That was no time for equivocation. Craig’s frenzy demanded candor and threatened reprisal if the truth were not forthcoming. Mern told part of the truth.
“She has called her own self off, Craig, so far as this agency is concerned. I have no further control over her actions.”
Chief Mern was not conscious of any especial surprise after Craig had reported that section of his news which could be understood. The granddaughter of Flagg could not be expected to do other than she was doing. In his honest regard for the helper who had served him so long and efficiently, the chief was wondering whether he ought to reveal her identity to the Comas man, trying to estimate the danger of such a revelation. Craig was not stating that his news hinted who she was.
As to the details of the drive, he was more explicit. He raged on while Mern pondered. “The Flagg drive is a week ahead of time. It must be near Skulltree dam. I ought to have been up there and I don’t understand why the infernal fools have been so slow in getting word to me.”
He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
“Look here, Mern, I never ought to do another stroke of business with you, but I’m in too much of a hurry to go anywhere else.”
The business instincts of the head of the agency were stirred; the Comas money had been good picking in the past. “I don’t think I should be held responsible for an operative who has severed connections. Craig, you have probably made your own mistakes in depending on helpers.”
“Don’t you make any mistake this time, Mern! I want a dozen or fifteen men—gunmen. Can you furnish ’em?”
“Sure thing! Within an hour.”
“I have promised results to my folks this season. I’ve got to deliver. My job depends on it, after all the talk I’ve made at headquarters.”