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overcoat. 'I don't have to remind you to be careful... if there is the slightest leak...'
    'On your way.' Girland waved to the door. 'This is my pigeon now. You don't have to remind me about anything.'

    * * *
    Max Lintz was tall and bony. He had recently come from East Berlin to work for the Soviet Security in Paris. Nearing fifty years of age, balding with deep-set eyes and a thin, sour mouth, he was known to be an expert tracker of men and an expert pistol shot.
    Drina liked him. They were of the same age and they got along well together. Whereas Paul Labrey, because of his youth and his manner, often made Drina boil with fury, Lintz had a soothing effect on him.
    They were sitting at a cafe near Girland's apartment, waiting.
    'Would you prefer to follow Dorey?' Lintz asked suddenly. I will take care of Girland... if you wish.'
    Drina shifted, frowning. This remark implied that he wasn't capable of following Girland and he looked sharply at Lintz.
    'We obey orders, comrade. I am to watch Girland. Comrade Kovski said so.'
    Lintz shrugged.
    'As you will, but be careful. Girland is a professional.'
    Again Drina shifted in his chair.
    'So am I.' He stared suspiciously at Lintz. 'Don't you think so?'
    Although Lintz liked Drina, he secretly thought he was well past his prime. He thought Kovski had made a mistake using Drina to watch a man like Girland, but that was Kovski's business.
    'Of course,' he said.
    There was a long pause. Drina sipped his cooling coffee and stared at the entrance to Girland's apartment block.
    T hear Malik is in Paris,' Lintz said, 'and in disgrace.'
    'Yes.' Drina's little eyes surveyed the cafe's terrace. There was no one within hearing distance. 'A wonderful man ... the best.'
    'Yes. It can happen to any of us.'
    'Girland tricked him.'
    'So I heard. How long do you think Malik will remain out of the field?'
    Drina hesitated. Again he assured himself no one was listening.
    ' Kovski hates him.'
    'Of the two men,' Lintz said softly, I prefer Malik.'
    This was too dangerous, Drina thought. He merely shrugged his fat shoulders. He loathed Kovski and was terrified of him. Kovski, to his thinking, was the jackal to Malik's lion.
    'Perhaps we had better not discuss this, Max,' he said uneasily. 'Nothing good ever conies of discussing personalities.'
    'That's true.'
    The two men remained sitting on the terrace in silence until they saw Dorey appear and walk towards his parked Jaguar.
    'There's my man,' Lintz said. T leave you to pay the bill. Good luck . . . and be careful' He got to his feet and crossed to where he had left his shabby Renault 4, climbed to and drove after the Jaguar.
    Drina watched him disappear, then putting three francs on the table, he lit a Gauloise and continued his wait. He was nervous. Lintz was right. Girland was a professional. He would have liked Lintz to have taken care of Girland, but his pride wouldn't allow it. Now, thinking that in a little while, he would have to follow this man wherever he went and remain out of sight brought him out into a cold sweat. Suppose he lost him? Suppose Girland spotted him? He licked his dry lips, trying to assure himself that for the past fifteen years he had followed susoects and had always been successful.
    He was so unnerved he could no longer sit at the table. He got up, waved to the waiter, indicating he had left payment and walked across the narrow street to where he had parked his Deux Chevaux. He got in and waited.
    Ten minutes later, he saw Girland come from his apartment block and saunter down the street. Girland was wearing a short leather coat over his sweater and hipsters. He was smoking, his hand thrust into his coat pocket.
    Drina started his car. He watched Girland cross the road and tuck himself into a shabby, beaten-up* Fiat 600. Drina followed the Fiat into the mass of traffic, struggling along Rue Raymond Losserand and finally into Avenue du Maine.
    Here, Girland turned left. Allowing two cars to be between Girland and himself,