Шкондини-Дуюновский Аристах Владиленович. The Macao Massacre

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The Macao Massacre

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THE MACAO MASSACRE

Nick Carter

CHARTER BOOKS, NEW YORK

“Nick Carter” is a registered trademark of The Conde Nan Publications,

Inc.” registered in the United States Patent Office.

A Charter Book/published by arrangement with The Con& Nast

Publications, Inc.

Charter Original/ March 1995

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or

any other means, without permission. For information address: The

Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York

10016.

ISBN: 0-441-51353-0

Charter Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, 200

Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES Of AMERICA Dedicated to the men of the

Secret Services of the United States of America The Macao Massacre

ONE

Nick Carter awoke to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. He stretched,

then allowed a wide grin to spread across his face as he patted the

vacant spot beside him on the bed and remembered the previous

evening.

Her name was Fancy Adams, and she was everything her name implied. She

was a free-lancer, outside AXE, but very trustworthy and often used for

low-key work.

She and Carter had warned up on a couple of assignments in years past,

but this time it was only a lucky, chance meeting.

Very lucky, for Carter.

Fancy had been on assignment in Tokyo, doing public relations work and

some commercials for an American cosmetics company launch inga new line

in the Far East.

At least that was her cover. Actually, she was doing a piece of

surveillance among a big group of powerful Japanese businessmen for

the

CIA boys. Now she had been called back to Washington for a

debriefing.

Carter didn’t know what the assignment was, and he didn’t care. What

he did care about was running into her at Pavels, a

bistro off the Washington Beltway that he frequented when he was

beiween assignments himself.

“My God, Fancy Adams! It’s been .. . two years!”

“I agree, two years too long,” she said with a laugh, folding into his

arms. “Miami, right?”

“Right.

It had been Nfiami. Fancy had been a pawn in a plan that enabled

Carter to disappear and get a defector from the Eastern bloc into Spain

to find a little black book hidden behind an ebony cross.

Before they had parted, he and Fancy had spent a wild two days in a

Nfiami hotel room.

Carter hadn’t forgotten it.

He asked if she had.

“Are you kidding?” she said, her green eyes flashing under a mountain

of red hair.

“Who are you. with?”

“Some of the guys from the Company. Strictly platonic.

She went on to explain where she had been for the last month, and what

she was doing in Washington.

“Where are you staying?”

“A Company condo here in Arlington.

“What would happen if you didn’t make it home tonight?” Carter asked

mischievously.

“Not a damned thing,” she replied and smiled. “I’m debriefed, and I

head back to New York day after tomorrow. I I

“Men why don’t we check you out of your condo tonight, and for the next

two days-”

“Say no more! “

She said good night to her three escorts, and two hours later they were

romping on the king-size bed in Carter’s own condominium apartment on

the top floor of an Arlington highrise.

And what a romp it had been, Carter thought, breathing deeply of the

aromas wafting from his kitchen. With a full day and a night to go!

He rolled from the bed and slipped into a robe.

He entered the kitchen, and Fancy popped into view from behind the

refrigerator door. Her fiery curls were still disheveled, a pretty

mass of red framing her fine features and flashing green eyes. Right

now, those eyes were gleaming with cheerful good spirits.

“You’re up,” she grinned, blowing him a kiss.

She was wearing a deep green silk kimono, haphazardly belted, and the

sunlight through the kitchen windows made the bare flesh of her legs

and belly and breasts gleam enticingly.

“Good morning, ” Carter said, slipping his arms around her waist and

kissing the soft hollow of her neck.

“It is now, ” she murmured.

She laughed softly as his hands moved down over the smooth swell of her

buttocks.

Carter groaned, and she leaned harder against him in response. Her

shapely bottom was firm and round beneath the silk.

“Breakfast is ready. Just orange juice, coffee, and toast. I was just

getting the juice. ” As she spoke, she parted her thighs and captured

one of his between them.

Carter chuckled and pulled back. “I’ll get it,” he said, moving to the

reffigerator, “or the coffee will be cold by the time we get to it. “

“Something wrong?” Fancy asked coyly, knowing full well how she was

affecting him.

He carried the plastic decanter to the drop-leaf table and concentrated

on filling the two glasses already set out beside the coffee mugs. “No,

nothing .. . nothing at all. How was Tokyo?”

Fancy slid into the breakfast nook beside him, thigh to thigh, and

began jabbering about the trials and tribulations of being a model at a

foreign show.

Carter sipped his coffee and watched her over the rim of the mug. He

was enjoying the sound of her voice almost as much as the sight of her

partially concealed nudity It never ceased to amaze him how she could

be so totally unaffected and uninhibited by the lack of clothing, and

how she was often surprised to find that her indifference was capable

of embarrassing and arousing him.

He found himself looking at her large and beautifully rounded

breasts.

They swayed weightily with each gesture of her hands, and he watched in

fascination, remembering the feel of them and the taste of them and the

delight of them.

She laughed throatily. “I wish you’d stop staring at me that way,

Nick.

It’s very disconcerting. “

“Come here,” he whispered, pulling at her hand and guiding her around

the table to his lap. He kissed the freely offered lips and filled his

hand with her breast, his thumb gently and lovingly massaging the

blunted tip.

Fancy breathed into his mouth and caressed his lips with her tongue,

her fingertips toying with his ear. “You like to be touched, don’t

you?”

Carter murmured, feeling the nipple begin to harden.

“I love it,” she answered softly, leaning back into him.

“I know a better place to do the touching. “

He picked her up and headed for the bedroom. Halfway to the bed, the

phone started ringing.

“Forget it, ” Fancy said, clawing at his shoulders when he turned from

her.

“Can’t. It’s the hot one.

There were two phone lines into Carter’s apartment. One was a regular

line. The other was on a scrambler and connected directly to the

office of AXE’s number one man, David Hawk.

“Yeah, Carter here.

“It’s Ginger, Nick.

“Damn. “

Ginger Bateman was Hawk’s right hand, his alter ego, and the one who

usually relayed Hawk’s orders to move. She hardly ever called him

unless something was hot.

“It’s not as bad as you may think,” Ginger said with a chuckle.

“I’ll bet, ” Carter replied, shifting his eyes to Fancy Adams. She had

removed the kimono and was now sprawled across the bed with her legs

invitingly open.

There’s a gentleman in the San Francisco arra very anxious to get in

touch with you. “

“I don’t know anybody in San Francisco anymore,” Carter said. “They’re

all dead. “

“This one is very much alive, and the reason I’m passing it on is that

he knows most of the right numbers to call to get in touch with you. I

think you’ll agree that’s pretty unusual. “

Carter’s antennae went up, and for the moment he forgot about Fancy

Adams’s luscious body. AXE was probably the U.S. government’s most

secret organization. As the top agent of AXE, with an N3 Killmaster

designation,

Nicholas Carter was just as super secret

If somebody knew enough to try and reach him at Amalgamated Press and

Wire

Services on Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.” that somebody was

either an old friend or an old foe.

In either case, Carter was interested.

“What’s the name?”

“Wouldn’t give one, ” Ginger replied. “He sounded Oriental, and like

it was an emergency. He’s called three times since I got into the

office at seven this morning. Since that’s four in the morning West

Coast time, he must really want to get in touch with you. “

“Did he say what it’s about?”

“Not a word. But the last time he called, he said you would remember

him from Operation Crossroads. “

Carter did a quick flip of his mental file and came up with the bare

bones of Operation Crossroads.

It was in the thick of the Vietnam mess. He had been sent in

undercover to

Saigon as an auditor for army supply. His real job had been to uncover

a huge black market ring.

Using blackmail, a top-dog smuggler named Charlie Loo had put together

a combine of South Vietnamese generals.

The generals gave Charlie Loo free rein on incoming war supplies in

return for his silence about their own nefarious affairs. Loo used his

influence to steal the army blind. In turn, he bought dope with the

proceeds. A lot of it he exported, but he also sold a ton of it to

American

GIs.

Carter was able to break up the ring, but he never nailed Charlie

Loo.

Ginger Bateman was speakingagain. “Well, ring any bells?”

“Several.

“He gave me a number, 555-4027. I’ve already checked it out. It’s a

Chinese restaurant in Marin County called Lu Fong’s Hunan House. “I’ll

buzz him,” Carter said.

“Have a nice day.

“Thanks. Ciao.”

Carter killed the connection, waited for the tone, and dialed.

It was answered on the first ring.

“Yeah? “My name is Carter.

“If it is, you can probably tell me where to get the best piece of ass

Saigon. “Mama Puang’s in Cherry Hills.

“How right you are. What do you like to drink?”

“Three fingers of Chivas with one cube. “Christ, Nic k, am I glad I

got a hold of you!

Carter had been grappling with the voice. Suddenly he had it. -Billy

Duong?”

“In the flesh, my man!

Carter smiled as he remembered the little man with the wide, toothy

smile, the flashing black eyes, and the brilliant mind.

Billy Duong had been one of two people who had helped Carter knock

Charlie

Loo out of the saddle. The other had been a beautiful Eurasian lady

from the States.

She was dead, compliments of Charlie Loo.

“What the hell are you doing in the States?”

“Long story, Nick, very long story. But I’m sure glad I learned GI

English.

It’s a great cover.

“Cover? Cover for what?”

“I’m in up to my ass, Nick. And guess how I got that way? . By going

straight, would you believe!

“What’s up? I I

“Too long for the phone. Can you fly out here right away, today? “

“Maybe. Lay a little of it on me so I can give my people an excuse for

expenses. “

“Okay, but quick. After the old homeland went belly-up, I knocked

around for about three years, mostly Hong Kong. My sister’s still

there. Then I got me some legit papers, and with those, a legit job

with Kulo

Electronics. It’s a Japanese outfit. “

“I know it.

“Well, being the genius I am, I go up in the company. They bring me to

the home office in Tokyo about a year ago. About three months ago, I

get hassled by three very bad dudes. “

“Billy, if you were shifting funds or something, that’s out of 11

“No way, Nick. I’m strictly legit, loyal, and faithful. But as you

know, my past is not lily-white.”

“To say the least, ” Carter agreed with a chuckle.

“Laugh you might, but these dudes know all about me and my past. I’m

in the company under the name of William Soo Luong, with a phony degree

from

Stanford and NUT in the States. “

“That figures, ” Carter groaned.

“Yeah, well, they want me to steal blueprints and specs and hand them

over to them, or they expose me.

“Oldfashioned blackmail?”

“You got it. Well, ole Billy is pissed. I figure I can be as shifty

as they are. I do some digging, and come up with a lot. “

“Like who’s behind it?”

“Yeah, like Charlie Loo.

The hair stood up and the skin rippled on the back of Carter’s neck.

“You still there?”

“Yeah, ” Carter said, “I’m still here. Tell me more.

“Charlie’s got his old scam going, full blast, right there in Japan.

When

I get enough, I figure this is bigger than my pride or my job. I dump

it all in my big boss’s lap.

“And .. . ?”

“And that same night they try to take me out in a restaurant. They

miss, but there’s already a bomb in my apartment. They miss again, but

this time I’m long gone. “

Little wheels clicked in the back of Carter’s mind. His gaze strayed

again to Fancy Adams on the bed. But this time he didn’t look at her

body. He studied her eyes, and tried to remember the bits and pieces

she had told him the previous evening, between romps, about her Tokyo

assignment.

Top-secret software and hardware components from top level firms in

the

States, West Germany, and Japan had been finding their way into Russian

hands.

Several companies were involved, but no one person could be pinned

down.

Blackmail.

Charlie Loo.

“Billy .. . ?”

“Yeah, man?”

“I’ll get the first flight.

“You’re a lifesaver, literally, ” came the reply, accompanied by a deep

sigh. “I’ll give you all the detail stuff when you get here. I’m—”

“I know where you are. Just stay there. I’ll see you in a few

hours.

“I’ll count every one of them on my joy stick. And, Nick .. . ?”

“YeA?”

“Thanks.

“You got it, Billy.”

Carter hung up and turned to Fancy. She shrugged and pulled the kimono

over her body.

“I can read that look. It says you’re not in the mood for loving, she

said, belting the robe tightly around her.

“You’re right. C’mon, it’s coffee and conversation.

Four cups of coffee and half a pack of cigarettes later, Carter had as

much as Fancy knew.

Sensitive computer parts were indeed being funneled through Japan,

probably to Hong Kong and then on to the Soviet Union. She knew

nothing about Charlie Loo, but by attending a lot of posh cocktail

parties she had gotten close to a couple of electronics bigwigs. One

of them was

Asharni Okamoto. He was the chief designer for Kulo Computer

Components, a division of Kulo Electronics.

At the end of her Tokyo show, Fancy had accompanied Okamoto to Hong

Kong on a business trip. The people she saw him doing business with

didn’t look like MIT computer types.

Carter was back on the hot line.

“Ginger, is the big man in yet?”

“Yes, he just came in.

“Put me through. “Something interesting in that Frisco call?”

“Very interesting. Thirty seconds later, David Hawk’s gruff voice came

on the line. “Yes,

N3, what is it? I’ve got N6 trying to get out of Im. I I

Nick Carter laid it out, in short, staccato, to-the-point sentences. As

much as he could, he correlated what Billy Duong had told him to what

he had learned from Fancy. “The CIA boys are handling it, but since

I’ve got an inside track with

Billy, maybe they wouldn’t mind some help. There was a growl, a raspy

cough, and a deep inhale of another lungful of cheap cigar smoke before

Hawk finally answered. “Could be you’ve stepped into one. It’s not

exactly our bailiwick, but I’ll call across town and see if they’re

interested.

“I’ll be here. Carter moved into the kitchen and poured himself

another cup of coffee.

“Do you have to go back to New York right away?”

“I don’t have to do anything, Fancy replied “Why?

“Because you might help in San Francisco.

“On the payroll?”

“On the payroll.

“It’s a deal! The phone rang. Over his shoulder as he headed for the

bedroom, Carter heard Fancy singing “California, Here I Come, using her

own dirty lyrics.

“You’re onto something, N3. The Company boys have been trying to crack

this for nearly a year. They would welcome your help and give you all

the cooperation in the world. “I’ll give it a shot. I owe Billy Duong

one anyway.

“I’ll give you to Bateman. There were a lot of whirs and clicks as the

call was shifted, then Ginger came on the fine.

“Your contact in San Francisco will be Mel Crompton. He’ll meet you at

the airport. You’re under your own name on the one o’clock TWA flight

out of Dulles. “You’re so efficient I’m in awe. Call ‘em back and

make it for two .. F. Adams.”

“Ibe F wouldn’t be for Frank, I’ll bet.

I “You’re right.”

“If I remember, F would be for a very big number just under six feet,

with a lot of red hair. “Your memory is also awe inspiring.

“Reservations for two it is. Look out, San Francisco!

The line went dead, and Carter felt heat at his back. He turned right

into Fancy’s arms.

“Without going to New York, I don’t have a thing to wear in San

Francisco. “What’s wrong with what you wore in Tokyo and here?”

“It’s worn.

Carter smiled and let her push him back across the bed. “I think my

expense account will stretch. “Good. When do we have to leave?”

“Not for an hour. “Not much time,” she murmured, “but I’ll make do.

Without another word, she covered him like a soft, fleshy blanket.

TWO

It was ten o’clock, but the sun was already high and boiling down as he

parked the station wagon in the mall parking lot. The lot was half

full, and shoppers were scurrying from their cars to stores and back

again.

He left the car’s engine running, the air-conditioning vents cooling

his hands as he flipped the catches on the briefcase beside him in the

seat.

Inside was a Universal Enforcer Model 3000 auto carbine.. The

thirty-shot magazine was loaded with M I carbine slugs, their heads

slightly drilled.

This was so that the slug would spread on impact, taking a lot of bone

and flesh with it on its trajectory.

He inserted the magazine and jacked a shell into the chamber. When the

lever action was checked, he replaced the carbine’s seventeen inches

into the briefcase and closed the lid.

After killing the engine, he locked the station wagon and walked across

the parking lot and through the mall. Behind the stores was a narrow

alleyway where trucks delivered merchandise and garbage was picked

up.

The alley eventually led out to a small road that circled the lake.

In dark trousers and a white polo shirt with a cardigan, he looked like

a salesman making his rounds. Dark sunglasses obscured his eyes, and

the face under them was deeply tanned. He was a man who spent a great

deal of time in the sun.

Halfway around the lake, surrounded by trees, was a Chinese

restaurant,

Lu Fong’s Hunan House. The rear entrance of the restaurant backed up

onto the lake, the front fac inga smaller artery leading off the main

road that fronted the shopping center.

He paused at the edge of the trees, surveying everything carefully from

behind the dark lenses.

There was an old pickup parked at the rear door. A late model Lincoln

and a foreign import were the only cars in the front parking lot.

He shunned the rear door and walked around to the front. As he passed

the office, he glanced through the open slats of venetian blinds. It

was empty.

The front door was unlocked. Inside, he took in the bar to his left

and the dining room to his right.

There were three of them. A fat little man with sweat already staining

the armpits of his fresh white shirt was restocking the bottles behind

the bar.

Lu Fong, the owner.

His wife, in a Mandarin dress slit to her thighs, was at a table

rolling silverware into napkins.

A wiry little man in a white T-shirt and dungarees was movinga mop

listlessly across the floor of the dining room.

This was Billy Duong.

The man in the sunglasses moved to the bar. Carefully, he set the

briefcase before him and took one of the stools.

“Saturday. No lunch today. Open Saturday four o’clock. You come

back. “

The man chuckled. “You mean there’s nobody here who can even serve a

cup of coffee?”

“No, no coffee. Nobody here. You come back.

The man passed a card across the bar. “I’m with Bay Fisheries. I’d

like to talk to you about cutting your expenses. “

Lu Fong appraised the card. He was always happy to cut expenses. “We

go to office, talk. “

The man watched Lu Fong walk toward the end of the bar. It was going

to be perfect. Lu Fong would walk up the aisle between the bar and the

tables. He would pass his wife, opening them both up for a clear

burst.

The partition between the two rooms was low. He would only have to

raise the barrel of the carbine six inches to reach Billy Duong with a

se,.ond burst.

He unsnapped the catches on the briefcase and lifted the lid.

Lu Fong rounded the far corner of the bar and moved up the aisle. He

paused and began to speak in low tones with his wife.

She nodded, and was about to answer, when thunder exploded in her ears

and she saw the front of her husband’s chest turn a bright crimson. She

was halfway out of her chair when she realized that a hammer had struck

the center of her own chest and she was being lifted from her feet and

thrown backward.

She was dead by the time she hit the floor.

Billy Duong knew the sound the instant the first slug tote into Lu

Fong’s body. He looked up, saw the dark glasses, the tiny smile, and

then the chattering carbine.

He turned and ran toward the hallway between the rest rooms that led to

the rear parking lot.

Two slugs caught him in the small of the back, making him miss the

hallway and crash into a booth.

He was trying to crawl back to his feet when the carbine chattered

again, much closer.

He only felt one of the nine remaining slugs that tore his body

practically in half.

IMe man rolled Billy Duong over with his foot and checked his pulse.

Satisfied, he returned to Lu Fong and his wife and did the same

thing.

With the carbine back in the briefcase, he stepped over Billy Duong’s

body, went down the short, narrow hallway, and emerged into the

sunlight.

The chattering of the carbine had been quick, and it had passed without

even disturbing the birds in the trees around the lake.

A small rowboat was tied up at the pier. He shoved off, and minutes

later he was halfway across the lake, at its deepest point.

It took less than ten seconds for the weighted briefcase to sink from

sight, and another five minutes for the man to row the remainder of the

way across the lake.

At the station wagon, he glanced at his watch.

It was 10:30.

He had a tee-off time at 11:30.

He would make it easily.

“Where?”

“Jesus, it looks like another tong war or something out here, Ward. I

mean, there are ffiree of ‘em .. . the owner, his wife, and a cleanup

man. Christ, all three of ‘em are about cut in half! “

“I didn’t say what, you asshole, I said where!

“Out at the edge of the county, near the Plaza Shopping Center on

Lakeview Road. A Chinese joint called Lu Fong’s Hunan House. “

“I know the place. Three of ‘em, you say?”

“Yeah. There’s one witness, a black guy, the dishwasher. He was in

the kitchen and saw the whole thing through those little windows. You

know, the kind they have in those swinging doors .. . “

“Save it. Fill me in when I get there! ” He checked his watch. “I’ll

use the chopper ‘bout a half hour.

“Check. “

Warden J. Christopher dropped the receiver back onto its cradle and

vigorously rubbed the knuckles of his thumbs into his eyes.

They burned. But then they should. He’d had six hours of snatched

catnaps in the previous two days.

Too big a case load.

Couldn’t this maniac have waited until Monday to go nuts? His right

hand dropped back to the phone. He barely glanced at the instrument as

his index finger poked out the well-known number.

“Hello?”

“Donnie?”

“Pop, wow, when am ya ?”

“Listen, son, let me speak to your mother.

The fingers of his free hand drummed on the desk and sweat popped out

on his forehead as he waited. Goddamned air conditioners never work

when you need ‘em. Just like cops, never around until you’re dead.

Don’t worry, sir, now that we have a corpse, we’ll get to the heart of

this.

“Yes?”

“Claire, it’s me . Ward.

“I know, Ward. Your son told me.

“Yeah, Claire, I won’t be able to take the kids this weekend. “

The pause was interminable.

“What is it? Rape, arson, murder .

“Claire .. . “

“Wife-beating, child-stealing, dope .. . ?”

“Claire, dammit!

“Yes?”

“It’s murder. A restaurant owner and his wife out on the lake. “

Silence on the other end of the line.

“Claire, you still there?”

“Yeah. “

Another pause, with audible breathing from the other end of the wire.

He knew the sound. She was getting ready to explode, or.

“Ward? “

“Yeah. “

“Be careful.

“Yeah. “

There was no good-bye. They both hung up simultaneously. They’d been

doing it for years.

He made one more call.

“State Bureau hangar, Doakes.

“This is Ward Christopher. Is Lou there?”

“Yeah, Lieutenant, but just barely. He got a call from the trooper

station out by the lake. They want a run up and down the coast.”

“Tell him to hold it ten minutes. I need a ride.

“Will do.”

He was a big, slow-moving man-two-seventy on a six four frame. The

heat that hit him outside the SBI building made him move even more

slowly.

Across the street, the big digital dots on the bank sign read 980.

Fucking humidity’sprobably ninety-two. What a lousy day to die.

“Carter?

Nick Carter swiveled his head from the conveyor belt. He was a college

type, about thirty, with steady eyes and set, unsmiling features. He

wore the standard uniform: three piece dark suit with a black tie and

spit-shined oxfords.

“Yeah, I’m Carter. “

“Mel Crompton, West Coast, Far East.

The man started to reach for ID, and Carter shook his head. “No

need.

This is Miss Adams. “

The guy was an iceberg. When he acknowledged Fancy, he never looked

below her shoulders.

“I’m afraid we’ve got some bad news.

“How so?”

Crompton looked at Fancy again, and shuffled.

“It’s all right,” Carter reassured him. “She’s payroll.

Crompton almost managed a smile. “Got it on the police radio about an

hour ago. Three Orientals bought it out in Marin County. Don’t know

for sure, but one of them might be your man. Place called Lu Fong’s ..

“That’s the place, ” Carter growled, not trying to hide the anger and

despair that he knew had blossomed on his face. “Know any details?”

“No, sir. “

“You have a driver?”

“Yes, sir. “

“I’ll take your car, ” Carter said. “You take my bags and Miss

Adams.

Where are we staying?”

“We have a Company condo on the bay, just south of the city. “

“Good. Show me your car!

As usual, there was a solid gasp and a total rollover in Ward

Christopher’s ample belly when the copter lifted off, spun in midair,

and dipped forward to fly. He was pretty sure that the pilot, Lou

Jenkins, speeded up all those maneuvers just for his benefit.

It was common knowledge around the State Bureau of Investigation that

Christopher was scared to death of anything mechanical that moved,

earthbound or airborne. He wouldn’t even ride in an automobile unless

he drove, and that was usually between thirty-five and forty miles per

hour.

He was even afraid of boats.

“Think it’s some kind of nut?” Jenkins shouted over the whining rotor

and roaring engine.

“Yeah, sounds like it. “

“What’s with these guys? They gotta be crazy.

“They’re all a little crazy, Lou. They get liquored up, or doped up,

or wigged out on kicks .. . all they need is a gun and somebody to

point it at to get their rocks off. “

“Jesus, it ain’t like the old days. At least Dillinger did it for

money.

Crazy “

Christopher didn’t want to talk; he wanted to think. He leaned his

thick mop of gray-streaked black hair against the barely padded

headrest and closed his eyes.

Warden Jerry Christopher, fifty years old, twenty-five years a cop.

He’d made detective after just six years on a city force. Four years

later, a citation from the governor had brought him to the attention of

the State

Bureau of Investigation.

“Fifteen years .

“Huh?”

“Just thinkin’. I’ve been with the SBI fifteen years. Hard years. “

‘61 only got six in, but hell, things are a hell of a lot easier up

here than down there. “

“Yeah,” Christopher said, stick inga dry pipe in his mouth and wishing

it were a cigarette, “they are.

The chopper lurched sideways and then rolled.

“Goddamn, Lou, do you have to do that?”

“Sorry, Ward, ” Jenkins said with a grin as he leveled the copter out

and idled back. Christopher was sure he wasn’t sorry at all. But

then, needling

Ward Christopher was a pleasant way for everyone in the Bureau to break

the boredom. And the big lieutenant was an all-around nice guy who

would take it.

There’s the lake .. . restaurant’s over there. I’ll let you out in

that vacant lot. “

“Thanks. You got a cigarette, Lou?”

“Yeah. Thought you quit .. . ulcers or something. “I did. “

The copter nosed over, and Christopher felt as if he were going down

the first hill on the Hurricane out at Playland Park. He hated

Playland Park.

He’d only taken the kids there once.

The machine landed with a bounce, and Christopher slid from the

passenger side with the rotors still turning. He was barely clear when

Lou Jenkins lifted off again, nearly flattening him with the wash from

the rotors.

“Bastard,” Quistopher mumbled, then crossed the vacant lot.

He hefted his bulk over a wire fence and crossed the hard-packed dirt

road to the restaurant’s parking lot. It was quiet, and country sounds

were floating up from the lake. Even the noisy whirr of katydids and

the croaking of frogs were somehow peaceful. But the feeling

diminished the closer he got to the restaurant’s square, squat

building.

The conversation, technical sounds, and general hubbub coming from the

open windows were all too familiar.

“Get a shot here, of his head .. . and then another of the rest of it

here on the wall.

Christopher winced.

“Lieutenant, glad you’re here. I’ve got notes on everything .. . “

His name was Milo Ferris. He was the youngest sergeant in the

Special

Bureau, and also the smartest. His major problem, as far as Ward

Christopher was concerned, was how he so thoroughly enjoyed being

efficient.

Christopher ground out his cigarette, nodding every now and then as

Ferris filled him in.

The slugs were powerful, probably from an army-issue MI, orevenan

M16.

They were also doctored to uptheirkill ratio. None of the three

victims lived more than a few seconds.

“Anything taken?”

“No, sir, ” Ferris intoned. “The witness, one Randolph D. Brown,

dishwasher, says the guy didn’t even hit the cash register or do a

search. He just killed and walked away.

Christopher sighed. “Rules out robbery .. . “

“Yes, sir, my guess exactly. Do you think it could be a tong war,

Lieutenant?”

“Ferris, I don’t know what the hell to think. Where is he?

“Who, sir? “

“The dishwasher, dammit.

“Oh. In the back. He’s scared to death, still shaking.

“I would imagine, Christopher nodded, moving toward the kitchen

doors.

“Uh, Lieutenant .

“Yeah?”

Ferris moved up beside him, close enough so Christopher could smell the

coffee on his breath.

“There’s a Fed here wants to talk to you.

“A what?”

“A Fed.

-FBI?

I In, no. 91

“What then?”

“I don’t know, He’s right over there.

Christopher rolled his eyes without moving his head, his police brain

quickly cataloguing the man he saw: hard eyes, vacant face, tanned

skin, about six-foot-two and built like an athlete.

He wore a tan suit that was perfectly cut to hide the piece under his

left armpit to any but a trained eye.

“I’ll see him after I talk to the witness. Ferris paled. “Uh,

Lieutenant, he says he wants to talk to you .. . now.”

“Oh he does, does he?”

Christopher jammed his dry pipe between his teeth and crossed the

room.

“I ‘m Lieutenant Ward Christopher. Let’s see some ID.

“Of course, Lieutenant. The name’s Nick Carter, special detail,

Immigration. Carter passed him one of the many IDs he car Tied for

just such an occasion. AXE operatives could be anyone from a U.S.

Treasury agent to a diplomatic attache just by using the proper ID they

constantly carried.

Christopher did everything but hold the card up to the light, then

passed it back.

“Okay, I’ll give you everything as soon as I get it.

Carter shook his head. “I want everything firsthand, Lieutenant. “

“Screw you.

“I think we’d better talk.

Christopher had the other man by fifty pounds, easy, but the fingers on

his arm moved him like a feather. When they were several feet from

Milo

Ferris and two uniformed patrolmen, the grip released.

“Look, Carter, I’m sick and tired of you federal bastards comin’ in-”

“Save it! I’m not here to horn in on your investigation. I can cut

through a lot of crap for you if you’ll let me, but I want your

cooperation in return. “

“And if I don’t give it?”

“I can usurp your authority with one phone call.

Christopher studied the intense dark eyes for several seconds. Then

his cop’s intuition told him that this man, Carter, meant every word he

said.

“Okay, what have you got?”

“It was a professional hit. The real target was the cleanup man. I

don’t know what name he was using here in the States, but his real name

was

Billy Duong. Recently, he was working for an outfit in Tokyo called

Kulo

Electronics under the name of William Soo Luong. “

“It can be traced,” Christopher said. “Was he one of yours? “

“No, but we think he was onto something big that we can use. I want a

look at his personal effects and an hourly rundown on what you find.

