11609
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
(11 of 244)
-4-
Automatic Zoom
Chapter One
The midday California sun sent glimmers off the
deep blue water. Her pale blond hair was like a
diamond against the blue, as she swam across the
Olympic-sized pool.
Her house was named "Paradise," and paradise
it was: a long, white luxurious structure set among
the pool and citrus gardens and beautifully man-
icured lawns. High in the hills above Los Angeles it
had the most spectacular view of the city you could
imagine. Even the smog seemed to have taken its
leave up here, at least temporarily.
I'd flown out here for a much needed R and R
after a brutal job in Athens. She had met me at the
airport and immediately spirited me up to this
haven. She'd cancelled all of her appointments,
and for a week now it had been just the two of us.
Even her servants kept discreetly out of sight. Diir-
ing the day we explored the nearby hills and swam
and lay beside the pool. At night we watched the
stars from her glass-enclosed living room and then
lay for hours on the satin sheets of her large oval
bed. We satisfied our desires until both of us were
exhausted and then drifted into sleep, usually not
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
2
(12 of 244)
+ Automatic Zoom
until near dawn. Paradise it certainly was.
She finished her lap, and as though she sensed
my presence, she looked toward the terrace where
I stood. She saw me and her sensuous lips parted in
a smile over those perfect white teeth.
"Come on in, the water's fine," she called. That
was no surprise; the water was always fine here.
"Come on in," she repeated in that sophisti-
cated, sultry voice, which was a delightful contrast
to the perfect innocence of her face. It's a voice
you'd recognize. And you'd recognize the face too.
Her name is Susan and for the last couple of years
she's been one of the top actresses in pictures, a
genuine star.
I liked watching her glide across the pool, but I
knew I'd like being in the pool even more. I
shucked my clothes, walked down the half dozen
flagstone steps from the terrace to the pool, and
dived in. I opened my eyes under water and swam
toward those long shapely legs, now treading water
with all the grace of a ballet dancer. I reached out
and encircled her legs with my arms and then
moved my hand up to her tanned, undulating
stomach. Slowly she slid underwater, her legs, her
torso, her full breasts gliding past my eyes. And
then her face was opposite mine. Our bodies
moved together underwater, and I felt an electric
shock as her breasts moved against my chest; and I
felt her quiver too. I moved my tongue to her
mouth and taking her in my arms, floated us both
to the bottom of the pool. We lay there in a pas-
sionate embrace, like two sea creatures, lost in
time. Finally she moved her hand against my
cheek, indicating that she needed air. I held her
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
3
(13 of 244)
+ Automatic Zoom
firmly and sprung us both to the surface of the wa-
ter. I placed my right arm around her rib cage, cup-
ping one of her beautiful breasts in my hand. With
my other arm I sidestroked to the edge of the pool,
carrying her beside me.
"Here, darling," she said, almost breathlessly, as
we reached the blue-tiled side of the pool.
She stretched out her arms to brace herself and
then flattened her backside against the tiles. I en-
tered her in a single thrust, displacing the water be-
tween us. Our bodies moved like one, sending rip-
ples back across the pool's entire surface. The rip-
ples became waves as our own intensity increased.
As we reached a peak, she cried out like a creature
from the nearby hills.
Afterwards we lay on the warm flagstones of the
terrace. Her eyes were closed against the sun, and I
traced a remaining rivulet of water down her fine,
firm breasts. The sun seemed to give energy to my
own drained body, and lying there beside her I felt
more peaceful than I'd felt in a long, long while. I
stretched back and watched a bank of cumulus
clouds move against the blue sky. The only sounds
were of a blackbird chirping in the nearby woods
and of a telephone ringing in the distance.
"Telephone for Mr. Brody," the maid's voice
announced over the intercom system.
That was me. Brody, Charles Brody, was the
name Susan knew me by. She smiled up at me as I
lifted my body from the ground, but I wasn't smil-
ing. Only one person had my phone number here.
And a call from him could only mean one thing.
I moved to a phone which sat on a glass table
near us.
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
3
(13 of 244)
+ Automatic Zoom
firmly and sprung us both to the surface of the wa-
ter. I placed my right arm around her rib cage, cup-
ping one of her beautiful breasts in my hand. With
my other arm I sidestroked to the edge of the pool,
carrying her beside me.
"Here, darling," she said, almost breathlessly, as
we reached the blue-tiled side of the pool.
