"Yes, Gyp?"
"This Maude Tinker, says Fred, is a gypsy."
Anita's face did the most abrupt change. I had never seen her furiously
angry. She's a typical high echelon Washington secretary, cool,
extremely well-mannered, cheerful without being bumptious. But this time
she was downright mad.
"I told you," Anita said.
"What?"
"I told you to watch out for Fred Plaice!"
"It's not his fault," I protested. "Catching telepaths is his job."
"Within limits," she said scornfully. "I thought it was just one more of
his screwball ideas! He had his whole Section concentrating on gypsies,
for a couple of months. He had a long story to go with it, Gyp! How all
the soothsayers and clairvoyants and finders were really short-range
telepaths or pre-cogs."
"I don't believe it," I said. "You mean that Fred started with my
nickname, and has been on this campaign of looking for telepaths among
gypsies just in hopes he could embarrass me?"
"Yes!"
You have to like loyalty, no matter what the circumstances that incite
it.
"I can't believe that of one of my boys, Anita," I said. "Fred was all
broken up about it."
"I bet I can call the turn," Anita said, starting back for her own desk.
"Fred's next move is to tell you that no one can blame you for
disqualifying yourself from this case. After all, your own mother!"
Well, the political implications _were_ deep. "I think I would agree," I
said at length. "Let's see what happens. Send this Maude Tinker in as
soon as she gets here."
"Aren't you going to take any precautions, Gyp?" Anita demanded.
"Against what?"
"You're impossible," she snapped. "I'll take care of the precaution
department myself. And don't you dare let Fred get that woman in here
until I get back."
"No what...?"
"Joseph Tinker!" she cried. "Be quiet!" She stormed out.
* * * * *
In about twenty minutes the buzzer on my pix-box sounded, and I
depressed the key. Anita's face was tense on the small screen.
"Just got a flash," she said. "Fred has her in his 'copter and will let
down on the roof in about four or five minutes. I'll need a couple
minutes more than that. Now don't you let him in with her before I get
there, do you hear me?"
I said I heard her. She beat Fred at that. For all I know she had
booby-trapped them in getting down from the roof. Anita has drag with
everybody in the building, and that could have included the elevator
service man, who quite easily could have loused service to the roof
enough to delay Fred.