“

Christopher felt a lot better. This guy was for real.

“You’ve got it, ” he said with a nod. “Let’s go talk to the witness.

“

Randolph D. Brown was about eighteen years old, tall enough to reach a

basketball hoop without going to his toes, and still shaking like a

leaf.

“Cool, I mean that mother was like ice! He just hauls out this gun and

ham, ham, ham, ham .. . “

“All right, Nk. Brown, can you just tell me everything you saw. “

The young black man went over it in about ten minutes, and then

Christopher had him go through it all twice more. When that was done,

the lieutenant started into detailed questions.

Carter, true to his word, stayed in the background, listening and

smoking.

At last Christopher looked up at Carter, the question in his eyes,

“Anything you want to ask?”

The answer was “No, ” also given with just the eyes, and the two men

returned to the dining room.

Carter was the Just to. speak “The weapon he described sounds like a

machine pistol of some kind. From the size, maybe a Stechkin. “

“That’s Russian, isn’t it?”

Carter nodded. “Yeah, but the Stechkin won’t take MI slugs. However,

there’s a 3000 auto carbine called the Universal Enforcer that will.

“

“You know your armament.

“Part of my business, ” Carter stated flatly. “But I’m not a cop. What

did you get out of Brown’s ranting?”

“Something, maybe,” Christopher replied, sucking on his dry pipe. “He

said the killer was short, wiry, with straight black hair. He wore

sunglasses, so Brown couldn’t see his eyes, but if this is a

professional hit, and if your man was the target .. . “

“The killer was probably Oriental,” Carter offered.

“Right. Something else struck me. Brown noticed that his right hand

was darker than his left. Also, there was a thin line of lighter skin

around his hairline on his forehead. “

Carter puzzled this for a moment, then shrugged. “You’ve got me. “

“A golf glove. ““What?”

“The guy wears a golf glove. He’s right-handed, so he wears the glove

on his left hand when he plays.

“So his right hand would get all the sun ..

“Right. Also, a visor would shield part of his forehead!

Carter smiled. “You’re a good cop, Christopher. So we’ve got a killer

who’s a golfer, probably an Oriental, and maybe is connected to an

electronics outfit.

“I’ll get my people on it right away.”

“Good, In the meantime, I’d like, to go through Billy Duong’s things in

his room.

“I’ll have Ferris give you a hand.

“You mean watch me to make sure I give you everything I get?”

“You might say that,” Christopher said and grinned.

It was a cubbyhole of a room, half storage, half living quarters, with

a table, a couple of chairs, and a cot.

They found all of Billy Duong’s possessions, other than a few clothes,

in a seabag.

“Not much here. “

“Not much,” Carter agreed, “but maybe enough.

The passport was phony, under a phony name. There were three letters

postmarked Hong Kong, from Lin Duong.

Carter guessed this was the sister that Billy Duong had mentioned.

The letters were dated about a month apart. The first two were just

newsy, but there was some meat in the last one dated only two weeks

before.

I found the address of the woman about whom you inquire, Connie Chu. It

is Number 18 Kowloon

Road. She must be very rich to live in such a place,

Brother. From her manservant, I find out that she owns junks, and is

also the proprietor of a gambling house in

Macao, the Hungry Dragon.

I will try to find out the last of what you require and send it in my

next letter.

Carter smiled. Now he knew that Charlie Loo was in-R

volved, and that Billy Duong was digging pretty deep.

At one time, Connie had been a part-time ally of Loo. If anyone in the

world could get in touch with Charlie Loo, it would probably be Connie

Chu.

“Get these copied for me, will you, Ferris?”

“Sure thing, sir. “

Carter returned to the dining room. The mess was almost cleaned up,

and outside they were putting up blockades and signs reading NO

TRESPASSING—POLICE INVESTIGATION.

He checked out with Christopher, gave him the number and address of

the

Company condo, and found his car and driver.

It was a two-hour ride across the bridge and down the peninsula. “The

condo was one of four, very posh, and sitting on a cliff overlooking

the sea. When he found out that it came with a Company car, Carter

dismissed the driver.

“Crompton’s still here. I’ll wait for him.

“Pight. “

Halfway up the path, Crompton met him. “A mess?”

“A big one,” Carter said tightly. “I’m calling Washington. Chances

are I’ll take the heat from here on. “

The other man’s face evidenced relief. “Suits us just fine, ” he said,

and then chuckled. “Your lady’s been shopping. She’s inside. “

When Carter walked into the apartment, Fancy was modeling.

“You like?”

“What’s it setting my expense account back?”

“A little over fifteen hundred,” she said, shrugging.

“Leave it on. We’ll celebrate your newfound wealth over dinner. “

Carter poured himself three fingers of Chivas and found the

telephone.

Ginger Bateman picked up on the second ring and put him right through

Hawk.

Carter machine-gunned the day’s events, then waited while Hawk thought

them through.

“I’ve had a couple more conversations with the crowd across town, “

Hawk growled. “They’re more than happy to dump it in our laps,

especially since you know Charlie Loo.

“Do I stay on it, then?”

“All the way. What’s your plan of attack?”

“A couple of days here, just in case the locals can turn up something

on the killer, and then Hong Kong and probably Tokyo. “

“I’ll alert the British in Hong Kong and our friends in Tokyo. It

sounds as though you’ll need all the help you can get. “

“I’ll stay in touch.

Carter had barely replaced the phone when, it rang.

“Yes?”

“Carter, please.

“Speaking. I I

“Christopher here. We may be in luck. A bunch of the computer

geniuses from down south in Silicon Valley are having a little

convention with their Japanese and German counterparts. “

“Where?”

“They’re spread out over two golf resorts, Sea Cliffs and the

Alhambra.

It’s a two-day tournament, today and tomorrow, with a welcoming dinner

tonight at the Alhambra.

“Is that close to where I am?”

“About ten minutes. I can get us a table.

“Do it. Make it for three.

“Tinve?”

“Right. There’s a lady with me who has been in on this. It’s just a

hunch, but she may have seen this guy Is face in Japan or Hong Kong.

“Anything that’ll help. See you in an hour.”

Fancy entered the bedroom just as the connection broke. “Where do we

eat?”

Carter answered her question with one of his own. “Ibink you could

recognize any of the people you saw with Okamoto in Hong Kong if you

saw them again?” “Sure. Why?” I- “Just a hunch. You’re on the

payroll, remember? We’re going country clubbing!”

THREE

The telephone booth was in, the pool area, and with the door closed it

was stifling. Perspiration was already seeping through his dress shirt

beneath the dinner jacket as he waited for the overseas operator to

make the connection.

The booth could be seen from the club’s main dining room, so he had

unscrewed the bulb. Every now and then he glanced up at the tall

windows.

It was an outside chance, but the redheaded woman just might come out

for a breath of air while he was making the call.

“Hai? “The situation has been remedied.

“Excellent, but there is perhaps a new change in plans. I have just

received a call from my contact with Japanese security here in Tokyo.

“Yes?”

“A federal agent from Washington has been assigned to the case. I know

him from years ago. His name is Nick Carter. He is in San Francisco

now, and will be coming to Tokyo soon according to my source. I don’t

want him to arrive in Tokyo. “

Little bells went off in the back of the man’s mind. At first he had

thought that the appearance of the tall redhead might be a coincidence.

Now he knew differently.

“Describe this man Carter to me. “

He listened, nodding his head, and now and then glancing up at the

windows as Charlie Loo described to perfection one of the two men

sitting with the redhead.

“This man is here, at the golf club, right now. He is with the whore

who accompanied Okamoto to Hong Kong on the last run. “

“Then she, too, must be an agent, and Okamoto must be compromised. That

means there will be further work for you when you return home. “

“I will take care of the problem yet this evening.

The connection was broken without a farewell. None was needed.

He slipped from the booth and walked around the pool, being careful to

stay outside the light from the dining room windows. The resort’s

grounds were vast, with over two hundred rooms in the main hotel

buildings and just under one hundred cabanas scattered across manicured

lawns and graveled paths.

When he reached his cabana, he went inside and immediately began to

strip out of his formal wear. In place of it, he donned a black

turtleneck sweater and a pair of dark trousers.

It might be coincidence that this man Carter and the big breasted woman

were in the club dining room, but if it weren’t, it meant that they

were onto something.

The second man at the table with them had “policeman” written all over

him.

But if they knew his identity, surely they would be arresting him

instead of calmly eating dinner.

That meant they were fishing.

He picked up the phone in the cabana and dialed the main desk.

“May I help you?”

“Yes, could I have Mr. Nick Carter’s room, please?”

“One moment. ” The operator was back in seconds. “I’m sorry, sir, but

there is no one by that name registered.

“I see. Thank you. “

He eased the instrument back onto its cradle and tented his fingers in

front of his face in thought.

Using his golfing background as a cover for this assignment had been a

mistake. Particularly in a tournament with such a large group of men

who were both Orientals and in the electronics business.

Obviously, Billy Duong had somehow contacted this man Carter. All he

could hope for was that Duong had not revealed everything before his

life had ended.

In any event, removing Carter and the woman would do away with the

problem.

He removed his spare set of clubs from the closet, and carefully took

the heads from the driver and the three wood. Inside the thin veneer

covering were two powerful hand grenades.

From the false bottom of the bag, he took a Ruger .357 magnum. He

placed the grenades and the gun in the middle of some towels in his

locker bag, and exited the cabana.

He retrieved his rented car from the parking lot and drove around the

long, horseshoe-shaped drive, pulling the car to a halt and parking

about a hundred yards from the club’s main entrance.

From where he sat, he could see everyone leaving.

The meal was forgettable, the entertainment more so. Conversation

consisted of a look and a word here and there.

Carter had filled Fancy in on the short ride down the coast, so most of

her time was spent rubbernecking every Oriental man in the room. That

meant nearly a hundred faces. ,

By ten the party was breaking up and they had gotten nowhere.

“Want to call it a night? Ward Christopher asked at last. “We can

start in the morning on the first tee. That is, if you think Miss

Adams may really be able to spot our man. Carter sighed and nodded.

“You’re pretty sure Brown, the dishwasher, wouldn’t be able to identify

him?”

“I’m sure. He wore those big, aviator-type glasses, and most of the

time his face was turned away from the kitchen door windows. “If we’re

leaving, Fancy said, rising, “I’m going to freshen up. Carter nodded

again. “I’ll get the check. We’ll meet you at the front door.

Both of them watched her move through the tables, and then Christopher

chuckled. “Pretty lady.”

“Very,” Carter said, rising, “and smart.”

They paid the bill and moved into the club’s large foyer. Christopher

passed his car stub to a runner, then turned to Carter. “I don’t

suppose you’d care to enlighten me a little further on what’s behind

all this. Carter lit a cigarette and thought. He liked and trusted

this police lieutenant. The man was not only a good cop, he was also a

savvy one. On impulse, he decided to give Christopher at least the

framework.

By the time he had finished, Christopher’s already hooded eyes were

nearly closed. “Out of my league,” he said. “If it’s all that big,

this guy is a real pro. I doubt we’ll have a chance at him. “You’re

probably right, and if we did get him, I doubt if he knows who actually

hired him. the car arrived and sat idling at the bottom of the steps.

Fancy joined them a moment later, and the three of them rode in silence

back to the condo.

“Want to come in for a nightcap?”

Christopher shrugged. “Why not?”

Walking to the door, Carter noticed that the cop’s seamed face was

drawn and his movements were abrupt and jerky, as if his muscles were

not responding properly.

“How long have you been a cop, Christopher?”

“Too long. How long have you been .. . whatever you are?”

Carter smiled. “Long enough to have used up about seven of my nine

lives.”

Fancy shuddered and they entered the big apartment.

“I’m going to change,” she said and veered off into the bedroom.

“You know, of course, that we’ll never get this guy,” Christopher said,

lowering his big frame into a sofa.

“I’ll get him,” Carter replied. “If not here, somewhere. What would

you like to drink?”

“Anything . brandy, if you’ve got it.”

“Corning UP. J

The drinks were poured and Fancy was just entering the room when the

window to Carter’s left exploded. A shiny object sailed by his head

and landed on the carpet in the middle of the room.

All three of them were mesmerized as they watched what looked like the

head of a golf club roll directly toward the sofa where Chistopher

sat.

Suddenly Carter’s training and sixth sense clicked in.

“Grenade! ” he shouted and dropped like a rock to the floor.

The blast was like the thunder of a battleship’s sixteen-inch guns in

the closed room. Carter felt the floor heave, and then the bar fell in

on him as the glass and bottles behind it exploded.

Sharp pains knifed at the back of his head, his neck, and his legs. It

took a full minute for his head to clear from the shock of the

concussion, and another two minutes to disentangle himself from the

rubble of the bar.

The room was a complete wreck. The furniture had been turned into

kindling, and there was a gaping hole in the floor directly below where

the sofa had been.

The sofa itself was in shreds, and so was Ward Christopher.

Carter could see with one look that the man was dead.

Fancy Adams was a different story. The housecoat and gown beneath had

practically been torn from her body, and the body itself was a mass of

tiny splinter wounds all gushing blood.

But she was alive.

Carter probed the pockets of what was left of Christopher’s jacket

until he found the car keys. He then yanked a curtain from the window

and rolled

Fancy into it. The last thing he did before sweeping her up into his

arms was fill his right hand with the 9mm Luger, Wilhelmina, from the

shoulder rig under his jacket.

It was ten-to-one that the bomber was long gone, but there was always

that one chance.

He burst through the shattered door and ran, with the woman in his

arms, toward the car.

Lights were coming on in all the neighboring buildings, and a few

people stood gaping in their open doorways.

All in one motion, he set Fancy in the car, slapped the red light on

the roof, and started the engine. In seconds, he was screaming down

the street and flipping buttons until he got the radio working.

When he got a voice, he pressed the “send” button on the hand mike.

“There has been a bombing at Nine-eleven Cliffiside Drive. Lieutenant

Warden Christopher is dead. I am a federal officer, Nicholas Carter. I

have a wounded female and am driving Christopher’s car. Am on Ocean

Drive heading north. Where do I turn to get to Memorial Hospital?”

The radio crackled, and a brisk, efficient, and calm female voice came

back at him. “Turn right at Chester, go five blocks away from the

ocean, and you’ll see the hospital. “

“Check. Have Sergeant Milo Ferris meet me at the hospital, and

dispatch a team to the Cliffside address. No reporters

I repeat, no reporters. The building is a CIA safe house. “

An acknowledgment came through, and Carter floored the accelerator.

“Yeah, some safe house, ” he hissed aloud, throwing a quick glance at

the other seat.

Fancy’s face, where it wasn’t caked with drying blood, was pale

white.

Most of her hair and her eyebrows were gone. He fumbled his fingers at

her throat, and when he could find no pulse, he laid his hand on her

chest.

She was still breathing, but barely.

Ten minutes later he skidded to a halt in front of the hospital’s

emergency entrance. He was just scooping her up, when four

white-coated figures pull inga gurney came bursting through the door.

“I’m Dr. Hagen. We’ll take her.

“It’s probably a concussion, ” Carter rasped. “The cuts are probably

steel fragments and wood splinters, maybe some glass. “

They already had Fancy on the gurney and headed toward the door. One

of the men turned and wound his arm around Carter’s shoulder.

“Can you make it inside, walking?”

“Hell, yes, why not?”

“Man, you’re dripping blood like a sieve.

Carter brushed the back of his neck with his hand. It came away bathed

in red.

“I’ll be damned.

He took two steps and passed out in the intern’s arms.

He came to, naked, facedown on a padded table. A young, attractive

nurse was standing at his head, passing things to hands that worked on

his body.

“How am IT’

“You had about a pound of glass in you, from your head to your toes, “

a gruff male voice said. “And you had two very serious wounds full of

wood splinters. About forty stitches took care of it.

I’m going to put you back to sleep for a little bit. “

“A police sergeant is on his way here .. . Milo Ferris. I want to be

awake to talk to him when he arrives.”

“You will be.”

Carter felt the bite of a needle, and then he was out again.

He blinked once, twice, three times, and then his eyes stayed open.

This time he was facedown in a bed in a hospital gown. Gray dawn oozed

through a window, and every part of his body felt as though it were on

fire. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Milo Ferris sitting by the

bed. The same nurse who had been handing things earlier was standing

in the doorway, wide-eyed.

“Well?” Carter asked.

“The grenade was a modified M-80. We found some odd wood fragments in

the shrapnel .. . “

“It was disguised as a golf club .. . the head of a wood.

Christopher?”

“He never knew what hit him.

“Miss Adams?”

“She died about an hour ago.

“Son of a bitch. Nurse!

“Yes, sir .. . “

“Get out! And close the door behind you!

She moved like a scalded cat.

Ferris was on his feet. “We have no real leads, other than the golf

connection. I’ve got a team ready to interrogate all the Orientals

this morning.

“No.

“What the hell do you mean, Carter? Ward Christopher is dead! This is

our baby now! “

“I know how you feel, Ferris, but this can’t be handled by the book

anymore. Can we still make the morning news?”

Ferris was a strong-willed man and a good cop, but Carter’s ferocity

cowed him. “Yeah, I can arrange it. “

“Do that. I want you to release a statement that Christopher was

killed in the blast. Miss Adams and I survived until we reached the

hospital.

We both died without regaining consciousness. Got all that?”

“Yes. “

“Good. Swear all these doctors and nurses to secrecy, even if you have

to tag an unclaimed corpse with my name for a while. Also, let it slip

to the media that revenge is suspected as a motive. Call it underworld

terror or some such garbage. Get a man out to the condo to pick up my

clothes. Tell him to stop by a wig salon on his way back. Take

notes!”

Ferris whipped out a pad and copied down all the items as Carter ticked

them off. “Anything else?”

“Yeah. Pick up the Alhambra’s manager and whoever is in charge of the

golf tournament. Tell ‘em nothing, and get them down here! “

“I’m on my way.

“Wait a minute. Put that phone beside my head.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, ” Ferris said, moving the phone,

“but the docs say you can’t get out of here for a week. “

“What do they know? Move!

The door had barely closed behind Ferris when the phone started ringing

in Ginger Bateman’s Arlington apartment.

A sleepy voice mumbled “Hello” into the phone, and Carter chuckled.

“I figured you’d still be in bed.

“Why shouldn’t I be? It’s Sunday morning. Nick?”

“Yeah. “

“Where are o

“In a hospital. Fancy Adams is dead.

“Oh, no!”

“Yeah. And the noon news back there is going to tell you that I am

also very dead. Get on the horn to the big man and tell him to follow

it through.”

“You’ve got it. How does he reach you?”

“He doesn’t, for a while. I’ll be back in touch from Hong Kong or

Tokyo, depending how the work goes tonight. If you need any more info,

there’s a local cop who’s in on it, a Sergeant Milo Ferris.

“Check.

“Later. I

He hung up the phone just as the cute little nurse walked through the

door.

“Is there anything I can get you, sir?”

“Did the sergeant clue you in?”

“Yes, sir. Admissions is changing your records right now. “How many

people on this floor know the truth?”

“Only myself, an intern, and the doctor who treated you.

“Make sure it stays that way.

“Yes, sir. “And bring me four eggs over easy, a steak, some potatoes,

and a pot of coffee. “But that’s not on the menu. I’Bring it in from

outside then, Carter growled. “What the hell, I’m dead anyway. Who’s

to know?”

FOUR

Nick Carter’s mood was both weary and excited as he drove into the

country club’s private parking compound and turned the rented car over

to an attendant.

It was midafternoon, and the morning heat had been replaced by a light

breeze and an overcast sky. In the west, over the ocean, a faint stain

of lemon-yellow light flickered in feeble contrast to the grayness of

the immense white clubhouse and the ultra green fairways.

Inside the massive lobby, Carter paused to check his new appearance in

an antique, walnut-framed mirror.

The spirit-gum-induced and eyebrow-shaded wrinkles in his face were

holding up well, as was the gray mustache that had been introduced to

his upper lip. Beneath the matching gray wig, his completely sheared

scalp itched a little from the razor’s touch.

“Are you sure , sit? ” the young nurse had said, shocked by his

request.

“I’m sure. Shave it .. . all of it. Make me as bald as a billiard

ball, honey. “

She had nicked his aching pate only twice in the process, which Carter

was thankful for.

He adjusted his well-tailored jacket, touched his tie, and strolled

through the dining room into the club’s lounge. “The room’s darkness

was relieved only by low, shaded lamps on the tables and a generally

diffused glow from the region of the bar. Somewhere, a piano tinkled a

subdued background for the hum of voices.

He spotted Jules Monroe in a rear booth and headed his way.

Monroe was one of the two men Milo Ferris had rounded up t hat morning

and brought to the hospital. He was the public relations rep who had

organized the convention and the golf tournament. ,

he other man had been Colin MacIntyie, a crusty old Scot, who was the

resort manager.” It was MacIntyre who had voiced the biggest

objections to Carter’s demands.

“We are an old and respected hotel and club, sir. I protest. We

cannot intrude upon our guests’ privacy in such a way! “

“My dear MacIntyre,” Carter had replied, trying tact first, “I respect

that, but this is murder. “

“No matter. To allow you to spy upon our guest—”

“Mr. MacIntyre, if I’m not given the cooperation I’m asking for, it’s

going to be much worse for all your guests.

“What do yo mean.

“I’ll close down your little golf tournament, closet your guests in

their rooms, and interrogate them one by one. That could take days.

“

Colin Maclntyre had quickly agreed.

Carter oozed his aching backside into the booth opposite Jules Monroe

and winced as he pulled out his cigarette case.

“I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to take another table. I’m waitng-”

“It’s okay, Monroe. It’s me.

“Good God .. . “

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Carter smiled. “What have you got? “

Monroe unsnapped a briefcase sitting on the seat beside him and removed

a few papers. He carefully laid them out on the table, then studied

them with a frowning forehead. His otherwise smooth face, with its

neatly clipped mustache, was vacuous and resigned in the glow of the

table lamp.

Carter pegged him as a man who could display a certain charm at times,

and just as easily retreat inscrutably behind the lenses of his

plastic-rimmed glasses when he deemed it necessary.

“There are five men who fit the general outline you gave me this

morning at the hospital.”

He was about to flip the papers around on the table, when a waitress

arrived, holding a glass pot of hot coffee. - “Would you care for a

drink, sir?”

“No, I’ll just have some of that coffee if you don’t mind.

She poured him a cup, smiled, and left.

Carter flipped through the papers. They were fairly comprehensive

rundowns on the men that Monroe had selected based on Carter’s

specifications. The specifications themselves were mostly hunches on

Carter’s part, but his past experiences in dealing with professional

hit men gave him an inside track.

In this instance, the man would most likely be Oriental, small in

stature, a man who played golf a great deal and who probably had used

the golf tournament as a cover for going after Billy Duong. He would

also be single, traveling alone a frugal tipper, and an expensive but

conservative dresser.

People who kill for a living like to spend their money on good things

but don’t like to draw attention to themselves by throwing it around.

The men described on the five sheets of paper in front of Carter

fulfilled every item on the list.

Carter sighed. “Okay, let’s dig a little deeper. How many of these

five didn’t attend the banquet last night?”

Monroe consulted the notebook in his hand, scanned his eyes over the

sheets, and pulled one of them toward him.

“Tbose four all attended the cocktail party, but not the dinner. “

Carter nodded. Tharwould fit in with his theory that the killer had

spotted Fancy, recognized her, and knew she would recognize him if she

saw him in the dining room.

Carter went over the specs on the four, and then over them again.

Finally he raised his eyes to Monroe.

“Two of these guys are golf pros in Japan.

“That’s right. We frequently invite a couple of pros from each member

country. It kind of spices up the tournament. They are usually

sponsored by one or more of the participating companies. “

“Do you know who sponsored these two?”

“No, I don’t, but I can find out. “

“Do, ” Carter said. “And while you’re at it, check the hotel records

and find out how and when these guys are leaving when this shindig is

over.

“Will do.”

“Do you have the pairings and tee-off times for them?”

Monroe nodded and scribbled on his pad. When he was finished, he

passed the paper to Carter, as well as a layout of the course.

“They’re not paired together, of course. Osami would be here about

now, and Kornuku would be at about the fourteenth hole. “

“Good. Can you fix me up with an official’s jacket and a golf cart? I

want to get a look at them.

“A look .. . ?”

“That’s right, ” Carter said with a smile. “I have kind of a sixth

sense when it comes to spottinga man who kills other men. It’s in the

eyes. “

Carter didn’t add that it takes one to know one.

For the next hour Carter played Course Ranger, shuttling the golf cart

back and forth between the two groups of golfers.

Both men were definitely “inscrutable Oriental ” types. In fact, they

could have been clones of one another. Several times he was able to

get close to both Kiki Osami and Ishi Komuku, and nothing in their

manner or the way they looked physically gave his instincts the tumble

they needed.

Finally he gave up, decided to try a last-ditch guess, and headed back

for the eighteenth green.

He knew that given enough time and manpower, Milo Ferris and the rest

of the police department could piece together the kind of info that

would nail their prey.

But Carter didn’t have that kind of time.

He found Monroe in the scorer’s tent and guided him to the outside and

privacy.

“They’re both leaving tomorrow.,” Monroe murmured. “Osaiin to Tokyo on

the noon Pan Am, and Komuku on the two-fifteen flight to Hong Kong. “

Carter nodded, his mind going ninety miles an hour. It could still be

either one of them, since Charlie Loo could be operating out of either

place.

He popped the big question. “Who sponsored them in the tournament?”

“Let me see Monroe consulted his ever-present note pad and looked back

Carter. -Kulo Electronics sponsored both of them. “

“Damn,” Carter said.

“But there is one thing . ““Iffhat?”

“Komuku was a last-minute replacement.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. A pro named Nodame had a motorcycle accident outside Tokyo,

and

Komuku was rushed in to take his place. I I

The wheels clicked in Carter’s brain.

“What’s Kornuku’s room number?”

“No room. He’s in one of the cabanas. He insisted on a single room

away from the others. “

Bingo, Carter thought, and grabbed Monroe’s arm so hard and quickly

that the other man jumped.

“Get me a key to that cabana. “

“Jesus, Carter, MacIntyre will—”

I.r jet it!

Carter cased every inch of the doorframe before he hL%7ted die key and

let himself into the cabana.

The bed, other furniture, and practically empty bags yielded nothing.

There were two closets. Again, he chocked around the door of the first

one before opening it.

It was empty.

Carter was just as cautious before he dived into the second.

Komuku’s clothes were mostly sporty, with a couple of expensively

tailored summer suits, custom-made shirts, and silk ties to complete

his wardrobe. Almost all the clothing had labels bearing the name of a

Hong

Kong tailor.

Carter made a mental note of it, then went through the pockets.

Nothing, not even a handkerchief or a book of matches.

The guy was meticulous, even down to the way the hangers all pointed

the same way.

The only other items in the closet were a small traveling bag and an

extra set of golf clubs. The small bag contained a warm-up suit, some

jogging shoes, and two pairs of squeezers for wrist and grip

conditioning.

Carter was about to grab the golf bag, when his hand froze.

There was a long black hair finely threaded through a seam in the

handle and pasted to the closet wall, probably with saliva.

It could have been an accident or coincidence, but the Killmaster

didn’t think so.

With a tender hand, he took the bag of clubs from the closet, being

careful to disengage the hair from only the wall and not from the

grip.

Old habits die hard, he thought, smiling, and usually they don’t die at

all.

The pockets produced only the usual golfer’s paraphernalia: balls,

tees, markers, some Band-Aids, and an extra pair of shoes.

From the markings, almost everything had been purchased from the

Hitaga

Country Club, near Kobi in Japan.

Finished with the pockets, he re zipped them and, one by one, removed

the clubs.

It took him fifteen minutes to minutely examine each one, and he was

rewarded with absolutely nothing. “Damn, ” he muttered, ‘the bastard

didn’t mark this bag for nothing! “

Only when he replaced the clubs did he notice something odd. They

didn’t go all the way to the bottom of the bag. And, measuring with

one of them, he discovered that if they did, the heads wouldn’t reach

over the top.

Odd, he thought, that would make it very difficult for a golfer to

easily pull them out.

It took him less than a minute to find the catch that released the

false bottom in the golf bag.

But even its presence wasn’t conclusive proof. Everyone who traveled

as much as Komuku probably did, practiced a little bit of smuggling.

Nevertheless, the false compartment was one more check on the plus side

that Komuku was his man, even when he found it empty.

He put the bag back in the closet and was about to replace the hair

with his own saliva, when he remembered something else. There were two

loose head covers in the pockets. He checked them, and found the

numerals I and 3 embossed in gold stitching into the leather. There

were two woods in the bag, a 4 and a 5.

Carter was no golfer, but he knew a little about the game and its

tools.

The number I wood was a driver, to be used off the tee. The number 3

wood was the longest distance club in the fairway.

No golfer-let alone a pro-would be running around without those two

clubs.

Hurriedly, he set everything back the way he had found it and exited

the cabana, locking the door behind him.

Komuku was on the eighteenth green by the time Carter got back. He

found

Monroe pacing nervously beside the scorer’s tent.

“Jesus, ” the man sighed, his face an open mask of relief, “I’m glad

you made it back. My brain’s mush trying to find a way of keeping him

here.

Did you find anything?”

“Maybe, maybe not. You know many golfers that carry only two woods in

their bags, a four and a five?”

“You mean, no driver?”

“Yeah, and no dime wood

“Maybe, but it would be rare. He’d probably be a real duffer that

would sacrifice distance for accuracy. Maybe even use an iron off the

tee.

“But no pro?”

“No way. “

“And Komuku is a pro.”

Monroe nodded. “He’s not in the big leagues, of course, but, yeah,

he’s definitely a pro. “

Carter was already moving away. “Stay here! I’ll be right back! “

He joined the crowd around the green. Kornuku had already putted out

and was standing with his caddie near the edge of the break in the

crowd that led to the scorer’s tent, waiting for his playing partner to

finish.