She stretched out her arms to brace herself and
then flattened her backside against the tiles. I en-
tered her in a single thrust, displacing the water be-
tween us. Our bodies moved like one, sending rip-
ples back across the pool's entire surface. The rip-
ples became waves as our own intensity increased.
As we reached a peak, she cried out like a creature
from the nearby hills.
Afterwards we lay on the warm flagstones of the
terrace. Her eyes were closed against the sun, and I
traced a remaining rivulet of water down her fine,
firm breasts. The sun seemed to give energy to my
own drained body, and lying there beside her I felt
more peaceful than I'd felt in a long, long while. I
stretched back and watched a bank of cumulus
clouds move against the blue sky. The only sounds
were of a blackbird chirping in the nearby woods
and of a telephone ringing in the distance.
"Telephone for Mr. Brody," the maid's voice
announced over the intercom system.
That was me. Brody, Charles Brody, was the
name Susan knew me by. She smiled up at me as I
lifted my body from the ground, but I wasn't smil-
ing. Only one person had my phone number here.
And a call from him could only mean one thing.
I moved to a phone which sat on a glass table
near us.
N., 3I (13 of 244)
— + Automatic Zoom
firmly and sprung us both to the surface of the wa-ter. I placed my right arm around her rib cage, cup-ping one of her beautiful breasts in my hand. With my other arm I sidestroked to the edge of the pool, carrying her beside me. "Here, darling," she said, almost breathlessly, as we reached the blue-tiled side of the pool. She stretched out her arms to brace herself and then flattened her backside against the tiles. I en-tered her in a single thrust, displacing the water be-tween us. Our bodies moved like one, sending rip-ples back across the pool's entire surface. The rip-ples became waves as our own intensity increased. As we reached a peak, she cried out like a creature from the nearby hills. Afterwards we lay on the warm flagstones of the terrace. Her eyes were closed against the sun, and I traced a remaining rivulet of water down her fine, firm breasts. The sun seemed to give energy to my own drained body, and lying there beside her I felt more peaceful than I'd felt in a long, long while. I stretched back and watched a bank of cumulus clouds move against the blue sky. The only sounds were of a blackbird chirping in the nearby woods and of a telephone ringing in the distance. "Telephone for Mr. Brody," the maid's voice announced over the intercom system. That was me. Brody, Charles Brody, was the name Susan knew me by. She smiled up at me as I lifted my body from the ground, but I wasn't smil-ing. Only one person had my phone number here. And a call from him could only mean one thing. I moved to a phone which sat on a glass table near us.
T WHIca,»
( 14 Of 244)
+ Automatic Zoom
"Hello."
"Mr. Carter?" It was a no-nonsense man's voice.
"Yes."
"David Hawk wants you to fly to Washington
and meet with him immediately. He says it's top
priority. Urgent."
I looked at the golden vision of Susan lying
below me and couldn't help sighing inwardly. But
Hawk was my boss and when he said go, I went.
That was the way it was. Scratch the remaining two
weeks of my R and R.
"Will there be a plane for me?"
"There's one waiting for you now at the
the man said and
Hollywood-Burbank Airport,"
hung up.
I replaced the receiver and reached for a towel.
"What is it?" Susan asked.
"I have to leave immediately."
She stood up and moved toward me like the
goddess that she was.
"No, darling." Her face formed itself into a
pout.
"Yes."
"But why?" The pout was changing to a look
that meant she was coming close to tears.
"My law firm has business that only I can han-
dle. I have to go overseas, I expect. Sorry, love."
She blinked back a tear and then smiled her
dazzling smile. She wasn't an actress for nothing.
"Sometimes, you know, I really think you're a
spy or something the way you're always running
off," she said, attempting to make the best ofa bad
situation by joking.
"Well," I joked back, "I think you shouldn't
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
5
(15 of 244)
+ Automatic Zoom
NONEXT THE KING
start believing those movies you're in."
5
She laughed. "No, I suppose not," she said, and
moved her body next to mine. I bent down and
kissed her and then turned to put on my clothes.
There was no time for a long goodbye.
"A spy or something," Susan had joked, except
it wasn't a joke, and my work went way beyond the
kind of tame spy stuff you usually see in the mov-
ies. Killmaster N3 was my AXE designation. AXE
did the jobs the other agencies couldn't handle, and
I hadn't earned my rank just by stealing an occa-
sional secret or protecting visiting dignitaries.
As I navigated a Jaguar down the narrow, hilly
road from Susan's house, I couldn't help wonder-
ing why Hawk needed me. There were a number of
AXE agents who could do just about any job that
came up. When I'd returned from Greece, it had
been Hawk's idea for me to take a break. His part-
ing words had been, "See you in three weeks, Nick.
