
    “I was struck by his interest in the area to which we’d just been assigned,” Mac said. “It seemed advisable to listen to what he had to say. I decided that, if the yacht with the idiotic name had actually been sunk or captured by a human agency, as our Texas friend seems to believe, it was unlikely that the incident was totally unrelated to the impending visit to the Islands of a Russian homicide artist. At least the coincidence of two apparently well-planned acts of violence being scheduled within a few weeks in the same small geographical region seemed to deserve investigation. I therefore referred the gentleman to you.”
    “Thanks a lot, sir,” I said. “Did you get the impression that Mr. Haseltine wasn’t being entirely frank with us?”
    “I would say that he knows or suspects something about the disappearance of the yacht and its crew that he’s reluctant to tell us.”
    “Considering that he’s gone to considerable trouble and expense to get our help, that’s kind of stupid, wouldn’t you say, sir?”
    “Unless he thinks there’s