Carter edged his way through the people until he could practically

touch the man.

He glanced down at Komuku’s golf bag where the caddie held it loosely

between his hands.

There were four woods in the bag, and two of them were definitely a

driver and a number 3 wood.

As gently as possible, Carter elbowed his way into the clear and moved

back toward Monroe’s waiting figure.

It wasn’t a sure thing, mostly supposition, but it would be enough to

have Milo Ferris come in and lump Komuku with Osami and two or three

others for intensive questioning. The chances were decent that with

enough probing, Komuku could be held and even linked on circumstantial

evidence.

But that would take time, too much time.

And if it were Komuku, he would be warned. Carter wanted him loose and

with his mind free. There had to be a way to make Komuku tip his hand

without knowing that he did it.

“Monroe .. . T’

“What now?”

“Give me an itinerary .. . what you know, and what you guess Komuku

might do between now and tomorrow at two-fifteen when his flight leaves

for Hong Kong.

“You think he’s the one?”

“I’m guessing, ” Carter replied with a shrug. “Not much else I can do

at this stage of the game. What have you got?”

Monroe thought for a moment and then smiled. “I know for sure one

thing he’ll be doing.

“What’s that?”

“Attending the lawn party and banquet around the Pool tonight. “

“How can you be sure?”

“He just won the tournament. It ain’t the P.G. A.” but first place

does pay ten grand. I’m sure he’ll show up to collect. “

Carter paced for a full five minutes and then nearly whooped. He had

it, almost the perfect way.

“Getz room in the hotel. In fact, make it a two-bedroom suite! “

“Christ, man, I can’t just .

But Carter was already halfway up the path toward the clubhouse and a

telephone.

He got through to information in the Los Angeles area and, quickly

obtained the number of Sport Times magazine. He then dialed direct and

punched change into the slot at the operator’s command.

“Lewiston Publications, L.A. office.”

“Barney Riley, please. He’s with Sport Times.

“Yes, sir. One moment, please.”

Years before, Barney Riley had taken two good cracks at the

middleweight championship. He had always been a good fighter, but

never quite that good. He had lost both matches and then quit.

No dummy, he’d gotten himself an education and become a sportswriter.

Carter and Riley had crossed paths a couple of times, the main one

being when Riley was investigating some fixed fights in Miami, and the

fixers had turned out to be connected with a bunch of dope runners out

of Cuba.

Carter had been trying to cancel the dopenmers. It worked out that he

and

Riley ended up joining forces to achieve the same ends.

The man had proved to be a smart and capable ally in a pinch.

“Yeah, Riley here.

“Barney, can you still throw a right like you can bend an elbow off a

bar?”

“Who the hell is this?”

“Miami, ‘seventy-four, Antonio Gonzalez. You broke his jaw with one

punch, and I stuffed some white powder down his throat so he wouldn’t

wake up. “Carter?.

“No one else.

“Jesus, man, you’re dead! It’s all over the tube, and you even made

page dime of the Times down here! “

“Just goes to show cops and federal officers don’t rate very high. “

“Then you’re alive?

“Very much so, Barney, but I probably did use up another of my lives.

I need a favor .. . maybe a big one. “For you, anything. ” “How soon

can you get to San Francisco?” “Three hours at the most. What’s

up?”

“I want you to do a piece of acting, a lot of drinking, and a little

bit of brawling. -“I’ll be there in two hours!” “I’ll meet you at the

airport. Oh, by the way, bring a tux. “A tux? You mean, as in

tuxedo?”

“As in tuxedo.” Barney Riley was groaning as he hung up the phone.

FIVE

The hotel pool was crowded. Sexy, near-naked bodies lounged around the

sides on deck chairs, air mattresses, or directly on the blue-tinted

cement.

In the pool, a water polo game had started, with guys actin gas horses

and long-limbed, bronze-skinned girls on their shoulders, their

skimpily covered breasts bouncing as they jockeyed the men.

Two bars had been set up on the lawn near the pool, along with several

tables on which was spread a lavish buffet. It was only a little after

eight o’clock, but already the guests—most of them—had managed to

acquire a nice buzz that Carter knew would lend itself to the coming

events.

Nick Carter lounged against one of the bars, sippinga nonalcoholic

something that fizzed. Monroe had been able to obtain a tux for him

through the hotel staff, plain black with no frills.

He looked like a weary retiree who had long ago faded into the

background.

In a group of men to his left, on the far side of the pool, a raucous

argument had broken out. Without turning his head, Carter recognized

Barney Riley’s voice above the others.

In less than a half hour, Riley had managed to consume great amounts of

liquor and make himself generally obnoxious to about eighty percent of

the guests.

He hadn’t zeroed in on Komuku yet, but that was the plan the plan that

earlier in their suite had caused Colin MacIntyre’s face to turn a

chalky white.

“I won’t have it! Dear God, fighting here, at the hotel, among the

guests? And you want my security people to let it go on?”

“Right down to the last punch, ” Carter said, then applied a little

more verbal pressure.

It had taken about a half hour, but the old Scot had finally

acquiesced, thrown up his hands, and fled from the suite.

“I don’t know what you think this is going to prove,” Riley had said,

sitting on one of the beds and sippinga whiskey.

“For sure? I don’t know either, Barney. But I’m guessing that if

this

Kornuku is the expert I think he is, he’s going to give you a pasting

in a very special way. “

“That’s a goddamned comforting thought, Nick.

Carter ordered another something that fizzed and watched out of the

corner of his eye as Barney worked his way inexorably toward the group

Japanese that included Komuku.

He let his eye travel forward to the young Japanese. Komuku wore a

pair of swim trunks beneath a loosely belted robe that came to his

hips. He was much smaller in bulk than Barney Riley, but his body

looked every bit as powerful and much more lithe as he moved through

the group smiling and chatting with animation. d’Hi. “

She was built as a woman was meant to be built, in a one-piece swimsuit

that accentuated rather than hid every curve and hollow in her body.

Her legs were unbelievably long and so perfectly shaped it seemed as if

they had been sculpted. Her breasts, barely contained by the suit,

thrust upward and outward magnificently.

She noticed the direction of Carter’s gaze and smiled. “They have help

standing alone “

“I couldn’t help but wonder, ” Carter chuckled.

“My name’s Lily. You with the convention?”

Carter almost said no, noticed something in her tone, and answered in

the affirmative instead.

“You want some company?”

And then he know. Lily was one of the pros that Monroe had brought in

to comfort the single contingent of convention members. She had been

one of the bareback riders in the pool. The conventiongoers who had

brought their wives were all in tuxedos around the bar and food tables,

staring moodily at those in the pool.

“Why me? ” Carter asked. “I’m an old man. ” He ran his hand through

his gray wig as though to emphasize his words.

“Because you look safe,” she admitted. “I’ve had my share of the rough

ones this weekend.

Carter smiled. “Sure, have a drink.

As he ordered the lady’s preference from the bartender, he heard

Riley’s voice again raised in anger. A quick glance told him that the

hishman had reached Komuku’s group, and he had zeroed in on the dapper

Japanese golfer.

Carter couldn’t hear all the words, but it was obvious that Riley had

already gotten the man’s goat. The basic thrust of the argument seemed

to be the difference between fighting styles, the old

rock-‘em-sock-‘em

American way as opposed to the fancy footwork and finesse indigenous to

the Far Eastern styles of the martial arts.

“Shee-it, ” Riley roared, “I met head-on once in L.A.” in Chinatown,

with one of your hot karate experts. “Hai karate!” he says to me,

wiggling his goddamned arms and flexin’ his toes like you experts do.

You know what

I did? Well, hell, I said “Hai chair!” and broke one over the bastard

head, that’s what I did! He fell like a tiny tree and never got up!

“

Komuku smiled and nodded inscrutably and tried to get away from Riley’s

boorish ness Riley would have none of it and pursued his prey right to

the edge of the pool, needling him all the way.

“I got a hundred-hell, five hundred-that says I can hit you ten times

before you lay a finger on me! “

Komuku held up his hands, palms out, smiled, nodded, and bowed. He

said something, low, that only Riley could hear. It brought a roaring

laugh from the Irishman, who lashed out at the smaller man’s shoulder.

The blow was glancing, but it almost knocked Komuku into the pool.

“Interesting, ” Carter said to Lily. “An amusing sideshow. Shall

we?”

The presence of the girl on his arm would add a nice cover.

“No,” she answered quickly, drawing back. -What? “

“I know that Japanese bastard, ” she said tightly. “I was with him

last night. He’s a sadist. “

Interesting, Carter thought, and an added stroke of luck. He captured

the girl’s arm and, before she could protest any further, led her

toward the fray.

“Ah, don’t worry, my dear. You’re with me now.

She moved with him, but he could tell from her face that she wanted no

part of Ishi Komuku.

The argument was heating up considerably. From shouting at each other,

the two men were now speaking slowly, in low, ominous tones.

“I know that you were a prizefighter, Mr. Riley,” Komuku said in even,

modulated tones. “I want no trouble with you. “

“Why? Because you can’t handle it?” Barney Riley bellowed. “You just

got through saying you’ve studied the ancient art of kurnazuzu, or some

such crap. Don’t you believe in it?”

“I do, Mr. Riley, but you are drunk.”

“Hell, I could take three of you with just my right, drunk or sober!”

“I want no trouble with you, Mr. Riley,” Komuku repeated, his face

becoming flushed, his body tensing.

Carter was barely able to suppress a chuckle. Barney was doing a

splendid job. He only hoped the ex-prizefighter didn’t get killed in

the effort.

“Golfer,” Riley said, pushing. “Christ, if you’re such a hotshot at

kakazumu–-or whatever the hell you call it—how come you got to hit

little white balls for a living? And I understand you got to play with

amateurs to look good at it! “

Now Carter himself tensed. The little Oriental’s face was filled with

anger. Maybe Carter had overestimated him. Maybe Komuku couldn’t

control himself after all.

If that was the case, Riley was in real trouble.

“I understand, Mr. Riley,” Komuku hissed between clenched teeth, “that

you now scribble for a second-rate magazine. “

“At least it’s a goddamned living and I do it in my own country!”.”

Riley roared. “I got expenses, but I don’t live off other people.

First I got taxes, then I got alimony-in my case for two wives. And

the two wives each got a brat. I still don’t know if they’re mine or

not, but I’m payin’ child support on ‘em. Then you gotta live on a

scale high enough in this stupid business so everyone doesn’t go around

sayin’that you’re out of work or on the skids! “

Carter could feel more tension building in his body. Riley might be

going too far.

“Let’s get out of here,” Lily said at his side.

Carter gripped her arm tighter to his side. “Soon, my dear. This is

interesting. “

He wanted to keep her around. If she had spent the previous night

with

Komuku, she might have a very enlightening tale to tell.

Komuku was trying to sidestep his way around the larger man. “If

you’ll excuse me, Mr. Riley .

“Excuse you? Hah! “

Riley landed one, dead center in the other man’s gut. It lifted Komuku

at least two feet off the ground and deposited him in the pool.

A crowd had gathered now from around the tables, and Carter could hear

bets being made on the outcome of what looked to be headed for a

brawl.

The betting was about fifty-fifty, either way. Several of the people

had already recognized Barney Riley and knew his background.

Carter could see security people gathering on the outskirts of the

crowd, but none of them was making a move to break it UP MacIntyre was

being true to his word so far.

Komuku gathered his feet beneath him and slowly emerged from the pool.

He held his hands out in front of him again, palms facing Riley.

“I repeat, I do not want to fight with you, Riley.

“Don’t ye now?” Riley replied, slowly sipping from a glass of

champagne he had rescued from a nearby table.

“No, I do not. This is stupid. “

With the ridiculous grin on his face that he had worn throughout the

entire argument, Riley leaned precariously toward the other man. Almost

gently, he tossed the remainder of the champagne in the Japanese man’s

face.

“You are a drunken fool, Mr. Riley.”

Barney Riley didn’t reply, but his lips split in a wide, drunken grin.

He hunched his shoulders and moved forward, bringing comments from the

onlookers. Riley’s shuffle was that of a trained fighter.

More bets quickly went around the crowd, with Barney now a four-to-one

favorite due to the seventy-five pounds he had on Komuku, plus the

indication that he was no stranger to fighting.

And the fact that he was an Irishman didn’t hurt.

The Japanese was still backing away when a hard, stinging left caught

him high on the right temple. There was nothing else he could do but

take a stand before the bigger man.

Riley’s left flicked out in exploration, and Komuku covered. It

flicked again, hitting the smaller man’s shoulder and jarring him. A

right came from nowhere to his other shoulder with jolting force. He

spun in a complete circle and barely got his balance to keep from

toppling into the pool again.

Quickly, the little man backpedaled before the advancing Irishman, to

re-form his defenses. “I’m telling you, Mr. Riley, I do not want a

battle. I will even apologize! “

Riley bore in. Now there was no semblance of drunkenness about him.

His big body moved on cat feet, and his heavy shoulders seemed to be on

a well-greased axis as his hands opened and closed into fists.

“I’ll have your apology, ]ad, ” Riley chuckled. “I can take smart

alecs like you with my eyes closed. When I’m done makin’ you good and

bloody, then I’ll have your apology! “

Carter checked the security men again. They looked as if they were

about to succumb to apoplexy, but not a one of them moved in to break

it up.

And the tipsy crowd was loving the sudden break in the boredom.

Riley’s left flashed out again, so fast that Komuku failed to block it,

again and yet again. Blood suddenly flowed like a river from the

smaller man’s nostrils, and cuts appeared on both his cheeks. The

Irishman’s weight was forward, on the balls of his feet. He moved with

a grace that didn’t fit with his massive bulk. Komuku took one blow

after another.

Then, with a look of startled exasperation on his bloody face, he found

himself flat on his back in a flower bed.

It was all too evident to the crowd-those that didn’t already

know-that

Riley had been in the professional ring at one time in his life. That

experience, plus the larger man’s greater weight, made the whole

confrontation a total mismatch.

A female voice rang out from the fringes of the crowd, saying as

much.

“Stay down! He’s a pro. He’ll cut you to pieces! “

Riley continued to dance around Komuku’s prone body, taunting him. “Get

up, hot shot, ” he growled. “We’ve just gotten started.

Somehow, Komuku managed to pull himself back up to his feet and assume

a semblance of the boxer’s stance that Riley was already using. The

Irishman came in again, faster this time. He was gaining confidence,

having taken the measure of his opponent and finding him lacking,

Komuku attempted to block, attempted to get a right and a left in

himself, and failed. He took another stunning blow to the heart, but

this time he only staggered back, keeping himself from falling.

Somebody yelled from the opposite side of the pool, “Stop it! Stop

this nonsense! Riley will kill him! “

“Shut up! ” someone else rumbled drunkenly. “It’s a good fight. “

Riley seemed to be appreciating the audience. He began operating more

spectacularly. His blows became defter, more cunning, but without the

power to put Komuku away. It was as if Riley were stringing the

massacre out, wanting to prolong his moment of glory.

He danced to the side deftly, then moved in quickly. He threw a

clever, sharp left. Komuku stumbled back. A crushing right landed

smack on his mouth and he went down again, this time blacking out for

the briefest of moments,

“You through?” Riley asked, dancing back a few steps. “Had enough,

little man?”

All emotion, even anger, suddenly faded from the Oriental’s face. It

was as though an eraser had passed across the blackboard of his

features, leaving them totally blank. He put his hands to the ground

and came erect again. He spat blood and part of a chipped tooth and

brought his hands up in front of him.

“All right, Mr. Riley,” he said, his voice a flat, deadly monotone,

“we shall see who gives the lesson now. Let us continue. “

He slipped his body into a lay-out stance, one foot forward with toes

pointing straight ahead and knees slightly bent, hands forward,

knuckles up. He appeared to be almost parallel to the ground.

Riley stared at him uncomprehendingly. “What the hell is this? You

gonna fight or do push-ups?”

“Let us proceed, Mr. Riley, ” Komuku grunted.

Riley shrugged, laughed, and came dancing forward. He still used the

prizefighter’s prancing steps, his hands still exhibiting the lightning

quickness of a professional’s moves.

But this time none of his blows landed. Komuku’s body wasn’t there.

A guttural growl and then a high-pitched, piercing shout erupted from

the

Oriental’s throat as he bent his body slightly to the right in a

downward motion. At the same time, he threw a left-hand block hard

against Riley’s wrist, locking it in the vise of his fingers. With his

own left, Komuku applied a quick wristlock and began twisting Riley’s

arm inward and outward.

With his right hand, knuckles curved into a claw rather than a fist, he

rapped the bigger man with a bone-jar Ting blow behind the ear.

The Irishman screamed with pain. Komuku quickly released the wrist,

stepped back with, his right foot, and kicked ahead with a left

straightforward karate kick to Riley’s midsection.

As the heavier man began to crumble, he fell forward. Komuku moved in

and delivered a slashing chop with the edge of his hand across Riley’s

clavicle.

By the time the security men and a doctor had moved in to administer

Riley, Carter was already leading the girl, Lily, toward the privacy of

the clubhouse lounge.

He had just watched Komuku execute a near perfect

Kokutsu-da chi It was as good or better than any master could have

done.

Carter knew. He was a master himself.

It was the kind of master training that could be used for self-defense,

Carter had just witnessed. But it wasn’t the kind of rigorous training

a normal devotee of the martial arts went through for sport alone.

It was too hard, too lengthy, and too involved with the pure act of one

man killing another with only his bare hands as weapons.

Carter had no doubts now as to the identity of Ward Christopher and

Fancy

Adams’s killer.

Barney Riley groaned, opened his eyes, saw that Carter had three heads,

and closed them again.

Carter put a glass in the Irishman’s hand and ran a cloth across his

forehead.

“How’d I do?” Riley’s voice was a gravelly croak when he spoke. He

tried to smooth it out with the contents of the glass and ended up

choking. -You did wonderfully,” Carter replied. “If there was a doubt

before, there’s none now. And I also learned some interesting things

from a very lovely young lady about our Mr. Ishi Komuku’s kinky sexual

desires.”

“Bravo, terrific, ” Riley said, draining the glass and holding it out

for a refill. “The bloody bastard almost killed me.

“Do you feel alive?”

Riley tried to nod and found that he couldn’t. His neck was in a

brace. He then took stock and found his left arm in a sling and his

chest swathed in bandages.

“Good God, what a did the bugger do to me?”

“Snapped a collarbone, cracked two ribs, and sprained your left

wrist.

You’re lucky he had control.

“You call that lucky?” Riley bellowed.

“Barney, if he’s as good as I think he is, he could have severed your

windpipe or broken your neck any time he wanted. “

Riley’s face went a little white. “How could you be so sure he

wouldn’t then, when you suggested I start our little argument?”

Carter shook his head. “He wouldn’t dare, not in front of all those

people. That would have prompted an inquiry, and that’s exactly what

he wants to avoid. All he wants now is to get out of the country as

quickly and quietly as possible.

“Then you got what you wanted?”

“I sure as hell did, ” Carter replied, gently squeezing the other man’s

good arm. “And I’ll make all the broken bones up to you, starting

right now. “

Carter moved to the door connecting the two bedrooms, opened it, and

returned with the tallest, most beautiful blonde Barney Riley had ever

seen.

“Her name is Lily, Barney, and she wants to meet you in the worst way.

“

“Is that so?” the Irishman said, his face breaking into an impish

grin.

“Well, just sit right down here on the bed, little darling’. “

“Golly, Mr. Riley, you were wonderful! Were you really champion of

the world?”

“I sure was, darling’, twice. Almost. Aren’t you warm with all those

clothes on?”

I It Is just a beach robe over my bikini, ” she replied with a shrug.

“I know. The robe looks very warm .

As Carter moved out the door, the robe was dropping from Lily’s

shoulders. He wondered idly if Barney would be able to operate in all

his braces and bandages.

It would be interesting to find out, but he had phone calls to make.

One to Milo Ferris, to bring him up-to-date and convince him not to

arrest Ishi Komuku.

Another to Pan Am, to book a seat on the next day’s 2:15 flight to

Hong

Kong. six

The flight was uneventful Komuku had reserved a first class seat.

Carter, under an AXE-produced passport in the name of Silas Cavendish,

importer of Oriental art, sat in the far rear smoking area of the

tourist section.

As an added precaution, he had stayed far away from Komuku in the

boarding area and got on the plane way ahead of him. There was little

chance that Komuku would remember him from the crowd around the pool,

but

Carter was taking no chances.

He had given his word to Milo Ferris that the file on the

Christopher/ Adams killing would be closed in a week’s time. He meant

to keep that promise.

They landed at Kai Tak Airport on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong a

little after seven in the evening. Purposely, Carter had taken only

carry-on luggage so he could bypass the baggage claim area and go

immediately through Customs.

A uniformed policeman waited in the open area beyond Customs. His eyes

grew wide when he saw Carter. It was as if the Killmaster could see

the gears in his brain going over the

Ident that had been telexed to his office from Interpol in San

Francisco: six-feet-two, medium build, and slightly stooped with a

limp. Appears to be just over sixty, with a lined face, wid wears a

mustache about the same shade of gray as his hair.

The man was about to step forward and identify himself, when Carter

shook his head and moved on by him without a pause. “Me young officer

understood and fell in behind him about five paces back.

In the outside walkway, out of sight of the baggage area, Carter slowed

his pace and motioned the man forward with a nod of his head.

“Mr. Carter?

“Yes.

“We have two cars waiting, sir, just as you requested. This way. “

It was Carter’s turn to fall in behind the officer. They worked their

way through a mob of howling cab drivers and crossed two lighted bays.

At the end of the second sat two black sedans, both occupied.

Carter was glad to see that other than the officer he followed, none of

the men were in uniform.

The two Chinese in the front of the first sedan barely nodded as he

passed.

The officer opened the rear door of the second car, and Carter slid

inside.

There was a Chinese driver and a young Caucasian in front. Half the

rear seat was occupied by an older man with a thick, old-school

mustache and a bull-shouldered figure with a solid head set on a neck

that didn’t seem to turn.

It was to him that the uniformed officer spoke after closing the door

behind Carter. “Will that be all, sir?”

“Indeed, thank you, Sergeant, ” the man replied, then turned to the

Killmaster, extending his hand. “Mr. Carter, I am Commander Julian

Jarvis.”

“Nick. Happy to meet you, Commander.

“As you can see, we are meeting with your requests to the letter. The

men in both cars are some of my best. We could trail him clear to the

Chinese frontier without him spotting

US.”

“Any line on him here in Hong Kong?”

“None, at least not under the name you have given us. We followed the

golf thread you suggested and came up with nothing. Also, there is no

one on the refugee lists, the foreign rolls, or the tax lists with the

name

Ishi Komuku. “

“I didn’t think there would be, ” Carter said and sighed. “He operates

out of Japan. My guess is that he has a safe house he uses here

between jobs. It’s probably under a phony name. “

Jarvis nodded. “Entirely possible. Nearly a quarter of the people

flowing in and out of the colony do so illegally. As you know, the

status of Hong

Kong makes it nearly impossible to keep up with everyone. Smoke?”

Carter nodded and accepted a cigarette from the gold case in the man’s

hand. “He should be out shortly. He’s wearing a white-on-white sport

shirt, tan summer suit, and carrying two bags, one large and one

carry-on, as well as a couple of golf bags. “

The last word was barely out of Carter’s mouth before the driver was on

the two-way radio, relaying the description to the men in the lead

sedan.

Carter smiled in satisfaction as he bent his head and accepted a light

from Jarvis.

These boys were good; he could sense it.

“Sounds Re a good show,” the commander said drily. “Can you sketch it

for me?”

Carter met the clear, piercing intensity in the other man’s eyes and

inclined his head toward the front of the car.

“No fright. They both have the same clearance I do, tops. We’re all

overseas colonial security.

“Does that read M16?”

The smile was like ice, but it said worlds. “Of course.

Carter gave him a quick, abbreviated rundown, but it was more than

enough to tell him what had occurred up to that point and what was at

stake security wise

“Sounds big enough for a bit of fun. “

“I’m sure it will be, Commander. By the way, were you able to make my

hotel reservations?”

“Just as you requested, the Shangri-La, Mody Road, here on the Kowloon

side. It’s the best, but then I understand you chaps have wide

latitude on your expense accounts.

“Only when the job is this big, Commander.

“Sir, he’s coming out! “

The car hummed into life, and Carter was elated when he saw all the

gears meshing without a single command. The lead sedan pulled away

without being told, passed the long line of taxis, and headed for the

main exit of Kai Tak Airport. Somewhere out there, they would wait to

begin the tail.

Komuku climbed into a taxi, and they were off.

Within minutes they were reading their way through every imaginable

kind of blaring traffic, from rickshaws and pushcarts to taxis and

bicycles.

As they moved, trading places directly behind Komuku’s taxi, Hong Kong

and Kowloon swam through the car window, overwhelming Carter.

It had been years since he had been there, and now everything seemed to

have been built up .. . literally up. Skyscrapers were everywhere,

reaching to the sky and spreading toward the rising hills that led to

the

Chinese frontier.

And yet nothing had changed.

The night was still garish with neon signs, and laundry seemed to be

everywhere, hanging on outside lines in hopes that it would dry before

morning in the humid air. The stark laundry seemed to mesh with the

gray buildings, the stair cased streets, and the thousands of

frenetically milling people And permeating it all were the smells.

Almost everywhere, in any large city in the world, there is a

distinctive smell.

Hong Kong island and its neighbor, Kowloon, were no different.

“Something?”

Jarvis’s voice brought Carter from his reverie. He suddenly realized

that he had been daydreaming.

“Nothing .. . I was just thinking about the sounds and smells. The

wind is full of flowers, and the sounds it brings are of abacuses

counting money. “

Jarvis chuckled. “I see you have spent some time in Hong Kong. “

“He’s leaving the cab, sir.

The driver’s voice drove into Carter’s thoughts, bringing him back to

the matter at hand.

“Odd bloke, ” Jarvis said. “He’s walking away from his luggage. “

“No, he isn’t, ” Carter said. “My guess is he’s given instructions to

the taxi driver where to drop it off. He’s being cagier than I thought

he would be. But then it’s a way of life for him, making sure of his

anonymity. “

Carter barked suggestions to Jarvis, who relayed them with a mere nod

of his head. The driver, in turn, relayed to the other car ahead.

Everyone moved as one. Carter and the other Englishman exited the

sedan.

One of the two men in the other car also got out as his mate sped off

to follow the taxi. Jarvis would stay with his driver to act as

communications center for the stalkers.

“Name’s Giles Gordon.”

“You know mine, ” Carter said. “You have a two-way?

The man opened his jacket to show Carter the two-way radio attached to

his belt. “We all do.

“Good. Let’s go!”

The three of them alternated behind Komuku as he meandered through the

narrow streets with no obvious destination in mind. But Carter could

sense that the man was setting out to lose a tail, even though the

Killmaster was positive that the little Japanese had not detected the

fact that he had one.

It was merely a part of the animal he was, living by a code that

dictated one thing: survival.

Twice he took rickshaws, and after the last one, he jumped a

streetcar.

Carter took directions and orders from Gordon and his Chinese comrade.

They knew the territory and could practically outguess Komuku’s

moves.

As Carter had guessed, Jarvis’s men were good. Between himself and the

other two men, their quarry was never out of sight. the radio crackled

on Gordon’s belt. He put it to his ear and mumbled a reply. “He’s

heading deep into the old quarter, near the water. “Any chance of

losing him there?”

“There’s a chance, Gordon replied, “but it’s slim. My turn to take the

lead. Keep your eye on my back! Carter did, and noticed that the

Chinese officer had cut over two blocks to rush ahead and come out in

front of Komuku. When he was passed, he picked up and Gordon dropped

back.

Two more turns and they came up short in a nearly deserted alley. Only

one neon sign was piercing the darkness between the buildings lining

both its sides.

The Red Cap.

“It’s a restaurant and bar.

The words were barely out of his mouth when the other officer came out

the door of the Red Cap and trotted toward them.

“He’s having a drink at the bar. I’m fairly sure he’s ready to make

his last move. “Good,” Gordon nodded. “Back exit?”

“Yes, comes out into Thieves’ Alley and runs to the water. I’ll take

it. He scurried away, and Gordon moved on down the alley. When he was

a few yards beyond the door of the restaurant, he darted into the

darkness of a doorway.

Carter lit a cigarette and moved into a niche between buildings to

wait.

His eyes were heavy. The sixteen-hour flight was beginning to tell on

him.

He had managed to sleep a good part of the trip, but snoozing in a

seated position had never been his bag for restful sleep.

He had just ground the cigarette beneath his sole when he saw Gordon

moving back to his position.

“Our man has moved out. Ling is following him now. He changed

clothes, probably in the men’s room .. . Chinese pajamas. He’s playing

coolie, and moving toward the bay.

“You think he had help in the Red Cap?”

“Could be,” Gordon said, “but doubtful. He probably had the clothes

stashed somewhere in the loo. Ling said he’s carrying a butcher

paper-wrapped bundle under his arm. It’s probably the suit he was

wearing. “

The radio crackled again. Gordon clawed it from his belt and held it

between himself and Carter. “Go ahead! “

“He rowed out to a junk. It’s anchored about fifty yards out in the

bay. A woman met him at the ladder.

“What’s your position?”

The officer, Ling, rattled it off, and they were moving.

They were almost to the water when the radio talked some more. Gordon

listened, checked, and spoke to Carter as they moved.

“Your guess was right. The cabdriver dumped all his bags with a

rickshaw driver.

“And .. . ?”

“And the rickshaw driver trotted right back to the airport and stowed

them in a locker. “

Carter smiled. “Our boy is very thorough. Evidently he plays no golf

Hong Kong. “

They came out on Bay Street, Kowloon side, which was no more than a

wide cement slab with buildings on one side and jutting piers on the

other.

Nearly every pier had a boat of some kind tied up to it. In the bay,

about fifty yards out, were several dozen junks, all tied to each other

in along, unending line.

