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“How was the trip from Fritzlar?” he asked.
“Just dandy. I felt like a movie star. That was my first time being driven anywhere by a chauffeur armed with a submachine gun.”
“Has Bone . . . Bruce . . . told you why that was necessary?”
“Mr. Hessinger,” she said, “told me part of it in Fritzlar, and then he and Bruce filled in the details when we got here.”
“And has Freddy assured you there’s nothing to be worried about? That we were just being careful?”
“He and Claudette told us that,” Barbara Winters said. “And she also told us why.”
“What happens next,” Cronley said, “is that whenever you’re ready—today or tomorrow, whenever—Claudette will take you out to the Compound and you can pick your quarters. They’re actually very nice.”
“And inside three barbed wire fences,” Ginger said, somewhat sarcastic, “or so Claudette told us.”
“Enough, honey,” Moriarty said, on the edge of unpleasantly. “We’re here. Adjust to it.”
“Sorry,” she said, sounding genuinely contrite, which surprised Cronley.
“You said Tom and I can go out to this place whenever we’re ready,” Barbara Winters said. “How about right after breakfast?”
“That’s not an option,” Cronley said. “Right after breakfast, Tom and I are going flying. Sorry.”
“Flying where?” Claudette asked.
“That’s what Wallace wanted to talk to me about. Greene sent a briefcase full of material about a certain subject he thought I should pass to the Frenchman as soon as possible.”
“What we could do, Barbara,” Claudette said, “is go out to the Compound with them. And then I could show you around the Compound, look at quarters, and then bring you back here.”
“You don’t need me to pick quarters, sweetheart,” Winters said.
“I like to pretend your opinion matters,” she said, smiling.
“Can we all fit in the Kapitän?” Cronley asked, and then answered his own question. “Yeah. Six’ll fit.”
“Does that mean Bruce and I get to go?” Ginger said.
“I would never leave you out of anything, Ginger,” Cronley said. “You know that.”
She snorted.
Cronley’s breakfast was delivered.
“You’re going to leave what Major Wallace gave you with the Frenchman?” Hessinger asked, and then when Cronley nodded, asked, “Do Dette and I get a look before you do that?”
“You’d have to take it to the office,” Cronley said.
“I think we should have a look, Captain,” Claudette said.
“I will finish my breakfast slowly,” he said. “But don’t dally.”
Cronley handed the briefcase to Hessinger and then Claudette followed Hessinger out of the dining room.
Ten minutes later, Augie Ziegler walked up to the table. As soon as Cronley had introduced him, he asked, “Dette not here yet?”
“Dette has been here, and is now in the office,” Cronley replied. “Looking at something you should see.”
“Before or after I have my breakfast?”
