"What's a Barrett's rifle?"
"It's a fifty-caliber sniper's piece that can take out an armored personnel carrier."
"I've never heard of it, but I'll check it out."
"We saw it fired the first time we were out there," Holly said. "It was scary."
"Anything else they talked about?" Harry asked.
"They sor
t of implied that somebody with my shooting skills could make a difference in the world."
"You think they want you to shoot somebody?"
"The first thing they asked me was what I thought of the president."
"And you said?"
"I just held my nose and expressed my preference for George Wallace. I thought Adolf Hitler might be going a little too far."
"Ham, did you come away thinking that they wanted you to shoot the president?"
"It's hard to say, Harry. Asking about the president might just have been their way of asking about my politics. Still, they were awful interested in how well I shoot."
"And how well is that?"
Holly spoke up. "As well as it can be done," she said. "And with anything."
"I don't like the reference to the president," Harry said.
"Harry," Holly said, "do you think we ought to bring the Secret Service into this?"
"Not yet," Harry said quickly. "They'd be all over it, going in there with a search warrant, and we'd lose any hope of penetrating this group."
"That sounds a little like interservice rivalry to me," Ham said.
"Well, I guess it is, but it's my call on when to bring them in. Don't worry, I'm not going to let the president be put in jeopardy."
"Or Ham, either," Holly said.
"Of course not," Harry said quickly. "I wouldn't be using Ham at all, if I didn't think it was the only way into this group."
"Actually," Ham said, "I'm kind of enjoying this. I've taken a real dislike to these people, and it would tickle me to blow them out of the water, whatever they're doing."
"Any other impressions of last evening?"
"Well, I got the idea that they weren't hurting for money."
"Of course not," Holly said, "they just robbed a bank."
"I guess they could be making good money from this gun show of theirs," Harry said.
"You'd have to move a lot of weapons," Ham replied. "But I bet they could move a lot of weapons, if they felt the need. I bet if you wanted a couple hundred assault rifles or fifty Uzis, they could find them for you in a hurry."
"Anything else about last night?"
Ham thought for a minute. "Something they said," he replied.