"Remo Overn, OSI! Oh, give me a break."
"Hey, I'm undercover. Just like you. Or are you still with the OSI?"
"If you were OSI, you'd know that," Robin spat.
"Actually I've been pretty busy lately," Remo said airily. "Haven't kept up. I just noticed you were out of uniform and I wondered."
"That gives you away right there," Robin said triumphantly. "We only wear uniforms when we're undercover. No one knows who we are-even our rank is secret."
"Oh, yeah? What is your rank anyway? Major? Colonel? What?"
"None of your business."
"Maybe it's in these files," Remo said, taking a packet of folded sheets from his back pocket.
Robin, noticing that they were copies of her official OSI report on the first LCF-Fox incident, blew up.
"Where did you get these?" she said, grabbing them. "And don't feed me that crap about belonging to the
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OSI. If either of us is caught with these, our goose is cooked."
"Oh, I have my ways," Remo said casually, retrieving his ID card. "Just like I'm going to find the Krahseevah."
"No chance. The trail's cold by now."
"Not to me. Want me to let you off somewhere?"
"You're not ditching me now."
"Look," Remo said seriously. "You've just come through a serious accident. You're at the very least banged up. You're certainly in no shape to play tag with this guy. So why don't I let you off somewhere where you can get medical treatment? It's for your own good."
"I can't. If I don't produce results, my plans will go up in smoke."
"What plans?" Remo wanted to know.
Robin fell silent. She leafed through the OSI files.
"Come on, what plans?" Remo prompted.
"If I crack this thing, maybe they'll let me join the Air Force for real," Robin admitted quietly.
Remo pulled over to the side of the road. "Hold the phone," he said. "You mean you're a fake?"
"No," Robin said levelly. She paused, took a breath, and went on shakily. "I've never admitted this to anyone before. I'm a service brat. Daddy didn't have any boys. Just me. I tried to enlist, to continue the family tradition."
"No go, huh?" Remo said sympathetically.
"I was rejected for a real chickenshit reason. They called it 'weight not in proportion to height.' The fatuous jerks!"
"Why not try again? You look pretty trim now."
"They weren't talking about my weight."
Remo frowned. "Then what-?"
"These aren't falsies, buster," Robin snapped, patting her breasts. "They're not detachable before induction physicals."
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"Oh," Remo said, starting the car again. "That explains it."
"Damn straight it does."
"I meant the way you've been acting. Sensitive. Defensive. Trying to prove yourself. It all makes sense now. So how were you able to pass yourself off as an OSI agent?"
"I am not passing myself off," Robin insisted. "I am OSI. They employ civilian agents too. I passed their damn physical with no sweat. I turned out to be a damn good special agent and my record was spotless until this mess started. Now all I want is a chance to keep it clean. Then maybe-just maybe-they'll loosen up their silly regs so I can wear the uniform officially, not just when I'm undercover. If only I hadn't been cursed with these monster knockers."
"If you hadn't," Remo said dryly, "your face would right now be decorating the windshield of that wreck back there."
Robin had no answer to that.
"Tell you what," Remo said finally. "You do me a favor and I'll let you tag along until we catch this guy. Maybe we can work it so you get some of the credit."
"What do I have to do?" Robin asked in a wary voice.
"Simple," Remo said with a smile. "Just eat those reports."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me. I was supposed to do it myself^ but I forgot. They're perfectly digestible. Even the ink."
"You're joking."
"Take it or leave it. There's a town coming up ahead. I'll just drop you off at a gas station."
Robin looked at the files in her hand and then at Remo's sober profile. She examined the files again. She nibbled on a corner experimentally. She swallowed. Her expression was quizzical.
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"How about you take half and I take half?" Robin suggested.
Remo thought about it, "Fair enough," he said. He put out his hand. They shook on it and then divided up Smith's files.
When they were done, Remo asked, "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"