Donald Hamilton - The Menacers

I winced. "That was weeks before I was assigned to this saucer mess, sir," I objected. "If anybody put her onto me with this in mind, they must have been clairvoyant."

"Not necessarily," Mac said. "Has it never happened that an attractive woman has been persuaded, one way or another, to resume a known friendship with a known agent-unfortunately you are becoming pretty well-known in certain circles, Eric-with the expectation that she will prove useful if she should later be given a mission of importance?" Mac shrugged. "In any case, it's a starting point. You will arrange to travel to Mexico with Mrs. Lujan. But in view of the coincidences in which she figures-her making contact with you this summer; her requesting a UFO assignment now-we must leave a large question mark opposite the lady's name." His eyes were cold. "I want you to keep that firmly in mind, Eric."

"Yes, sir."

"Whether justifiably or not, this business is highly classified. Under normal circumstances, I would have no objection to your confiding in the lady if it seemed advisable, but things are not normal in Washington these days. Mrs. Lujan may be guilty or she may be innocent, but one thing is certain: she has no official clearance. And with Mr. Leonard looking for a soft spot in which to insert his well-known dagger, you cannot afford to indulge in any breaches of security, nor can I afford to have you. The very existence of this agency may be at stake. I hope you understand."

"Yes, sir."

"You will lie to her assiduously even in the most tender moments. You will tell her nothing whatever about this agency or its work, and that includes your own duties and responsibilities. You will maintain your cover story-whatever you've been telling her-with a perfectly straight face even if circumstances conspire to render it totally ridiculous."

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Very well. Did you find any discrepancies in the O'Leary statement?"

"No, the kid is either telling the truth or she's memorized her lies well."

"It's too bad you lost her, but under the circumstances your action, or lack of it, was probably justified. At least General Bannister seems to think so. He has asked for you to remain on the case in spite of Leonard's objections. Of course, Leonard's people will be working on it, too, but Mrs. Lujan may give us a slight edge. At least she will give you a reasonably convincing cover. Do you know what her plans are?"

"No, except that she's shopping around for an outsize telephoto lens to snap a saucer's picture with. How she's planning to persuade it to pose for her, I have no idea. I don't think she's ever used one of those long-range optical monstrosities before; I don't think she knows how tricky they are to handle."

Mac said, "Well, I'm sure you can assist her with the technical details, Eric. You used to be a reasonably competent photographer yourself, as I recall. However, you are not being sent into Mexico just to help the lady take pictures."

"No, sir."

"We want the location from which these objects are operating, and we want it as soon as possible. The recent increase in their activity indicates that their efforts will probably reach a dramatic climax shortly, if we are not able to forestall it. You will therefore proceed into Mexico with Mrs. Lujan and persuade her to commence her photographic operations at the scene of the next incident that occurs. We have established that these saucers are quite sensitive about invasions of their privacy. Things seem to happen to people who see them and talk about it-Mrs. O'Leary's disappearance is by no means unique. It follows that even if your attractive photographic friend is not now involved, with a little luck, if she uses her cameras diligently, she soon may be. And of course you will be handy to take advantage of her involvement when it occurs, Eric."

In other words, we were going to use Carol Lujan for bait. It wasn't the best possible foundation upon which to construct a light-hearted alliance with a member of the opposite sex, ostensibly for purposes of travel and photography, and I couldn't help a certain guilty awkwardness now, which I was fairly sure hadn't gone unnoticed by my blonde companion.

"This is quite a heap you've got here," I said casually, to be saying something as we drove. "The photography business must be paying off these days."

Carol laughed. "Well, I'm not quite starving, let's say. Remember when you first taught me how to use Ted's cameras after…after he was killed? And then I went off to work in New York, on your recommendation, and when I came back you were gone, and Beth was packing for Reno, and it was all very sudden and mysterious and, well, shocking. I'd figured yours for one marriage that would go on forever."

She gave me a curious glance, but my divorce wasn't something I wanted to discuss, even with Carol Lujan, so I let the conversation lapse. We spent a couple of hours in Albuquerque picking up a telephoto lens she'd located by phone, and some other stuff she needed, and a bite of lunch. It was well after noon when we hit the road again, so we didn't make it out of New Mexico that day. There was no hurry anyway, as Carol pointed out. She'd agreed that the best plan was for us to wait for another incident and make a dash for the scene- but until the saucer-men struck again, we didn't really know where we were going.

We stopped for the night in Lordsburg, therefore, down in the lower left-hand corner of the state. It was a typical western community with the Southern Pacific railroad tracks on one side of the main drag, and most of the town on the other.

After checking us into a motel, I left Carol to take a shower, and drove her car to a nearby filling station to be serviced. She was a nice girl-at least I hoped she was, Mac's suspicions notwithstanding-but the sticker on the door said she was as casual as most women about little things like grease and oil, and I didn't want any trouble south of the border where mechanics are scarce and auto parts scarcer.

It was dark when I returned to the motel. When I knocked on the door, Carol's voice said for me to come in, it wasn't locked. I found her, in a short white terry-cloth robe or beach coat, sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed with an open attachй case beside her and a lot of papers scattered around her, one of which seemed to be a map of Mexico. She looked up as I entered.

"It's no use," she said disgustedly. "I can't make any sense of these sightings. The things just seem to pop up-or down-all over northwestern Mexico, without any pattern or reason or anything."

I went over to the dresser to put down the cardboard icebucket I'd filled from the machine near the office. Again, the skeptical attitude seemed indicated, and I said, "Look, just between us, doll, do you really believe in these gadgets?"

Carol looked up, startled. "flying saucers? Why, of course I believe in them! After all, we saw one once, remember?"

I shrugged. "Well, we saw a funny-looking green light moving across the sky, sure. But don't let's build it up to include any whirling discs piloted by little cheese-eating moonmen. All we saw was a light. Just a light."

"Mart Helm, do you mean to tell me you think this is all a wild-goose chase…?" She stopped abruptly. "Oh, I see," she said in a different, softer voice. "I see. Of course."

"What do you see?"

"It's security, isn't it? You're not allowed to admit that you know anything about it. Isn't that it?"

I looked at her for a moment, and put a grin on my face. "Sweetheart, you're way beyond me. Who's supposed to be telling me not to talk about what?"

"The people you work for, of course," she said calmly. "I mean the people you work for really, not that imaginary public relations outfit you talk about so unconvincingly." When I didn't say anything, Carol rose and belted the terry-cloth robe more closely about her, which was perhaps just as well, since it had become interestingly obvious that she wasn't wearing anything else. "Matt, let's stop pretending. Don't you see, I know. I know all about you. I've known for years. I know why Beth left you. She told me. She cried on my shoulder, when I came back from New York that time, and told me all about it."