ere's still one thing bothering me."

Malone blew out some more smoke, thought wistfully about cigars, and
said: "What? Everything seems simple enough to me."

Burris frowned and leaned back in his chair. "It's this notion of
yours, Malone," he said.

"Notion?"

"About going over there," Burris said. "Now, I can understand your
wanting some facts on Moscow, current background and all that sort of
thing. So far, everything makes sense."

"Fine," Malone said warily.

"But, after all, Malone," Burris said, "we do have such a thing as the
Central Intelligence Agency. They send us reports. That's what they're
for. And why you want to ignore the reports and make a trip over there
to walk around and see for yourself--"

"It's because of everything that's happening," Malone said.

Burris looked puzzled. "What?" he said.

"Because of all the confusion," Malone said. "Frankly, I can't trust
the CIA, or any other branch of the government. I've got to see for
myself."

Burris considered this for a second. "It's going to look very
peculiar," he said.

Malone shrugged. "Everything looks peculiar," he said. "A little more
won't hurt anything. And if I do turn up anything we can use, the
whole trip will be worth it."

"But sending an FBI man along with Brubitsch, Borbitsch and Garbitsch
is a little strange," Burris said. "Not to mention Her Majesty."

"There is that," Malone said. "I wonder what our Red friends are going
to think of the Queen."

"God knows," Burris said. "If they take her seriously, they're liable
to call her some sort of capitalist deviationist."

"And if they don't take her seriously?" Malone said.

"Then they're going to wonder why she's _pretending_ to be a
capitalist deviationist," Burris said.

Malone flicked his cigarette at an ashtray. "You can't win," he said.

"Frankly," Burris said, "I wouldn't allow Her Majesty to go along
under any circumstances--except that there is an excuse for having an
older woman around."

"There is?" Malone said.

Burris nodded. "As a chaperone," he said.

"Now, wait a minute," Malone said. "Brubitsch, Borbitsch and
what's-his-name don't need a chaperone."

"I didn't say it was for them," Burris said.

"Me?" Malone asked in a tone of absolute wonder. "Now, Chief, I don't
need a chaperone. I'm a grown man. I know my way around. And the idea
of having Her Majesty along to chaperone me is going to make
everything look even stranger. After all, Chief--"