We faced each other for a moment in silence, sorting out the questions that could be asked and answered from the ones that couldn’t. There was, of course, no eager comparing of professional notes on the job just past. I didn’t inquire as to precisely what her mission had been, or even whether or not it had been successfully completed. My hunch was that, in spite of having her cover blown, she must have managed to pull it off somehow, whatever it was, or Mac wouldn’t have sent me here to cheer her up. He wasn’t much fonder of failures than Moscow or Peking.
Ellen gave me a lopsided grin. “It’s all right. I’ll get over it, they tell me.”
I said, “In about two weeks, I hope.”
“Why two weeks?”
“I’m going hunting,” I said. “But I’ll be back.”
“Hunting!” She sounded shocked and at the same time amused. “Talk about your busman’s holiday! Or do you mean you’ve got another job—”
I said firmly, “Hunting, like with a shotgun. I have a friend, a black, four-legged friend, who’s earned a reward for services rendered. I—” I stopped and cleared my throat. “I’m going to have to give him back pretty soon. I’m hardly in a position to keep a pet. But in the meantime… well, he’s a damn nice pup, and he’s had a long, dull trip. And while you may turn on with beautiful music, or LSD, he turns on with ducks. I’ve got nothing against birds, these days, but if ducks are what he wants, ducks are what he gets. Okay?”
She gave me her crooked smile again. “Okay. Two weeks. I’ll try to be presentable by that time… Oh, Matt.”
“Yes.”
“I shouldn’t ask, but I did work on it, and I feel I deserve… I mean, after all, it almost got me killed. Just what is the Northwest Coastal System, anyway?”
I put a stern look on my face. “Do you have a need to know, Miss Blish?” I asked and grinned as she stuck out her tongue at me.
Then I stopped grinning and her face grew serious and we studied each other for a long moment, knowing exactly why we’d been brought together like this: two agents, male and female, after a tough assignment. It was Mac’s idea of safe rest and rehabilitation for both of us—simpler, cheaper, and less obvious than turning the wig-pickers loose on us; and more effective if it worked.
It worked.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donald Hamilton was the creator of secret agent Matt Helm, star of 27 novels that have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
Born in Sweden, he emigrated to the United States and studied at the University of Chicago. During the Second World War he served in the United States Naval Reserve, and in 1941 he married Kathleen Stick, with whom he had four children.
The first Matt Helm book, Death of a Citizen, was published in 1960 to great acclaim, and four of the subsequent novels were made into motion pictures. Hamilton was also the author of several outstanding standalone thrillers and westerns, including two novels adapted for the big screen as The Big Country and The Violent Men.
Donald Hamilton died in 2006.
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
The Matt Helm Series
BY DONALD HAMILTON
The long-awaited return of the United States’ toughest special agent.
Death of a Citizen
The Wrecking Crew
The Removers
The Silencers
Murderers’ Row
The Ambushers
The Shadowers
The Ravagers
The Devastators
The Betrayers
The Menacers
The Poisoners (December 2014)
The Intriguers (February 2015)
The Intimidators (April 2015)
The Terminators (June 2015)
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PRAISE FOR DONALD HAMILTON
“Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told.”
Anthony Boucher, The New York Times
“This series by Donald Hamilton is the top-ranking American secret agent fare, with its intelligent protagonist and an author who consistently writes in high style. Good writing, slick plotting and stimulating characters, all tartly flavored with wit.”
Book Week
The New York Sunday Times
“Fast, tightly written, brutal, and very good…”
Milwaukee Journal
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Helen MacInnes
A series of slick espionage thrillers from the New York Times bestselling “Queen of Spy Writers.”
Pray for a Brave Heart
Above Suspicion
Assignment in Brittany
North From Rome
Decision at Delphi
The Venetian Affair
The Salzburg Connection
Message from Málaga
While Still We Live
The Double Image
Neither Five Nor Three
Horizon
Snare of the Hunter
Agent in Place
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PRAISE FOR HELEN MACINNES
“The queen of spy writers.” Sunday Express
“Definitely in the top class.” Daily Mail
“The hallmarks of a MacInnes novel of suspense are as individual and as clearly stamped as a Hitchcock thriller.” The New York Times
“She can hang her cloak and dagger right up there with Eric Ambler and Graham Greene.” Newsweek
“More class than most adventure writers accumulate in a lifetime.” Chicago Daily News
“A sophisticated thriller. The story builds up to an exciting climax.” Times Literary Supplement
“An atmosphere that is ready to explode with tension… a wonderfully readable book.” The New Yorker
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The Harry Houdini Mysteries
BY DANIEL STASHOWER
The Dime Museum Murders
The Floating Lady Murder
The Houdini Specter
In turn-of-the-century New York, the Great Houdini’s confidence in his own abilities is matched only by the indifference of the paying public. Now the young performer has the opportunity to make a name for himself by attempting the most amazing feats of his fledgling career—solving what seem to be impenetrable crimes. With the reluctant help of his brother Dash, Houdini must unravel murders, debunk frauds and escape from danger that is no illusion…
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