Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz suddenly erupted from under the comforter, reaching for his Walther pistol as his eyes swept around the room.
The movement took the comforter off both of them. They were both naked.
The Countess, as Canidy had thought she might be, was a baroque work of art. His Excellency was a white-skinned, skinny man, from whose chest sprouted no more than a dozen long black hairs.
"What's all this?" von Heurten-Mitnitz demanded in outrage as he put the pistol down and pulled the comforter over himself and the Countess.
"The team is here," Canidy said.
"I presume you mean Ferniany," von Heurten-Mitnitz said, "No, I mean the team," Canidy said.
"They were dropped about thirty minutes ago. I think you ought to get dressed and get out of here right away."
I have just decided, Canidy realized, that I am not going to tell them about the Gooney Bird.
"Did everything go all right? "the Countess Batthyany asked.
"One of them has a broken ankle," Canidy said.
"I brought him here."
"Where did you put him?" she asked.
"In my bed," Canidy said.
The Countess slid out from under the comforter, modestly turned her back to Canidy, and wrapped herself in a dressing gown. She found shoes, worked her feet into them, and, brushing her magnificent mop of red hair off her face, walked out of the room.
Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz got out the other side of the bed and started to dress. Naked, Canidy thought, and in his underwear--a sleeveless undershirt and baggy drawers, plus stockings held up by rubber suspenders on his skinny calves--von Heurten-Mitnitz was not at all impressive.
"We have one dead man, too," Canidy said.
"What happened?" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.
"Natural causes," Canidy said.
"A heart attack."
Von Heurten-Mitnitz didn't seem at all surprised by that announcement, which surprised Canidy.
"What are you going to do with the body?" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.
"Or the man with the injured... leg, you said?"
"Ankle," Canidy said.
"I haven't made up my mind yet. The first priority, I think, is for you and the Countess to get back to Budapest."
"I think you're right," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
Canidy returned to his room.
"You landed the airplane," the Countess greeted him, looking up from the bed, where she was prodding and pulling on the ankle of the now unconscious Janos.
Alois had apparently told her, and she would now certainly tell von HeurtenMitnitz.
"Yes," Canidy said.
"I will remain here while Herr von Heurten-Mitnitz returns to Budapest," she said.