ABSTRACT

Franz Richter dressed quickly. He had only a half hour before the start of the dinner that he was hosting for the visiting cardiologists. He wanted to appear informal, but his habit of always wearing dark blue suits and white shirts did not leave him much room for creativity. After careful consideration, he decided informal meant he would wear a red and blue striped tie instead of his usual dark gray. Pleased with his reflection in the dress­ ing alcove’s mirror, he brushed back several stray hairs from his temples and allowed himself the luxury of a small smile. Everything considered, the meeting was proceeding nicely, and best of all, it would soon be over. No longer did he question his decision to allow Pfeter Werner to have it in the first place-what’s done is done, he decided. Now it was stricdy a question of damage control-no, that was much too pessimistic, he corrected himself-more a m atter of damage preven­ tion. Peter’s enthusiasm would not be allowed to infect Goodman and Eriksson as it had Hawthorne. The En­ glishman was definitely a nuisance, but no more than that. Wasting time worrying about the small amounts of the drug that Hawthorne possessed would serve no use­ ful purpose. The American and the Dane might present bigger problems. Satisfied with his appearance-and how well he had managed the meeting so far, he walked down the stairs to his car, pausing only long enough to check his private fax machine for any messages that might have come in while he was dressing. He had trained his new “friends” to contact him after business hours and, unfortunately, they had become quite adept at that. But right now the fax tray was empty. Just as well, he sighed, I don’t need any more problems for awhile.