"This is Tal again."
"Yes?"
"Is this deal off or on. What goes on? Should I be there at ten?"
"This coming Saturday? No, I'm very sorry. I have a date."
"I'm at a pay phone. The number is 4-6040. I'll wait right here until
you can call me back."
"No, I'm so sorry. Maybe some other time. Give me a ring."
"Phone as soon as you can."
"Thank you. Good-by."
I took a booth near the phone booths. I went and got my paper and
ordered more coffee. I waited. Two people used the booth. At five
minutes to ten the call came.
"Hello?"
"Is that you, Tal? I couldn't talk before. I'm glad you phoned. Make it
ten-fifteen. What does your watch say?"
"Exactly four minutes of."
"Don't park out back. Park a block away. Start up at exactly
ten-fifteen and go slow. When you see me coming, unlatch the door.
Don't waste time getting away from there."
I began to be more nervous. I had no way of knowing what she was mixed
up in. I knew her playmates would be hard people. I didn't know how
closely they would be watching her.
The rain had begun to let up a little. I parked a block away from her
apartment house. I could see it. I kept the motor running. I kept an
eye on my watch. At exactly ten fifteen I started up. I drove slowly. I
saw a man in a trench coat across the street from the apartment house,
leaning against a phone pole.
As I drew even with the apartment house, slowing down, she came
running. I swung the door open. I didn't stop. She piled into the car.
She wore a dark coat, a black hat with a veil, and carried a brown case
like a dispatch case.
"Hurry!" she ordered. Her voice was shrill, frightened.