Sascha Segan and journalistic companion at the handoff.

Skulduggery. So much skulduggery.

We at PC Magazine Labs now have an iPhone, and we're working it. How we got it, though, is a story worthy of - well, if not John Le Carre, at least Veronica Mars.

Read on...

It was yesterday when I got the call. She was a Southern girl, a bit of honey in her voice, tired but with an urgent message.

"Meet me at the corner of 57th and 5th at six p.m. tomorrow. Come alone."

"How will you know me?" I said.

"You'll be wearing a dress."

I didn't wear a dress when I came to the site around 5:00 today, which was a huge scrum - a perfect scene for a clandestine handoff. No, I dressed down - totally unnoticeable with my Yankees cap and Nokia shoulder bag. Heck, nobody would think someone with a Nokia shoulder bag was there for an iPhone, right?

My wife and baby showed up, as did a few friends. It was an innocuous family scene.

Then she sidled up to me.

"See the woman in the pink," she said, quietly, so only my friends and I could hear. "She'll give you your instructions."

And the woman in pink did. "Go to the Personal Shopper counter at FAO Schwartz. In five minutes. Find me there."

Accompanied by one rugged fellow, I went into the land of stuffed monsters and man-eating rugrats. Like a spring day dawning, the woman in pink appeared at the counter with two bags - bright pink, and bright yellow - one for each of us. She gave them to us, imparted a few words of well-wishing, and vanished.

And here we are. Keep an eye on PCMag.com and Gearlog.com for more on the iPhone.