s own
way, a magician.

It is not to be supposed that the United States of America had no spy
rings in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at that time. There were
plenty of them. Raphael Poe could have, if it were so ordained, availed
himself of the services of any one or all of them. He did not do so for
two reasons. In the first place, the more people who are in on a secret,
the more who can give it away. In other words, a ring, like a chain, is
only as strong as its weakest section. In the second place, Raphael Poe
didn't need any assistance in the first place.

That is, he needed no more assistance that most magicians do--a shill in
the audience. In this particular case, the shill was his brother, Leonard
Poe.

* * * * *

Operation Mapcase was as ultra-secret as it could possibly be. Although
there were perhaps two dozen men who knew of the existence of the
operation by its code name, such as the Naval officers who had helped get
Raphael Poe to his destination, there were only five men who really knew
what Operation Mapcase was all about.

Two of these were, of course, Raphael and Leonard Poe. Two others were the
President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense. The fifth was
Colonel Julius T. Spaulding, of United States Army Intelligence.

On the seventh day after Raphael Poe's arrival in Moscow, the other four
men met in Blair House, across the street from the White House, in a room
especially prepared for the purpose. No one but the President knew the
exact purpose of the meeting, although they had an idea that he wanted
more information of some kind.

The President himself was the last to arrive. Leaving two Secret Service
men standing outside the room, he carefully closed the door and turned to
face the Secretary of Defense, Colonel Spaulding, and Leonard Poe. "Sit
down, gentlemen," he said, seating himself as he spoke.

"Gentlemen, before we go any further, I must conduct one final experiment
in order to justify Operation Mapcase. I will not explain it just yet." He
looked at Lenny Poe, a small, dark-haired man with a largish nose. "Mr.
Poe, can you contact your brother at this moment?"

Lenny Poe was a man who was not overawed by anyone, and had no inclination
to be formal, not even toward the President. "Yeah, sure," he said
matter-of-factly.

[Illustration]

The President glanced at his watch. "It is now five minutes of ten. That
makes it five min