"Major," Ferniany said, "I'm really sorry. It never entered my mind that you would show up here." , "A lot of things apparently 'never entered your mind,"" Canidy said.
"Now, what the hell happened, one step at a time?"
"The cops in Hungary are like the cops in Hamtramck, Michigan, Major," , Perniany said.
"They have their hands out. They want a slice of the pie, and then they look the other way. So far as they're concerned, if a Hungarian farmer sells a ham or a couple of salamis to a 'tourist," instead of selling it to the state, that's his business, providing they get their cut. They make sure that everybody understands the rules by picking people up every once in a while and putting them in jail. Like the cops raid the whorehouses in Cicero, on a scheduled basis. You understand?"
"And Fulmar got picked up... on a schedule?"
"The Black Guard had a good day with him," Ferniany said.
"I saw them counting the money they took away from him. How much did he have, anyway?"
Canidy ignored the question.
"How come they didn't pick you up?" he asked.
"And you said the Dyer girl's here?" ;
"I'm not making my point," Ferniany said.
"And it's important that I do."
"So make it," Canidy said.
"They didn't pick me up, or anybody else on the barge, because that would ' be killing the goose that lays the golden egg. They picked up Fulmar because ' he hadn't paid the toll."
"You mean beforehand?" Canidy asked. Perniany nodded.
"Well, if you knew about this system, why didn't you pay whatever had to be paid?" '_ "I had a decision to make," Ferniany said.
"I decided it would be worth the ' risk... the word I got, presumably from you, Major... was to keep this operation as quiet as possible. I decided the best way to do that was to try to slip them through without paying off the cops." ;
"You should have paid the cops," Canidy said.
"When you pay the cops, it's for a round-trip," Ferniany said.
"They would have been curious when these people didn't head back to Vienna with suitcases full of salami and ham."
"Your orders, Captain," Canidy said icily, "were to see that under no circumstances were Fulmar and Professor Dyer to fall into German hands."
"You mean, I was supposed to 'eliminate' them?" Ferniany asked.
"The
thing is. Major, I'm new at this. I'm not used to the euphemisms: 'eliminate' for 'kill," specifically. So far, it hasn't been necessary for me to kill people on our side. I don't know, frankly, what I would have done if I had thought they were going to be turned over to the Sicherheitsdienst or the Gestapo."
Canidy, his face rigid, looked at Ferniany a long time before he spoke.
"I don't know if I could have done it, either," he said finally, softly.
"It's easier to order people to do something like that than it is to do it yourself."
"Major, it's five-to-one that long before their ninety days is up, they'll be turned loose. They're not making any money for the cops in the coal mines.
The coal mines are a lesson, you understand?"
"I know what you're trying to tell me," Canidy said.