Unless," he'd added sardonically, "a major in-
ternational crisis comes up." So it looked like I was
heading straight into a major international crisis.
As there weren't many houses up this far, the
road I was traveling on toward the freeway was
pretty much deserted. But as I turned a curve I no-
ticed two motorcycles sitting on a side road. As I
passed they turned onto the road and soon they
were right up behind me, too close for comfort on
a road full of sharp turns and dramatically steep
descents. I caught them in my rearview mirror: two
dirty-looking bikers on big choppers. One was a
big man with shoulder-length, greasy-looking hair,
his buddy a smaller man who'd gone in the op-
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
6
(16 of 244)
6
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
posite direction in his hairdo: his head was shaved
completely bald. The bald man was bare-chested.
The other one wore a black leather vests And they
both had swastikas hanging on their gleaming tor-
sos.
When they pulled their choppers right up beside
me, I began to get really uncomfortable. What the
hell were they doing? On a road this narrow and
blind, if another car appeared ahead there was
either going to be a crash or someone would go
hurtling over the side of the hill.
"Hey, man!" the bigger biker yelled at me, "Pull
over! Stop!"
"Why?" I yelled back and kept up my speed.
' 'You're taking up too much road, man, that's
why. We wanna talk to you." I realized then that
these punks were out for what they considered
some kicks. But even if I'd liked their kind of kicks
—which I didn't—I didn't have time for them. Not
with a plane waiting at the airport for me.
"Go to hell,"
I yelled back. The big one an-
swered this by spitting in my direction. His gob
didn't land in my face, but not for want of trying.
It was just that his aim had been bad.
Then the big guy nodded to his buddy, and
before I knew what was happening the bald guy
pulled his chopper directly in front of the Jaguar. I
had to slow down to avoid hitting him immediate-
ly. One bike was now at my side, the other in front
of me, and to my other side was a drop of hundreds
of feet into canyons that already had plenty of to-
talled cars and dead bodies. So this was their game:
The motorcycle in front of me was slowing down,
and the idea was that I would be forced to do the
same and eventually stop.
AND NEXT T
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
7
(17 of 244)
110%
AND NEXT THE KING
7
But I was having none of it. I moved my foot
from the brake to the accelerator and speeded up,
nosing the front of the Jaguar into the back of the
cycle before me. The bald guy didn't expect this
and even if he had expected it, there wouldn't have
been much he could do about it. He abruptly
swerved his bike to the left to get away from me,
but as he did so he nearly crashed into his buddy,
who was still heading up my left. The bald guy
gunned his engine to get away from his buddy and
they missed each other by a fraction of an inch. But
the sharp turn and the extra speed had sent the
bald guy's bike into a tailspin. The bike abruptly
crashed to the ground and sent its rider sprawling
head first onto the road.
Unfortunately his friend was still beside me.
"You shouldn't have done that," he snarled. A
few seconds later I saw a knife sail past my head
and land in the leather of the passenger seat. I
needed a knife there even less than I needed a gob
of spit. I pulled the knife out of the leather with my
right hand, steering with my left. These clowns had
picked the wrong man to hassle with. I'd been
trained to kill, with knives as well as with guns and
explosives, and it would have been easy for me to
toss the knife right into the bastard's head or his
heart. But I kill only when I have to, on the job, not
for personal reasons.
I aimed the knife carefully. The biker laughed
when he saw me throw the knife, obviously think-
ing I was aiming at him and aiming badly. But his
laugh disappeared in a second when the knife hit
exactly where I'd intended: in his back tire. His
face opened in an "O" of surprise as he lost control
of the bike when the tire blew out from under him.
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
8
(18 of 244)
+ 110%
Now I did slow down to watch him careen wildly
down the hill ahead of me before finally crashing
into a patch of shrubs on the left side of the road.
As I drove on I heard him shout. So he wasn't
dead, just out of commission for awhile.
Then, through the rearview mirror, I saw that
the bald guy had remounted his bike and was
trying to catch up with me again. I reached under
the seat and pulled out a long, thick piece of rope,
and shaped it with my right hand into a cattleman's
knot. I deliberately slacked my speed until the
biker was beside me—right where I wanted him.
His bald head had a long, bloody cut across its top
and his nose and mouth were also a bloody pulp.
"I'll kill you," he yelled.
