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He opened her briefcase and took out the after-action reports. There were four:

LIKHAREV, SERGEI, COLONEL NKGB, CAPTURE OF

LIKHAREV, SERGEI, COLONEL NKGB, RESULTS OF

CAPTAIN CRONLEY’S INTERROGATION OF

LIKHAREV, SERGEI, COLONEL NKGB, TRANSPORT TO

ARGENTINA OF

TEDWORTH, ABRAHAM L., FIRST SERGEANT, ATTEMPTED

NKGB MURDER OF

Cronley read all of them carefully, decided they were better than he expected they would be, and then made a few minor changes to each so that Freddy would know he had read them.

“Very nice, Dette,” Cronley said, putting them back in her briefcase.

“I got the details of Tedworth grabbing the Russian from Tedworth,” she said. “And the details of Ostrowski saving him from getting garroted from him and Ostrowski. The interrogation and transport stuff I got from Freddy.”

“These are first class,” Cronley said. “I moved a couple of commas around so Freddy would see I’d really read them, but they were fine as done. You’re really good at this sort of thing.”

“I’m also very good at Gregg shorthand,” she said. “Which is really causing me an awful problem right now.”

What the hell is she talking about?

“The reason Freddy wanted you to come to us from the ASA is because you can take shorthand. How is that a problem?”

“You remember when you came out of your office, Freddy had to call me out of the supply closet?”

Cronley nodded.

“What I was doing in there was taking shorthand.”

“Of what?”

“What was being said in your office. What went on between you and Major Derwin and Major Wallace.”

“What?”

“As soon as I reported to Freddy, he told me about Colonel Mattingly, who he said absolutely could not be trusted, and that while he thought Major Wallace could be trusted, he wasn’t sure.”

Freddy really brought her on board, didn’t he?

“He’s right about Mattingly, but I can tell you Major Wallace is one of the good guys.”

“So I learned when I was in the supply closet.”

“I still don’t understand what you being in the closet has to do with you . . .” He stopped. “Jesus, Freddy bugged Mattingly’s office? My office?”

“Actually, that’s how I met him,” she said.

“Find someplace to pull off the road,” Cronley said. “We’re almost to Pullach, and I want to finish this conversation before we get there.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sir”?