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The colonel takes the opportunity to lean forward, his body language favoring Rainy “There may be a mission A mission you may be able to carry out better than anyone else”
Rainy is intrigued and ready to feel relieved, but she keeps her face guarded and neutral Rainy Schulterht with frizzled, black hair that has been pinned down to stop its tendency to spring up and out Her eyes are brown and distinctly skeptical, even judght, self-contained; not quite hostile, but not one to suffer fools gladly either For a person of the fe neither rank nor title, and young besides, she is unsettlingly inti
“Yes, sir,” Rainy says
“Your old ent Bayswater says
Rainy shoots to her feet “Colonel, do I have permission to return to my duties?”
The colonel srin and waves her down “Sit, sit You don’t have any duties, Sergeant, you’re on leave” He pulls a slim manila folder from atop a pile of folders, opens it, and reads “In fact, you are on thirty days’ leave in recognition of your actions in Tunisia, where you parachuted—and with only the —into the ed by the end of it to come aith a Waffen SS colonel in your custody I understand you’ve been recommended for a Silver Star”
“I have that honor, sir, though it was the GIs in that platoon who did the real work”
“Well, it was a hell of a thing,” Colonel Corelli says, shaking his head in admiration “I’ve read the reports froeant Garaman as in command of the patrol after both the officers were killed”
Bayswater isn’t having it “Which doesn’t change the fact that your father, Shmuel Schulterman, is a numbers runner for Abe Vidor, orks in turn for the Genovese crime family And that could mean hard time in Dannemora prison for your old man”
Rainy turns a cold glare on the FBIet it” There are times, she reflects, when her own chutzpah amazes her
“On the contrary, honey, I don’t want a daence, ant so sure you understand who’s in charge, and it ain’t you”
The colonel sighs and raises pacifying hands He has no patience for this posturing, but neither does he have the force to end it “Maybe we should get to the point Schulter an action—I won’t say where or when—but there is a person in thelet’s say, target areawho ent Bayswater, perhaps you’d like to explain your end of it”
Bayswater stares at Rainy It is a hard, aggressive stare, an inti stare, no doubt a stare he has used to cow many a criminal suspect Rainy is worried, but she is not intient Bayswater, and she lets hiaze with a blank, emotionless expression
Finally, the FBI s his shoulders, and mutters, “Broads in the army You can keep ’em It’ll never happen in the FBI; I can promise you that”
“A wo games,” Rainy snaps