I didn't want to kill him, just get him out of my
way and maybe put a dent in his overblown macho
pride. I waited until we were heading toward a very
sharp curve. Then suddenly I threw the rope and
braked my car abruptly. The rope flew around his
arms, pulling them from his handlebars and pin-
ioning them to his chest. His bike went hurtling
out from under him and sailed right over the edge
of the cliff. He hit the ground in the middle of the
road with a heavy thud. I heard his bike crash
below. I let the rope slip out of my hand and drove
ahead, leaving him struggling to untangle himself
from the rope and cursing at me for destroying
what was dearest to him: his bike. And I took off
for the freeway.
Hawk had a Lear jet waiting for me at
Hollywood-Burbank, and when I landed, six hours
later, at Dulles International in D.C., Hawk him-
AND NEXT THE KING
9
self was there to greet me. Only minutes after the
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
9
(19 of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
9
self was there to greet me. Only minutes after the
plane's wheels touched the ground, Hawk walked
into the jet's cabin. He had a scowl on his face and
one of his half-chewed, foul-smelling cigars in his
mouth. He indicated with a flick of his hand that I
was to stay seated and he moved to take the chair
opposite me.
"Been reading the papers, Nick," he asked, "or
been too preoccupied with the ladies?" A slight
smile flickered across his face.
"Well, sir, I did catch a couple of papers in
"So you've read about the latest kidnapping in
I had. The day before, a high Spanish military
official, General Rodriguez, had been abducted by
a band of revolutionary terrorists who called them-
selves "El Grupo Febrero." From what I'd read,
they were a pretty vicious lot. Within the last two
months, they'd already killed the Spanish Minister
of the Treasury, the Minister of Education, two de-
puties of the Spanish Parliament, and a Special En-
voy of the King. In addition, they'd shot at and
crippled several other high government officials.
And they claimed responsibility for the bombing of
a government building that had killed twenty
more.
'SA bad business," Hawk said.
"Yes, sir. Any ransom demand?"
"No, and I don't think there's going to be, Nick.
Hasn't ever been one. They're out for blood. They
kidnap these men, hold revolutionary 'trials,' then
torture them to death. It seems to me, and the
group has said as much in their communiqués, that
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
10
(20 of 244)
10
110%
NICK CARTER
they're out to eliminate the entire Spanish govern-
ment. Or as much of it as they can. And in the
process, of course, they've got the whole country
paralyzed."
It was, as Hawk said, a bad business. But from
what he'd told me so far, I didn't see why Hawk
needed me. Any of a dozen other AXE agents—to
say nothing of the CIA—should have been able to
track down General Rodriguez's abductors.
As though he'd read my thoughts, Hawk said,
"The Spanish government requested our top man,
Nick. You see, as bad as these other murders and
kidnappings were, this one is much, much worse,
more serious. It's not just another individual's
death that's involved here. General Rodriguez was
carrying important military secrets when they kid-
napped him, secrets vital to the defense of Spain.
They involve not just Spain's army and airforce,
but," and here Hawk paused, "also the develop-
ment of Spain's nuclear defense. You know what
that means, Nick."
I knew what it meant, and it sent chills up and
down my spine.
"What we're really afraid of, Nick, is that this
Spanish group is part of some larger international
terrorist organization, or that they at least have ties
with other terrorist groups. When they find out
that what they have in their hands is a plan for a
nuclear weapon, who knows what's going to hap-
pen. This is just what I've been warning Washing-
ton about for years, with this spread of nuclear
weapons: the possibility of them getting into the
hands of a group of terrorists. I don't need to tell
you, Nick, what kind of blackmail they can pull if
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
11
(21 of 244)
+ 110%
hands of a group of terrorists. I don't need to tell
you, Nick, what kind of blackmail they can pull if
AND NEXT THE KING
11
they discover what they have. They'll have not just
Spain in their paws, but the whole bloody world."
"Yes, sir."
"So, Nick, find those plans. And, if possible,
save General Rodriguez's life."
"I'll try."
"Don't try. Do it. Now goodbye, Nick, and
good luck."
"Am I to catch another plane here, sir?"
"No, stay on this one. It's been refueling while
we talked. I didn't want to waste any time." Hawk
turned and walked toward the door. Then at the
doorway, he turned around and said, "And, Nick,
don't forget the Russians." Then he left.
No, I wouldn't forget the Russians. And as I
flew over the Atlantic I couldn't help thinking of
what would happen if the Russians found out
about the nuclear plan and reached the terrorists
before I did. Of course, even the Russians would
never supply nuclear weapons to a terrorist or-
ganization, but once the KGB found out the ter-
rorists already had the plan, it was a safe bet that
they'd want to play ball with them. And I had to
find that plan before they started playing ball.
