ed. "Malone, you've been working too hard
lately."

Now, Malone thought, it was coming. The dismissal he'd always feared.
At last Burris had found out that he wasn't the bright, intelligent,
fearless, and alert FBI agent he was supposed to be. Burris had
discovered that he was nothing more or less than lucky, and that all
the "fine jobs" he was supposed to have done were only the result of
luck.

Oh, well, Malone thought. Not being an FBI agent wouldn't be so bad.
He could always find another job.

Only at the moment he couldn't think of one he liked.

He decided to make one last plea. "I haven't been working so hard,
Chief," he said. "Not too hard, anyhow. I'm in great shape. I--"

"I've taken advantage of you, Malone, that's what I've done," Burris
said, just as if Malone hadn't spoken at all. "Just because you're the
best agent I've got, that's no reason for me to hand you all the tough
ones."

"Just because I'm what?" Malone said, feeling slightly faint.

"I've given you the tough ones because you could handle them," Burris
said. "But that's no reason to keep loading jobs on you. After that
job you did on the Gorelik kidnaping, and the way you wrapped up the
Transom counterfeit ring--well, Malone, I think you need a little
relaxation."

"Relaxation?" Malone said, feeling just a little bit pleased. Of
course, he didn't deserve any of the praise he was getting, he knew.
He'd just happened to walk in on the Gorelik kidnapers because his
telephone had been out of order. And the Transom ring hadn't been just
his job. After all, if other agents hadn't managed to trace the
counterfeit bills back to a common area in Cincinnati, he'd never have
been able to complete his part of the assignment. But it was nice to
be praised, anyhow. Malone felt a twinge of guilt, and told himself
sternly to relax and enjoy himself.

"That's what I said," Burris told him. "Relaxation."

"Well," Malone said, "I certainly would like a vacation, that's for
sure. I'd like to snooze for a couple of weeks, or maybe go up to Cape
Cod for a while. There's a lot of nice scenery up around there. It's
restful, sort of, and I could just--"

He stopped. Burris was frowning, and when Andrew J. Burris frowned it
was a good idea to look attentive, interested, and alert. "Now,
Malone," Burris said sadly, "I wasn't exactly thinking about a
vacation. You're not scheduled for one until August, you know."

"Oh, I know, Chief," Malone said. "But I t