The President said: 'We'd better go talk to them.'
He and Richards made to turn away when Revson said: Thank you, sir.'
The President looked at him in incredulity. 'Me? You thank me? I've already thanked you a hundred times.'
'Yes, sir. As a rule I don't like owing favours but I rather care for having my life saved.'
The President smiled and, along with Richards, turned and walked away.
Hagenbach said to Revson: 'Well, let's go to the office and have your full report.'
'Ah, that. What's the penalty for disobeying an order by the head of the FBI?'
'You get fired.'
'Pity. I quite liked my job. My proposal is that I shower, shave," change, take Miss Wednesday for lunch and then file my report in the afternoon. I guess you owe me at least that'
Hagenbach pondered, then nodded,
'I guess I do.'
Two thousand miles away, among the higher echelons in the FBI headquarters, someone just came into a minor sweepstakes fortune.
Hagenbach smiled.
About the Author
Alistair MacLean, the son of a Scots Minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941 at the age of eighteen, he joined the Royal Navy; two-and-a-half years spent aboard a cruiser were later to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his first novel, the outstanding documentary novel on the war at sea. After the war, he gained an English Honours degree at Glasgow University, and became a school master. In 1983, he was awarded a D.Litt. from the same university.
Alistair MacLean is now recognized to be the outstanding writer of our time in his own genre. He wrote twenty-nine world bestsellers. Many of his novels have been filmed - The Guns of Navarone, Force 10 from Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Bear Island are among the most famous. He died in February 1987.
by the same author
HMS Ulysses
The Guns of Navarone
South by Java Head
The Last Frontier
Night Without End
Fear is the Key
The Dark Crusader
The Golden Rendezvous
The Satan Bug
Ice Station Zebra
When Eight Bells Toll
Where Eagles Dare
Force 10 from Navarone
Puppet on a Chain
Caravan to Vaccares
Bear Island
The Way to Dusty Death
Breakheart Pass
Circus
Seawitch
Goodbye California
Athabasca
River of Death
Partisans
Floodgate
San Andreas
The Lonely Sea
Santorini
The End