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
12
(22 of 244)
110%
Chapter Two
Hawk had taken the precaution of registering
the Lear to Milhautt, Lowry, and Bryan As-
sociates, a New York City architectural firm.
When I went through customs the passport I gave
the official listed my name as David Bryan, my oc-
cupation as architectural engineer. I filled in "busi-
ness," under Purpose of Visit and "two weeks" un-
der Length of Stay on the form the official gave me.
I just hoped, for the sake of Spain, and for my own
sake, that my length of stay would be considerably
less than two weeks.
I took a taxi at the airport to a small, quiet hotel,
just a couple of blocks from the Prado. After
checking in, I walked the ten blocks to the address
Hawk had given me.l entered a large, modern of-
fice building and took the elevator to the tenth
floor. Here I found the right suite and entered what
looked like a typical modern office: beige carpet,
beige walls, low-key, comfortable furniture, a suit-
ably attractive secretary. This was the Spanish In-
telligence Secret Forces Mission, and I was here to
meet Ramon Lorca, Hawk's Spanish counterpart.
The secretary sat behind a desk near a door lead-
12
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
13
(23 of 244)
110%
12
AND NEXT THE KING
13
ing into an inner office and she was reading a fash-
ion magazine when I entered. She looked up from
her magazine and smiled. She was a pretty woman,
around thirty, with large almond-shaped eyes and
very white teeth.
"May I help you?" Her smile was dazzling.
"David Bryan. I believe I have an appointment."
'SAh, yes, Mr. Bryan," she inflected the name
with a slight touch of irony as though she knew
what my real name was. ' 'Mr. Lorca has been ex-
pecting you." She picked up the phone and an-
nounced me to Mr. Lorca.
g 'Go right in," she said and motioned me toward
the wood-paneled door leading into the inner of-
fice. She opened the door with a button concealed
somewhere under her desk, and as the door swung
open, I realized that the wood panels overlay a
thick, bullet-proof sheet of metal, and that this
wasn't, of course, the typical office it looked to
be.
As the heavy door closed behind me, I found
myself standing in a square office, with a floor-
length expanse of glass windows along one of its
sides. You could bet these windows were bullet-
proof too. These windows let in so much light that
at first I could only make out a dim figure rising
from a desk in front of the windows and moving
toward me. My eyes adjusted and I saw Ramon
Lorca clearly as he took my hand, pumping it with
a firm handshake.
"Welcome, Nick Carter," he said, in a deep, sea-
soned voice. "We are honored to have you among
us." His greeting had no hint of flattery and his
smile was friendly and sincere. He was a very large
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
14
(24 of 244)
14
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
man, about my height. Beneath his elegantly cut
white suit, his shoulders and arms were massive,
like those of an ex-prizefighter, which he may well
have been. His deeply tanned face had a classical
Spanish profile, with his jet-black hair combed
straight back. And his large, dark eyes were full of
warmth. I knew right off that we were going to get
along just fine.
"I thank you for coming, Mr. Carter. Your rep-
utation, of course, precedes you," he said as he
ushered me to a chair near his desk. I noticed that
the glass windows looked out over the entire south
of the city and that one could see the ochre-colored
plains in the distance.
"l assume Hawk has explained to you what has
happened, Mr. Carter."
"Yes."
"Well, frankly, Mr. Carter, we have almost no
leads on the recent kidnapping or on any of the
other kidnappings and assassinations. We need
you, Mr. Carter. I regret to say I don't have any
agents of your calibre on my staff. Except, if I may
be so immodest, myself. But, as you see, they have
me running the whole division now, and I don't get
the chance to spend much time in the field any-
more. Too many other priorities."
I should have guessed Lorca had been an agent
himself. And a damn good one, I'd bet.
"Perhaps you should examine these first," he
said, handing me a manilla file folder from his
desk. "The men who were killed." The folder con-
tained color morgue photographs of the officials
who had been killed by EI Grupo Febrero. I've
seen some gory sights and plenty of dead men, but
AND NEXT THE KING
15
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
15
(25 of 244)
110%
AND NEXT THE KING
15
I'd seldom seen a more gruesome example of cruel.
ty than what El Grupo Febrero had done to these
men. From the photographs you could see that all
of them had been severely tortured before they'd
been killed: Two men's genitals had been cut off,
nearly all were missing fingernails. The singed
body hair and the thin red lines on many of the
men indicated that they'd been subjected to electric
shock. Nearly all had large welts where they'd been
beaten. And one man had all four of his limbs bro-
ken; he'd obviously been subjected to the rack.
