Seeker Read Free Page B

who they were?”
    “No. It happened recently, though. Within the last year. Maybe within the last few days.”
    Her office was big. There were pictures from various missions on the paneled walls, as well as a scattering of awards. Winetta Yashevik, Employee of the Year; Harbison Award for Outstanding Service; Appreciation from the United Defenders for contributions to their Toys for Kids program. And there were pictures from excavations.
    “Well,” she said, “I’m sorry to hear it.”
    “Windy, we were trying to figure out how it happened.” I took a deep breath. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but as far as we can figure, you’re the only one who knew in advance where we were going.”
    “Chase,” she said, in a level tone, “you told me to keep it quiet, and I did. You also know I would never help one of these
vandals
.”
    “We know that. But we were wondering if the information got passed on in any way? If anybody else in the organization knew?”
    “No,” she said, “I’m sure I didn’t tell anybody.” She thought about it. “Except Louie.” That was a reference to Louis Ponzio, the director.
    “Okay. That probably means somebody’s listening in on us.”
    “Could be.” She looked uncomfortable. “Chase, we both know the director doesn’t run the tightest ship on the planet.”
    Actually I didn’t know.
    “That may or may not have been the problem. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
    “It’s okay. It was probably the comm system.”
    “Whatever. Listen, Chase—”
    “Yes?”
    “I wouldn’t want you to feel you can’t tell me things.”
    “I know. It’s not a problem.”
    “Next time—”
    “I know.”
     
     
    Fenn Redfield, Alex’s old police buddy, was at the country house when I got back. Alex had told him what happened. Not an official complaint, of course. There was none to be made. “But there’s a possibility somebody’s doing some eavesdropping.”
    “Wish I could help,” he said. “You guys just have to be more careful what you say over an open circuit.” Fenn was short, stocky, a walking barrel with green eyes and a deep bass voice. He had never married, loved to party, and played cards regularly in a small group with Alex.
    “Isn’t it illegal to eavesdrop on people?” I asked.
    “Not really,” he said. “Such a law would be unenforceable.” He made a face to suggest he was thinking it over. “But it
is
illegal to own enabling equipment. I can keep an ear open, but what you
should
do, Alex, is install a scrambler system.”
    That sounded good, but it wasn’t very practical when you’re trying to solicit calls from new clients. So Fenn assured us he’d let us know if they learned anything, which meant, of course, that we were on our own.
    We had lunch before going back to the office. Alex is big on lunch. He thinks a good lunch is what life is really about. So we stopped at the Paramount House and decided over sandwiches and potato salad that we would opt for a cryptosystem that would secure calls between Alex and me, and between the office and our more significant clients. And to Windy.
     
     
    Despite failing to capitalize at Gideon V, Rainbow was prospering. Alex had all the money he could possibly want, much of it deriving as a by-product of the celebrity status he’d achieved from the
Tenandrome
and
Polaris
affairs. But he’d have been wealthy even without those fortuitous events. He was a good businessman, and everybody trusted him. If you had an artifact you wanted to put a value to, you knew you could take it to Alex and get an honest appraisal. In our business, reputation is everything. Add his basic integrity to the fact that he’s at least as knowledgeable as any of his competitors, and throw in his genius for public relations, and you have the formula for a profitable operation.
    Rainbow is headquartered on the ground floor of his home, an old country house that had once served as an inn to hunters and sight-seers