Chapter 4 third quarter

Decker stepped out of the apartment building, crossed the busy street, saw a taxi passing by, and beckoned the driver to wait for him around the next corner.McKittrick was probably looking out of his apartment, so Decker apologized to the taxi driver behind the corner, out of his sight, and said he had changed his mind and wanted to walk a little longer.After the driver drove off, grumbling, Decker sneaked back around the corner.The corner cafe has windows on both main and side streets.Secluded on a side street, Decker could see the McKittrick building through the window of the café.The sunlight reflected from the front window of the café just obscured his figure.

McKittrick emerged from the apartment complex sooner than Decker expected.The stocky man ran a hand through his short flaxen hair, looked nervously up and down the street, and hurriedly hailed an empty taxi and got in. While waiting, Decker had to find something to do in order not to look like an idler.He unchained his rented motorbike from a utility pole, opened the glove box, folded his blue sports jackets inside, and pulled out a brown leather jacket and a dark visor. Put on your helmet.This changed his appearance so much that McKittrick would never have recognized him even if he had looked back to see if he was being followed.So Decker started the motorcycle and followed the taxi.

The meeting did not inspire him.The problems he found in the McKittrick report were now more apparent and more troubling.And not just because this was McKittrick's first command of an operation.After all, if the man was going to make a career, he had to have a first, just as Decker had his own.In fact, Decker was uneasy because McKittrick was too confident.Clearly he was inexperienced in the business, but not humble enough to recognize his own limitations.Before flying to Rome, Decker had suggested to his superiors that McKittrick be reassigned to a less difficult mission, but McKittrick was a legend in their trade (OSS, Son of one of the founders of the CIA and former Deputy Secretary of Operations).Had he been removed, the legend would have questioned why his son hadn't been offered a promotion.

So Decker was sent to make the rounds to make sure everything was running smoothly.I'm here to babysit, Decker thought.He followed the taxi through the steady stream of vehicles.Finally, seeing McKittrick get out of a taxi near the Spanish Steps, he hopped off the motorcycle, locked it to a pole, and followed McKittrick inside.There were so many tourists here that McKittrick could have blended in among them to hide himself, but his flaxen hair made him stand out.Decker figured he should have dyed his hair a darker shade that wasn't as dramatic, yet another blunder in the business. Squinting his eyes in the bright afternoon sun, Decker followed McKittrick past Trinity Church and down the Spanish Steps to Plaza España.Once a famous flower market, it is now dominated by street vendors who line up their fronts with jewellery, pottery and paintings.Decker kept his eyes fixed on his prey.McKittrick turned right, past the Bernini Fountain, through the crowd, past the house where Keats died in 1821, and disappeared into a café.

Another blunder in the trade, Decker thought.It's really stupid to hide in this kind of place. There are people coming and going outside, and it's hard to find if someone is watching secretly.Decker chose a semi-hidden place and planned to wait there for a while.But this time, sooner than he expected, McKittrick came out with a woman.He was an Italian, in his early twenties, tall, slender and sexy, with an oval face framed by short black hair, and sunglasses slanted on his forehead.She was wearing cowboy boots, skinny jeans and a bright red T-shirt, showing her bust.Even though Decker was thirty yards away, she could tell she wasn't wearing a bra.McKittrick put an arm around her shoulders, and she put her arms around his hips and put her thumbs in the back waist pocket of his slacks.They walked along Via Condotti for a while, then turned into a narrow tree-shaded street on the right.In front of a building, they stopped, kissed impatiently, and then walked into the building.