Show CARIBBEAN K conspiracy H BRENDA c itla STORY 80 PAR anne heywood of writer KM york newpher new w se n be to le puerto sure rico where P pf af allcox k reporter on Us her doer 1 nr III r is t te M 0 S ermy intelligence officer on ur boat ii ah xh neau a e puen A alcin weis ud 4 u cuned 4 lt of whom be be is I 1 I 1 ra ID he bif of the Is 11 lct 1 he h look like 1 I ahe des daei not know 7 that t I 1 ID a fact R germun tent ordered rd to destroy puerto rico e walar aply a anna know in to it bronx but doean doesn t want to know bo mm I 1 A the boat flock a be ud i the a nn a I 1 CHAPTER 11 she looked dg down again am at the p people on the adlock dock A gir girl 1 was standing there gazing up along the crowded ship 3 rail she was a so lovely that anne a heart sank another the notch I 1 in spite pit of herself she wll was ll 11 slim end not vc very tell tall with wilh warm peach colored skin and dark sparkling eyes and tawny chestnut hau hair behind her was an older man with the same me arresting quality the girl had except that hers was an almost breath taking loveliness and bis was s a rugged g ged and aristocratic dit dignity anity tb that t se sinned seemed to hold him completely a part apart from the crowd BY around und him suddenly both faces broke mt into an eget eager mile the old man raised his hat the girl waved her bar hand anne glanced am around d miguel vale valera was wall waving a mg back to them his face light ed with pleasure that a my father he said anne ann had noticed before the pride and warmth that came into his voice when he d spoken po oam his fathers name mine she could understand it now and yet for a some reason it made ad him suddenly ly remote from her as if the man on the dock had moved in ln between tw them there at the rail axel and my cousin granela Grae iela a she and her father live li with us her mother was killed in spam in the civil war Is ashes he a lovely she shea anne eaid aid anne caught a final glimpse of G grabiela Grae metal iela s a s face as they followed the crowd below he doesn doean t know knew olur thes in love ive with him she thought 0 or he care th the reflection lection ef she caught of he herself ba m the mirror on the I dag of the stairs had a new and sudden radiance el and nd the touch of his guiding hand on the bare skin of her arm had a kind of magic she hadn haan t noticed before 17 im m sorry the trip is over in really she said 1 im I g glad led yme youre going to be to in san juan I 1 hope you 11 let me show you around anne came to a dead stop at th the c bottom of the stairs coming out cut of the pursers office with two of the ship a officers behind him A was as captain peter wilcox of the united st states ates army he was in tan tropic tropical a 1 gabardine with a tan sun aam helm helmet e t under his arm and an inlaid in mahogany bg swagger stick in his hand for an instant litant he I 1 looked so different she he gasn wasn z sure if ii it was really he he was older and harder and more authoritative then T hen he grinned as he used to do hello annie I 1 wondered if there was an another 0 ther anne heywood in this part of the world oh pe pete t it a sheu 1 1 to see you she ran down the 1 last ast steps it was was swell to see him she would hav have e kissed him for an instant she q quite t forgot miguel valera but he held out cut his hands so on that was that she turned back have you two met this is mr valera apt captain in W wilcox I 1 th the a two men shook hands so something curious seemed to happen to the atmosphere all of a sudden it was like a cloud loud crossing the a sun if mcloud Yc get your stuff together anne pete ft e said a d be al along ong and help you get e t I 1 it t to your hotel hole 1 he grinned acain gain if like hire me a to that is the passengers from the ship had ahr already ady re registered g istead the clerk turned me t to anne are you miss heywood 9 its a good go d ihirg you made a reservation it its a the last room in the house bouse A gentleman was just asking for you 0 one e of the passengers she tooka took up p the pen wrote miss anne ann and stopped to aped her eye eyes were fastened on im t the he to top card in t the h I 1 e stack lack the clerk w was s ho holding on it was a small mall c curiously bously cramped signature mr richard taussig new york city you are in room miss heywood e 0 clerk said d it 5 a corner lyk side aid or r room on the ocean her eyes were still fill fi fastened bared on the caid d m his bj hand th the room number b or on it t was I 1 she wrote heywood xong X ong island new york put the a pen pan dod down and turned ad around pet pete was waiting too looking g at her he he took beam arm what a the atter pi fining she he said quickly then she laughed 1 I do don t know knew whar got into me all of a sudden I 1 im in just t P I 1 g he ed her