Ling met them just at the mouth of Thieves’ Alley. “It’s the Tokyo

Star.

That big one. If it belongs to Komuku, he’s a man of means.”

Carter followed the man’s pointing finger. The junk. was big, at

least a third larger than any of those around. Lanterns waved from its

bow, stern, and mast, and in their light Carter could see what Ling

meant.

Junks that size, and outfitted like the Tokyo Star, didn’t come

cheap.

“All right, Carter, we’ve got him. Now what?”

The Killmaster did a quick recon, then returned to the two men.

“There’s a call box there on that building, and one farther down,

there.

Can you get them tapped?”

“Within the hour. “

“And I imagine that junk has a ship-to-shore aboard.

“From the antennae on the mast, I’d say so,” Ling offered. “And a

powerful one. “

Gordon jumped in. “We can monitor it with a direction finding unit.

Shouldn’t take too long to get his frequency. “

“Okay, ” Carter said, nodding. “Other than putt inga twenty-four-hour

watch on him from here, with spares to follow anybody who visits him, I

can’t think of anything else. “

“It’s as good as done, ” Gordon said. “You look beat.

“I feel it.”

“We’ll take it from here.

He got back on the radio, and three minutes later Jarvis’s sedan pulled

up at a pier about a hundred yards away.

Carter shook both men’s hands and jogged toward the car.

“Good job, Commander, ” he said, sliding into the rear seat. “We

should have something within twenty-four hours. “

He was dropped at the Shangri-La ten minutes later. It glistened

against the lights of Victoria Harbor and the lights of Hong Kong

beyond like a huge black granite jewel.

“I’ll stay in close touch,” Carter said, stepping from the car.

“Righto. And don’t worry, Carter. My boys will stay right on top of

him. “

“I don’t doubt it for a minute, Commander. Good night.

The lobby was as imposing as the exterior, with polished white Can-am

marble, Austrian crystal chandeliers, and polished brass planters

everywhere.

“Your suite is ready, Mr. Cavendish, in the rear, facing Victoria

Harbor and the island. “

“Thank you. Could you send a boy up with the bags? I’d like to get a

drink and something to eat. “

“Of course, sir, ” the clerk said, glancing up at the clock. “They

serve sandwiches in the main lounge until twelve. You’ll find the

elevators right around the corner there. Go to the roof, and then

follow the sound of the music. “

The elevator whisked him to the roof, and he stepped out into a narrow

hall with thick pile carpeting. The sound -of American rock tinged

with Oriental strings led him to the right and into the lounge.

The Shangri-La was a plush place, and its lounge, with its breathtaking

view of the harbor and Hong Kong, was no different.

But that night it looked like Saturday night at any big stateside hotel

with a convention in town.

A young girl who’d had one too many moved around the room, shaking

herself at any man who would take the time to watch. An old guy in a

garish

Hawaiian shirt and a coolie hat grabbed her a little too roughly. She

yelled at him, and when he wouldn’t let go, she nailed him with a

roundhouse right that would have made Barney Riley proud.

Some of the men standing at the bar roared with laughter, and a

gray-haired woman with a very upper-class accent said something very

lower-class about the girl. Eventually, a bellboy appeared and

escorted the girl away.

Carter heard her screams all the way to the elevator.

It was the waning of a typical evening in Hong Kong.

The bar was dimly lit and filled with artificial plants, a lot of

bamboo, and a few small palms. There was the smell of gin and the

heady odor of women’s perfume, the hard rhythm of the band, and the

oppressive heat of many bodies jammed together.

Carter located a table near the picture windows and sat down. A

waitress stopped at a nearby booth, picked up her tip and a couple of

empty glasses, then come over to him.

“My name is Soo. May I help you?”

Carter ordered a small dish of dim sum and a stiff double scotch.

“Will that be all?”

He might have been wrong, but he thought he saw it in her wide, almond

eyes, the twist of her lips, and the way she had left the top two

buttons of her uniform open.

“For now,” he replied.

He knew for sure when she returned with the food and the drink, as well

as a package of Cabons, a harsh Turkish cigarette.

Carter hated them, and few people didn’t. That’s why, when they were

delivered without being ordered, it made a great means of

identification.

He pocketed the cigarettes and sipped the drink. Soo leaned across the

table, emptying the ashtray and giving Carter-as well as the tipsy man

at the next table—a great look at her mile of cleavage.

“Care for anything else?”

“I’m in suite nine-eleven.

She nodded. “I get off in a half hour.

She moved away. As Carter attacked the meat-filled dumplings, the man

at the table beside him leaned over.

“Damn, but you’re a lucky chap. Every bloke in the place has been

trying to get to that one all night!”

Carter shrugged. “Just one of my days, I guess. He finished his

drink, wolfed down the last of his dim sum, and headed for the suite.

Exactly a half hour later, there was a light rap on the door.

Carter opened it, she stepped into the room, and he closed it behind

her.

Then, and only then, did he brush his lips across the cheek of Soo

Lee

Culpepper, agent N 11, AXE Far East, Hong Kong area.

SEVEN

Soo Lee couldn’t suppress a giggle as he peeled off the wig to reveal

his shaved head.

“Hawk’s call said to expect a different N3 from the Pictures I’ve seen,

but that’s a lot more different than I dreamed it would be! ” she said

and laughed behind a doll-like hand.

Carter chuckled and peeled the mustache away, along with his jacket,

shirt, and tie. “It’s been a rough week. “

“I heard. Want to bring me up-to-date first? It might fit with

whatever

I’ve already been able to dig up.

“Good enough. “

She followed Carter into the bath and perched on the edge of the tub

while he peeled off the rest of the makeup and removed a day’s growth

of beard.

As he detailed everything out and told Soo Lee about the evening’s

chase, he threw quick glances in her direction.

They had never worked together before, but like the other agents in the

worldwide AXE network, Carter knew her background and knew she was

good.

Her father had been English and her mother Chinese. The result of the

marriage was beautiful.

As he saw her now, perched like a little girl on the tub, hands in her

lap, her legs crossed, he wondered idly if he could combine a little

pleasure with the business at hand.

She had replaced the uniform she had worn in the lounge with a stunning

dress of white silk. It had a scoop bodice, with thin straps over her

shoulders. The starkness of the white contrasted sharply with her deep

olive-hued skin and the lustrous ness of her long ebony hair.

Below the simplicity of the bodice, the skirt bunched out in a fiesta

of narrow pleats like a waterfall in liquid white, with the sheerest

white foam of lacy underskirts below.

By the time he finished his briefing, Carter was openly staring.

“Something wrong?”

“Not really, ” he replied with a lopsided smile. “I was just thinking

how virginal and sweet-sixteen you look in that dress. “

“It’s part of the cover,” she said, grinning back.

“It’s a good one. ” He moved back into the suite and went directly to

the minibar for a nightcap. It would help him sleep. “Drink?

“God, no. After smelling the stuff for the last two nights, I couldn’t

stand drinking it. “

“Any trouble gettinga job here on such short notice?”

“None, ” she said. “The manager is an old friend. “

“Good.” Carter fell on his back across the bed, lit a cigarette, and

propped himself up on the pillows. “Now, your turn. “

Soo Lee took a deep breath, pulled a set of notes and what looked like

photos from her purse, and began.

“Lin Duong went underground right after she heard about her brother’s

death.

“Any line?”

“None, and I’ve got ears all over the city. There is a chance, though,

and you can follow it up more easily than I.

“What’s that?”

“Her roommate. The girl’s name is Mimi; she’s French. She and Lin

Duong knew each other in Saigon. Mimi works in a place called the

Asian Slipper.

It’s a brothel in Po Alley, just off George V Boulevard.

“Did Lin work there?”

“No. Evidently Billy Duong sent her enough money to live on. She kept

busy with part-time jobs for the government as a secretary.”

“But she stayed friends with a prostitute?”

Soo Lee smiled. “Friendships of this kind are very strong in the

Orient,

Nick-you should know that.” “Touchi, ” he replied. “I do. Go on.”

“It’s better than even money that Lin and Mimi are still in touch. Your

boy, Komuku, might even be going after her if he knows of her

existence. “

“My guess is he doesn’t. What about Connie Chu9

“Now there’s a real winner, ” Soo Lee said. “She owns twenty junks,

and does one hell of a lot of trading everywhere, from Singapore to

Taiwan.

There’s also a hands-off policy on her so she can trade with the

Communist mainland.

“Does she do any smuggling?”

“For the record, no. But no one who owns boats from here to Macao

doesn’t smuggle something. It’s an unwritten law. In any event,

Connie Chu is a very wealthy lady, and getting wealthier.”

She selected a photo from her pile and passed it to Carter.

“What’s this?”

“Her little shack on the mountain at the top of Kowloon Road. It’s the

white one .. . the biggest. “

The photo had been taken from far below with a wide angle lens. It

showed the rolling hills north to the frontier dotted with small

shrines, heavy greenery, and several palatial villas.

One villa, its walls more massive, its tiled and slanted roof more

dominating, stood out among all the others. Even its positioning,

clinging to the very top of an almost inaccessible peak, made it more

imposing than its neighbors.

Carter flipped the photo and jammed a finger at it. “Hers?”

Soo Lee nodded. “Beautiful, isn’t it? And built like a fortress.

Between the outside walls and the villa itself, there are an awful lot

of armed guards and dogs.

“Then the lady has a lot of enemies?”

The woman laughed aloud. “Everyone in Hong Kong with a lot of money

has enemies. Carter knew that one reason Soo Lee functioned so well in

the area was her knowledge of-and friendship with-the underbelly of the

colony.

“What do they say on the street and in the bay about her?

“That she’s a rich Chinese whore from Saigon, but little else. The

people who work for her are tight-knit and closemouthed. She pays them

well. “Could she still have a connection with Charlie Loo?”

“She could, ” Soo Lee said. “But then she could have a connection with

the New York Mafia families. If anybody knows, nobody says. “Okay.

What are the other two photos?”

“A picture of Mimi, and one of Lin Duong.

Carter glanced at them and slipped them into his wallet. “Two

things.

“Shoot. “Find out what you can about ajunk called the Tokyo Star. Not

just the stuff M16 will come up with, the real stuff.” “I’ll try. I

“And see if you can find a chink in Connie Chu’s personnel. They can’t

all be that loyal. “There is one captain .. . a Swede named Johannson.

It’s only a rumor, but I’ll work on it. “Do, Carter said and

suppressed a yawn.

“You look beat.

“I am.”

“Then you don’t want company, ” she said, her lips parting to reveal

the whitest teeth Carter had ever seen.

He had thought he had seen that glint in her eye when she had been

sitting on the edge of the tub. He knew it had been in his look when

she caught him staring so intently at her.

But it had been a long, long day.

“I do, but I’m afraid it would be a worthless try,” he replied,

matching her smile.

“Maybe you’ll be in Hong Kong long enough, ” she said, brushing her

lips across his and moving to the door.

“Call me in the morning?”

“I will. “

The door closed behind her, and Carter was barely able to tug his pants

from his legs before he fell back across the bed in a deep sleep.

Carter awoke at nine the next morning to a jangling phone and a jet-lag

hangover. For some odd reason, he also had a fuzzy image of Soo Lee

Culpepper, nude, on the back of his eyelids.

It was her voice on the phone. “Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

“Horrible. I dreamed of you naked all night, and what I probably

turned down. “

“I get off at midnight tonight again, ” she said, a smile in her

voice.

“Let’s hope I’m here, and awake. Got anything?”

“Only what the British boys probably already have. The Tokyo Star is

owned by Chansung Import-Export, Limited, of Macao, What’s interesting

is that they are owned in turn by Kulo Electronics. “

“Very interesting. Anything else?”

“Captain Johannson will be finish inga run from Taiwan around three

this afternoon. I’m going to be at the docks to lure him. “

“Be careful

“Will do. Carter dropped the phone and immediately went out cold

again.

At noon he forced himself awake. He ordered breakfast from room

service, was told he could only have lunch, and shouted until they

agreed to send breakfast for an additional charge.

In the bath, he showered, shaved again, and reapplied his makeup, wig,

and mustache.

By two o’clock he felt rejuvenated and called the number that

Commander

Jarvis had given him the previous evening. He was put right through.

“Anything on Komuku, Commander?”

“Not as yet. He hasn’t even fired up his radio, and the only visitors

to the junk have been traders .. . fresh vegetables, fish, and some

such.

But the woman came ashore once this morning and made a call, though.”

“You got it?”

“Every word, on tape, although I don’t think it’s anything you’d be

interested in. She called a medical clinic about picking up her

prescription for a female problem.

III III stay in touch.

“Righto. Carter killed the afternoon by rent inga car and scouting the

area around

Connie Chu’s villa. He was saving her for last in this little game, so

he was very careful not to draw attention to himself.

At teatime, he returned to the hotel. There was a call from Jarvis.

“Another call, and this one is interesting.

“I’ll be right there. Jarvis’s headquarters were on the Hong Kong

side. Carter took the Star

Ferry and walked the few remaining blocks to the small whitewashed

building that bore only a tiny plaque beside the door to tell a visitor

of its official capacity.

Giles Gordon was waiting, and ushered him into Jarvis’s office.

“Fea?” the old commander asked.

“No, thank you, Carter replied, “I just did.

“Good enough, then. Let’s get to it. Giles?”

Gordon moved to a tape console in the wall and began pushing buttons.

Carter took a chair and fit a cigarette.

“This was made about an hour ago, - Jarvis said, “from one of the call

boxes along the piers.”

And then a very familiar voice filled the room.

“Okamoto will be arriving tomorrow with a new shipment. He will

deliver the usual way. I do not want him to return to Tokyo. It is

obvious that he has been compromised. Carter came up, tense, in his

chair. “That’s Charlie Loo. I’d recognize the voice anywhere! Jarvis

raised his hand, and then Komuku came on.

“It will be taken care of. “Also, for safety, I think the files should

be moved, just in case. They are the real power we have.

“Of course,” Komuku replied.

“How long will it take you to secure a new place?”

There was a pause, and when Komuku replied there was a great deal of

tension in his voice. “That is difficult to say. We have moved them

four times in the last six months. “I know that, but dammit, it must

be done! Without them we have no means of securing the information we

sell to our Russian friends. The files must not be jeopardized!

“I will do what I can. “Excellent. And by the way, congratulations on

the Carter affair. Very well done!

“Thank you. “And I may have already found a new convert at Kulo to

replace Okamoto. Our people are working on compromising him now. If a

file is put together, I will inform you and send it along by the usual

means. “

There was a crackle of static that partially blurred the good-byes of

the two men, and then the tape fell silent.

“I hope that all means more to you than it does to us,” Jarvis said.

“It might .. . I hope, ” Carter replied. “I think I’ll have that tea

now. “

He paced and mused while Giles Gordon prepared three cups in the

English style, thick with cream, and then resumed his seat.

“We think the blackmail victims are in top positions mi several

Japanese computer and electronics firms. From the amount of

information that has been passed, there are probably several of them.

“

Gordon jumped in. “So the blackmail files are here, in Hong Kong?”

“I’d say so, from what Charlie Loo said on that tape. It sounds as

though

Ashanti Okamoto is a courier as well as a source of information. Can

you find out where he stays, who he visits, what he does while he’s in

Hong

Kong? My guess is the visits are frequent. “

“Should be fairly simple, ” Jarvis said.

“From the sound of it, ” Carter murmured, “the blackmail data, as well

as the pirated electronics and computer info, is gathered in Japan by

Charlie

Loo. Then it’s carried to Hong Kong. The blackmail stuff is in a

master file here, and somehow the salable info is passed to the

Russians here.

“So what’s our next move?”

“For you and your people, Commander, I’d say stay on Ishi Komuku like

glue.

He seems to be more than just a hired killer. “

“Quite,” Jarvis agreed. “Sounds as though he runs this end. “

“Maybe, ” Carter growled. “Let’s just hope we can get a line on those

files from him. Meanwhile, I’m going to see if I can find Billy

Duong’s sister. There’s a good chance Billy told her a hell of a lot

more than we think he did. “

Carter took a taxi to the harbor end of George V Boulevard and walked

back. The entrance to Po Alley was so narrow, and the sign marking it

so obscure, that he almost missed it.

Number 12 was a quiet-looking dime-story house in a section that had

once been totally colonial. It retained some of its bygone charm,

being set back from the alley and guarded by a low fence.

He moved through the gate and up a flagstone walk. The door sported an

old pull bell with a white porcelain handle. He pulled it and

waited.

He’d expected a woman. The little old man who answered the door looked

like Fu Manchu’s uncle who had been hooked up to an opium pipe just a

little too long.

“Yes?”

“I was told a gentleman could spend a few entertaining hours beneath

your roof. “

The door opened, and Carter was motioned in. Inside was an anteroom as

dark as an underground cavern.

“This way, ” the old man mumbled and shuffled toward a slice of

light.

Carter followed him into what looked Re an oldfashioned drawing room,

except that there was a bar and a few tables. The men who sat at them

were both Chinese and Caucasian. They all looked like prosperous

businessmen on a tea break.

“You wait here,” the old man said. “You have drink if you want. “

Carter ordered a double scotch from the barman, a young ]ad with huge

glasses who looked like a student. The drink spread a relaxing warmth

through his body as he eyeballed his fellow customers. None of them

even glanced back at him.

“I am Madame Wong. May I be of service?”

Even by Chinese standards she was matronly, with a kind, round face and

her black hair pulled back severely from her wrinkled features.

“I was told you have very lovely ladies and that your house is very

discreet. “

“I see. Do you have identification? We have very strange laws here

Hong Kong. “

Carter passed her the Silas Cavendish passport and an international

driver’s license in the same alias.

She examined the documents, passed them back, and smiled sweetly. “We

have to be careful, you know, especially with new customers. “

“I understand. There was a girl recommended to me .. . Mimi? “

“Ah, yes, very lovely and very popular. She is French, you know. You

have traveler’s checks or cash?”

“Cash. “

The smile broadened. “Mimi is in room six, right up those stairs. I

will tell her she has a caller. You may go up whenever you are ready.

Just leave your donation on the tray at the foot of the stairs. “

Carter nodded and she moved away.

Donation, he thought. How interesting. It was a class place, no

mention of the amount. Of course, if the “donation ” was too small, he

was sure there would be an added one suggested before the upstairs

festivities began.

He finished his drink and headed for the stairs, At the tray he was

very generous, then he found number six with no trouble.

The door was ajar, so he just walked in.

“Oh, you surprised me! “

She was standing at a vanity, dressed-or undressed-in the filmiest

nightie Carter had ever seen. Her small breasts gleamed white through

the material, and the dark nipples caused pleats in the cloth where

they pushed it away from the rest of her body.

“Sorry, the door was ajar.

“It’s all right, she said and smiled. “I am Mimi. We will have great

fun together, yes? Her face had a saucy, impish look, with dark eyes,

a tiny nose, and bright red lips.

“Yes, great fun. Carter closed the door and did a quick perusal of the

room. It wasn’t bare, but it sported no more than the necessities. He

doubted if there was a bug.

She came over to him, still smiling, and took both his hands in hers.

She was short but stood very erect. When she raised to her toes, the

gown parted to reveal her breasts.

Carter looked, and then looked away.

“You are bashful, she giggled in a charming, high pitched tone. “Don’t

worry, Mimi will take care of that. She started with his tie, but

Carter stopped her hands.

“Not bashful, Mimi, I want to talk with you. “Talk? Ah, you must be

an American! Very well, we talk first. She perched on the side of the

bed and cocked her head to the side as if she were a small bird. Carter

pulled a chair over and sat on its edge.

His knees were almost touching her as he took her hands and held

them.

“Mimi, I am an American. I work for the government.

“Many gentlemen in government visit Mimi, she said.

“I’m looking for Lin Duong. Her face and body went to stone.

She squirmed like a little cat to get away, but Carter held her hands

in the vise of his.

“I know Lin may be in trouble,” he whispered.

“I know nothing! Let me go, please!”

“I am a friend of Billy Duong, a close friend. I’m the man Billy was

trying to contact in the United States. The struggling stopped, but

the eyes still flashed like those of a hunted animal.

“How do I know this is true?”

“I can’t really prove it to you, but you must believe me. I think

Billy may have told his sister a great deal about the trouble he is in.

He may have also mentioned me to Lin. I must talk to her. “

“I do not know where she is. Let me go!”

Carter took a chance and released her. For a second he thought she

would bolt for the door, but instead she wrapped her arms tightly

around herself and began to pace.

“You are with the American government?”

“Yes.

“How would she know you?”

“She wouldn’t remember me in person. She was very young when we met

Saigon. But she would know my real name. I I

“And what is that?”

Carter hesitated. If this was a dead end and Mimi knew of Komuku,

things could get sticky. He didn’t want the little Japanese assassin

to know he was still alive.. atleast,not yet.

“You are cautious,” she said, her tone one of accusation as she stopped

directly in front of him.

“Yes, I admit that I am, ” Carter said. “There are certain people in

Hong

Kong that I don’t want to know I am here. “

She seemed to weigh this, shrugged, and then returned to the bed. “I

think I must trust you. Before Lin left, she said that someone might

come from America.

“Left? She’s not in Hong Kong?”

“I do not know. But there is a woman, a friend to both of us, who does

know where she is. “

“Can you have this woman get in touch with me?”

“I can.”

“I am at the Shangri-La, suite nine-eleven. I am registered under the

name of Silas Cavendish. Can you remember that?”

“I can,” Mimi said evenly, not taking her eyes from Carter’s. “What is

the real name Lin would recognize?”

Carter returned her stare. “I think you would be safer, Mimi, if you

didn’t know. The eyes narrowed, and now the small dark pupils were

filled with fear.

“I will contact this woman. Carter nodded and brushed her forehead

with his lips. “You won’t regret it. He took his wallet from inside

his jacket pocket and from it removed a thick wad of bills.

“What is this for? You have paid downstairs.

“Mis has nothing to do with this place or your business. This is money

for you to get out of Hong Kong. Once you have contacted the woman,

and you are sure she will meet me, I want you to leave until it is

safe. Do you have a place you can go?”

“I do. “Good. He checked his watch. “Has it been long enough so they

won’t suspect anything if I leave?”

“Yes, she said, forcing a chuckle. “Some men only take five minutes.

Madame Wong met him at the bottom of the steps. “You have enjoyed your

visit with Mimi?”

“Very much so, Carter replied. “I shall recommend your house to all my

business associates. “nank you so much, she smiled, executinga low bow

as he moved through the door.

In the street, he grabbed a taxi and returned to the Shangri-La. There

were no messages at the desk, and the red light wasn’t lit on the phone

in his room.

He ordered dinner from room service and ate staring at the phone.

It was nearly an hour until it rang.

“Yes? “

“Is this Silas Cavendish?”

“Yes, Mimi, it’s me.”

“I talked to the lady. She refused to meet you.

“Damn. I I

“But I am convinced you should. I am going to give you her name and

number. I have a flight to Singapore in one hour. Please don’t call

until my flight leaves.

“You have my word on it.”

“It’s Mrs. Bruno Falkner, and the number is 888-45 1.

“Good-bye, and thank you, Mimi.

“Good-bye, whoever you are. “

He worked his way through two more cigarettes and another cup of

coffee.

A call to Commander Jarvis’s office for an update on Komuku used up

another fifteen minutes.

Billy Duong’s killer hadn’t made a move, not even a rumble on the

phone.

He used up another twenty minutes pacing and then called the airport

just to make sure the Singapore flight was in the air.

It was. He hung up and dialed the number Mimi had given him.

“Dr. Falkner’s residence.

“Mrs. Falkner? “

“No, I am maid. You want speak to Mrs. Falkner?”

“Yes, please.”

An agitated two minutes passed before a cool, perfectly modulated voice

with a slight German accent came on the line. “This is Mrs. Falkner.

“

“Mimi gave me your number. Don’t hang up.

“What do you want?” The voice became icy.

“To talk to you about Lin Duong. “

“I’ve never heard of any such person.

“We have a saying in America, Mrs. Falkner bullshit. “

“Now I know I don’t want to talk to you!

Carter knew he was losing her, fast. He decided to go a the way. “If

you can contact Lin Duong, do it, and tell her Carter is in town.”

“I don’t understand ” “Maybe not, but I hope she will. I’m in suite

nine-eleven at the Shangri-La. Don’t forget, tell her Carter is in

town! He didn’t give her a chance to object. He hung up. The phone

rang again in twenty minutes. “Yes? ” “There is a shipboard

restaurant. It sails the harbor. Soo Chow’s. Any water taxi will

know where it is.

“When?” “An hour. I’ll meet you in the lounge. The line went dead,

and

Carter reached for his jacket.

EIGHT

Soo Chow’s was indeed a restaurant, converted from a huge junk. The

water taxi driver expl4ined that it sailed the same route every evening

around

Victoria Harbor, so it was easy to find.

Other than the uniqueness of being on the water, it was Re any other

eatery around the world.

Carter came aboard and bypassed the dining room for the lounge located

in the bow.

There was a st earn table, booths or tables for waiter service, stools

at a small counter near the steam table, and a long bar where two men

in white jackets mixed drinks, poured wine, and uncapped beer

bottles.

Carter found an empty booth and ordered a drink. Before it arrived,

Mrs.

Falkner slid into the booth.

She was close to thirty, with very blond hair and a model slim figure.

Her hip bones were angular and far apart in a tight Chinese dress. The

dress, instead of the traditional high collar, had a scoop neck that

fell forward when she did.

“My name is Pat, instead of Patrice, and you are Nicholas.

“Nick. How did you know what I looked like?”

“What do you mean?”

“You made a beeline for this booth as soon as you walked in. You

obviously knew what I looked like. Otherwise, why didn’t you try the

booth farther down? There’s a man there all by himself. And there’s

another .

“Mimi told me. Satisfied?”

“Satisfied. “Good. Now, do you have some identification that proves

who you are?”

Carter didn’t bother with the Silas Cavendish papers. He passed over

the real thing.

She took one look, sighed, and fell apart. “Thank God. “I take it

you’re satisfied?”

“Very. Lin told me what to look for when I met you. “Is she safe?

“Yes, but I think, Mr. Carter, I can tell you everything you want to

know. You see, most of the information Billy Duong got was from me.

“I don’t get it. What was your relationship to Billy? And how do you

fit in with Lin?”

Patrice FaHmer stared at her fingers nervously as she rubbed them

together, then looked up. “Lin and I have been lovers for nearly two

years. “

Carter managed to hide the shock and lit a cigarette. “Something tells

me we should be talking in a more private place. “You’re right. Come

along. I have a private bungalow up in the hills. “Is that where Lin

is?”

“Yes.

Carter dropped some bills on the table and followed her, his eyes doing

a number on the way her perfect derriere came alive in the sheath.

Pat Falkner.

Lin Duong.

Lovers.

Shame, Carter thought, a damned shame.

Pat Falkner drove. Above Kowloon, the roads got narrower. Faroff to

his left, Cartercould seethe rambling white villa that belonged to

Connie

Chu.

That’s a twist, he thought as the car slid through a gate and came to a

halt in a carport hidden from the street.

“This is it, ” Pat said. “My husband would die if he knew I had

purchased it with his ill-gotten gains, and he would probably kill me

if he knew what I used it for. “

Carter didn’t reply as she unlocked the door and they walked into the

huge, high-ceilinged room. The one room was most of the bungalow, with

a small kitchen off one end and a bedroom and bath off the other.

The woman moved to the door of the bedroom. Beyond it, Carter could

hear a shower running.

“Lin .. . ?”

“Yes, ” came the soggy reply.

“We’re here. “

“I’ll be right out.

Pat Falkner turned to Carter. “Would you like a drink?”

“Scotch would be fine. About two fingers and a single cube. “

The sound of water stopped about the time Pat handed him the whiskey. A

moment later, the clean smell of scented soap filled the room, closely

followed by Lin Duong in a long mandarin robe that covered her from

neck to ankle. Her damp hair was brushed back over her ears in short

waves, and her thin face was devoid of makeup, leaving the natural

color of her cheeks and lips looking weary but youthful.

Carter thought she looked fresh and clean and not the least bit sexy.

She paused in the doorway, her eyes wide with shock as she scanned

Carter’s face. He could see that the age he portrayed wasn’t jiving

with what she knew.

“Appearances are deceiving, Lin. It’s false hair and wrinkles.

She relaxed somewhat, but her eyes were still wary.

“Ut’s sit,” Pat Falkner exclaimed. “We all look like we’re standing

around at a cocktail party. “

They sat, and Lin was the first to speak. “You were there when it

happened, Mr. Carter?” Her voice was as youthful and frail as the

rest of her.

“No, I got there too late.

“But you saw him?”

Carter decided not to pull any punches. “Yes, Lin, I saw him .. .

dead.

It wasn’t a pretty sight. “

The girl was stoic; she only nodded. Pat Falkner leaned her face into

her hands.

“It was my fault!”

“How is that, Mrs. Falkner?”

“I was the one, through my husband, who got Billy the job. “

“I see, ” Carter murmured. “Suppose you start at the beginning. “

Bruno Falkner met and married Patrice fresh out of medical school in

Germany. He came up quickly, too quickly, in a private practice in

Munich. His sideline had been illegal drugs, though she hadn’t known

it at the time.

They emigrated to England just ahead of the law. But, by this time,

Falkner was used to the money, and the authorities were watching him.

It was on to Tokyo and a teaching position. Eventually he secured a

small practice on the side as a company physician to a huge electronics

company.

“Was it Kulo Electronics?” Carter asked.

“It was, ” the woman replied. “I acted as his nurse. It was then that

I learned the real source of our wealth. He was funneling raw opium

from

Bangkok through Tokyo to the United States. “

Carter nodded. The rest of it he could guess. She con finned it when

she started to speak again.

Someone at Kulo-she thought it was one of the top exocutives-discovered

what was going on. But instead of turning Falkner in, they made a deal

with him.

“Blackmail? “

“Yes. We would move to Hong Kong, set up a clinic here, and be one

link in a chain that would smuggle material from Japan through Hong

Kong to

God-knows-where.

