She walked up to me deliberately, studied me for a moment, and reached out to unfasten the single button of my jacket that was fastened. She worked the jacket off my shoulders and arms and let it fall. She took the gun from my waistband, made a face at it, and laid it carefully on the bedside table. She pulled my shirt out of my pants all around, and unbuttoned it down the front. I stood quite still. She poked me lightly just below the ribs where some discoloration showed. I winced.
"You're a sadistic, naked bitch," I said.
"That's right," she murmured. "Isn't that what you want, a sadistic, masochistic, naked bitch? Do you have any preferences, darling? Any particular way you like to do it? What, no imagination, just sex, sex, sex?" She slipped her hands around my body under my loosened shirt, and pulled me hard against her, and kissed me on the mouth. "At least the man is tall enough for a change," she whispered. "You don't know how tired a girl can get, taking a couple of inches off her height just to feed the goddamn male ego! Well, can you take your pants off all by yourself or do you need some help?"
I cleared my throat, and said harshly, "Okay, Bobbie. That's enough. Cut, as they say in Hollywood."
It was a gamble, of course. I hadn't really made up my mind which way to go until the last moment. The safest course would have been to play along, I suppose, but quite apart from the moral aspects, which don't concern us greatly, there were practical disadvantages to that course of action. I will admit, however, that the thing that swayed me in the end, just a little, was that nice healthy tan and the funny kind of tomboy innocence her face had, close to mine, without all the dramatic movie star makeup.
She didn't move at all for a long moment. Then she released me and took one step backwards.
"What is this?" Her voice was hard. "What are you, a queer or something?"
"Now, now, Bobbie," I said. "Keep it clean. You know what I am: I'm a government man. And you know what you are: you're a girl who's been planted on a government man to find out exactly what he does with the information he's been carefully fed-to find out, and to pass the dope along to some guys, three at the last count, so they can act accordingly." I grimaced, dramatizing my indignation. "Jesus, don't you West Coast people have one original idea among you? It's been plant-a-dame-on-Helm week ever since I got out here!"
Bobbie Prince drew a long breath and started to say something, but changed her mind.
I said, with an anger that wasn't altogether faked: "Did you really think I'd buy that ancient routine, you pretending to be so concerned about the way those nasty big men were hitting poor little me, and getting yourself violently slapped around as a result? Did you think I'd buy it after just having bad Beverly Blame pretend to be violently kidnapped for my benefit-not to mention the last spectacular act she put on for me? My God, I'm in the business, Bobbie; I work here! Do you know how many times that turkey's been tried on me? Hell, even my own side, such as it is, has been parking stray females in my hip pocket! And that creaky old seduction bit: look-at-pretty-little-me-all-naked-and-desirable? What do you people think I am, a kid who's never seen a woman with her clothes off?" I sighed, like a man at the end of his patience. "For Christ's sake go cover it up before it freezes, Bobbie. Some day when I feel like it, and if you feel like it, I'll be very happy to go to bed with you- I've been looking for a tall girl to love and cherish and maybe you're the one-but I'm damned if I'm going to do it right before lunch just to oblige a precious little fat man named Tillery."
"Well, actually it was Mr. Sapio's idea. Tillery's mind doesn't work quite that way, if you know what I mean." Bobbie's voice was low but steady. She started to say more, but changed her mind once again. She turned and walked to the closet and opened the door. Then she pressed her forehead against the jamb and stood there for several seconds without moving. "That's… that's quite a whip you carry, Mister. And you sure know how to lay it on."
"You had it coming. Put on a dress or something and I'll take you to lunch."
She didn't seem to hear. "I ought to be mad," she said. "A woman's supposed to be furious when her lily-white body's been cruelly rejected, isn't she?"
"Whose lily-white body?" I asked.
Still without turning her head, she said, "Either you're kind of a sweet guy who can't bear to take advantage of a girl, and then roars like hell to cover up his sentimentality, or you're a calculating sonofabitch who's trying to promote something by-" I said, "I'm not a sweet guy. Take it from there."
"What do you want, then? What do you want that you couldn't have got by kidding me along, by letting me think you were a sucker for my charms, as the saying goes?"
She wasn't dumb. I hesitated briefly, because it was still a big gamble; then I said, "I want three things. They're called Sapio, Tillery, and Jake. If they've got friends here, I want those, too."
"Oh, Christ," she said softly. "How did I ever get into this?"
I said, "I don't see you getting into anything, not even a dress. Put something on and let's eat."
"Why should I double-cross them for you?"
I said, "Hell, I don't know. Because they didn't really ask whether or not you wanted to play in this game in the first place? Did they? Because you want out and maybe I can get you out? Maybe-that's not a promise. Or just because I'm a calculating sonofabitch who needs your help?"
"Help to do what?"
"Cut it out," I said. "Would it make any difference to you if I gave you a long patriotic spiel about the vital importance of my government mission, or lectured you on all the poor victims who'll become helpless slaves to the demon dope if Frank Warfel has his way? You don't look like a great patriotic humanitarian to me, sweetheart. Excuse me if I'm wrong."
I heard her laugh abruptly. Then she'd pulled a short, fuzzy robe from the closet and wrapped it around her; and she was coming back across the room to me. She stopped in front of me and, working deliberately, buttoned my shirt up and tucked it in all around while I stood without moving. Then she took the gun from the table and thrust it into my waistband. Finally, she picked my coat off the floor and put it into my hands.
"I don't promise anything," she said. "I don't promise a damn thing. Those guys scare the hell out of me. You know what happens when you double-cross them."
"I know," I said. "And I won't be able to protect you indefinitely. Right now, maybe, but in the long run, unless I can make a deal for you somehow, you'll just have to take your chances."
She frowned. "There you go again," she murmured. "Damn you, why don't you lie to me a little, and tell me how safe I'll be if I cooperate, with you and the government looking after me. Why be so damn honest?"
"It's all calculated, for effect," I said. "You refuse to make love to the girl under false pretenses, you tell her the truth all the way down the line, she falls for you like a ton of bricks and does what you want, see?"
"You bastard," she said, "you've got me all mixed up. Buy me a lunch and let me think, will you?"
xvii
The dining room was a big, light barn of a place with long glass doors, now closed, showing a deserted swimming pool patio. A little steam came off the water in the pool, indicating that the air was still pretty chilly out there, despite the sunshine. Inside, the rustic tables and chairs were arranged to leave a large open space in front of the glass doors, for dancing and entertainment in the evening, but now, at noon, the place was almost empty.
"Margaritas!" Bobbie said scornfully as J seated her at a table for two. "Darling, here I was beginning to think you might possibly be quite a guy. Don't go and spoil it by offering me margaritas!"