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“After you left, Andrea refused to stay in that wrecked house, especially with Mariano’s body. She went and got one of her brothers, who I eventually figured out was Antonio. When Antonio saw Mariano, he went and brought back his brother and a pickup truck that reeked of fish. After a lot of emotional drama, and them swearing he would get a decent burial, they put Mariano, wrapped in more sheets, in the back of the truck. An hour later, they were back, and then we—well, they—loaded everything in the truck and brought us here.”

I was back there in two hours. Must have just missed them.

“What is this?” Canidy said. “It looks like a makeshift infirmary.”

John Craig nodded.

“Something like that. It’s Andrea’s office. I set up the station in here, then since I couldn’t find you and it was dark and we had the truck, I got them to drive out to where you said you’d stashed the gear. It took a little time, but I eventually found one bundle, in a rock outcropping just as you’d described.”

John Craig gestured to a corner of the room. Canidy saw one of the suitcases and a duffel and a wooden crate that held a hundred pounds of C-2 plastic explosive.

“So, we have something to work with,” he said, as he reached back to the desk and picked up his transcription pad. “Which is good because these came in this morning.”

As John Craig handed Canidy the messages, he said, “Apparently the delay in Corsica didn’t happen. Neptune is en route.”

Canidy read that message, thought for a moment, then flipped to the next.

After a moment, he said, “So now I’m ordered to get this Kappler to Algiers yesterday, and get him there alive.”

John Craig nodded.

“Well,” Canidy went on, “the timing for that should be about perfect. It’ll take Neptune two, three days to get here, in which time good ol’ Jupiter should be able to make contact with Kappler.”

Canidy flipped to the next page, found it blank, then handed back the message pad.

“Any word from Mercury Station?” Canidy said.

“Not one. And I’ve had the Radio Direction Finder ready to go.”

Standing near John Craig, Andrea leaned against the desk and pointed to the chair.

“Stay off foot,” she said.

John Craig exchanged glances with Canidy and shrugged sheepishly. “Sh

e’s been taking really good care of me.”

“I can tell.”

Canidy then walked over to their pile of gear that John Craig had brought, dug through it for a moment, then said, “Aha!”

He pulled out a bottle of the Haig & Haig Pinch Scotch Whisky and triumphantly held it above his head.

“I need to go talk to Palasota,” he then said. “Try not to disappear again.”

[TWO]

Canidy had found Jimmy Skinny alone in his office. He was sitting behind his desk when Canidy had knocked on the door and immediately entered.

Jimmy Skinny did not seem surprised that it wasn’t Vito.

Maybe everyone does it.

“Sorry about the interruption earlier,” Palasota said. “That Müller was getting in a pissing contest with Fiorini, the new captain of that submarine. The guy’s a really wet-behind-the-ears lieutenant.”

“Not a problem. I solved one of my problems in the meantime.”

Canidy brought up the bottle of scotch, and Palasota’s eyes grew.