The Pelican Brief (Page 34)

"No. Ten years ago we were sure he was dead. He likes it that way. He has no ego, so he’ll never get caught. He can live in a paper shack in Sao Paulo for six months, eating roots and rats, then fly off to Rome to murder a diplomat, then off to Singapore for a few months. He doesn’t read his press clippings."

"How old is he?"

"Why are you interested?"

"I’m fascinated. I think I know who hired him to kill Rosenberg and Jensen."

"Oh, really. Can you share this bit of gossip?"

"No. Not yet."

"He’s between forty and forty-five, which is not that old, but he killed a Lebanese general when he was fifteen. So he’s had a long career. This is all legend, you understand. He can kill with either hand, either foot, a car key, a pencil, whatever. He’s an expert marksman with all weapons. Speaks twelve languages. You’ve heard all this, haven’t you?"

"Yeah, but it’s fun."

"Okay. He’s believed to be the most proficient and expensive assassin in the world. In his early years he was just another terrorist, but he was much too talented for simple bomb throwing. So he became an assassin for hire. He’s a bit older now, and kills just for money."

"How much money?"

"Good question. He’s probably in the ten-to-twenty-million-a-job range, and there’s not but one other guy I know of in that league. One theory believes he shares it with other terrorist groups. No one knows, really. Let me guess, you want me to find Khamel and bring him back alive."

"You leave Khamel alone. I sort of like the work he did here."

"He’s very talented."

"I want you to follow Gray Grantham and find out who he’s talking to."

"Any ideas?"

"A couple. There’s a man by the name of Milton Hardy who works as a janitor in the West Wing." Coal threw an envelope on the desk. "He’s been around for a long time, appears to be half blind, but I think he sees and hears a lot. Follow him for a week or two. Everyone calls him Sarge. Make plans to take him out."

"This is great, Coal. We’re spending all this money to track blind Negroes."

"Just do as I say. Make it three weeks." Coal stood and headed for the door.

"So you know who hired the killer?" Barr said.

"We’re getting close."

"The Unit is more than anxious to help."

"I’m sure."

Mrs. Chen owned the duplex, and had been renting the other half to female law students for fifteen years. She was picky but private, and lived and let live as long as all was quiet. It was six blocks from campus.

It was dark when she answered the door. The person on the porch was an attractive young lady with short dark hair and a nervous smile. Very nervous.

Mrs. Chen frowned at her until she spoke.

"I’m Alice Stark, a friend of Darby’s. May I come in?" She glanced over her shoulder. The street was quiet and still. Mrs. Chen lived alone with the doors and windows locked tightly, but she was a pretty girl with an innocent smile, and if she was a friend of Darby’s, then she could be trusted. She opened the door, and Alice was inside.

"Something’s wrong," Mrs. Chen said.

"Yes. Darby is in a bit of trouble, but we can’t talk about it. Did she call this afternoon?"

"Yes. She said a young woman would look through her apartment."

Alice breathed deeply and tried to appear calm. "It’ll just take a minute. She said there was a door through a wall somewhere. I prefer not to use the front or rear doors." Mrs. Chen frowned and her eyes asked, Why not? but she said nothing.

"Has anyone been in the apartment in the last two days?" Alice asked. She followed Mrs. Chen down a narrow hallway.

"I’ve seen no one. There was a knock early yesterday before the sun, but I didn’t look." She moved a table away from a door, pushed a key around, and opened it.

Alice stepped in front of her. "She wanted me to go in alone, okay?" Mrs. Chen wanted to check it out, but she nodded and closed the door behind Alice. It opened into a tiny hallway that was suddenly dark. To the left was the den, and a light switch that couldn’t be used. Alice froze in the darkness. The apartment was black and hot with a thick smell of old garbage. She’d expected to be alone, but she was a second-year law student, dammit!, not some hotshot private detective.

Get a grip. She fumbled through a large purse and found a pencil-thin flashlight. There were three of them in there. Just in case. In case of what? She didn’t know. Darby had been quite specific. No lights could be seen through the windows. They could be watching.

Who in hell are they? Alice wanted to know. Darby didn’t know, said she would explain it later but first the apartment had to be examined.

Alice had been in the apartment a dozen times in the past year, but she’d been allowed to enter through the front door with a full array of lights and other conveniences. She had been in all the rooms, and felt confident she could feel around in the darkness. The confidence was gone. Vanished. Replaced with trembling fear.

Get a grip. You’re all alone. They wouldn’t camp out here with a nosy woman next door. If they had indeed been here, it was only for a brief visit.

After staring at the end of it, she determined that the flashlight worked. It glowed with all the energy of a fading match. She pointed it at the floor, and saw a faint round circle the size of a small orange. The circle was shaking.

She tiptoed around a corner in the direction of the den. Darby said there was a small lamp on the bookshelves next to the television, and that the light was always on. She used it as a nightlight, and it was supposed to cast a faint glow across the den to the kitchen. Either Darby lied, or the bulb was gone, or someone had unscrewed it. It didn’t matter, really, at this point, because the den and kitchen were pitch-black.

She was on the rug in the center of the den, inching toward the kitchen table where there was supposed to be a computer. She kicked the edge of the coffee table, and the flashlight quit. She shook it. Nothing. She found number two in the purse.

The odor was heavier in the kitchen. The computer was on the table along with an assortment of empty files and casebooks. She examined the mainframe with her dinky little light. The power switch was on the front. She pushed it, and the monochrome screen slowly warmed up. It emitted a greenish light that covered the table but did not escape the kitchen.

Alice sat down in front of the keyboard and began pecking. She found Menu, then List, then Files. The Directory covered the screen. She studied it closely. There were supposed to be somewhere around forty entries, but she saw no more than ten. Most of the hard-drive memory was gone. She turned on the laser printer, and within seconds the Directory was on paper. She tore it off and stuffed it in the purse.

She stood with her flashlight and inspected the clutter around the computer. Darby estimated the number of floppy disks at twenty, but they were all gone. Not a single floppy. The casebooks were for con law and civil procedure, and so dull and generic no one would want them. The red expandable files were stacked neatly together, but empty.

It was a clean, patient job. He or they had spent a couple of hours erasing and gathering, then left with no more than one briefcase or bag of goods.

In the den by the television, Alice peeked out the side window. The red Accord was still there, not four feet from the window. It looked fine.

She twisted the bulb in the nightlight, and quickly flicked the switch on, then off. Worked perfectly. She unscrewed it just as he or they had left it.

Her eyes had focused – she could see the outlines of doors and furniture. She turned the computer off, and eased through the den to the hall.