“You didn’t know what the material was?”

“No, not then.”

“Go on,” Carter urged.

The woman sighed. “My marriage has always been lousy. And, of course,

there was always my .. . tendencies. I met Lin, and .. . “

Lin Duong reached over and squeezed the woman’s hand. The two

exchanged looks, and Billy Duong’s little sister picked up the

narrative.

Billy Duong was on the run. He needed a new identity and a way to go

legit. Because of his computer background, Pat Falkner thought she

could get him a job with her husband’s old employer.

It was easy. The rub was that Duong was good. He rose in the company

until he was transferred to Japan and eventually was privy to

top-secret information. It was then that they pounced, using his phony

papers as a lever for blackmail. Only Duong would have no part of

it.

“He got in touch with me, ” Lin said, “and told me that the man who

hired him, Ashanti Okamoto, was also being blackmailed. Okamoto would

make duplicate programs of everything Kulo Electronics was working on.

Also, he received information from high-level employers in other

electronics firtris. When a great deal of information had been

accumulated, Okamoto would make a business trip to Hong Kong. Kulo has

many subsidiaries here. ” “Then, ” Pat Falkner said, chiming in, “the

information was passed to my husband. Billy wanted us to find out

where it went from there. “

“And you did?”

Lin nodded. “Right after each of Okamoto’s visits, a young woman would

arrive at the clinic. Pat happened to notice that the prescriptions

she picked up were never recorded in the office ledgers. “

“I checked once before they were passed to the woman. The pill

containers were full of microfilm. Lin followed the woman”

“And, ” Carter interrupted, the pieces now failing rapidly into place,

“she went to a junk in the harbor called the Tokyo Star. “

Lin nodded. “Yes, and soon after that, I found out that she is a maid

in the house of Connie Chu. “

Carter sighed and mashed out his cigarette. He could pretty well guess

the last link in the delivery chain. One of Connie Chu’s junks met a

Russian trawler or submarine at sea, and passed the microfilm over to

be relayed to Moscow.

Idly, he wondered how Soo Lee was doing with Captain Johannson.

“You’ve done quite a bit already, ” he said. “Can you do more?”

The two women exchanged glances again, and then Pat Falkner spoke. “I

have been able to obtain false passports and identification papers

for

Lin and myself through underground channels. The same ones that Billy

used. But we can never run until the man in Japan is in jail or dead.

“

“We don’t know who he is,” Lin said, “but he is very powerful and has

many friends. Dr. Falkner once tried to get away, and this man found

him within days. He barely escaped with his life. “

“I know who that man is, ” Carter growled, “and I think I can get

him.

But before I move, I must get my hands on two things. “

“Yes?

“I need the identities of the men being blackmailed, and the file on

them. “

“I doubt if my husband knows where they are, ” Pat said. “I don’t

think he even knows where the microfilm goes after it leaves the

clinic. “

“Perhaps not. But then he might know without even realizing that he

knows. Do you have keys to the clinic?” Pat Falkner nodded. “Good.

Here is what I want you to do. “

For the next twenty minutes, Carter ran through what to look for in the

clinic’s files. When he was finished, he stood and stretched.

“I’ll stay in touch with Lin here. There is a phone?”

Lin nodded and reeled off the number. Carter repeated it back twice

and then moved toward the door. “I’ll walk down the hill and catch a

taxi.

I think it’s wise from now on that I’m not seen riding around in your

car. “

They escorted him to the door. Just before he stepped out into the

night, they kissed him on the cheeks.

It gave him a weird feeling as he moved down the hill.

Back at the hotel, he checked the rooftop lounge. Soo Lee Culpepper

had not come to work that evening.

In his room he found the red light blinking on the phone.

“This is Cavendish, nine-eleven. Do I have a message?”

“Yes, sir. I will send it right up. “

Carter ordered a light dinner to save the bellman two trips and

stripped for a shower.

A sealed envelope and a tray of food awaited him when he emerged. The

message was from Soo Lee.

It looks like a go. Captain J. doesn’t mind shady work, but hates

those people behind the Curtain. Will try and make our date at the

same time tonight. S.L.

He ate in front of the tall window overlooking the harbor and rethought

the next move.

If Johannson could be swayed, it would make matters easier. If not, a

more frontal attack would be called for, and that only if Patrice

Falkner could come up with the right information.

And no matter how or when the files were secured, Carter knew that

eventually he would have to face Connie Chu. He didn’t know for sure,

but he guessed that the only way to get to and take Charlie Loo would

be through her.

He checked in with Jarvis and got Giles Gordon. There was only a minor

report, two visitors to the Tokyo Star by water taxi. One sounded

Soo Lee’s captain. “The other was a noted underworld character in

Hong

Kong named Kim See Long.

“We’ve put a tail on both of them, but I doubt that anything will come

of it. Carter told Gordon about the connection with Bruno Falkner’s

clinic.

“Doubt that we can get a tap on the phones very quickly, old chap, but

we can watch the good doctor. “No, Carter replied. “At this point

that might be too dangerous. Just put someone on the clinic. “That

should do it for now. Gordon rang off and Carter yawned, stripping to

his shorts. With a last look at the blinking lights of Hong Kong, he

stretched across the bed for an hour’s rest before the hopeful arrival

of Soo Lee.

When the rap came on the door, he was instantly awake and sliding off

the bed almost directly into his pants.

“Yes .. .

“It Is me. “

He cracked the door, and closed it the second she slipped thmugh. He

could tell from the excited glint in her eyes that she had a lot to

tell him.

“You’re bubbling. “I know, ” she said. “I met Johannson in a seaman’s

bar in the old quarter. We fenced for about an hour, and then I

decided to dump everything on the table. You should have seen his

face! “

“I think I can guess. Smuggling is one thing; a Communist conspiracy

is another. “Right, and I think he can give us the jackpot!

“How so?”

“He got a summons early this evening from Komuku. I met Joharmson

right after. -A,nd .. . ?”

“And tomorrow morning he’s sailing the Tokyo Star to Macao. They are

picking up some crates that were delivered there about three weeks

ago,

“The files! Carter hissed.

“It sounds like it. He’s moved these crates several times in the past,

always aboard the Tokyo Star. He knows they’re valuable, because

Komuku always brings aboard several hired guards when they move them.

“And chances are that Komuku plans on bringing them back here, to

Hong

Kong, for safekeeping.

“That’s what Johannson thinks. “How do we handle it? Does Johannson

want money?”

Soo Lee’s head shook from side to side and her crimson lips split in a

wide smile. “He has money. He wants his international ticket renewed.

He lost it four years ago for smuggling. Carter sighed. “That may be

tough. There’s no guarantee he won’t smuggle again. “Absolutely none.

In fact, he told me he probably would. But he did say that he wouldn’t

do it again for Connie Chu. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do. And if I

can do it, what then? “You take the morning hydrofoil to Macao. It’s

about an hour-and-a-half ride. Check into the Estoril. Tomorrow

evening, go to the casino.

Johannson will contact you there. If you have his ticket and the other

papers in order, he will tell you how we can take the junk.

“We?”

Soo Lee nodded. “I will be aboard. I’m joining his crew aboard the

Tokyo

Star in the morning for the run to Macao.

“You’re crazy. “

“Why?” she asked, her voice harsh, her face a mask of determination.

Carter couldn’t think of a good, quick answer, and she saw it.

-However you plan on taking the junk, it will be much better if you

have an ally on board. “

“But a woman? How will Komuku accept-?”

“Nick, please, ” she cut in. “Over half the crews of every junk in

Hong

Kong Harbor are women. In Asia, we work alongside the men .. .

everyone works, no matter the task. “

He knew she was right and said so. “Okay, it’s a deal. Let me see

what

I can come up with. “

He moved to the phone and dialed Jarvis’s office. Gordon came on

again, and after a little arguing, he gave Carter the commander’s

private home number.

Jarvis himself answered and wasn’t very happy about it. He sounded as

if he had been awakened from a sound sleep.

“Sorry, Commander, a necessary evil, ” Carter said.

“Evil, old chap, is exactly the word for it. Well, what is so damnably

important?”

Carter told him, briskly and to the point, leaving out the details of

an actual raid on the junk. There were certain things about the

method

Carter planned to use that might prompt Jarvis into thinking that the

American was planning on creatinga major international incident.

It was better that the M16 man learned of it after the fact,

particularly if that did happen.

“Good God, man, this is very sticky!

“I realize that, Commander, ” Carter replied in the smoothest voice he

could muster. “But I think the rewards-to both our countrie&—could

very well overshadow the possible consequences of what Johannson may do

later.

“But dammit, man, if his master’s ticket has been revoked—and less

than five years ago, at that-it would take a Queen’s Mariners Board, as

well as Lloyds’s representatives, to reinstate it! “

“Would it, Commander? .. . If the right pressure were applied? “

“Well, there have been cases–very rare, mind you—but they have been

known to stretch the law when our people were involved. Just what do

you prepare to gain, may I ask? “

“If I’m lucky, the files that Charlie Loo mentioned to Komuku. This

may be the break we need. “

It took another ten minutes of calm persuasion, but Carter finally

got

Jarvis’s assurance that he would move heaven, earth, and the Mariners

Board of Hong Kong to get it done.

“You won’t regret it, Commander.

“Lord, I hope not. “

“And by the way, I’ll need a Portuguese visa for Macao. I’ll pick them

up in the morning at your office. “

There was a lot more sputtering, but Carter had worn him down. Less

than a minute later he was able to extricate himself from the

conversation.

He turned, elated, to an empty room. Only then did he hear the shower

in the bath running.

He smiled. Dijd vu, he thought, remembering the scene earlier in Pat

Fallmer’s bungalow when Lin Duong had emerged from a shower.

He lit a cigarette and waited. He heard the shower stop and the door

open. Slowly, he mashed out the cigarette as he heard the rustle of a

towel over Soo Lee’s bare skin.

And then she emerged, his robe belted loosely around her. She paused

for only a second in the doorway, then moved into the curve of his

arms.

“Well?”

“We’re set. “

At close quarters, the bloom of her freshly scrubbed complexion was a

rare and lovely thing. Her oval face with the dark almond eyes just

missed real beauty, but it was nonetheless exciting and striking.

“What will you need in order to take the junk ” she asked in a husky

voice. “Armswise, I mean.”

“Can’t we talk about that later? “

“You’re right,” she murmured. “I’d rather.”

His fingers came up to frame her face, and his eyes noted her long dark

lashes and the casual way her black hair was drawn back from her

forehead. It was glossy hair, wavy but not curly, with just a few

loose strands curling down and tickling her shoulders.

As he pressed his mouth to hers, her tongue slid between his lips, and

somehow the robe parted. The kiss was electrifying, but not nearly as

much as the heated softness of her breasts pressing eagerly against his

chest.

His hands slid beneath the robe, dislodged it from her shoulders, and

then went to her back.

Finally, reluctantly, he lifted his face from hers. She stood on

tiptoe, her breasts still thrusting against him, her head tilted

slightly to one side with her lips parted in a smile of pure

sensuality.

“Bed?” he whispered.

“Bed. “

They moved as one, with Carter somehow managing to divest himself of

his pants and shorts.

He didn’t know why, but instead of pulling her roughly into his arms

and ravishing her, as he thought he wanted to, he pushed her gently

back until they were lying side by side.

Soo Lee looked up at him, her eyes clear. The fine lines of her face

seemed to leap out at him. The smell of her body filled his nostrils

with heady perfmne, the perfume of her sex. It made him want to gently

wrap his arms around the woman before him and bury himself in her

body.

Their lips met, only slightly parted in a kiss that spoke of tenderness

and longing rather than unbridled passion. It was a long, tender kiss,

and when it was over their arms slid around each other and they

embraced.

“Why?” he asked simply.

“It’s easier, safer, with someone in the business.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. “

“And besides, ” she chuckled, running the tip of her tongue along his

ear, “you’re a legend. What red-blooded girl wouldn’t want to do it at

least once with a legend?”

“Shut up! I I

He put his hand over her mouth as he started gently moving his hips

back and forth, their bodies meeting. He looked down at her. Her hair

was highlighted where it cascaded outward from her face in waves on the

pillow. Her eyes were closed.

Her hands roamed over her own body, stopping now and then to knead and

bring an excited flush to her skin. She cupped a breast, squeezing it

outward toward his chest and further accentuating its firmness.

One of her legs was thrown slightly over the other, as if she were

protecting herself. Her gleaming olive thighs merged together, framing

the triangle between them and inciting his lust even more.

“I want you, ” he rasped. “Now!

“Yes .. . yes, she sighed.

With her nails digging into his straining back, she drew him up over

her writhing form. Carter settled between her thighs and, with a low

groan, entered her.

It was like walking on air and being on fire and stretching after a

good dream and being born and dying and many other things he could not

think of at the moment.

All he could think of was the soft cushion of her breasts under him,

the sea of her body tossing him, urging him,

encompassing him. She said no words, but with her body she told him

everything. And he responded.

“Soon, so soon! ” she suddenly cried out, her body arching, pummeling

his.

Carter moaned aloud at the sensation that followed her throaty

warning.

He closed his eyes and let his hands wander over her body of their own

accord as the waves of delight swept through him. She shuddered

violently as her head rolled from side to side on the pillow. The

magical artistry of her lovemaking destroyed his touch with reality,

and he felt himself caught up in a vortex of sheer sensation.

He tensed, clarity returning for one flashing instant. He croaked her

name and his hands implored her roughly. The explosion followed

swiftly, and it was violent and shattering. He felt himself trembling

as he descended from the heights, and he heard her soothing whispers as

she withdrew from him. He drifted into a timeless inertia and floated

weightlessly.

“Nick? “

He stirred, lifting his lashes, unable to determine how long he had

been asleep. She was standing at the foot of the bed, her body fully

clothed, her hair neatly brushed, her face freshly made up,

He stretched and discovered that she had covered his body with a

sheet.

“Sony I fell asleep.

Soo Lee smiled. “You deserved some rest. You earned it. “

Then she was all business again, running through the arms available.

Carter told her what he would need.

“They’ll be waiting for you on the hydrofoil with the purser. “

“Are you leaving now?”

“I must, ” she nodded and broadened her smile even more, “even though I

really don’t want to. There is a lot to accomplish before morning. “

She moved to the door, opened it, and checked the hall. Just before

closing it behind her, she pursed her lips in a kiss. “See you in

Macao.

Carter smiled. “In Macao.”

NINE

Carter stepped from the gangway, silently thankful for the invention of

the hydrofoil. It had been a swift, pleasant glide over calm waters

from Victoria to the oldest European settlement in the Far East,

Macao.

He fell into the long line of people and smoked until he reached the

lone Customs official at the gate. Once there, he hoisted the valise

he carried to the counter and opened it without being asked.

A sleepy-eyed man with a thick, drooping mustache and a tattered

uniform barely glanced at the motley array of clothes the valise

contained.

“Passaporte, por favor.

Carter handed him the Cavendish papers and lit yet another cigarette.

“Tem alcodlicas, senhor?”

“One bottle, Carter answered in Portuguese.

“Cigarettes?

“Only two packs.”

“The reason for your visit to Macao, Senhor, uh .. . Cavendish?”

“Gamblingand a woman .. . if one can be found.

The smile was a leer. “In Macao, senhor, that will not be hard.”

Carter thought he was home free, but at the last moment-probably

because

Cavendish was obviously a European—the officer decided to be polite

and accommodating. He snapped the valise shut and hoisted it back

toward

Carter’s waiting hands.

It never arrived.

It was written all over the man’s face: a mere bundle of clothes would

never heft with the weight of this valise.

The reason for the weight was the amount of steel secreted in the false

bottom of the bag. Besides his 9mm Luger, Wilhelmina, and four extra

clips, there was a British Mark V Sten submachine gun, a specially

chambered barrel for 9mm parabellum slugs, four fully loaded

thirty-two-round box magazines, five flash grenades, and a pound of

plastique explosives.

“Um momento, senhor.

The Customs official reset the valise on the counter, unsnapped it, and

began digging in the clothes. Beneath them, he found ten quarts of

expensive, duty-free scotch.

“One bottle, senhor .. . ?”

“A slip of memory, ” Carter replied, placing his hands by the other

man’s atop the valise and rolling the fingers open.

Tightly rolled and rubber-banded in each hand was a roll of Hong Kong

dollars, all in tens.

The mustachioed man’s hands moved like two darting mon geese The bills

had barely~ disappeared into his pockets before a stamp was slapped on

the bag.

“Have a nice day in Macao, senhor”’

Carter walked to the taxi stand whistling.

In the Estoril, he walked through the huge, ornate lobby until he found

the public rest rooms.

In a locked stall, before a hand mirror propped on his knees, he

removed

Silas Cavendish. Ten minutes later he emerged, his shaven head

sporting a fine fuzz of an emerging crew cut and a black, drooping

mustache on his upper lip.

“Any room will do; I don’t have a reservation. Only came down from

Hong

Kong for one night, test my luck at the casino, you know. “

The desk clerk smiled, barely glanced at his passport, and produced a

key. “Certainly, Mr. Cavendish. The hotel is crowded, but a room can

always be found. “

The Hong Kong fifty had disappeared from the passport when he handed it

back.

Carter pressed another note into the bellman’s hand and grabbed the

valise himself. “I can handle it, thank you.

“Oh, Senhor Cavendish .. . ! “

It was the desk clerk, wavinga white envelope.

“Yes? “

“This was left for you early this morning.

“Thank you. “

From the grin on the man’s face, Carter guessed that a very large tip

had accompanied the envelope.

This nearly bald man with the cold eyes and the ridiculous mustache was

exactly the kind of guest hotel employees loved.

In his room, Carter threw the key and bag on the bed and ripped open

the envelope. In it was a note, handwritten, and obviously by a

woman.

My name is Ursula. We have a mutual friend, a captain. The captain

has contacted me that his first plan for a meeting is impossible.

However, I have the information you required.

Leave Macao on the Lisboa Highway. Go to its end and turn right. There

is a small, unnamed road leading toward Penha

Point. You will see it in the distance. Three kilometers short of the

point, there is a narrow road to your left leading to the beach. My

bungalow is right on the water, the last of five.

You may come any time this afternoon.

Carter reread the letter twice. It could be a trick, or a trap, or it

could be for real.

He really didn’t have much of a choice.

Back in the bedroom, he peeled out of his tie, shirt, and jacket. In

their place, he donned a billowy sport shirt with a square cut that

could be worn loose outside his pants.

From the false bottom of the valise, he took Wilhelmina. After

checking her loads, he jammed the Luger into the waistband at the small

of his back and headed for the door.

Two blocks from the Estoril, he stopped at a small shop and rented a

motorbike. The papers and the deposit took nearly a half hour.

It was one o’clock, with the sun high over Macao and the Chinese

mainland, when he hit the Lisboa Highway.

Whoever you are, Ursula, here I come!

The sea was calm. It stretched without swell or motion toward a band

of stubborn fog lying on the far horizon. A few small boats were out;

miniature whitecaps rolled in, breaking and cris ping along the edge of

the shore.

Carter slowed as he drove past the house, looking around carefully. An

overhead garage door was lifted, and he could see a Mercedes

convertible.

Whoever Ursula was, she had a bank account.

He rolled on for a couple of hundred yards to a place where he could

turn around, then he rode back and parked across the way. Cutting the

engine, he sat and looked for a long moment at the low house with its

pebbled roof and the ivy-thick lawn that had been salvaged from the

sand. The slow surge and boom of surf muttered behind the stillness.

He got off the motorbike and walked across the lawn to the house.

Curtains were drawn across the windows. When he thumbed the button, he

heard a door chime sound deep within the house, and though he rang a

second time, the door remained closed. He turned and went along the

flagged walk that rounded the house and led to the low-walled patio at

the rear. As he approached the gate, strains of music reached him. And

when he lifted the latch and pushed the gate open, he saw her.

She was stretched out on a lounge chair in the sun, her head in the

shade of a beach umbrella. He saw a smooth, bare arm flung relaxed

over the edge of the chaise and long legs stretched out before her, one

slim, brown ankle crossed over the other. On the wrought-iron table

beside her, next to a pile of magazines and papers, a transistor radio

was pouring out a deep, rhythmic beat .. . explanation enough of why

she hadn’t heard the summons of the door chime. Nor did she turn at

the sound of the gate’s closing.

Carter walked forward, and as he rounded the umbrella, he saw that the

music and the heavy heat had put her to sleep. She was sunbathing in

nothing but a scarlet silk bikini~-or, rather, in a part of one.

Gasping, he halted in midstride. What might be called the top half-a

mere scrap of bright material_-had been discarded and lay beside the

radio.

His breath clogged in his throat as he stood looking down at her, at

the golden beauty of her. Apparently she had been tanning like this

for some time, because there was no strap line to mar the tawny

breasts. He could see the barest line of snow-white flesh where the

bikini bottom touched her rounded belly low beneath the navel.

He took two more steps before he realized that the eyes weren’t shut,

only slitted. She wasn’t asleep. Quite the opposite, she was very

much awake and had been watching his every move.

He was five feet from the chaise when her hand slipped under the pillow

beneath her head and came back out with a Webley .45 in it. The looked

like a cannon in her small fist, but she held it unwaveringly, the

muzzle pointed directly at his gut.

“That’s far enough.

“Are you Ursula?”

“I could be. Who are you?”

“Cavendish .. . Silas Cavendish.”

“If you’re Cavendish, you have a letter.

“If you’re Ursula, you wrote it. Who’s our mutual friend? “

“A captain. Let me see the letter.

He handed it over. She took it very carefully by one corner, so Carter

had no chance to grab her wrist and throw off her aim.

She was good, he thought as he watched her quickly peruse the letter

with one eye while keeping the other on him.

Now he knew why it was handwritten. What better identification than a

letter in one’s own hand? Very tough to duplicate on short notice.

She nodded, smiled, and the Webley disappeared back under the pillow.

“Your woman described you differently to Lars .. . older, with gray

hair and a mustache.

“Lars who?” Carter asked.

“Johannson. “

Satisfied, Carter moved into a chair beside the chaise. “In the

business

I’m in, a change of appearance often comes with a change of underwear.

“

“And what business would that be?”

“You really don’t need to know .. . do you?”

“No, not really. “

“You have awesome breasts, ” Carter said casually, jolting her. She

dropped her eyes, then reached for the wispy top on the concrete. “What

happened that Captain Johannson couldn’t meet me in the casino?” he

asked while she was preoccupied.

She didn’t bite, and quickly regained her cool and the leadership of

the conversation. “Let’s go inside. “

The woman stood and moved past Carter with a groundeating stride. He

followed. They skirted the edge of the swimming pool, the reflection

of her legs dancing in the blue water. Up a short flight of steps and

beyond a blond wood door, they stepped into a living room done in

relentless modern, all chrome and white.

“Make yourself comfortable. Drink?”

“Just a Perrier and lime, if you have it. It looks like it may be a

long day and an even longer night.”

She fixed his, then poured vodka over ice for herself. On her way back

with the drinks, she grabbed a sketch pad from the bar.

“Usually, when the captain makes a run Re this out of Hong

Kong-particularly aboard the Tokyo Star and to Macao-it is an overnight

trip. That is why he thought it would be no trouble to meet you in the

hotel casino. He goes there often. “

“But this time it’s get the goods and go right back to Victoria.

“Yes.

She pulled an ottoman close to his chair and tore a few pages from the

sketch pad before sipping her drink. Carter looked at the shadow of

her lashes across her cheek, the smooth line of her arm raising the

glass, the movement of her throat as she drank.

She didn’t fit with what he knew of Johannson. He told her so and

asked,

“What’s the connection?”

“He is my father .. . and my business partner. Just as I need to know

nothing of your particular business, you need know nothing of ours.

Suffice it to say that his master’s ticket is very important to our

profits. “

Carter nodded, smiled, and said nothing. Their smuggling was the

colonial authorities’ problem. He had bigger fish to fry

“I am assuming you have my father’s papers of reinstatement from the

Mariners Board or you wouldn’t be here. “

“That’s a good assumption,” Carter said. He lifted his pant leg,

unwound the handkerchief holding an envelope to his ankle, and passed

it to her.

Ursula Johannson perused them thoroughly but quickly. It was obvious

that she knew exactly what to look for.

“Excellent. We will keep our part of the bargain. ” She set the

envelope aside and began arranging the sheets from the sketch pad.

“This is a sketch of the inner harbor. Here is the pier where the

Tokyo Star will dock. “

“Does the captain have an ETA? “Yes, around ten o’clock tonight. They

will probably be there no longer than an hour. When the crates were

brought up from Hong Kong the last time, my father said that there were

two of them. He has no reason to believe that the number will change.

“

“How do I know they will be there?”

“I’m coming to that. There is a bar, here, on the top floor of this

building about three blocks from the pier. Do you have field

glasses?”

“I -didn’t bring them.”

“Buy a pair this afternoon. From eight on, stay in your hotel room. I

can see the point of the bay from my porch, out there. When I see the

Tokyo

Star round the point and head in, I will call you at the hotel.

“And I head for the bar.

“Exactly. It’s called the Mariner. Bribe someone for a table by the

window.

When you see that the goods are loaded, come back here at once.

“Here? “

“Yes. ” She selected another sketch. “Here is a layout of the bay all

the way ~round to Penha Point. Right herr’, just beyond the point, a

marina is being constructed. It is far from finished, but there are

several piers in place. It is the last chance between Macao and Hong

Kong for a junk to put into for repairs without squabbling in the open

sea with Chinese gunboats. “

“Something is going to happen to the Tokyo Star?”

“My father has already weakened the rudder stays. They will be

strained again coming into the bay. My father is a good seaman.

The rudder will become all but useless just beyond Penha Point. Carter

went over the sketch several times. “Can I get to the marina overland,

from here .. . or here?”

“Yes, perhaps in the daytime, but at night it would be very risky.

Chinese patrols pay little attention to the boundaries after dark. They

often cross them at night, looking for smugglers. If you were Chinese,

they would merely ask for a token bribe and let you go on your way.

But . “I understand. That’s why you want me to come back here.

“Exactly,” the woman replied. “I have a small fishing boat, twelve

feet, one mast. Can you sail?”

Carter nodded.

“Good, but it has a two-and-a-half horsepower outboard anyway. The

boat will get you to the marina. What you do, and how you do it, is up

to you.

My father has requested only one thing. “And that is .. . ?”

“There are four in his crew besides your woman. These four men will be

in the water working on the rudder. When your disturbance starts, they

will swim to here, where I will pick them up. “And your father?”

“He will have a gun, loaded with blanks, and help Kim See Long and

Luchan protect the goods. He is assuming, of course, that you will not

kill him.”

“I shall be very selective. Kim See Long is the local hired gun?

“Yes. He will have four of his men aboard the Tokyo Star as guards.

Don’t underestimate him or his men. They are good, all defectors from

the

Chinese army. Luchan uses them often. “Have you ever met Luchan?

“I’ve seen him once. - R

“Describe him to me. Ursula gave a perfect description of Ishi Komuku.

So now Carter knew the little assassin’s Chinese identity.

Well, he thought, hopefully after tonight he would have no further use

for it.

“I couldn’t have come up with a better plan to get in myself, Carter

commented. “As for getting the goods after I get in, that’s up to me.

Any suggestions on how I get out?

“That depends. She sat back, leaning on one elbow and studying Carter

over the rim of her glass as she sipped the drink.

“On what?”

“You may load the goods in the boat and come back here. If there are

none of Kim See Long’s men left to follow you, I will let you dock. If

they are around, anywhere, I will shoot you before you can tie up.

Carter smiled and nodded his agreement. “Fair enough. And I presume,

for a certain fee, you would know how to get the woman, and myself, and

the goods safely back to Hong Kong. It was her turn to smile. “I

would assume your presumption is about one hundred percent correct.

“One question.

“Yes?”

“Does Luchan—or any of his people-know about you, your relationship to

the captain, or even of your existence?”

“No, not at all, she said firmly. “I am his safety valve. “

“Good. In fact, excellent. May I take these?” He picked up the

sketches.

“Of course. “You can start making arrangements for the trip back to

Hong Kong. Ursula stood and moved with him toward the door. “You have

a very high opinion of yourself. “Very high, he replied. “I’ll see

you tonight, twice.

Across the road, he kicked the motorbike to life and rode back into

downtown Macao.

After depositing the little machine with one of the hotel attendants,

he hit the street again and walked until he found the old quarter.

In different stores, he bought a baggy black shirt, a pair of black,

baggy, pajama-t3W bottoms, and dark canvas shoes. The last stop was

for a conical straw hat resembling those worn by every junks man and

fisherman in the bay, and a compact, watertight bag.

On his return to the hotel, he made a detour down by the docks. He

only had to consult Ursula’s sketch once to locate the pier where the

Tokyo Star would tie up that night.

Across the warehouse building behind the pier was a large sign in

Portuguese, English, and Chinese: CHANSLNG IMPORT-EXPORT LTD. OF

MACAO.

Chansung owned the Tokyo Star, and they, in turn, were owned by Kulo

Electronics of Japan.

As he walked back to the Estoril, Carter mulled this over in his mind.

He was pretty sure now that when he finally hit Japan and came down on

Charlie

Loo, he would locate the man through Kulo.

TEN

It was 9: 10 sharp, thirty minutes after Ursula Johannson’s call, when

the

Killmaster walked into the Mariner bar.

He had prepaid the hotel, so there was no need to check out. The

valise and random clothes had gone down the disposal chute. All but

four of the bottles of scotch had been left in the room.

Two of those four bottles were now in the hands of a wise-eyed little

urchin down in the street, guarding the motorbike with his life. They

were half the boy’s payment. The other half was in the watertight bag

Carter carried, along with the hardware from the false bottom of the

valise. ““The bar, senhor, or a table?”

“A table, por favor.”

“Of course. ” The Maitre d’ headed toward the bowels of the room.

“Ah, a table by the window, if you don’t mind.