rm little tight a 1 ked UP it 1 w or bil tear laughingh laug hinge a th d s t richard taussig could exude could any kind 3 of pitch m room mom that could through and defile anything of seep her ass 1 r room 1 cm seemed suddenly to too fa fantastic to t I 1 t to her to worry about I 1 m glad im here she said softly loftly so a am I 1 I 1 pete said now new id us like to think you came down because caus eyou you missed having me under fat toot but im still relatively sane a and d you dont look as it if the doctor ordered a rest what about mining coming clean miss Heywoo dl le anne cros crossed a ad the patio and sat d down I 1 on the balustrade 1 I m just down for fun she said he looked at her a moment did you yen meet net old don alvaro Alv he asked she looked blank the father ot of the guy you were with on the ship you you mean miguel valera 1 I in mean an me his father yes es I 1 met hun him while I 1 was sitting on my trunk waiting for you what were you doing checking up on the passenger list hat 1 I keep forgetting youre in military intel intelligence irence anne said do you yen catch spies or what at he grinned public relations is a all I 1 do there arent any spies down he here miss heywood od everything a s an a open P book if you yen want a se scale 1 map P ot f the island and all 11 its for fortifications ai all jr you do is send ten cents in aa stamps mile to general head headquarters s he got up ive got to push rat along lon g what about I lunchi ill twelve officers club at el M morro mo o any tm taxi d 41 get you there anne nodded pete wilcox waited on the gallery until he heard the door trundle shut drogt bud and the a elevator b begin its whee wheezing progress a upward he tossed his a cigarette into the jar of white sand d 1 by I 1 11 tv I 1 1 11 I keep forgetting y youre 0 a ild in the he military 11 ellig A anne use a said the pillar and came back into the lobby it was empty except for a man sitting on a wicker sofa between the center arches reading a spanish newspaper r pete went want over to the desk the clerk pushed the pile of registration cards across to him anne a was on top under it mr richard ta Taus sigs a pete glanced through the rest of them quickly and handed them back to the clerk he pushed taussig a across rose the desk phone messages bud and callers callen he said the clerk nodded and miss heywood would like a room on the second floor as a soon a as its it s possible the clerk nodded again the man on n the wicker sofa folded his n newspaper aws bud and strolled out into the gallery on one a oh h eight pete said as he passed him bull he would have liked to add one ten but military intelligence once in motion was like the mine mills of the gods bud and he didn dian t want twant arm anne e heywood ground axce exceedingly a g ld small email heaven only knew what she e d get into to blore before she go got out cut he e switched on the ignition S something else Is was wo ying him to too an old story he it picked up a long time ago go when he was covering spanish speakeasies speake asies why do don alvr alvaros a name dam in his memory he know except that names and dad disjointed facts il had a way of sticking there here and were part of his luck look as a mr newspaperman pap he dhru shrugged ed ho his shoulders the whole thing was fantastic pro probably by all a ape speakeasy easy pipe dream the aidea idea that at DL don alvaro m or any man alive today oday knew ew the conquistadores Conquest adores secret of san juan a water supply and could choke off el me morro bud and her sister let fortress san cristobal was absolutely c cockeyed elf it if he took look a 2 story ol 01 1 the sort to G 2 they d have him m the nearest insane asylum in nothing ID g flat the water supply was c certainly heinly one ot of the chief strategic problems of the island but it was a problem in engineering g gi rm and he wasn gasn t going to b believe ell hev th that at the old conquistadores Conquist adorea had left a secret the army amy engineers co coulden couldn u ddn t figure fige out he sto stopped P p ed abruptly as something else flesh flashed e d into to his mind it was na an order hed seen a couple of weeks before from the war department in washington cancelling miguel vales vaccra previous order to report for alive service with the infantry at fort B buchanan Eu chanan that we was all the there was 1 to it and now he 7 waa Is here r a 1 I 1 wonder what the hen hell pete thought as he returned the sen arys salute and hurried hued hu ed inside L lieutenant colonel thomas J 7 fletcher looked up from his desk with a slig slight b t frown he liked puerto R rico ico an and d he e liked pete but he had b been assistant chiel chief of staff G 2 for only a couple of weeks bud and his predecessor colo colonel ea mayhew liked neither pete nor p puerto to rico hico