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He was beginning to despair, certain that he roup of telephones, that his old eyes were failing hi for Two pay phones inglike sound shields Brightly lighted They were about a hundred feet in from the beach, midway between the sand and the street that flanked the other side of the park

Turning his back to the churning sea, he slowed to catch his breath and walked across the grass, under the wind-shaken fronds of a cluster of three stately royal palms He was still forty feet froh speed, suddenly break and pull to the curb with a squeal of tires, parking in a direct line from the phones Garrison didn’t knoho they were, but he decided not to take any chances He sidled into the cover provided by a huge old double-boled date palm that was, fortunately, not one of those fitted with decorative spotlights From the notch between the trunks, he had a view of the phones and of the ay leading out to the curb where the car had parked

Twothe park peri

The otherthe ay When he reached the lighted area around the phones, his identity was clear-and shocking Lemuel Johnson

Behind the trunks of the Sias closer to his body, sure that the joined bases of the trees provided hi to make himself smaller nevertheless

Johnson went to the first phone, lifted the handset-and tried to tear it out of the coinbox It had one of those flexible metal cords, and he yanked on it hard, repeatedly, with little effect Finally, cursing the instruhness, he ripped the handset loose and threw it across the park Then he destroyed the second phone

For a moht toward Garrison, the attorney thought that he had been seen But Johnson stopped after only a few steps and scanned the seaward end of the park and the beach beyond His gaze did not appear to rest even momentarily on the date palms behind which Garrison hid

"You damn crazy old bastard," Johnson said, then hurried back toward his car

Crouched in shadows behind the palrinned because he kneho about Suddenly, the attorney did not ht sea behind him

Daeriatric James Bond-take your pick Either way, he was still arooents Rick Olbier and Denny Jones were tending the NSA’s electronic tapping and tracing equip Garrison Dilworth’s office and home lines It was dull duty, and they played cards to make the time pass: two-hand pinochle and five-hundred ruame, but the very idea of two-hand poker repelled theh to Dilworth’s hoht o’clock, Olbier and Jones reacted with far more excitement than the situation warranted because they were desperate for action Olbier dropped his cards on the floor, and Jones threw his on the table, and they reached for the two headsets as if this was World War II and they were expecting to overhear a top-secret conversation between Hitler and Goring

Their equipment was set to open the line and lock in a tracer pulse if Dilworth did not answer by the sixth ring Because he knew the attorney was not at home and that the phone would not be answered, Olbier overrode the progra

On the coreen letters announced: NOW TRACING

And on the open line, a man said, "Hello?"

"Hello," Jones said into the mike on his headset

The caller’s number and his local Santa Barbara address appeared on the screen This systeency co instant identification of the caller But now, above the address on the screen, a company’s rather than an individual’s name appeared: TELEPHONE SOLICITATIONS, INC

On the line, responding to Denny Jones, the caller said, "Sir, I’m pleased to tell you that you have been selected to receive a free eight-by-ten photograph and ten free pocket prints of any-"

Jones said, "Who is this?"

The co data banks of Santa Barbara street addresses to cross-check the ID of the caller

The voice on the phone said, "Well, I’raphy studio, where the finest quality-"

"Wait a sec," Jones said

The computer verified the identity of the telephone subscriber who placed the call: Dilworth was getting a sales pitch, nothing more

"I don’t want any!" Jones said sharply, and disconnected

"Shit," Olbier said

"Pinochle?" Jones said

In addition to the six men who had been at the harbor, Lem called in four more from the te the perimeter of the Oceanside park, a few hundred yards apart Their job was to watch the wide avenue that separated the park from a business district, where there were a lot of ift shops, and other retail enterprises All of the businesses had phones, of course, and even some of theany of them, the attorney could alert Travis and Nora Cornell At this hour on a Saturday evening, some stores were closed, but some of them-and all of the restaurants-were open Dilworth must not be per and growing chillier The men stood with their hands in their jackets, heads tucked down, shivering

Pal birds shrilled in alarent to the southwest corner of the park, out by the base of the breakwater that separated the public beach from the harbor on the other side His job was to prevent Dilworth fro back across the harbor to phones in another part of the city

A seventh man was dispatched to the northwest corner of the park, down by the water line, to be sure Dilworth did not proceed north onto private beaches and into residential areas where he ht persuade someone to allow him to use an unmonitored phone

Just Leh the park and adjoining beach in search of the attorney He knew he had too few men for the job, but these ten-plus Olbier and Jones at the telephone company-were the only people he had in town He could see no point ordering in eles office; by the time they arrived, Dilworth would either have been found and stopped-or would have succeeded in calling the Cornells

The roofless all-terrain vehicle was equipped with a roll bar It had two bucket seats, behind which was a four-foot-long cargo area that could accoear

Garrison was flat on his stoo hold, under a blanket Two teenage boys were in the bucket seats, and two o hold on top of Garrison, sprawled as if they were sitting on nothingto keep the worst of their weight off Garrison, but he still felt half-crushed

The engine sounded like angry wasps: a high, hard buzzing It deafened Garrison because his right ear was flat against the cargo bed, which transmitted and amplified every vibration

Fortunately, the soft beach provided a relatively s, slowed, and the engine noise dropped dramatically

"Shit," one of the boys whispered to Garrison, "there’s a guy ahead with a flashlight, flagging us down"

They drew to a halt, and over the whispery idling of the engine, Garrison heard a man say, "Where you boys headed?"

"Up the beach"

"That’s private property up there You have any right up there?"

"It’s where we live," Tommy, the driver, responded