“I’m not wild about the story, either, if you want to know the truth,” I said, “and I certainly didn’t know about it in advance. But it’s too late now. Marcus is going nuts with it.” I described the bureau chief’s manic behavior in the meeting and the fact that, by my count, we now had six different slugs on the budget. That cheered Dirk up. He always liked evidence that the paper’s management was crazy.

I took advantage of his momentary good humor to ask the favor I’d wanted. “Do you have any sources at American Telephone? I told Marcus I would try to find out what the French are up to in China, and I figured the ATC people might be angry enough to tell us something.”

Dirk was cagey now, displaying his what’s-in-it-for-me look. “I have a guy in ATC. A real good guy, as a matter of fact. But he probably wouldn’t see you unless I came along.”

“Call him up. Ask if he’s free for lunch today. And I wouldn’t think of seeing him without you.”

We met at a restaurant in the basement of a building on K Street, the kind of place where businessmen bring their secretaries when they are trying to put the make on them and don’t want anyone in the office to know. It was dark and smoky; the customers all looked like lobbyists. The American Telephone guy was sitting at a table in the corner. He was already drinking.

“Meet my friend Ralph,” said Dirk. I shook the American Telephone guy’s hand. Dirk had decided not to tell me the man’s last name for security reasons. I found that somewhat histrionic, but it was Dirk’s source, so he could set the ground rules.

We didn’t have to play games; Ralph wanted to talk. He said his company was petrified. They were convinced that Bowman’s story had blown their hopes of getting the China contract. Ralph wouldn’t say what he did for ATC, but I guessed that he was a lawyer, since he seemed to know a great deal about the company’s legal department. The general counsel had flown to Washington last night, he said, and had been meeting all morning with officials from the CIA and the White House. American Telephone had initially considered suing the Mirror for libel; then they had debated suing the government. Now the company’s lawyers weren’t sure what to do.

“Is our story right?” I asked. That was what I really wanted to know.