and he had warned colonel fletcher thayre all alike like they think the army r rn is t the he city desk of a yellow journal youve got to watch the them ol 01 closer than you yen do the derren damn natives native they go off half cocked look out cri for far what they no call t their hr private sources of information I 1 it was not only his predecessors warning that disturbed colonel pletcher fletcher at the moment it was the letter on the desk in front of h him Fattur fortunately nat e it had come in tins time if it had bad cc come m a little later t there here might have been bee hell bell to pay in washington 9 and colonel fie fletcher alx might have found himself back in the states state teaching R 0 T C boys squads right he returned petes salute taussig is in room at the granada air pete said he remembered the sir air just in time you be can call it off capt captain a wilcox fletcher spoke evenly and quietly it was his own fault of course ile he should have taken mayhewg May hews advice instead of the off chance that W wilcox really many had guething something ething you may read gm this is he handed pete the letter taussig is a not net only a substantial citizen he has a very p powerful powerful political sponsor r the letter was to maor major general dutton the Command commanding mg officer c er of the puerto bican department the letterhead and the signature belonged to a united states senator whose relations with t h the pre press had not ot always be been free of virulent name na calling my dear general it read 1 it I Is ha a very great pleasure for me to take a this opportunity to commend my old friend mr richard taussig to your kind attention attenni mr taussig is III a sanitary engineer or of flerna international repute I 1 shall regard any courtesy you yen can show pan him as a personal favor I 1 believe he he is especially interested sted 1 in the mede more arrangements 1 of the military an and d I 1 hope you will see your way clear to an allowing cwg him as much freedom for investigation as is consistent with the best bea t tnt interests e ats 0 of f all concerned I 1 am looking g I 1 forward mard to his unbiased report on mil th the use we are tris making of the vast funds fluids pouring into our caribbean base bases with warm arm personal regards I 1 am very sincerely yours across the bottom the generals aide had ad scribbled 1 I Is dinner inner ald have alan arranged ged tour how long i is s he atsy staying g 7 pete pet e h handed ded the letter back that 3 all captain and by the way C colonel I 1 onel flat fletcher n her smiled faintly are you sure this wasn gasn t camouflage ou flage when you want to meet a young lady it a best to just say so BO you know that a all pete sat for a moment at h his desk if I 1 were L lindbergh bergh I 1 cu could ld resign he th thought dog lit e sardonically dm any he mi unlocked locked a drawer and took a grimy sheet of cheap hotel writing paper out of it dear dear MY mr wilcox it began 1 I take t my p pen an in hand to say if you c can an take tins this as strictly private and personal between you sold and 1 I go ahead if you got to turn it in to them brass hats you re mixed up with stick a match to it I 1 don t want the joint wrecked any more I 1 want to wake up in the morgue via the east river ri as they say you and me are on the level A so BO and so named emde taussig 3 g is h headed abed your way y something a screwy screwy I 1 do don t know ow what h at T two guys spilled it at the bar tuesday night and it a straight dope how s the black eyed I 1 beauties beamut down yo your ur waya y signed y F A schneider sch dar the signature was at elaborate a borate and flowing p practiced td in for I 1 state occasions like the signing of liquor receipts under it was written gus I 1 pete wilcox sat at looking down at his hot tip from the keeper of one me of the most disreputable waterfront dives in hoboken it wasia t the first finst one he d got get not net one of them had been a phony th the F B I 1 had profited d a number of tunes time and no questions a asked i ile he shrugged the army amy he be thought is aff different nt but I 1 thought fletcher was different too I 1 guess they grow brass hats young ile he put the letter back in the drawer after all it w was as just gus word against g at a guy who h evidently d em I 1 had ad friends nd in hilly high ig h places ic a but if gus had bad gone t to the length of writing a letter 1 I guess e 1 I ive ve stuck k my neck out enough u aig h h he thought s sardonically don cally what za t was the te army formula keep your mouth shut your bowels open and never volunteer there was something in it I 1 d better etter call off the peck pack before they put pu me ine in the guardhouse he thought he picked up p the phone and add ran rang g the granada a hotel tto to BB continued |