“I am sorry,senhor, but at this time of the evening.

“I love to watch the bay, ” Carter said, press inga large bill into the

man’s hand.

“I understand. Follow me, please.

At one glance, Carter could tell that the Mariner was overrated and

overpriced. There had been an attempt to create a South Seas

atmosphere, with a ship’s mahogany bar and varnished bamboo mats on the

walls.

None of it worked, but the table had a commanding view of part of the

bay and the entire waterfront area.

He ordered a bottle of the most expensive wine on the menu, along with

one glass. That would keep them off his back about dinner. When it

came, he unlimbered the binoculars he had purchased from a huckster

outside the hotel entrance. For only a few more Hong Kong dollars, he

could have gotten a camera to go along with them.

They weren’t the best, but they were strong enough for his purposes.

He sipped the first glass until it was empty, refilled, and lit a

cigarette.

It was just after ten when the Tokyo Star came into sight. They were

about two hundred yards out from the pier, but already the sails were

falling, and Carter could tell that the junk’s diesel had been fired

up.

Johannson was good. He headed right for the pier and, at the last

second, skittered the big junk sideways. It settled against the pier’s

rubber bumpers with a kiss, and three crew members leaped over the side

to tie her up.

Carter scanned them and the others scurrying across the deck. He

found

Luchan, alias Komuku, Johannson, and another man barking orders that

looked to be the hotshot Kim See Long.

He couldn’t locate Soo Lee, but then he knew that she would probably

have been given myriad chores to do below decks.

There was no mixing up the crew with the hoody types. The latter,

other than their leader, all wore black pants, tight, and dark, bulky

jackets

The jackets were much too heavy for the weather but perfect for

concealing the iron beneath them.

As soon as the junk tied up and the gangway was let down,

two of the black jackets hit the pier. They herded the crew back

aboard and took up positions on each side of the gangway.

Komuku was next. When he hit the pier, he paused and turned. Johannson

and the leather jackets’ headman dressed in a summer-weight suit with a

red shirt and black tie—were at the rail.

They exchanged words, and Komuku took off. Carter was able to follow

him up the steps to the port street and into a cab.

Dammit, he thought, I might have nailed the goods at the main source.

But no, that’s when, during the transfer, they would be most alert.

This was the best way. That is, if Ursula and Johannson were on the up

and up.

Back at the junk. Quiet. Smoking. Watching.

He set the binoculars on the table and rubbed his eyes.

“More wine, senhor? “

“What? .. . Oh, no, this is fine.”

A half pack of cigarettes later, with only about three fingers left in

the bottom of the wine bottle, the lights of a black Jaguar sedan came

out of an alley and turned toward the Chansung pier.

It was 11:30.

It was quick-no conversation, no wasted motion.

The driver stayed in the Jag. Komuku got out and opened the trunk. The

two guards came forward. One to a crate, they headed back to the

junk.

They were barely aboard, with Komuku right behind them, when the crew

was hauling up the gangway and casting off.

Carter quickly paid his bill and headed for the street.

Clouds scudded across the moon in a crazy jigsaw pattern, giving the

road a patchy, light-dark, light-dark effect.

Carter made good time to the narrow road that turned down to the beach

and Ursula Johannson’s bungalow. At the turn he killed the bike’s

headlight, and halfway down the hill he flipped the ignition switch,

silencing the little engine.

He had barely glided to a halt in the carport beside the Mercedes, when

she materialized in the doorway leading to the patio.

“You made good time.

“No traffic once I hit the main road, ” he replied, grabbing the bag

and moving toward her.

“They are about in the middle of the bay, and already the steering

looks a little erratic. “

“How do you know that?”

“I can see it,” she replied, a bit of disdain in her voice. ““The

long-range scope in my bedroom window is Exed With alternate lenses,

night viewers. Follow me.”

More and more, Carter thought, little Ursula and her daddy amazed

him.

They were far from amateurs in this business.

He followed her on a narrow, winding path down to the beach. She wore

a skintight black wet suit that hugged every curve and hollow of her

long, lithe body. Now and then, when the moon would cruise behind a

cloud,

Carter almost lost her against the foliage.

At last his shoes found sand. He turned back and looked for the

house.

Darkness. The beach lay like an empty gray carpet before them.

“This way!

The little wooden shed was only thirty yards away, but Carter hadn’t

seen it. Ursula unlocked the door, and they both slid inside.

“Is there a light?”

“Yes.

It came on instantly, a small-watt bulb painted red, probably with nail

polish.

Ursula didn’t miss a trick.

There were two boats, one on each side of the narrow pier. he fishing

boat Carter was to use was low in the water, and wide. The other was a

sixteen-foot power launch, low and sleek. Carter guessed there was a

very powerful Chrysler marine under the inboard canopy.

Without a word, they both went to work. Ursula jumped into the launch

like a cat, and Carter attacked the contents of the bag.

Very carefully he undressed, leaving on only his shorts. He pulled on

the black pajamas and laced the ties around his waist, up around his

chest, and then tied them around his neck. To the ties he clipped the

grenades and the plastique. He donned the blouse and filled its big

pockets with the extra magazine for the Sten and Wilhelmina’s clips.

“Be careful you don’t fall overboard, ” Ursula said with a chuckle.

“You’ll sink like a rock. “

He glanced up. She was just finishing the attachment of a B.S. A.

7.62nun heavy machine gun to a tripod on the bow of the launch. A

small door opened in the highly polished wood, and out of it came a

belt feed. As she was stringing the belt, she glanced up and saw

Carter watching her.

“Pretty potent. “

“I take no chances .. . not any more.

She flipped the cover catch down over the breech and rigged the gun for

firing. She was strapping the Webley he had seen earlier that day

around her waist when Carter went back to his own chores. ‘

He checked the spring release on Hugo-the razor-sharp stiletto he wore

attached to his right forearm in a chamois sheath-and then attached a

clip holster to the pajama’s waistband at the small of his back. When

Wilhelmina’s silencer was in place, he checked the load and slid the

Luger into the holster.

It took him less than thirty seconds to strip the stock from the Sten

and attach one of the thirty-two-round magazines. He then slid the gun

up under his blouse and used the stock clips to secure it to the ties

around his chest.

He tested the swing of the weapon under the blouse by walking up and

down the pier several times. When he was satisfied that it couldn’t be

detected that way, and that the barrel was completely hidden by the

bottom of the blouse, he unhooked it and set it carefully in the bottom

of the boat.

“Ready, ” he said.

“Good. You go first. Use the engine as far as the point. From there

in, you’d better rig the sails. No fisherman worth his salt around

here would waste gas when there is a steady wind, like there is

tonight. “

Carter only nodded. He slipped the bowline and stepped aboard. Slowly

he hand-walked the boat out from under cover.

“One more thing .

“Yes?

“You have a plan to keep up my father’s pretense?”

“Yes, ” Carter said. “One magazine for the Luger is filled with blank

cartridges. He’ll know what to do when the time comes. “

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Thank,you, ” Carter replied and pulled the start cord on the engine.

It roared to life, and in no time he was moving at a steady five knots

along the coast.

Because of the hour, there were more boats coming out than going in,

but

Carter was able to mingle and slide into a pier five places away from

the moored Tokyo Star.

She had been easy to spot from the time he rounded the point and

hoisted sail. Auxilliary lights on the stern of the junk itself, and

on the pier, beamed down into the water around the big rudder.

The closer he got, the easier it was to discern the bobbing heads in

the water doing the repairs. One black-pajamaed figure was topside in

the stern, lowering and raising materials and tools in a bucket to the

crewmen below.

Carter guessed that would be Soo Lee. He could also hear the steady

throb of a gas-powered portable generator, and he hoped that its master

switch was close enough to her hand to kill it when the time came.

He slid into the midst of a queue of boats of similar size and tied up

to a stringer line.

Three boats down, an old fisherman sat cross-legged in front of a pot

fire in the middle of his boat. Carter could smell the old man’s food

cooking and barely nodded when a hand was raised in greeting.

The offer had been made to share but had been rejected. Without even a

shrug, the old man went back to watching his fire.

Carter checked and then rechecked his arms. When he was completely

satisfied that he could get to everything in a split second, he hoisted

a roll of netting to his left shoulder and set off.

He shuffled his pace in the slow, rolling gait of a man who spends long

hours balanced upright in a moving boat. The nearer he got to the

Tokyo

Star, the more he weaved, se aching out shadows.

He was moving in facing the bow, with the bright lights at the stern on

the other side of the two sentries by the gangway.

Without altering his pace, the Killmaster slipped his right hand up and

under the baggy blouse. His fingers closed over the butt of

Wilhelmina, and then she was out, moving up into the obscurity of the

netting on his shoulder.

The moon chose that moment-when he was about forty yards from the

junk’s bow-to come out full. Neither of the guards were paying him any

attention, but still he slowed his pace slightly.

The closer he got, the more his eyes flicked upward, scanning the rail

and the two decks of the junk.

His luck was holding. Now if it would just hold for another full

minute..

Light flowed from behind curtains in the aft cabin. There was a single

dim lantern hanging in the bowlines, illuniinat inga third sentry with

his attention riveted out to sea. Other than his silhouette against

the moon, there was not another soul to be seen on deck.

Both of the pier sentries were smoking. They were about five yards

apart, and both of them were watching the men in the water.

Carter was ten steps away now, his finger curling around the trigger of

the silenced Luger, taking up the slack, getting ready to fire.

One of the men turned. His face was bland, but as the Killmaster drew

nearer, his features took on a look of suspicion.

He held up his hands as if to halt Carter, and when the Killmaster kept

coming, the suspicion in the face changed to open hostility and his

right hand disappeared beneath the dark jacket he wore.

His hand, full of U.S. Army issue Colt .45, was just coming into the

light when Carter fired. Two 9mm slugs made a mess of the man’s face.

He had barely hit the wood of the pier when his buddy caught onto

thepjoW sounds that had sent his partner there.

He, too, went for a piece from under his jacket but by then the net had

rocketed over his head. He made one sound, a garbled grunt, as

Wilhelmina came down across his temple.

He rocked, still on his feet, and staggered forward. Carter twisted

the net in his left hand, using the man’s own momentum to swing him

around.

At the same time, he raised the muzzle of the silencer until it was

cushioned against the upturned collar of the jacket.

This one only took one slug, up from the top of the spine and right

into the center of his brain.

He pitched forward, and Carter eased the body into the water with the

net. When he released it, a face appeared not six inches from the

corpse.

“Go! ” Carter breathed.

The narrow almond eyes got suddenly round. The head nodded, and he was

off. Within seconds, Carter could see wriggling bodies swimming like

hell for the darkness beyond the lights.

He looked up, over the bow rail. Soo Lee had discarded her straw hat.

Her face gleamed in the light.

They made ten seconds of sign language, and then Carter rolled the

first sentry to the edge of the pier with his foot.

Again he looked up.

Soo Lee nodded.

Carter kicked.

The lights went out the instant the body splashed into the water.

Carter hit the gangway at a dead run. The bow sentry had already come

over from the starboard side. He was moving aft at a good pace, with

an old

Enfield across his chest and a puzzled look on his face.

Cartff hit the top of the gangway three seconds, six paces, after the

man passed. Purposely, he banged Wilhelmina’s butt against the rail.

The man whirled, cursing and bringing the muzzle of the Enfield down.

One hundred and eight grains of flat-nosed lead hit hinijust above his

right eyebrow. The bullet flattened as it struck the hard bone of the

skull, mushrooming out to more than double its original size. The bone

fractured and gave way, fragments crashing off through the brain in all

directions, mangling it beyond recognition, while the bullet itself

angled off, broke the skull at the rear, and finally exited.

The man was dead from the microsecond the lead slammed into his head,

but he continued a half step forward before he toppled forward and hit

the deck.

The Killinasterjumped forward and to the side to avoid the falling

corpse. At the same time, he counted in his mind and crouched to check

the lower deck crew quarters through an open porthole.

“Shit, ” he hissed.

There was a miscount. Right now there was a body count of three.

“That should have left one more besides Komuku and the gangster type,

Kim See

Long.

But there in the crew’s quarters were three dark jackets playing

Chinese dice.

A quick look aft told Carter that Soo Lee was in place.

He holstered Wilhelmina and unclipped the grenades. Bunching them with

his right forearm against his chest, he pulled the pins and tossed them

in, a millisecond apart.

By the time the first one went off, he had freed the Sten and was in

place for their exit.

They came out screaming and empty-handed, all of them on fire.

Carter, with one knee on the deck, stitched them in turn and then

whirled, covering the door of the aft cabin.

He saw the latch drop, and then the door parted just a crack. He

brought the Sten up, pointing it at just the spot where a head would

appear.

The door opened a little farther, a hand came out full of Webley, and

then an arm.

The arm was encased in a dark material with a cuff of bright red.

Kim See Long.

“I’m here,” Carter hissed.

The door slammed open, and the Webley spit orange. Three slugs whirred

harmlessly above Carter’s head.

The Killmaster squeezed off one burst that spread blue suit, red shirt,

blood, and bone all over the exterior bulkhead. The man was sliding

down in his own gore as Carter stitched him again across the chest for

good measure.

Overkill?

Yeah, Carter thought, probably. But it was better than underkill.

He moved to the hatch and peered through the crack.

Komuku was behind a wooden desk, a .357 Ruger in one hand and a heavy

Colt in the other. He was balanced on his elbows and knees, with the

guns raking the open hatch.

“It’s me, Komuku. Carter. The little Japanese cut loose with both

guns at the sound of Carter’s voice. Wood splinters flew everywhere as

a halfdozen slugs ripped into and through the hatch.

Carter had already moved back a halfdozen paces.

“Soo Lee!”

The lady’s name had barely left Carter’s lips when the glass of the

cabin’s aft window shattered. Slugs from her Sten ripped across the

deck, inches from where Komuku crouched.

He was leveling off, turning, trying to find a target beyond the

wrecked glass, when Carter hit the door firing. Soo Lee opened up

again at the same time.

The crossfire was withering, and Komuku knew it. He dropped the guns

and flattened out.

Carter did a quick recon. The door to the head was closed, but there

was light beneath it.

“Who’s in there?” he barked.

Kornuku didn’t even look up. Carter turned and sprayed the door near

the very top.

“I’m coming out .. . I’m coming out!

The door opened, and Captain Lars Johannson emerged with his hands on

his head.

“Stay like that! Carter snapped and turned back to Komuku. “Getup!”

He did, smiling. “I assume the reports of your death with the

policeman and the woman were exaggerated. He was very cool, and very

calm, and very oily. It was all Carter could do not to squeeze the

Sten and see what the man would look Re plastered across the

bulkhead.

Instead, the Killmaster matched his smile. “It’s been an interesting

game. I’ve studied you all the way from the States. The assassin’s

eyebrows went up on that one. “You were on the same plane . ?”

Carter then gave him a rundown on every move Komuku had made since

landing in Kowloon.

“I see. Then I see my usefulness here is over.”

“Everybody’s is, Carter replied. He rattled off the info they had on

the medical clinic, Connie Chu, and, lastly, the files. “So you see,

Komuku, we’ve got it all .. . all, that is, except Charlie Loo.

Komuku’s grin widened. Charlie’ Loo I have never heard the name.”

“Haven’t you, now?” Carter said. “We’ll see about that when I get you

in a quiet place, all alone, just the two of us.

“Do you have them?”

It was Soo Lee’s voice from somewhere in the darkness outside the

cabin.

“Yeah, Carter yelled. “Come on down to the main deck and cover them

coming out!

“Right. He heard the padding sound of her feet and floated his eyes

around the cabin.

“Where are the crates?”

“What crates?” Komuku replied, his dead eyes saying nothing and never

moving from Carter’s hands on the Sten.

“Please try it, the Killmaster hissed. “The crates I saw you load in

Macao. When the Japanese said nothing, Carter turned to Johannson.

“Who are you?”

“Johannson. I am captain and pilot.

“Where are the crates you brought aboard in Macao?”

Johannson didn’t blink. He also didn’t speak. Carter sprayed a neat

swath of splinters six inches above his head.

Johannson still didn’t blink, nor did he speak.

Enough of this, Carter thought, and backed away.

“Outside, both of you!” he barked. “Soo Lee?”

“Yes.

“They’re coming out.

“Komuku, you first.

The smaller man moved, and Johannson fell in behind him. Just before

he reached the hatch, the captain inclined his head and blinked his

eyes toward the bunks on the far side of the cabin.

Carter blinked in return.

“Soo Lee, you have them.

“I can take them both with one burst, ” came the confident reply.

Carter strode to the two tiered bunks and gingerly moved them,

Carefully, he ran his hand over the planks of the deck. A small

section—one plank about eight inches long-gave a little under his

probing fingers.

Using Wilhelmina, he pried it up, and smiled.

Under it was the iron ring of a trapdoor. And under the trapdoor he

found the two crates. One by one, he pulled them out. In their place

he put two charges of the plastique from under his blouse, their

timer-detonators set for twenty minutes.

“How are you doing?” Soo Lee called.

“Got ‘em! “

Carter slung the Sten over his shoulder and tugged the crates toward

the hatch. Neither of them was overly heavy, but then, he reasoned,

the originals of pieces of blackmail material and probably a microfilm

of something on five or six men wouldn’t weigh very much.

He dropped one by Johannson and one by Komuku, and pulled the Luger

from under his blouse. At this range, the handgun was preferable.

“Grab them! “

Johannson picked up one of the crates. Komuku didn’t move, the

inscrutable smile plastered across his face.

The Killmaster sighted Wilhelmina in both hands and repeated the

command.

When the assassin still didn’t move, Carter squeezed one off.

Komuku screamed as the bullet passed through the palm of his left

hand.

He then fell to his knees, cursing and holding the injured hand out in

front of him as if he could command away the tremendous pain.

Carter moved forward and yanked the man to his feet by the back of his

jacket at the neck. At the same time, he laid the muzzle of the Luger

along Komuku’s crotch.

“Next one’ll blow away your balls.

“My hand .. . “

“You’ve still got a good one. Pick it up with that.

Sweat streamed into the little Japanese’s hate-filled eyes as he bent

toward the crate. He struggled it to his shoulder with his good hand,

and all of them moved to the gangway, with Komuku leavinga steady trail

of blood from his wound.

Soo Lee went first, with Carter in the rear and the two crate bearers

in the middle. As they moved down the gangway, Carter ejected

Wilhelmina’s clip and inserted the one he had loaded with blanks.

Johannson had barely set down his crate on the very edge of the pier,

when he made his move.

The burly captain lifted a trouser leg on his way up and whirled on

Carter with an automatic in his hand. He got off one shot while the

Killmaster fired three.

Johannson was a good actor. He emoted a gurgling scream and toppled

from the pier into the water. Carter ran forward and, for effect,

dropped another slug into the supposedly struggling body.

Johannson made an “0 ” of two fingers, and was already diving

underwater and swimming away

“Nick .. . “

Carter whirled, bringing up the Luger, then realized it was useless.

Komuku was as fast as a striking cobra. By the time Carter had

unlimbered the Sten, the other man was over Soo Lee like a blanket,

using her body to shield his.

He had his arms over her shoulders and was struggling to relieve her of

the Mark H she had.

For a split second, she got the sub out of his grasp and made the only

decision a seasoned agent could make.

She heaved the gun toward Carter.

Mentally, Kornuku was just as fast.

His arms came up to fold expertly around Soo Lee’s neck. She cried out

in pain as the pressure on her throat was applied.

“You know the hold, Carter?”

“I know it. “

“Then you know it’s a stalemate, bastard.

He was already backpedaling toward the long pier of small fishing

boats.

As he moved, he continued to keep the woman’s body in front of his

own.

It was impossible for the Killmasterto get off acleanshot.

He took two steps forward. All that accomplished was another

bone-jarring scream of pain from Soo Lee.

Komuku was incredibly strong for his size and equally agile. Somehow

he managed to unhook one of the boats and manipulate himself and Soo

Lee into the stern without risking any spot of his body that would give

Carter a kill shot.

With the hold Komuku had, Carter knew it would have to be a kill

shot.

Anything else, and Komuku would snap her neck Re a twig.

He felt like an ass, totally worthless with the powerful Sten in his

hands, as Komuku backed the boat out and around the Tokyo Star.

Komuku had just passed out of sight around the junk when the

plastique

Carter had set exploded. Boards, hard wart and saffron flame lurched

into the night sky.

Carter had been snookered and he knew it. There was nothing he could

do. If he tried to follow, Komuku would kill Soo Lee the second he got

too close.

There was an alternative .. . a bargain, a trade.

But that would have to come later.

Right now, the explosion and inferno of the Tokyo Star would have

everybody within a mile down to the marina.

Carter moved. He hoisted the crates and made for his own boat at a

dead run.

He was just shoving off, when he looked up and saw the old man a few

boats down, slowly forking food from a rice bowl into his mouth with

chopsticks.

Obviously the old man had seen everything that had occurred on the

pier, and at that moment, he was bathed in the light from the flames

devouring the Tokyo Star.

He didn’t even look up from his dinner at Carter.

ELEVEN

With the help of Ursula Johannson and her father, Carter was back in

Hong

Kong by five in the morning.

Ursula had picked up the crew of the ToA:yo Star and Lars Johannson.

While swimming away the captain had suspected that something had

misfired.

An hour later, Carter had arrived at the bungalow and told them what

had transpired. He also told them that he wanted to maintain hourly

contact with them. Why? Because he would most probably need further

help from them.

Ursula protested. “We have completed our part of the bargain. We can

do no more. “

Carter explained matter-of-factly that as long as Charlie Loo was

alive,

Captain Johannson didn’t have a prayer of staying alive

It was Carter’s ace-in-the-hole. After a hurried, very private

consultation on the patio, father and daughter agreed to cooperate ..

for a fee.

Carter didn’t mind. Mercenaries often make the best soldiers.

He had barely hit the hotel in Hong Kong before he was on the phone to

Commander Jarvis, again rousing him from a sound sleep.

The Englishman practically went into apoplexy when Carter told him the

tale of the night’s happenings.

“All well and good, Commander, but we have the source of Charlie Loo’s

power . the files.

“And the woman?”

“I have a hunch that Komuku won’t touch her, at least not yet. She’s a

bargaining chip. “

Jarvis sighed, resigned now to the Wild West approach Carter took to

settle affairs. “What next, then?”

“I want every piece of paper, every piece of microfilm, every shred in

those crates copied. Can you get to Macao quick? .. . a

helicopter?”

“Of course.

“Good. “

Carter told him where to pick up the crates and what else to do with

them.

“Also, I want it leaked to every underworld type in Hong Kong that

Nick

Carter is here, that I’ll be checking into the Regent sometime in the

morning, and I’m ready to deal. The captain and his daughter will do

the same in Macao.”

“You’re changing hotels?”

“Of course. They’ll spot me and cover me from then on.

“Who is ‘they’?”

“I would imagine Connie Chu, for one. Right now, with Komuku gone to

ground, she’s the link to Charlie Loo. If I know Charlie, nobody down

here will make a move without his okay. “

Carter hung up, then dialed the lovers’ aerie that Mrs. Bruno Falkner

shared with Lin Duong.

“Yes?”

“Lin, this is Carter. Anything from Patrice on the clinic?”

“Nothing. She has gone over the bank withdrawals, the deposits, and

the long-distance telephone receipts. There is no connection at A

between her husband and. Japan. “

“So it looks as though Komuku is the only link between the doctor and

Connie Chu.

“It would seem so. “

“Sit tight. Call me here if you get anything. Later this morning I’ll

be moving to the Regent under my own name.

“You think that’s wise?”

“Now I do. Later. “

The connection had hardly been broken before Carter was back on the

horn to Jarvis’s office and a very weary Giles Gordon.

“My God, my God, my God, ” was Gordon’s only comment as Carter brought

him up-to-date.

“The Commander will be calling you in a few minutes, I’m sure, to bring

you the very latest info on all this. Meanwhile, what have you got?”

“We put a tail on Ashami Okamoto the minute he got off the plane from

Tokyo. He checked into a hotel, did some shopping-all the normal

things-and then, just before office hours ended, he hit the clinic.

“And .. . ?”

“And he delivered the latest shipment. The woman with Komuku arrived

just after he left. We tailed her as far as Connie Chu’s gate, and

then, just like you said, we picked her up. She had four rolls of

microfilm .. . very interesting stuff. “

“Interrogation?”

“Nothing. She’s Re a clam and hard as nails.”

Carter checked his watch. It was almost seven in the morning.

“Pick him up when he comes down for breakfast. If he orders from room

service, go up with the tray and take him then. “

“Righto. On what charge?”

“Protective custody. If he screams too loud, play him the

Komuku-Charlie

Loo tape. That should convince him.

“And you?”

“A couple of hours’ sleep. My mind’s a vegetable. But call me if

anything pops.

“Will do. “

Carter hung up, checked the chain on the door, and fell across the

bed.

Fumbling with one hand, he set the travel alarm and went out like a

light.

It was 10:10 when Carter was blasted awake. He was consumed with one

overwhelming desire: to throw the obnoxious little clock into Hong

Kong

Bay.

He ordered breakfast from room service, and a half hour later was

showered, dressed, fed, and on his way to the Regent.

The Regent Hotel was first class, opulent, and expensive. The lobby

near the doors was crowded, near the desk sparse: a few check-outs, a

somber woman behind the desk registering early arrivals, and an obese

lounger with a dark mustache who was entirely too absorbed in his

newspaper.

“Carter .. . Nicholas Carter, ” he said a little too loudly to the desk

clerk. “I phoned for reservations this morning from the’ Shangri-La.

“

“Yes, sir. The length of your stay?”

“Open, as long as my business takes.

The paper ruffled in the mustachioed man’s hands.

“Yes, sir. All we have is a suite.”

“That’s fine. “

“Your passport, please?”

Carter went through the formalities of checking in, then followed a

young boy to the huge bank of elevators. Just before stepping into the

car, he glanced back at the solo chair by the desk.

It was vacant.

The fat man had crossed to the desk and was poring over the

registration card Carter had signed. He nodded to the clerk, smiled,

and waddled his bulk toward a row of telephones.

I do believe, Carter thought, that I will soon be announced to Madame

Connie Chu.

The phone rang just as the door closed behind the bellboy.

“Carter here.

“Gordon. We picked up Ashami Okamoto. He’s a very nervous gentleman.

“You played the tape?”

“We did. He’s talking as fast as our tape recorder is running. “Let

me guess. Kulo Electronics is a front set up by Charlie Loo to broker

and collect info from the men in the other firms he’s blackmailing.

“You’ve got it. Okamoto claims he’s an innocent victim of the

blackmail himself, but he also admits to becominga millionaire in the

last two years. “Keep him talking, and keep him on ice. What about

the girl you picked up outside Connie Chu’s?”

“She’s a hard one. We threw everything at her and she wouldn’t budge.

Carter’s mind clicked. “How close is she to Komuku?”

“Not that close, if you’re thinking of trading her for Soo Lee.

Definitely not Komuku’s type: short, fat, ugly, but loyal .. . for

money. She’s also smart. Says she didn’t know what she was

delivering.

She’ll probably get off if we can’t get anything else to hold her on.

The locals are already grumbling about our interference with the

Victoria constabulary. “Hang on to her as long as you can. Anything

from the streets? “We’ve put the word out that you want to talk.

Nothing back yet. Carter smiled. “I’ll probably hear before you do.

“The Commander is in.

“Yeah? “Hot, very hot. Thinks you should have let us in on the Tokyo

Star business. “What do you think?”

Gordon chuckled. “I’m rather a lone wolf at times myself, old boy.

There’s only so much a bureaucracy can do, then a lad sometimes must

take matters into his own hands. “

“Good man, ” Carter sighed. “Keep him calm if you can. I’ll call

you.

“Righto. I

Carter ordered an enormous lunch and stuffed himself. He knew he would

need all the energy he could get for the twenty-four hours to come.

One way or another, he was going to find out where Komuku was holding

Soo

Lee. The last resort would be Connie Chu herself, but hopefully

something else would pay off first.

The phone rang again as he was pouring his third cup of coffee.

“Yes?

“Nick, I’m so happy to hear that your demise was a figment of someone’s

imagination!

Connie Chu.

He would know that low, sultry, barely accented voice anywhere, from

the bottom of a well, or beside him in bed.

“Hello, Connie. I hear the years have treated you well. “Financially,

yes. The rest? .. . A few lines here and there, a sag or two. Really,

I can’t complain. “

“I’m surprised you went back into business with Charlie, ” Carter

growled. “I mean, considering that it was you who helped bust him up

Vietnam.

“Is this phone tapped?”

“No. I I

“I believe you .. . your word has always been good. That’s why Charlie

still trusts me. You never let anyone know that it was me who gave you

the information you needed.”

“To save your own skin.

“A girl has to survive, It’s a tough world, Nick.

Carter took a deep breath. It was a gamble. “Want to do it again,

Connie?”

She laughed. It was a low, husky chuckle, really, and it said worlds

to the Killmaster. Her words reinforced it.

“I’m afraid not this time. Charlie still holds all the cards.

“And you, Connie, always go with the winning hand.

“Of course, you know that. We have the woman, you have the files.

Touchoi.” If I copy the files, I get to the men who are being

blackmailed. That makes the files worthless to you. “

“Very true. That is why we must inspect the crates before the transfer

is made. “

Carter’s mind whirled. “They’re specially sealed?”

“Yes .. . laser sealed. If the contact is broken, the whole mess goes

sky-high. I assume, since you are alive to talk, you haven’t broken

the seals as yet. Don’t! If you do, you lose both ways. “

“I’ll have to confer, you know that.

“I expected it. Suppose you ring me at five?”

“Five it is. “

“Good. It’s wonderful hearing your voice again, Nick. I haven’t

forgotten the good moments, believe me. “

The phone went dead. Carter quickly broke his end of the connection

and, like a wild man, dialed Jarvis’s office.

A secretary answered.

“Giles Gordon .. . fast!

“Yes, sir. “

Carter inhaled a whole cigarette in three rasping gasps, the seconds

screaming, as he waited.

