The Menacers Read Online Free PDF Page B

some airline schedules and a map of Mexico?”
    Without speaking, Priscilla went over to the dresser, picked up several gaudy folders, and held them out for me to take.
    “You know your own business, I suppose,” she said when I came over and took them. “But is it wise to announce your intentions quite so loudly, Mr. Helm? I can’t guarantee that we’re not being overheard. There are too many ways of bugging a hotel room, and I’m sure the glamorous lady for whom you just bought a drink, down there on the beach, knows most of them.”
    Her voice had a strongly disapproving note. As I say, some people have a thing about fraternizing with the enemy, particularly when the enemy is female and attractive.
    “She does at that,” I said cheerfully. “Incidentally, her code name is Vadya. I mention it in case you haven’t got around to identifying her yet. What name is she using around here?”
    “She calls herself Baum. Valerie Baum.”
    “What, if anything, do you have on her?”
    “Not much to date. Now that you’ve given us the code name, maybe we’ll have more.”
    “Have you spotted any helpers hanging around?”
    “No. She seems to be working alone.”
    “Not according to her,” I said. “At least she says she’s expecting reinforcements—a gent named Harsek. About forty, about five ten, about two twenty, substantial but not flabby. Customarily shaves his head and packs a Luger. Have you spotted anybody like that?”
    I put the question to Hartford, to keep him in the conversation. He shook his head, as did Priscilla, who asked rather tartly: “Did Mrs. Baum—Vadya tell you all this?”
    “She gave me the name. I study the dossiers occasionally, and I’ve got a good memory. Of course, if Vadya says she’s waiting patiently for Harsek to get here, it probably means one of three things: he’s here already, or he isn’t coming here at all but expects to do the job somewhere else, or she’s waiting for some other guy entirely. I mean, Vadya is not a gal whose word I want to rely on very heavily. But we’ll keep our eyes open for Harsek just the same.” I grimaced. “Haven’t you any dope on Vadya at all?”
    “Well, we think she was sent to Acapulco to kill a man, a British agent who died there last week under suspicious circumstances.” Priscilla glanced towards Annette O’Leary. “But I don’t really think we should discuss confidential matters here, if you know what I mean.”
    I said, “Hell, give your security a rest. We’re giving Mrs. O’Leary a tough time; we can at least let her have the fun of watching some real secret agents in action. One more question. That woman you were chatting with at the airport. The blonde with the boyish bob and the football player figure. Where’d you meet her and who is she?”
    Priscilla laughed. “Laura Waterman? Oh, she’s all right, just a physical education teacher from California, on vacation. We met in the bar, and it seemed a good idea to cultivate her for company, since Tony was tied up in here when I wasn’t, and a woman sitting around alone looks kind of conspicuous. I checked her out first, of course. She’s harmless. We have nothing on her, nothing at all.”
    After a few years in the business, you can generally tell where truth ends and prevarication begins, particularly among the younger members of the profession. The laugh had been wrong and the voice had been wrong: the girl was lying to me. It startled me a little. It opened up, shall we say, vistas of deceit that I hadn’t expected to find here.
    I said, as if I’d noticed nothing: “Sure. You had nothing on Vadya, either, and you’ll seldom meet a more dangerous lady.” I went on before Priscilla could think up a suitable retort: “For that reason I’m going to leave the two of you to stand watch in here tonight, while I go out to dinner with her. Maybe I can get a hint of what she and Harsek have in mind. Okay?”
    Priscilla said, “I suppose so, but what do you