as you suggest, but unless we find the gimmick, we won't know whether to smash the whole affair or try to siphon some of our own information along the route." The latter choice was the most sought after prize of all operatives-to tap and thus delude the Oppositions secret intelli- gence network.

“I'll do what I can. Meanwhile, see what traffic you can find out of Berlin." Gloria agreed.

"I'll get out of here.” With a pat on her cheek, the agent was gone.

In order to justify the time spent in the back, Gloria purchased sev- eral items, one of them a corselet, chosen not only for its choice work- manship and satin texture, its fine embroidery and its figure- clasping fit, but primarily because of its fine boning which on close examination proved to be of a thinness and a strength that recom- mended it for use as a device for slipping the locks of the girls' apart- ment at the Discotheque.

That evening, after the rest had gone to sleep, Gloria lay with eyes open, listening to the even chorus of breathing and snoring. Very slowly, she got up, then with two swift strides gained the bathroom door, pausing to check again the rhythm of breathing. In the bathroom, from under a pile of towels, Gloria took a few items and in the dimness began to dress, first the corselet with its wide, flat boning, then a black chemise and black pettipants. The latter garments were both as camou- flage and as concession to Gloria's supposed sex, if discovered.

Silently working her way to the doorway, she slid one of the stays out of its embroidered placket and easing it through the crack, felt the latch give way easily. Once outside, Gloria replaced the stay, and selecting another which had been laboriously sharpened with an emery board that afternoon to a rapier-like keenness, she eased into the darkness. She was not disturbed as she prowled the passageway, although she twice sensed rather than saw figures in pools of dimness. There was certainly something here, to rate anything beyond the most cursory sort of security, and the presence of the guards suggested there was more than a little.

Within a few moments, Gloria had established that there was little to suggest anything like a message room in the floor plan of the build-

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