“Gordon here. “

“Gordon, Carter! Have you done anything with the crates yet? “

“Started, but they are oddly sealed. We’ve brought in an expert. “

“Stop, right now! “)Vbat?”

“Get to him fast and stop him!

The receiver dropped noisily to a desk top. Gordon was a good man.

Someone like Nick Carter didn’t scream for nothing, and he knew it.

“Done. What’s up?” he said, coming back on the line.

“The crates have been laser sealed and booby-trapped. Charlie Loo

doesn’t take any chances. Don’t touch them until you hear from me

again! “

“They are refrigerated, in fact, on ice, ” Gordon replied, a slight

quiver in his voice. “Also, we had a report from our man at the

clinic.

Nobody showed for work today. “

“Damn,” Carter muttered, wishing now that he would have agreed to a

tail on Bruno Falkner. “Have you checked his house?”

“No, stayed away. Those were your instructions.

“Yeah, I know. Put someone on him now.. Afhehasn’t already flown.”

“Will do. “

For the next two hours, Carter paced and smoked. If no word came in

from the street or from any other source, he would have to deal with

Connie

Chu.

He knew how he would handle it . a bluff that really wasn’t a bluff “I

want the girl and I want the files Connie. But the files are more

important. Soo Lee is an agent. She gets paid to risk her skin. “

“You’re saying, Nick, that you would let the girl die?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Of course, in exchange, I’ll kill you .. .

but that’s the way it goes. “

He was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, because if the bottom line were

reached, Carter knew that Soo Lee would be sacrificed.

That was the way of it, the way the game was played.

At 4: 10, the phone rang and Carter pounced -on it.

It was Lin Duong and she was hysterical, borderline crazy.

“Calm down, Lin, calm down. Patrice called?”

“Yes, and something is very wrong, I could tell!”

“Wrong Okay, what did she say?”

“She gave me a grocery list! -frat? “A grocery list.

Here the girl broke down again. Carter tried to make out the words

between the sobs but found it impossible.

“Shh, shh. Look, Lin, don’t move. Stay right where you are. I I

“Oh, so afraid, am so afraid!”

“Yes, yes, I know, Lin. I’ll be right there. For God’s sake, don’t do

anything, and stay by the phone! In minutes, Carter was in a taxi

lurching toward the peak tram. The tram would be far faster than

trying to drive halfway up the summit through traffic.

He only hoped that when he got there he could make some sense out of

what

Patrice Falkner had told Lin Duong.

He exited the tram near Albert Road and walked around the peak to the

enclave of houses that contained Patrice Falkner’s bungalow.

Lin met him at the door. She was less hysterical, but her eyes were

wide with fear.

It took nearly five minutes and several gulps from a brandy snifter

before Carter had the girl calm enough to speak intelligibly about the

call from Pat.

“I barely said hello, and she says, “Wang Chow MarketTl laughed. I

didn’t know if it was a joke or what .

Little bells were already ringing in Carter’s brain. “Go on. What did

she say then? And try to remember everything, every word. “I don’t

have to remember most of it. She told me to write it down. She said

the last time she had ordered, the market had left off several items,

and she didn’t want it to happen again. She practically shouted at me!

“Where are the notes?”

“Here. “

Carter took the pad and stared at the page.

“Vietnamese. I write it faster than English.

Carter was patient. “Okay, translate, and fill in what isn’t written

down. “

Lin threw her head back, concentrated for a moment, and then started.

“She said that she and the doctor had unexpected guests. They will

need the order very quickly. Then she gave me the list of groceries.

“

Carter listened to the long list, and as he did so, he felt the fatigue

draining from his body and his muscles relaxing.

Patrice Falkner was quite a lady, very sharp.

Komuku had evidently taken Soo Lee to the doctor’s residence, and

somehow

Patrice had been able to speak to her.

Though the list was long, the amount number of each item was the same

down the line: eleven chickens, five pounds of raw rice, eleven heads

of cabbage, five bunches of asparagus, eleven small sacks of walnuts,

five sheets of diced pork .. . and so on.

Carter could only guess, but he would lay even money he was right.

Eleven .. . NII .. . Soo Lee Culpepper.

“Five, only five, no more,” Patrice had said.

Five could be everyone in the house, or it could be Komuku and four

Connie Chu’s people he had recruited at the last minute.

Carter guessed the latter.

“Okay, Lin, what else?” “Three times she told me exactly what gate to

use to come into the grounds.

And three times she told me to come to the kitchen entrance, not the

servants’ entrance. She really stressed that . “Don’t come to the

servants’ entrance,” she said, ‘the servants have been sent home. “She

would be doing the cooking herself, and she wanted the food brought

directly to the kitchen. “

“Good, Lin, absolutely terrific. Now here is what I want you to do.

You have Patrice’s number?”

“Yes.

Carter reached for the phone as he explained.

Lin Duong dialed with a shaking finger, then held the phone slightly

away from her ear so anything from the other end could be heard by

Carter.

“Falkner residence. “

Lin swallowed hard, and Carter slid an arm around her frail

shoulders.

There was no mistake. The voice on the phone belonged to Ishi

Komuku.

“Uh, Missy Falkener, please.

“Who is calling?”

“This Wong Chow Market. Nfissy Falkener, she call for order earlier.

“

“Yes, what about it?”

“All trucks out now. Cannot deliver until maybe eight o’clock this

evening. That be all right with Missy Falkener?

“Yes, that will be fine.

“Thank you so much. Good-bye.

The girl’s hand was shaking so badly that Carter had to replace the

receiver himself.

“All right?”

“Perfect, ” he declared, already dialing. “Sip some more brandy. We’ll

take it from here, and Patrice will be fine. Commander Jarvis,

please,

Carter calling. “

“Jarvis here. ” It didn’t take ten seconds. “We’ve got no word on the

girl. “

“I do, and I’ve got a way in. I want you to phone up a place called

Wong

Chow Market and apply a little muscle. Talk only to the owner, and

here’s how you handle it .. . “

This time Jarvis didn’t argue. He agreed to the whole plan and had the

perfect men who could pose as drivers.

“One more thing, Commander. Given the time, how long will it take for

your people to crack those crates safely, and without destroying what’s

inside?”

“Twenty-four hours, give or take.

“And can they be resealed?”

“Hard to say. We have the equipment to do it. It just depends how

much damage is necessary to get them open.

“We’ll take that chance. Go to work on them!”

“Will do.”

Then Carter made what he hoped would be the last call of the day. A

man answered.

“Chu residence. Who calls?”

“Miss Chu is expecting my call.

When she answered, her voice was like syrup.

“Nick, you’re five minutes early.

“An old habit of mine.

“Well?”

“It’s a deal .. . on my terms.

“I’ll listen,” she replied.

“Command Center at your place. I’ll be there at midnight. We’ll make

the trade at one in the morning, you on one phone to your people, me on

another with mine.

“Sounds good so far. “

“I’ll have the crates in a van on Hollywood Road, in front of the Man

Temple. Where do I get the woman?”

“Hold on .. . “

It was just that, a click, and he was on hold.

“Are you still there?”

“Of course I’m still here, breathless.

She chuckled. “You’re such a charmer. It’s a pity it has to be like

this,

Nick, but .. . “

“I know, a girl has to make a living. Save it. Where!

“Repulse Bay. She ‘ll be tied up on one of the fishing boats anchored

in the bay. Send your people to Pie How’s hut, in the Chinese market.

Our man there will tell you which boat. “

Clever, Carter thought, very clever. A place where, if everything

doesn’t go well, they can take her clear out into the China

Seafor burial.

“Agreed? “It’s agreed, Carter replied. “I’ll see you tonight.

“Chivas, wasn’t it? .. . One cube?”

“That’s right. “I’ll have it waiting.

Carter dropped the phone to its cradle, lit a cigarette, and settled

back with a sigh.

“Mr. Carter .. . ?”

He looked up. She was fairly calm now, and most of the redness was

gone from her eyes.

“Yes?

“T’hank you.

“Don’t thank me yet, darling’, he replied. “It’s going to be a long

night. - TWELVE

The house was in an exclusive residential area on the Shanghai Road,

just before slipping out of Kowloon proper and into the New

Territories.

The mansion was left over from the colonial age. It was big,

impressive, stark white, and had a high wrought-iron fence covering its

entire perimeter.

Carter, with Giles Gordon at the wheel, did three drive-bys in an

unmarked sedan.

“Looks like the garage was an old stable, set away from the main house

like that.

Carter nodded, his eyes giving his mind the pictures needed to piece

together the approach.

Once through the front gate, the drive split; one way led up to the

huge front veranda of the house, the other all the way around to the

rear.

Once there, it broke off and made its return swing around the garage

and headed back to the main gate.

On both sides of the drive, house, and garage, hibiscus and oleander

grew as thickly as weeds, and this time of year they were in full

bloom.

“Chances are the servants’ entrance is on that side of the house, just

short of the rear. “

Gordon agreed. “That would fit with the layout of most of these old

mansions. In the old days, it was easier for a horse-drawn carriage to

unload there, and it would also give the servants easy access to the

stables and the outside cook house “

“I’ll have the boys drive to the back and unload. Then I’ll say

bye-bye when they make the turn around the garage. It’s ten-to-one

Komuku’s people are only watching the gate and the drive. “

“I’d say you’re right.

“Okay, let’s get back to the van.

It was a white, made-over Land-Rover, parked about a mile away on

Jordan

Road.

Carter laid out the plan to the two Chinese N116 agents, then crawled

into the jammed rear of the van.

There were cartons of groceries ceiling high, with the Falkner order

near the rear door. The rest had been arranged so that they would

provide a cubbyhole in the center to hide Carter’s big body.

“All set, Mr. Carter?”

“Ready to roll!”

Then they were moving.

Carter checked the dual loads in the sawed-‘off Webley shotgun and

reslung the lethal piece over his shoulder.

There was no need to check the Luger nestled under his left armpit. He

had cleaned it and pumped in a fresh magazine before leaving Patrice

Falkner’s bungalow that afternoon.

Lin Duong was packed and already at the airport. If all went well, one

of Jarvis’s men would be driving Pat Falkner to join her in less than

two hours.

It was the least Carter could do for the woman, and, also, he wanted

everyone out of the country before the real big one with Charlie Loo fm

ally came down.

The van started to slow. Carter craned his neck upward from his hole.

Through a piece of the windshield, he saw the gate and the impressive

stone mansion beyond.

“Yes?” came a muffled voice from the intercom that connected the gate

to the house.

“Delivery .. . Wong Chow Market.

There was no reply, but the last thing Carter saw before he ducked his

head back down was the two big gates swinging lazily and quietly

inward.

He felt the turn as the van edged around the corner of the house into

the rear courtyard near the kitchen entrance.

“Right there is fine! “

It was a gruff voice, male. Carter didn’t recognize it. But then he

didn’t expect to; Ishi Komuku wouldn’t stoop so low as to oversee the

unloading of groceries.

He heard rather than saw the white-coated M16 men slip out of the

cab.

A few seconds later, the rear doors of the van were thrown wide and the

unloading began.

Through a tiny crack between the cartons, Carter could see them in the

glare of the courtyard’s harsh night floods.

It took about fifteen minutes, and then the doors closed again. One of

the men crawled into the passenger side of the van. The other remained

at the rear of the vehicle.

“You sign, please?”

“Yes, ” came the reply, and with a cackling laugh the voice added, “I

will sign. “

A hand snaked through the cartons with a length of line. Carter took

it.

“See any of them?” he whispered.

“Yes, ” came the reply. “Two Chinese helped unload the groceries.

There were two Indian-looking types up on the rear veranda. No

hardware showing. They were carrying under their coats, no doubt of

it.

“Good enough. See you.

“Good luck!”

Carter moved the cartons aside and made his way to the rear of the van

as the driver got in.

He quickly attached the line to the inside handle of one of the

doors.

When the time came, the line would serve two purposes. One, it was the

way he would be signaled to exit. Two, it would give the N116 man a

way to close the rear door after Carter’s departure.

The van eased forward, and Carter tensed his body into a crouch on the

balls of his feet with his knees near his chest.

There was a slight weight shift as the van started its turn around the

garage, and light diminished beyond the cracks around the van’s

doors.

Keeping one hand on the line, Carter unslung the Webley and cradled it

under his right armpit.

The line tensed, went slack, and tensed again. All in one move, Carter

cranked the handle, pushed, and catapulted himself into the humid night

air.

He lit on his feet, tucked, and, in a ball, rolled to his right under a

tall, thick oleander hedge and into a group of dwarf fruit trees

beyond.

When he came up in a crouch, the business end of the Webley was raking

from the front to the rear of the garage.

Nothing.

He came out of the trees in a crouched run, and made it to the corner

of the garage before pausing.

From the rear of the house, probably through an open window, he heard

snatches of conversation and male laughter.

But there were no bodies in sight.

Directly across from where he crouched, twenty yards away, was the

plain, stained wood door of the servants’ entrance.

Cautiously, he peered around the corner of the garage and scanned the

manicured gardens beyond the rear courtyard. Nothing, and no one that

he could see in the front.

He took a deep breath and literally plunged forward, his running body

on a slant. He barely paused at the door,

wrenching it open and shoving the snout of the Webley in first.

It was a small hallway, lit by a lone small-watt bulb in a sconce above

his head. There were three doors: left, right, and dead center in

front of him.

A crack in the left one revealed an empty, high-ceilinged parlor. He

edged forward and checked out the center door. It led to the dining

room and, from the sound, to the kitchen beyond.

Just as he guessed, the remaining door revealed a narrow set of

stairs.

He was sure they would lead directly up to the servants’ sleeping

quarters, probably in the garrets of the fourth floor he had seen from

the street.

The climb was quick and, because of the soft-soled deck shoes he wore,

silent. At the top he cautiously opened a second door.

The landing was well lighted by a ceiling fixture, and from the

banister he could see all the way down the stairwell to the ground

floor.

Like a statue he stood, frozen, his ears attuned to every sound. The

only rumble still seemed to be coming from the kitchen-at least from

the first floor. He could detect no sound at all on the second or

third floors.

Behind him, the door to the servants’ corridor was open. He could see

narrow strips of light under two doors far down toward the end.

He debated. Was it best to check out these rooms first? If someone

weir, behind those doors, he could be flanked when all hell busted out

down below.

He decided to risk it and moved to the stairs. Step by step, he

soundlessly descended to the third floor landing.

There were five doors in the corridor. Two close, two near the very

front flank inga huge bay window overlooking Shanghai Road. The fifth

door was far less ornate than the other four. He guessed a utility

closet. Light seeped from the far right-hand door.

As Carter moved forward, he tensed the muscle in his right forearm,

shooting Hugo’s warm hilt into his palm. Just as he was reaching for

the knob, he heard the muffled flush of a toilet. The sound was

quickly followed by what sounded like the tap-tap-tap of sharp female

heels.

He took no chances and moved to the side of the door, flattening his

back against the wall.

Patrice Falkner opened her mouth to scream when she saw the pencil-thin

blade of the stiletto poised just under her right nostril.

At the same instant, she looked beyond the stiletto and saw Carter’s

smiling face.

It was as if bone, marrow, and muscle oozed from her body in that same

instant.

Her knees turned to water and she sagged forward.

Carter quickly moved the stiletto aside and caught her in the crook of

his right arm.

“Dear God,” she groaned, “you scared me to death!”

“Shhh! ” he hissed. “You were expecting me. “

“Not really. I was only hoping. Lin sounded so confused on the

telephone. “

“Well, it worked. You’re a very ingenious lady. Where is she? “

“Second floor, ” she replied. “The same location as this. “

She inclined her head back into the room she had just exited, and

Carter nodded. “All right. Is there a bathroom near the back door?”

She nodded. “Just off the kitchen.

“Good. Get down there fast, and lock yourself in. Don’t come out for

anything, no matter how much hell you hear being raised. If it

works,

I’ll come for you that way. Don’t open the door until you hear my

voice.

Now move! “

Her legs were still shaky, but she managed to reach the stairwell, and

then Carter followed her down with his eyes.

He waited until he was fairly sure she had hit the first floor_ and

then he started moving himself. Just short of the stairs, he heard a

door slain in the servants’ quarters above him.

“Son of a bitch, ” he growled under his breath, knowing that he had

made a mistake by not checking the lights under those doors. Hurriedly,

he found the light switch and snapped it off, leaving the landing in

darkness. The only light came up from the floor below.

Just as Carter stepped back into the corridor, he heard footfalls

descending the stairs. The first thing he saw was the ugly snout of a

submachine gun. It was quickly followed by a short, stout Chinese man,

completely dressed in black from head to toe.

Quickly, he analyzed his options: let the man go on, or kill one of the

birds in the bush while he had him.

The decision was made for him.

When the man reached the landing, instead of going on down to the

second floor, he turned into the corridor and came face to face with

Carter.

Just as his eyes grew wide, Carter snapped on the bright overhead

light, temporarily blinding him. At the same time, he brought the

barrel of the

Webley down across the man’s wrist. Just as the submachine gun made a

muffled thud hitting the thick carpet, Carter flipped Hugo around and

thrust the deadly blade smoothly between the man’s ribs.

There was no sound as the body slipped to the floor.

The Killmaster slung the Webley back over his shoulder, grabbed the man

by the belt with one hand, and picked the hardware from the carpet with

the other. In five swift tugging strides, he had backpedaled to the

room with the open door and thrust the body inside. He unclipped the

magazine from the sub, pocketed it, and headed for the second floor.

He moved on across the landing, killing the light as he passed. At the

door he paused, his ears straining for any sound on the other side.

There wasn’t any, but he was sure the girl would not be left unguarded.

He made a fist and lightly rapped on the door.

There was a grunting reply, and Carter replied in kind, muffling his

voice with his arm. “Tea for you. “

He could hear no sound from within the room, but a few seconds later

there was a soft footfall and the bolt slid back. Slowly the door

began to open.

Carter had taken a pace backward, and the second that light came

through, he hurled himself forward. His shoulder struck the door

solidly, slamming it against the guard and spinning him around. The

man fell backward on stumbling feet, and Carter was on him in an

instant.

He hit the man gut-high with his shoulder and came down on top of

him.

He was just bringing the barrel of the Webley down across the man’s

head, when two powerful hands grasped his wrist.

Like Hugo’s victim, this one was short, squat, and as strong as an

ox.

In a microsecond, he had recovered from the surprise of the attack and

twisted the Webley around until the barrel was heading toward Carter’s

shoulder. At the same time, he had gripped Carter’s fingers on the

trigger and was applying pressure.

Inexorably, the gun was being twisted to bear on him, and Carter knew

that in a second or two there would be enough pressure exerted on his

trigger finger to fire. Hugo was still in his right hand.

Carter did the only thing possible. Again he flipped the knife, point

down, and fell on the hilt with his chest. The blade sank to its hilt

in the struggling man’s throat, and instantly a flood of blood cascaded

from the wound.

But with his dying breath, the man forced Carter’s finger down on the

Webley’s trigger. The roar of the exploding shotgun was like a mortar

going off in the otherwise quiet room.

Instantly, Carter’s ears rang with the sound, so he could not hear the

shattering of a nearby lamp. But he could see the ornate pedestal and

lampshade explode. He rolled from the man beneath him and shook his

head to clear it. He could already hear pounding feet on the carpeted

stairs.

There was nothing else to do. Quickly, he unlocked the Webley, shoved

two fresh shells into the chambers, felt rather than heard the click as

he locked it up, and waited.

The first man through the door was one of the Indians.

He was dapper, wear inga dark silk jacket with a deep red cravat at the

neck. His eyes, behind half-moon glasses, were wide and looking

everywhere when he hit the door.

They grew even wider as Carter pumped one load of buckshot dead center

in his chest. It lifted him a foot from the floor and slammed him into

a second figure in the corridor. The bodies tangled together as they

hit the floor, and Carter came to his feet. Just before slamming the

door, he fired the second chamber of the Webley, hoping to catch both

of them.

When the door was slammed and securely locked, he whirled and leaned

against it, surveying the room.

Soo Lee was on the bed, half in and half out of a wrinkled and torn

print dress. Her hair and face was a mess, and there was a vacant,

unseeing look in her wide, staring eyes.

“Shit, Carter hissed, recognizing the look only too well.

She had been drugged, and heavily.

So much, he thought, for her mobility.

There was a phone on the bedside stand. He lifted the receiver and

sighed with relief.

The line was dead.

Jarvis’s boys were doing their job.

A heavy door slamming and excited voices brought him back to the matter

at hand.

Komuku, the doctor, and the guards that were left couldn’t get out.

Gordon and Jarvis would have men all around the place by now.

By the same token, Carter couldn’t get out with Soo Lee, particularly

in the state she was in.

A quick look out the window told him that there was no escape in that

direction.

It had to be the hall.

Cautiously, he slid the bolt back and cracked the door an inch.

Both bodies were bloody and still. The second chamber of the Webley

had done its duty.

Gambling, Carter stuck his arm and the Webley into the hall.

Nothing.

A quick look confirmed it.

Komuku and the others were waiting for him on the first landing. Why

not?

It would be a lot easier than charging up the stairs and exposing

themselves to the same fate Carter had already meted out to the two

hardening stiffs in the corridor.

But there might be another way.

He discarded the Webley, and cleaned and resheathed Hugo. Then he

filled his right hand with Wilhelmina and went to the bed.

Gathering Soo Lee into his arms, he entered the corridor. Her flesh

was clammy, without any of the warmth of the living. Her eyes were

open, staring directly into his face, but he knew she saw nothing. She

had been pumped so full of drugs that she had no comprehension of what

was going on.

Perhaps, he thought, it was better that way.

She was no more than a feather in his arms as he moved down the

corridor toward the landing.

It was deadly silent below now, as Carter tensed his body at the

landing.

He stayed far back in the shadows, expect inga fusillade of gunfire on

general principles, if nothing else.

At the turn, he flattened his back against the wall and started up.

There was a good chance they had sent a man on up to the third floor,

or even the servants’ quarters, but he would have to chance it.

Just below the level of the third-floor landing, he set Soo Lee down

and carefully raised his head.

Empty.

So far, so good.

He grabbed her, and darted up onto the landing and into one of the rear

rooms. Just as he was shutting the door, he heard a shout from

below.

“He’s not here and the woman is gone!

There had been another way into the room wherr Soo Lee had been held,

and

Carter had missed it. That was why they hadn’t bothered to mount a

frontal attack from the corridor; they figured they could surprise

him.

Unceremoniously, he dropped Soo Lee on the bed and opened one of the

rear windows as far as it would go. An outcropping of the roof blocked

the window from the courtyard, and a huge, old-style, roof-mounted

air-conditioning unit screened much of it from the street.

Quickly, he shredded the sheets on the bed and several more from a

nearby closet. When the strips were tied together, he rigged a sling

in one end and slipped it under the doped woman’s arms.

When he was sure it was secure enough to hold her weight, he tied the

other end to a drainpipe and began lowering her. When he ran out of

length, he leaned far out the window to check.

She swung gently back and forth about twenty-five feet from the ground

in a shadowed depression between the outcropping walls of the front and

rear bedrooms.

Carter smiled. Even if they got him, they would have one hell of a

time finding her.

He knew he could shout for Jarvis’s men, but if they came in blazing,

there was no way Connie Chu wouldn’t hear about it. And that was the

last thing Carter wanted.

Besides, visions of Fancy Adams’s mutilated body still flickered on the

back of his eyelids.

He wanted Ishi Komuku for himself.

Once the bolt was slid open on the door, he returned to the window. He

slid, feet first, through the opening and probed until he could find

solid footing. Once this was done, he closed the window and jiggled

both sides until the lift-lock fell into place.

Then he started up.

Halfway across the roof toward the front of the house, he could make

out sounds from below. They were do inga room-to-room, trying to flush

him out.

As he moved, he did a body count. There were three down. Patrice had

said five. That meant Kornuku, one guard, and maybe the doctor.

Carter doubted if Dr. Falkner was the VAX who would give him any

trouble.

He had passed the garret ted turrets of the servants’ quarters and

reached the front of the roof, when a window flew open behind him and

to his right.

He heard no sound, but from the corner of his eye he saw orange flame

split the darkness just as a slug tore into the soft tar of the roof

near his feet.

He whirled, bringing up Wilhelmina.

The man was leaning far out the window, and Carter could see the glint

of moonlight on the gun he held.

He got off one more wild shot as Carter fired.

The figure in the window jerked spastically, toppled forward, and fell

with a sickening thud to the unyielding cement of the courtyard

below.

Carter didn’t pause. His original plan had been to get down by using

one of the drainpipes at the front of the house. But Komuku would now

know that his last man had fallen. If Carter guessed right about the

little assassin, he didn’t like even odds.

He ran to the rear of the house and checked. The pool was off one

corner, at the rear edge of the courtyard about twenty yards from the

house.

He backed off to the middle of the roof, dug in, and ran. He came off

the edge of the roof, flat out. In the air, he tucked into a ball and

rolled out of it feet first.

Halfway down, he knew he was going to make it with five feet to

spare.

Just before he hit, he gently lobbed Wilhelmina toward a grassy patch

of ground at the pool’s edge.

He hit, went under, and pushed back to the surface in seconds. , His

head had barely cleared the water when he heard a scream from the rear

of the house. He was just scrambling to the edge of the pool, when

Komuku slammed through the rear door. There was a dazed look on his

face when he saw Carter. Then there was another scream, and Komuku

whirled.

It was then that Carter saw the reason for the look and die staggering

way the man moved.

The hilt of a ten-inch bread knife was protruding from high in the

man’s back.

Carter found Wilhelmina, but he had no need for firepower.

Patrice Falkner came out the rear door, a Webley .45 blazing in her

hands. She was unloading the full seven-shot magazine in the general

direction of Komuku as she walked.

Not all the slugs found their mark, but enough did to topple the

Japanese backward into the pool.

He floated facedown, an ever-widening dark blotch thickening the water

around him.

Carter was at Patrice’s side in seconds, lifting the automatic from her

hands.

“The doctor?”

She nodded, and Carter raced for the house.

He could guess what had occurred.

Patrice couldn’t stand it. She had left the bathroom. The light was

still on and the door was open.

Bruno Falkner was sitting at the kitchen table. In the process of

cutting the doctor’s throat, Komuku must have set the Webley on the

table.

Patrice saw what he was doing, or had already done. The wooden rack

and the rest of the knives were scattered on the floor.

But the bread knife in the back hadn’t killed Komuku, so she had

grabbed the Webley.

There was no rush now. Carter lit a cigarette as he walked out the

front door and down the drive to summon Commander Jarvis.

He hoped the commander had a very good garbage crew. It would be a

long night’s work cleaning up this mess.

He checked his watch. It was eleven o’clock.

See you in an hour, Connie Chu.

THIRTEEN

The house was modern, but between color and touches of architectural

details on the doors and along the roof line, it had suggestions of

old

China. Like the house of the recently deceased Dr. Bruno Falkner,

there was a tall fence all around the grounds.

The two men on the gate were hard types, but they became extremely

polite when Carter identified himself.

He left the car directly in front of the door and mounted four marble

steps intricately inlaid with colorful chips of polished glass.

Carter was calm, almost peaceful, like the night around him.

What a change, he thought, from an hour before.

Jarvis had solemnly taken command. Soo Lee had been lowered to the

ground and immediately rushed to a hospital. After a brief

interrogation,

Patrice Falkner had been driven to Kai Tak Airport.

And then the garbage crew had gone to work.

Oddly enough, and at this Carter smiled, there had not been one report

to the police about the disturbance.

A rule of thumb in Hong Kong: Live and let live.

The front door was a massive thing, with brass fittings and ten layers

of glossy red shellac. He punched the bell, and from somewhere on the

other side of the door a few muted Chinese gongs announced his

affivah,

It opened immediately.

11C

-low evening, Mr. Carter. Madame Chu awaits you on the rear

terrace.

Will you follow me, please?”

He had the perfect manners and the precise elocution of a good valet or

butler, but he had the sinewy grace and light step of a martial arts

master.

He also had very efficient eyes. They had scanned Carter’s body and in

seconds spotted the bulge of Wilhelmina’s shoulder rig under his left

armpit.

They passed through a sitting room, all coot stone surrounded by

hanging tapestries and thick Oriental throw rugs. The open beams and

other wood in the eighteen-foot-high ceiling had been shellacked like

the door.

The house, thus far, oozed the hot and cold, yet ini personal

personality of its owner.

Her man opened a tall French door, and Carter stepped out onto the

terrace.

“Good evening, Nicholas.

She was sitting at a table, away from the light. A drink tray was at

her elbow, and two telephones rested on the low, round table before

her.

Carter suppressed a sigh of relief. There were no loose ends No one

had called and informed her that he was now playing with a stacked deck

and she held a dead hand.

As he sauntered forward, she plucked a drink from the tray, stood, and

oozed her way toward him.

“Chivas, one cube. “Your memory is as well preserved as the rest of

you. He took the drink and sipped, studying Connie Chu’s porcelain

features over the rim of the glass.

Her laughter was husky. It could only be called jaded, like her dark,

brooding eyes and her cruel, thin lips. “You haven’t changed, either,

Nicholas .. . other than that horrible haircut. “

“It used to be a shave. May we sit? I’ve had a long evening. “

“Of course.”

He watched her moveae a graceful jungle cat back to her chair. She was

wearing pure white, with no accessories to mar the stark look. The

silk dress clung Re wet gauze to every hill and hollow of her still

glorious body.

Her high, taut breasts pushed themselves against the restraining

material as if it were a personal insult to them. Her movement was

pure undulation, a study in female locomotion, as she slid into the

chair.

“I thought you might at least kiss me, ” she cooed, crossing her legs

so that the two halves of the cheongsam parted.

“Later .. . perhaps. ” He slid into the opposite chair and produced

his cigarette case. “Are your people in place?”

“Of course. And yours?”

Carter nodded. “How many guns do you have up here, besides the butler

and the two on the gate?”

