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“I beg your pardon?” she asked.

“Stanley said you were going to sink your fangs into Eric,” Canidy said. “I’ve been wondering what he meant.”

“I can’t believe Stanley would say anything like that,” she said.

“That’s what he said,” Fulmar said.

The Scorpion’s eyes flashed with rage, but she elected to stay and pretend everyone was being very clever.

She sat down.

“Are you stationed in London, Major?” she asked as she took a cigarette from her purse and indicated she wanted a light from Fulmar.

“No,” Canidy said.

“And you must be with the Eighty-second Airborne,” she said to Eric.

“No,” Eric said.

“Then you must be involved in whatever Stanley is doing,” she said,“that no one’s supposed to talk about,” she added significantly.

“I thought Stan was with the SHAEF movie branch,” Canidy said.

“I am,” Fine said quickly.

“All right, then,” the Scorpion said. “We won’t talk about that.”

Her appetite, Fine saw, was whetted by her belief that the horny young hero was involved in intelligence.

“We’re assigned to the 32nd Bomber Group,” Canidy said. “I’m an engineering officer, and Eric has the parachute-rigging detachment.”

“Oh,” she said, more than a little disappointed. “Then you just met Stanley? ”

“Oh, no,” Canidy said,“we’re old pals. From Hollywood.”

The Scorpion brightened considerably.

“You’re in the industry?” she asked. Canidy nodded. She smiled at Fulmar. “I should have guessed. You carry yourself like an actor.”

“I’m not an actor, sorry,” Fulmar said sharply.

“But you were in the industry?” she insisted.

“Stuntman,” Canidy said. “He did all of Errol Flynn’s stunts. Alan Ladd’s, too.”

“Really?” she asked. “How fascinating!”

She beamed at Fulmar and sat down next to him.

Fulmar rose to the occasion. He told her that Errol Flynn had a phobia about horses, and that in his stocking feet Alan Ladd was five feet one and had to stand on a platform beside his leading ladies.

And then a full colonel, wearing a SHAEF patch and Chemical Warfare Service insignia, came to the table and asked the Scorpion to dance. She hesitated, and then got to her feet.

“Let’s get the hell out of here while she’s gone,” Canidy said, standing.

Fulmar and Fine quickly followed him into the lobby.

“You don’t have to come with us, Eric,” Canidy said. “You could pursue the Red Cross lady. She seemed fascinated with you.”