"I don't want you to say anything at all about this to Leibermann, David."
Ettinger nodded, accepting the order.
"I think we have to pass this to Colonel Graham," Clete said.
"I was afraid you'd say that," Ettinger said.
"That bothers you?"
"It's a moral problem for me," Ettinger said. "If there is a system, and peo-ple are getting out, I don't want to be the one responsible for shutting that sys-tem down."
"There may be, almost certainly is, something here that you and I don't know how to deal with," Clete said.
Ettinger, looking very unhappy, shrugged.
"What David just told us doesn't go anywhere," Clete said, looking at Tony and Chief Schultz in turn. Both nodded.
"There's something I have to tell you. I just got, from a source I trust-"
"Meaning you're not going to tell us who, of course?" Tony interrupted.
"No, I'm not," Clete said sharply. "And you know why. We operate on the premise that if any one of us is interrogated by a professional, sooner or later, and probably sooner, we'll tell him everything he wants to know. If you don't know something, you can't give it up, OK?"
"Sorry, Clete," Tony said, sounding genuinely remorseful.
"A German officer, an SS colonel named Goltz, came here on the Lufthansa flight the same day I did-"
"SS, or SS-SD?" Ettinger interrupted.
"SD. Does that mean something to you?"
"SD means Sicherheitsdienst. The Secret Police, so to speak. The real bas-tards."
"OK, this guy is SD. And we already have the proof that he's a bastard. This morning, this bastard issued orders to have you killed."
"No shit?" Tony asked. "Just Dave?"
"That would suggest, wouldn't it," Ettinger said, "that maybe I'm asking the right questions?"
"Just for the sake of argument, yes," Clete said. "And it would also suggest that this Colonel Goltz is connected with this business. He comes here, some-body tells him you're asking questions, and he says, 'eliminate him.'"
"I've been operating on the premise that such an order would be standard operating procedure. Eliminate anybody who's asking the wrong questions. Or stumbles onto something," Ettinger said. "The Sicherheitsdienst is ruthless, and killing someone to keep a secret like this would be normal routine. You think this is something new?"
"According to my source-who I think is reliable-the order to eliminate you was issued this morning, by this Colonel Goltz. Maybe it's a coincidence- they didn't know you were asking questions until just now-but I don't think so."
"No," Ettinger said after a moment, "neither do I."
"Dave, do you have a gun?" Clete asked.
Ettinger nodded.
"He's got a little.38," Chief Schultz said. "I tried to get him to carry a.45, but he says he can't shoot a.45."
"I can't," Ettinger argued. "And a.45 is hard to conceal."
"It's your neck, Dave," Clete said. "Do what you think you should."
Ettinger nodded.