She shrugged. “That’s all. I don’t need any more than those three.

They are all experts. “

“I’m sure they are. Send the two on the gate away.” ““What? “

“I said, send the two on the gate down the hill. Tell them to get a

beer or get laid, I don’t care. I want the odds a little more even

after our trade is completed. “

The already narrow eyes slitted further, and Carter could almost hear

the tumblers clicking in her well-honed brain.

At last she shrugged and raised one finger from around her glass.

“Yes, madam?”

Carter tensed. The butler had appeared on cat feet and out of

nowhere.

He would have to remember that when the time came.

Connie Chu barked a long phrase in Cantonese, and the man

disappeared.

Carter looked around. “Business has been good lately.

“It was -never bad, ” she countered. “There are too many greedy people

in the world that keep it that way. -Why Charlie Loo?”

“Why not? It was a perfect setup and fit in with the rest of my

operation. All I had to do was pass along a small package and lend a

few hands to Ishi when they were needed.

“Then Komuku is the main man down here?”

She nodded. “He and Charlie are very close .. . you might say related,

in a way. Ishi’s sister is Charlie’s mistress. “

“Just one, big, happy family. ” Carter finished his drink.

“Another? “

He shook his head. “One’s my limit when I’m working. Is your butler

as good as Komuku?

“Better, perhaps. Why? “

Carter smiled. “Just wondering how much effort I’ll have to exert in

killing him. “

That got her. The almost liquid slouch disappeared from her body. the

legs uncrossed, and as she leaned forward, the knuckles around her

glass contrasted sharply with the crimson color of her long nails.

“I hope you’re not planning on silly games tonight, Nicholas. You are

a very dangerous man, but I must tell you, I fear Charlie Loo far more

than

I fear you. “

“You won’t have to much longer. I plan on eliminating Charlie Loo .. .

with your help. “

There was no humor in the way she threw back her beautiful head and let

a rippling laugh curl up the long column of her throat.

“To kill Charlie Loo, Nicholas, you will have to find him. Believe me,

that is impossible. “

Carter finally lit the cigarette he had been rolling between his

fingers. He took a too-deep drag and let the smoke burn the far depths

of his lungs before exhaling.

“I believe you when you say Charlie Loo has a very deep hole. He is

too smart not to, considering he’s wanted in about five countries.

Komuku was probably the only person who knew Charlie’s location and how

to get to him. But I think, Connie Chu, that you know how to get in

touch with

Charlie.

Her smooth forehead puckered into a frown. She was dissecting his

every word.

And then she had it. Carter could see the flashbulbs going off in

those coal black pupils.

“You said ‘was’ when you spoke of Ishi .

“He’s dead. About an hour ago, at the Falkner place. Bruno Falkner

also bought it, along with all your people. Everything’s over, Madame

Chu ““That’s impossible! “

“Is it? Johannson’s alive. He’ll testify in return for immunity. I’ve

got the crates, and we’ll get them open. It’s over, at least for you,

Connie.

I might miss Charlie .. . this time .. . but I’m going to get you. “

The movement was so slight, this time with only a pinky finger, that

had

Carter glanced away for a fraction of a second, he would have missed

it.

As it was, the finger was barely coming up when Carter rolled out of

the chair. The release spring shot Hugo into his palm like a striking

snake.

The butler was five feet behind Carter’s chair, a silenced .38 raised

in both hands. Out of the corner of his eye, the Killmaster saw the

cushion, where his back had been recently resting, explode.

It was all done in one, smooth, fluid motion. His knee hit the deck of

the terrace, his arm swung up in a smooth arc, the wrist releasing the

stiletto at just the right instant.

He wanted a neck, a windpipe if possible, but missed by four inches.

The blade entered just under the left collarbone, far from a kill but

more than enough to brin ga scream of pain from the man and divide his

concentration.

Carter was a leaping blur right behind Hugo. Before his prey could

bring the .38 around for another shot, Carter was halfway by him.

The butler tried to turn and follow, but Carter pirouetted, came to the

very tip of his toes, and brought the calloused side of his hand down

across the man’s neck. The Killmaster heard, as well as felt, several

vertebrae give and break.

He could have left it at that, but he knew a point had to be made. A

sideways glance at Connie Chu confirmed it. She was desperately trying

to dig a tiny .22 peashooter from between the cushions of the settee.

Carter held up the partially unconscious but still howlingin-pain man,

and waited until she had the gun clear and up in both hands.

Their eyes met and then, almost in slow motion, the Killmaster moved.

He wrapped his right arm around the other’s neck until the point of the

chin was cradled in his elbow. Then, using his own left elbow as a

fulcrum off his right hand, Carter placed his left palm forward at the

back of the man’s head.

Carter knew Connie Chu. She was evil to the core of her beautiful

body.

She had absolutely no compunctions about ordering the death of one or

ten men.

But in her case, “ordering” was the operative word. She hated to get

her own hands dirty, and at her very core was a squeamishness born of

the fear that in the midst of violence, she herself could be harmed.

Carter lifted his knee into the small of the man’s back. There was a

quick lift, a hard twist, and the snap of the spine was like a muffled

rifle shot across the terrace.

Connie Chu’s eyes grew wide and her body began to shake. The

peashooter in her hands wavered, but she finally managed to squeeze off

one, and then a second shot as Carter advanced.

Both slugs thudded harmlessly into the already very dead body just

before

Carter unceremoniously draped the corpse over Connie Chu’s screaming

face.

With two fingers, he picked the gun from her hand and carelessly tossed

it over the side of the terrace. He slid his right hand under his

jacket, unsheathed the Luger, and stepped back to watch the woman

wriggle from beneath the bloody body of her servant.

When she did, Carter stepped forward again and touched the tip of her

nose with the Luger’s ugly snout.

“Lie still and listen!”

She made no sound, and her dark eyes were nearly crossed gazing at

the

Luger.

“Are you listening?” He flipped the safety off and pushed a little.

She nodded.

“I didn’t hear you!

“I .. . I’m listening, goddamn you!

“Good. You’re done, Madame Chu. But I want Charlie Loo. I want you

to get in touch with him. Hear me?”

“I hear you. “I’m giving you a second chance to save your beautiful,

miserable skin.

I want you to tell Charlie that you got the goods, both crates. Tell

him that Komuku and Falkner bought it, but your people were able to

make the trade. There will be backup stories in tomorrow’s Hong Kong

papers, not enough to say everything, but enough to convince Charlie

that he can get his gold mine back. Now, what do you think he’ll

do?”

She didn’t have to think very long. “He’ll come after them himself.

“That’s right, because he doesn’t have anybody left down here he can

trust. Now, when he’s taken the bait, here’s how we snap the trap

shut. With Withehnina’s muzzle still tickling her nose, Carter

explained in intricate detail just what he wanted her to say and how

she should react to what Charlie Loo would say.

It took about ten minutes, and by the end of it she had regained much

of her composure,

“Would you mind taking that thing away from my face? It’s obvious

you’re not going to shoot me.

“Sure. I I

Carter slid the Luger home and casually poured himself another drink.

“What’s in it for me?” she asked, pulling herself to her feet.

Carter smiled around the rim of his glass. She was hooked.

“If I get Charlie Loo, I really don’t give a damn about you. You’ve

still got your money and your junks. One of these days you’ll trip,

and the locals will take you down. No skin off my nose.”

The sudden glaze in her eyes and the smirk that spread across her thin

lips told him her thoughts better than words: Fat chance of that!

“I’ll do it.”

“I knew you would. Now you’d better go take a shower and change before

we make the call. You’re a bloody mess .. . his blood.”

She looked down, gasped, and hurried away with one hand over her mouth

and one over her stomach.

Carter smiled again.

Whatever Connie Chu had eaten for dinner was about to be lost.

FOURTEEN

Deep Water and Repulse actually made up one bay, with the peninsulas

Stanley on one side and Ocean Park on the other. There were a few

small islands in the center that separated the bays.

These would be a bit of a problem, but Carter was counting on the

beeper device he had planted in Connie Chu’s cosmetic bag to tell them

where she was at all times.

Hopefully, for the next few hours, Connie would be in the same place

It had taken three phone calls to Japan from her villa to get through

the security screen Charlie had set up.

Out of greed, and her newfound fear of Carter, Connie had played her

part well.

Komuku and four of her people were dead, but she had the crates. What

did he want her to do?

Were the crates still sealed?

Yes.

He would call her back “Me twenty-four-hour-wait had seemed

interminable. In that time, Carter had huddled intensely with

Commander Jarvis and Giles Gordon. If Charlie

Loo took the bait and came out of his hole to handle this tricky

situation in person, there was no way of knowing how he would arrive.

They had to plan for every contingency by sea, by air, even by land.

Carter was fairly sure Charlie Loo had the contacts to come right down

from mainland China if he so desired.

Soo Lee Culpepper had been released from the hospital with a clean bill

of health.

She wanted in on the kill. Because of what she had gone through,

Carter didn’t have the heart to deny her.

At last, a second call came.

Was Connie Chu positive that Carter and British intelligence hadn’t

connected her?

She was positive. Komuku had killed Dr. Falkner before any connection

to her was revealed.

On the phone, Charlie Loo sounded convinced, but he had told Connie to

wait for yet another message.

More pacing, more cigarettes, and more booze to soften the agony of

waiting. Soo Lee had spent the night with Carter, but both of them had

been so tense that they hadn’t even touched each other.

They could just as well have had a bundling board in the bed.

“Later, when this is over,” Carter had said.

“I agree. We’ll rent a boat. I have this little house on this little

island .. . “

They hardly slept.

Then, at ten the previous evening, Charlie Loo had called again .. .

from somewhere in the Hong Kong area.

“Jesus Christ, ” Carter had groused at Giles Gordon, “he’s in! How the

hell did he do it?”

“One of five hundred ways,” Gordon had sighed. “An elephant could slip

into Hong Kong or the New Territories undetected if it had the right

connections. “

Charlie Loo’s directions were specific. Connie Chu was to drive

immediately to the south of the island and check into the Repulse Bay

Hotel. At precisely nine the next morning, she was to check out of the

hotel-with all of her luggage and go to the pier.

There she was to wait.

It was a good plan. At that hour of the morning, the bay would be

jammed with boats and the wide, sandy beaches would be highly populated

with sunbathers.

By the same token, Charlie Loo could have a car stashed somewhere close

by. Repulse Bay Boulevard would be clogged to the gills with traffic.

He could transfer the cases and make a land run for it.

“I don’t think so, Giles had offered. “If he’s got a real fast boat,

he could make any one of a dozen islands. Also, he could head up here,

to Aberdeen, and lose himself among the boat people. There’s an entire

city up there on the water, and if we tried to take him, it’s no

telling how many people he would take with him.

They came up with the most complete plan possible, using every

available man, and then topped it with the crates themselves.

“They’re ready?” Carter had asked.

“Yes. We were able to copy enough to convince the businessmen in Japan

to get out of business, and we put your surprise packages inside both

of them before we resealed them. “

Here Gordon had paused, searching Carter’s face with a haunted vacancy

in his eyes.

“What about the Chu woman?”

“What about her?”

“She is helping us. I mean, if you have to use the last resort .. .

Carter had shrugged. “She would order the both of us killed much more

quickly than I would push the button on her. “You know something,

Carter?”

“What? “I just realized I don’t like us very much.

Now Carter sat behind the wheel of a powerful motor launch. He was

idling in an inlet of one of the islands in the center of the bay.

Gordon was in another launch near the hotel pier.

On shore, dime cars were manned along Repulse Bay Boulevard, and six

men were scattered over the hotel grounds, also near the pier.

Their orders were to observe-a hands-off policy-until Charlie Loo’s

plan of escape became clear.

The idea was to move Charlie Loo into the open before any attempt was

made to take him.

As a backup to the whole, Commander Jarvis was freewheeling in a

helicopter a few hundred yards out to sea.

For all intents and purposes, Carter knew that everything was covered.

But he also knew Charlie Loo.

The man was like a cunning eel. He could slip through anything, and if

he were cornered with no escape, he would be like a ferocious rat.

Everything was set to go. But how and where?

Carter didn’t really know. He had no sure plan, in fact, except

following

Charlie Loo once he had the crates and hoping there was a clear opening

to take him.

Carter adjusted the radio volume and depressed the button on the mike

in his hand.

“Giles .. . Giles, are you there? Over.

“Here, old man. There’s a good-sized one coming down around Ocean

Point, but it’s still too far away to make out any markings. Moving

fast, though.

Over.

“Keep me up-to-date. Over.

“Will do. Out. “

Carter was about to hang up the microphone, when Commander Jarvis’s

voice broke through the static.

“Carter .. . ?”

“Here, Commander. Go ahead.

“Miss Chu is on the pier, complete with luggage and crates.”

“Good. Keep your men fairly close. If he feels safe, he might step

off the boat to supervise the loading. Then it’s only a question of

how many around him.

“Righto. “Carter It was the other boat. “Go ahead, Gordon.

“That big one’s around Ocean Head and coming into the bay-fast! One

man, no crew that I can see. It’s a beauty .. . twin diesels and no

load, riding high in the water.

“Can you make out any markings?”

“Wait a minute .. . yes, it’s the Dragon Master, out of Macao. It must

be Loo .. . he’s heading around toward the inlet that borders the

hotel!

“I’ve got him, Carter said. “Keep me informed when he gets to the

pier!

“Will do. Out.

On the wheel, Carter’s palms started to sweat. But it wasn’t from

fear; it was anticipation. He wanted Charlie Loo. He had missed him

once, and come hell or high water, he wasn’t going to miss him again.

There was a long wait, and then more static and Gordon’s voice.

“Nick .. . ?”

“Here. Go ahead!”

“The bastard’s really playing it cozy.

“How so?”

“He’s idled down about fifty yards from the pier and hailed a water

taxi.

The taxi’s going in for Chu!”

Cute, Carter thought, so it’s going to be by sea.

“Tell your boys on the beach to lay back. It’s our game now .. . you,

me, and the commander. “Righto. She’s aboard the water taxi and they

9re headed back. “Did you read all that, Commander?”

“Affirmative. Ready and waiting. Good hunting.

“Here we go! Carter said. “Out. - R

He set the mike down and flipped on the portable radar unit. The set

hummed, the screen flashed white, and then it settled down to its

normal green color with the yellow circling wand. The beep and the

little white ball were clear each time the whirling line passed over

the spot where

Connie Chu was.

Carter smiled. He had guessed right. Connie did indeed carry her

cosmetic case wherever she went. The tiny, transistorized beeper

inside a tube of lipstick was tuned to a channel on the portable radar

screen beside the

Killmaster.

As he watched the little white dot move on the screen, the launch’s

powerful Chrysler marine engine beneath him roared to life.

Charlie Loo kept the powerful engines of the Dragon Master idling in

reverse as he watched Connie Chu step aboard the yacht from the water

taxi.

He was a short, compact man, with powerful shoulders, a thin waist, and

narrow hips. His face, as always, held no expression. Only the glint

in his marble like eyes would give away the fact that he was alive.

Now those eyes appraised Connie Chu’s body in the silk sheath. It was

attractive, but he had already experienced it to the fullest, so there

was no craving.

His gaze went on past the woman to the two men in the water taxi. Two

expensive bags and a small case came over the side. they were quickly

followed by the two crates.

Then and only then did the semblance of a smile spread his thin lips.

“The water taxi’s driver had barely been paid’, when Charlie Loo eased

the twin throttles forward and nosed the big boat around toward the

center of the bay.

Behind him He could hear the tap, tap, tap of Connie Chu’s high heels

on the deck.

Stupid won tan he thought, wearing heels aboard a moving boat!

Then she was in the wheelhouse and moving forward to stand beside

him.

“It’s been a long time, Charlie. I mean, since we’ve actually seen

each other in person. “

Coy bitch, he thought. Can she actually think I want her for any

reason other than to serve as a lacky?

“Saigon was a long time ago, ” he replied flatly. “Did you send your

junks out as I told you?”

“I did. “

And she had. Of course, she hadn’t told Carter that sending all her

junks to sea in precise patterns and to specific destinations was part

Charlie Loo’s orders.

That would be her escape valve if Carter didn’t kill Loo.

“Is that what we’re going to do .. . board one of my junks at sea?”

“Perhaps,” he replied, his voice revealing nothing. “I can’t be

arrested in international waters if you have compromised me, can I?

“Charlie, I have done everything you said.

She shivered when he turned toward her. His eyes, she thought, could

kill with a look.

“In the meantime, we are just out for a leisurely cruise, so why don’t

you go below and change into something more suitable for cruising?”

“Of course, Charlie.

She tried to kiss him on the cheek, but he turned away.

She tottered from the wheelhouse and, one by one, struggled her bags

below.

Charlie Loo set the automatic pilot and went aft to check on the

crates.

When he was sure that they hadn’t been tampered with, he returned to

the wheelhouse and brought a pair of powerful binoculars up to his

eyes.

Twice he made a 360-degree arc around the bay, his gaze missing

nothing.

He could see nothing out of the ordinary, no section of the bay or

beach that had been evacuated.

But still there was something wrong. He could feel it, sense it.

And Charlie Loo always followed the dictates of his highly attuned

senses.

They had saved him many times from disaster.

Carter idled the launch in shallow water along the rim of the island.

Through his own binoculars, he had watched Connie Chu tote her own bags

below.

That was good. No crew.

Then he sighed with relief when he watched Charlie Loo inspect the

crates and, apparently satisfied, return to the wheelhouse.

If anything would convince him he was safe, it would be the intact

condition of the laser locks on the crates. He would know that Carter

and company needed the contents of those crates to topple his little

house of cards.

They wouldn’t be handed over so easily unless they had been rifled. And

after checking the crates so carefully, he was obviously sure that had

not been done.

When he saw Charlie Loo go to his glasses, Carter darted the launch

into an inlet.

It was a waiting game. So far, Charlie Loo hadn’t taken any certain

direction. After reaching the middle of the bay, the big yacht had

arched around and was now slowly idling in a two-or three-hundred-foot

circle.

There were smaller boats all around him. It would be impossible to

make a clean kill without injuring at least two dozen other people.

Life was cheap in the Orient, but not that cheap. Commander Jarvis had

already warned Carter that he would not tolerate another episode like

the

Tokyo Star, even though in that instance no innocent parties had been

involved.

“Carter?”

“Yes, Commander?”

“Have you got him?”

“Clear as a bell. I think Gordon is on the other side.

“Good. I’m going to have to move inland a bit. If we stay out here in

the copter too long, he’ll be sure to smell something. “

“All right, Commander. Giles?”

“Here. I I

“Have you got him?”

“I do. I’m skimming the beach about two hundred meters from him. “

“Good. Don’t get too tight I’m going to try to get a closer look from

the tip of the island! “

Charlie Loo’s suspicions went up two points when he saw the copter

swerve inland but remain above the beach.

The beach patrols didn’t begin until noon. It was not yet eleven. Then

he saw the made-over China patrol boat moving steadily along the beach

far too close for fishing. The presence of a second boat-same make,

same size-moving out from one of the islands made his skin crawl.

On a hunch, he flipped open the radar panel and began a search with the

frequency scanner.

It took him almost ten minutes, but he found it . the steady blip.

Another ten minutes and he located it .. . right where he was.

He was angry but not shaken. He should have suspected it. Connie

Chu’s loyalty was only to herself.

The little lady had come aboard with an HF-DF beeper.

He was amused at Carter. The man wanted his kill, Charlie Loo, more

than he wanted the crates.

Or perhaps the American agent thought he was good enough to get both.

Just in case, he did a recheck.

Again he switched the HF-DF panel controls on and flipped the dial to

“Search. “

This time it took a little less than two minutes to zero in on the

beeper, and this time he didn’t have to go to the grid to locate the

source.

Carter had visions of getting close enough to get off a shot with the

high-powered sniper rifle in the seat beside him. Even better, if

Charlie

Loo was lulled into a sense of security, Carter might be able to jump

the rail and take the man out with Wilhelmina.

Carter was within twenty yards of the larger craft when he heard the

two supercharged diesels rev up.

The Dragon Master cut a big, beautiful swath and then headed directly

for him. In the wheelhouse, Carter could see Charlie Loo’s smiling

face.

Gordon’s voice came on the radio, screaming through the static: “Carter

. my God, he’s going to ram you! “

Don’t you think I know it, Carter’s mind roared as he jammed the

throttle forward, at the same time spinning the wheel.

He barely avoided the bow of the bigger boat but caught the wake

broadside. His stomach threatened to fill his throat as the bow went

up, and then farther up. All he could see, for what seemed an

eternity, was sky.

Then it came down with a sickening crash, and there was a whirring roar

from the stern as the prop lifted out of the water.

The double twisting motion threw Carter up and against the windshield,

the top strip of chrome over the windshield hitting him painfully just

above his pelvis. Nausea and pain struck at the same time, but he

managed to hold on and fall back into the cockpit.

He shook his head from side to side to clear it and frantically clawed

the salt water from his eyes. When he could see at last, he found the

boat veering in a crazy zigzag pattern and heading toward the rocky

coast at full speed.

His hand found the ignition, but too late. Momentum took him clear

over one jutting sandbar, and just as the bow crashed into another, the

inboard sputtered and died.

Behind him he could see the Dragon Master’s huge wake curling five

hundred yards out into the bay and rounding Ocean Point.

Charlie Loo rounded Ocean Point and idled down. He eased the Dragon

Master through a narrow channel and into a tiny private marina.

Two boats bobbed at anchor near a dock, but there wasn’t a soul

around.

Trees shielded the marina from a villa inland about a hundred yards. He

would be safe unless someone from the villa decided on a sail. But

even that was a minor problem.

He would only be in the marina for a few minutes.

He left the diesels idling and crawled up on the roof of the

wheelhouse.

With deft hands he went to work on a canvas cover. In minutes it was

off, folded, and dropped to the deck below.

He had almost regained the main deck, when Connie Chu stepped out of

the hatch.

“My God, Charlie, what the hell is that?”

He followed her gaze up to the roof of the wheelhouse and then turned

to face her. “That, my dear, is a set of fifty caliber U.S. Army

quad-mounted machine guns.

“Machine .. . ?”

“Connie, would you take your clothes off, please? All of them. “

“I certainly will not .. . not up here, at least, ” she replied

coyly.

Loo wound his hand in the front of her dress and, with one powerful

yank, tore it and her bra from her body.

“Charlie .. . my God .. . ! “

“The shoes, too, Connie, ” he hissed, shredding first the bra and,

finding nothing, going on to the dress. Dumbly, she handed him her

shoes as he threw the mangled garments into the water. He ripped the

shoes and made her gasp when he cracked them in half with his bare

hands.

“A purse, Connie .. . you had a purse when you came aboard. Where is

it?”

“Down below, she said weakly, knowing something was now dreadfully

wrong. It wasn’t going at all as Carter had planned.

He was already past her and going down the ladder. He spotted the

purse on the bunk. Dumping its contents, he shredded the bag.

“Jesus Christ, Charlie, that’s a Gucci .

“Shut up! he spat as he went methodically through its contents,

ripping and shattering compacts, wallet, and, at last, the lipstick. He

withdrew the tiny capsule and held it up to the light streaming through

the porthole.

“What the hell is that?”

“That, my dear, is a tiny transmitter, he replied, placing it under his

heel and grinding it to pulp. “You’ve been bugged. “Bugged .. . but

he didn’t tell me .

“Who didn’t tell you .. . Carter?

“No, Charlie .. . no, I didn’t ..

Then he turned to face her. It must have been in his eyes, because

suddenly she tensed. Her fingers curled into claws. Then, as if she

knew she had no chance, she flew at him, scratching at his eyes with

her talon like nails.

Charlie seized her wrists together in one hand and wrenched her hands

away from his face as one of her nails gouged a long, deep scratch in

his cheek. He smacked her solidly across the mouth with the back of

his hand.

Her flesh broke under his knuckles as blood burst from her lips and

nose.

She gasped with pain and her eyes flooded with tears as the blood

gushed down her face. Loo tightened the viselike grip of his left hand

over both her wrists and slid his right up between her breasts and over

her throat.

“Charhe .. . what’s the matter with you? .. . what is this?” He

squeezed, and her voice became a gagging choke. “I needed you,

Connie, to get inside the bay .. . to get the crates in the open. Now

that I’ve got them, I have no more need of you. “I .. . don’t .. .

understand, she rasped. “Charlie .. . please . what .. . are you .. .

doing .. . ?”

“It’s very simple, my dear,” he replied. “I’m killing you. I I

It took almost five precious minutes, with the powerful inboard marine

howling at its peak, to backwash the launch’s bow off the sandbar.

Carter’s heart pounded wildly as he backed around and waited. Was the

fiberglass hull shattered? Was he taking on seawater?

He moved the boat gradually into deeper water. The steering was

erratic, probably from a gouge below the waterline, but the launch was

afloat and mobile.

Quickly his eyes scanned the bay, from Stanley across to the jutting

peninsula of Ocean Point. Junks, a few water taxis, but no pleasure

boats . especially none the class and size of the Dragon Master.

Carter throttled up and headed for the mouth of the bay. At the same

time, he reached for the hand mike.

“Gordon?”

“Here! I saw. You okay?”

“I think so. Where is he?”

“I lost him around Ocean Point. Carter .

“Yeah? “I’ve lost the blip.

Carter checked his own radar and cursed. Hisjaw clenched and his lips

set in a taut, thin line. “I’ll try to flush him out. “

Around the halfway point of the peninsula, toward the landward end, the

coastline curved inward. There were about twenty narrow channels

leading into private docks and marinas through trees and rugged

rocks.

Charlie Loo was in one of them, waiting.

Carter turned the volume back up on the radar unit and checked again.

There was no sound beyond a hum, and there was no tiny green ball

disrupting the wand’s smooth movement around the screen.

“Sorry, Connie Chu,” he murmured under his breath, “but it’s a rough

game. “

Hell to pay now, he hissed to himself. If Charlie gives up on the

crates and runs for cover, he could be lost for good.

For good, that is, until he comes up with another little scheme!

Carter gunned the launch to full throttle and spun the wheel, sending

the boat into the first inlet.

A medium-size pleasure craft was tied up at the dock, and a catamaran

bobbed at anchor in the center of the cove.

No Dragon Master.

The boat slid around, and Carter was again in open sea. Twice more he

performed the same exercise, with the same result.

He was approaching the mouth of the fourth channel, when, above the

roar of the launch’s inboard, he heard the roar of a more powerful set

of engines.

Carter swung his head back to the left just in time to see the bigger

boat’s sharp bow barreling toward him in the narrow channel.

Instead of turning into the channel, he spun the wheel in the opposite

direction.

The launch’s momentum was just enough to slide it sideways and away

from the Dragon Master’s bow.

The larger boat roared by, leaving the launch doing jackrabbit jumps

over its wake.

Carter could make out Charlie Loo’s figure in the wheelhouse. But it

was the equipment on the wheelhouse roof that drew his attention.

For a second the Killmaster held his breath, his mind willing Charlie

Loo to keep the big boat’s bow heading toward open sea.

If he turned north, toward crowded Aberdeen, the chase would still be

on . and probably futile.

Then Carter sighed. The Dragon Master was plowing straight out into

the

China Sea. “You’re a dead man, Charlie Loo,” Carter muttered, urging

every ounce of speed he could from the launch.

As he drove, he reached over and uncapped a small black box beneath the

radar system. Wires ran from the box to the launch’s powerful

generator system. But even as powerful as it was, the detonator in the

box would only set off the plastique explosives in the crates from a

distance of less than one hundred yards.

Carter would have to stay that close until they were far out to sea.

On and on they raced, and surprisingly, Carter was able to keep up.

And then he got it: a junk on the horizon, the twin .50s on the

wheelhouse.

Connie had double-crossed him, and herself at the same time.

Charlie Loo was making for the junk. At the last minute he would idle

down, put the yacht on auto, and climb up to the wheelhouse roof.

Then, with the .50s, he would blow any pursuit out of the water.

Sharp. But not sharp enough.

Carter was fifty yards from the yacht when he moved his fingers to the

little black box.

He flipped a toggle to “On,” and a red button with the word “Fire” in

its center lit up.

“So long, Charlie Loo. “

Carter swerved the launch hard to port as he depressed the red

button.

The Dragon Master split in half and became a part of the towering

funnel of water caused by the explosion.

Just another accident at sea, Carter mused, not even looking back as he

headed for Repulse Bay.

Gray seeped over the horizon as they lay, huddled on a chaise, naked

beneath a blanket against the morning chin.

“I like your island. “

“Thank you, ” she said, sliding one leg between his thighs and

breathing deeply.

Her breast expanded in his palm, and Carter sighed in contentment.

His reverie was short-lived, interrupted by a jangling phone.

“Must you?” he groaned.

“You do it. Tell them you’re the houseboy and we’re not here. “

Carter slid from beneath the blanket, padded to a nearby table, and

lifted the phone.

“YesT

There was a crackling of static, and then the familiar voice of David

Hawk.

“Well done, Nick, well done! There were seven executives involved.

They have a been convinced that resignations are the best way out.

“Fine, sir. “

“Terrible connection. Can you hear me all right?”

Carter hesitated for a moment. “Barely, sir. ” -Kulo Electronics has

been taken over by our people. With any luck, we can plant a man in

there to pass some false stuff, maybe negate the damage already done.

“Good idea, sir. It should work. “

“Yes. Now, N3, it’s good you’re where you are. I want you to go down

Singapore. You’ll be briefed when you get there. A messy situation.

It was just luck that you’re already in the area .. . “

Carter glanced over at Soo Lee Culpepper’s luscious nude body. The

morning breeze wafted across his own body.

It was a lovely setting.

I “What’s that, sir?

“I said, I want you to go to Singapore .

“Terrible connection, sir. Tell you what, I’ll call you back when it’s

cleared. “Nick, can you hear .

Carter gently replaced the phone and curled back under the blanket.

“It’s typhoon season,” Soo Lee said.

“I know. The lines might not be clear for days.

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