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a block from Everett. The com-forting mass of a stone pillar drew Maury Everett into its shad
He could see a thousand carefree people laughing, pointing, children darting after stray
decorations, cheering at discor-dances in the music of these devoted amateurs. Was the tip a f
alarm? If not, Everett thought, this happy setting might be shattered within minutes. And he
powerless. He smiled without mirth: Bureaucracy giveth, and bu-reaucracy taketh away. Blesse
the name . . .
Watching nubile majorettes cavort despite a chill breeze on their naked arms and legs, M
Everett faced his personal dilemma for the hun-dredth time since his appointment. Newsmen dub
their solution `disinvolvement.' You have a job and you assume its risks. If you are government,
stay in your own bailiwick and off the toes of other bureaucrats. If you are busi-ness, and m
explicitly media business, you rise or fall chiefly on informal contacts and in newsgathering,
do not interfere with the news event. You do not divulge sources for two reasons. The legal rea
is backed by the Su-preme Court, and the selfish reason is that fin-gering a contact is professi
suicide.
If Everett somehow interrupted the impend-ing show after its careful leakage to ENG people
some unknown malcontent, his sources would evaporate instantly, permanently. Free-dom
reportage, even when irresponsible, was a fundamental function of American media. John Ro
called it surveillance. Everett called it hellish.
The Portacam man had shifted position to a second-landing fire escape next to the synagogu
thorough pro, he was taking footage of the parade so that, whatever happened, he would be abl
salvage some sort of story. Everett saw that all of the floats featured the same general the
athletics. Lumbering beyond him was a float honoring the 1980 Olympics winners, a cru
animated statue labeled `Uri' waving three gold medals. That would be Yossuf Uri, Israel's surp
middle-distance runner. The hulking mannikin beside it represented the Soviet weights man, wh
heart had later failed under the demands placed upon it by too many kilos of steroid-induced mu
tissue.
The casual connection of death with the float display goaded Everett's mind toward a ca
inference, but he froze for too many seconds while the details linked in his head. A synagogue
the corner, an Israeli hero ap-proaching it, and a vague tipoff by a terrorist naming the intersec
No matter how little the ENG people knew, Maurice Everett clawed his way to a terrible conclusi
Later, he could regain an uneasy sleep whenever he awoke streaming with the perspira-tio
guilt for he had vaulted the horns of his dilemma. "Stop," he bawled, and knew that his voice
hopelessly lost in the general clamor. Everett sprinted between bystanders, knocked a beld
sprawling, caromed into the side of another float. He was still on his feet, still shout-ing for atten
when the great torso of Yossuf Uri came abreast of the synagogue and disap-peared in a blin
flash. A wall of air tossed Everett halfway across the street.
* * *
How Jewish can you get? The stable manager fingered the crisp twenty-dollar bill, smiling dow
the signature. "I've saddled up a perty spirited mare, Mr. Rabbinowitz," he said, taking in the wi
smile, the olive skin, the dark hypnotic eyes. "Sure that's what you want?"
"Precisely," the little man said, and paced out to the corral. He mounted the mare quic
gracefully, and cantered her out along the rim of the arroyo. The stableman watched him, puz-z
He was certain he had seen Rabbinowitz before. As the figure dipped below his horizon in
afternoon sun, the stableman laughed. Meticulous silken dress and manner had made the illu
even better, a youthful cosmetic ver-sion of a man more character than actor. "George Raft,
murmured, satisfied.
The mare was no filly, but she had Arabian lines. The rider held her at a gallop, imagining tha
was in Iraq and not California. He savored the earthy scents of this, a small pleasure he could ju
in terms of security. No one, he felt certain, would bug a bridle trail. Presently he came in view
San Jose rooftops and at that moment precisely knew that he was being watched.
He made an elaborate show of patting the mare's neck, leaning first to one side and then the o
scanning without seeming to every mass of shrub cover within reasonable pistol shot. Noth
His heels pressured the mare. She was already plunging ahead when he heard the girl cry out be
him. He had passed her without sensing her? Most disturbing.
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