extry! extry! read all about it!”
hogan, the biggest and dumbest seret service man in the detail, was giving grundy, the dwarf, the business, about grundy’s stint taking the professor’s place selling newspapers when the professor had been secretly escorted to his meeting with secretary of state wilson.
grundy, lying on his bunk in the secret service barracks, ignored him and flipped the page pf his copy of thrilling detective super stories.
“so did you meet any interesting people when you were selling those papers?” hogan asked.
“no, they were all in a hurry to get out of the snow,” grundy replied evenly.
“meet any hot dames?”
‘hard to say, everybody was bundled up.”
hogan laughed. “maybe you can’t tell a hot dame no matter what she’s wearing, but i can,” he said.
“give it a rest, hogan, “ donaldson, a corporal and the ranking member of the detail in the room, said from his bunk in the corner.
“is that an order, general?” hogan sneered.
“just a friendly suggestion,” donaldson replied. “some people here might like a little peace and quiet, that’s all.”
“peace and quiet?” adams, the oldest and quietest member of the group put in. he was lying on his bunk, reading volume 4 of grote’s history of greece. “there’s a little too much quiet if you ask me. always a bad sign.” adams was inclined to make strange, cryptic comments occasionally.
donaldson laughed. “what’s that supposed to mean?”
“it means,” adams started to say in a serious voice -
'
but just then the door opened and lieutenant taft, the detail leader entered. taft was younger and better looking than any of his charges, a college boy from princeton, and nobody liked him much.
“the captain wants to see you, hogan,” he announced.
“yes, lieutenant.” hogan shrugged, and without looking at any of the others, left the room. he might have asked lieutenant mcgregor, taft’s predecessor and a regular guy that everybody liked, if he knew what the captain wanted, but he knew better than to ask taft.
“and you, grundy,” the lieutenant addressed the dwarf, “captain says you are relieved. just be sure to be back here by seven o’clock because there might be another special assignment for ypu.”
“yes, lieutenant.” grundy swung himself off his bunk. there was nothing remarkable about taft’s message. grundy was on the squad mostly for special assignments, usually getting into small spaces, or sometimes, as the night before, impersonating a child.
lieutenant taft cleared his throat. “before you go, grundy, i have a message from all of you from the captain, and from the director. you might as well stay to hear it.”
“yes, sir.”
the lieutenant scanned the room. “the message is this. it has come to the director’s attention that a significant number of instances have been reported where unauthorized persons, almost always compete strangers to the agents, have tried to engage off duty agents in so-called casual conversations, which casual conversations turn to matters of national security and even to the agent’s own assignments. needless to say, these conversations are discouraged in the most uncertain terms, and it also to be stated in the same terms that such conversations be reported immediately.”
“i think we all knew that, sir,” donaldson said.
“of course you dd, i am only repeating the captain’s message. he was especially insistent on reporting such incidents immediately.
“immediately with a capital “i”, roselli, the squad wiseguy, said.
“exactly. that is all. you can go now, grundy.”
the lieutenant left, and grundy got his coat and hat and followed him.
he decided to stop and buy his mother some flowers, at mrs carlton’s flower shop. mrs carlton always
had a friendly word for him.
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