"Not only that," Lynch said. "I'd have to call Safe and Loft, and get them in on it. A warehouse raid would probably be their baby first of all. That means this precinct, the warehouse precinct, and the Safe and Loft Squad, all together to raid that warehouse. Malone, would I pull a raid at this stage, if I had to go through all that, without knowing what I was going to find down there?" "Oh," Malone said. "If those kids can just appear and disappear at will," Lynch said, "I'm not going to pull a raid on them, and end up looking like a fool, until I've got some way of making sure they're there when the raid goes through." Malone coughed gently. "O.K.," he said at last. "Sorry." "There's only one thing I want," Lynch said. "I want to be able to move as soon as possible." "Well, sure," Malone said apologetically. "And that means I'm going to have to be informed," Lynch said. "I want to know what's going on, as fast as possible." Malone nodded gently. "Sure," he said. "I'll tell you everything that happens--as soon as I know myself. But right now, I haven't got a thing for you. All I have is a kind of theory, and it's pretty screwy." He stopped. Lynch looked up at him. "Just how screwy can it get?" he said. "The facts are nutty enough." "You have absolutely no idea," Malone assured him. "I'm not even saying a word about this, not until I prove it out one way or another. I'm not even thinking about it. I don't even want me to know about it, until it stops sounding so nutty to me." "O.K., Malone," Lynch said. "I can see a piece of it, if no more. The Fueyo kid vanishes mysteriously--never mind all that about you getting him out of the interrogation room by some kind of confidential method. There isn't any confidential method. I know that better than you do." "I had to say something, didn't I?" Malone asked apologetically. "So the kid disappears," Lynch said, brushing Malone's question away with a wave of his hand. "So now I hear all this stuff from Kettleman. And it begins to add up. The kids can disappear somehow, and re-appear some place else. Walk through walls?" He shrugged. "How should I know? But they can sure do something like it." "Something," Malone said. "Like I said, it sounds screwy." "I don't like it," Lynch said. Malone nodded. "Nobody likes it," he said. "But keep it under your hat. I'll give you everything I have--whenever I have anything. And ... by the way--" "Yes?" Lynch said. "Thanks for giving me and Kettleman a chance to talk," Malone said. "Even if you had reasons of your own." "Oh," Lynch said. "You mean the recording." "I was a little suspicious," Malone said. "I didn't think you'd give Kettleman to me without getting _something_ for yourself." "Would you?" Lynch said. Malone shrugged. "I'm not crazy either," he said. Lynch picked up a handful of papers. "I've got all this work to do," he said. "So I'll see you later." "O.K.," Malone said.