I looked into Lorca's eyes, which were now hard
and steely. 'SA vicious group," he said. "And the
men they let live, the ones they shot down, it has
been the same story. One man was shot deliberate-
ly in the genitals, another crippled in both legs, a
third shot in the spine so that he is now paralyzed
from the neck down."
Lorca said that he had no clues to the location of
the group. They seemed to be operating all over
Spain. The bombing of the government office had
taken place in Madrid, as had all of the original
kidnappings. But the bodies of the officials had
been found all over Spain: one in Toledo, two in
Barcelona, one in Granada, another in Seville. All
the bodies had been found, at dawn, in town
squares or public plazas. "They are deliberately
making a mockery of the Spanish police," Lorca
commented.
' 'We have connected El Grupo Febrero," Lorca
continued, "to a group of dissidents of ten years
ago. Strangely most of them were workers and col-
lege students, and at that time they do not seem to
have been engaged in violence."
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
16
(26 of 244)
+ 110%
have been engaged in violence."
16
NICK CARTER
"The members of this organization?" I asked.
"That, I regret to say, is our main problem. You
see, Mr. Carter, when the new government came
into power, several years ago, the police and army
had many, many files on the dissident groups. We
had the names of members, detailed information
about these men and women. But the new govern-
ment decided that all of these files should be de-
stroyed, except of course, for the obviously sub-
versive groups, which, at the time, excluded El
Grupo Febrero. I must admit to you that I ap-
proved of, even advocated, the destruction of these
files. There were thousands and thousands of citi-
zens listed as enemies of the state who were really
only enemies of the former regime, so it seemed not
only pointless but out of place in a democracy to
retain all these files. In the case of El Grupo
Febrero, however, I'm afraid we made a fatal mis-
take."
At this point Lorca was interrupted by a loud
buzz from one of the telephones on his desk.
"That will be the police. I'm monitoring all of
the calls that come into the police station, and
when they receive one regarding this case, I have it
transmitted up here so that I can listen." Lorca
pushed a button beside one of the phones and we
immediately heard the voices of a policeman and a
young woman.
S SYour name please?"
"I'm sorry, I can't give you that." Her voice was
soft and very low. She was speaking almost in a
whisper.
"But you have information on El Grupo
Febrero?"
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
17
(27 of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
c 'I'm not sure." Her voice grew even softer. "I do
think I should talk to someone."
"Can you come to the police station today?"
"No, I can't do that," she said, her voice rising,
becoming almost shrill. She sounded frightened
now. Lorca pressed another button, which was ap-
parently a signal to the police station. For then the
officer asked the woman to hold the line while he
switched her to someone who might better be able
to help her.
"I don't know
she trailed off, and I was
afraid she was going to hang up.
"Take the call, Nick," Lorca said. "You're in
charge of this now, so you might as well start."
I picked up the phone Lorca indicated and spoke
into it in my Castilian accent. I knew it wouldn't do
any good to try to get the woman's name out of
her; she was obviously too frightened to reveal
that. But frightened of what? Of us? Of El Grupo
Febrero? But I knew I had to keep her on the line
(Lorca's men were no doubt tracing the call now)
and I had to arrange to see her if I could. After
identifying myself as a special agent working on the
case, I decided to appeal to her emotions. Her soft
voice indicated that she probably had some pas-
sionate ones.
"Miss, please, almost thirty people have already
been killed. I've just been looking at the photo-
graphs of the men who have been tortured. El
Grupo Febrero has promised to do this to many
more. Please help us stop them before they can get
to anyone else. Any information that you think
might be connected with the group will help us."
There was a long pause. I almost thought that
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
18
(28 of 244)
18
110%
NICK CARTER
she'd hung up. Then she said, ' 'All right," very,
very softly.
"I can't come to the police station," she said.
"Can I come to you?"
There was another very long pause.
"Will you be alone?" she finally asked.
"Yes."
"Two thirty-five Arboles," she said, "tonight af-
ter ten." Then she rang off immediately.
Lorca's face was grim when I hung up, and I ex-
pect mine was the same. it was a risky business,
meeting her alone. It could be a trap, but it was a
chance I had to take. Right now it was the only
lead we had.
Another phone rang and Lorca picked it up. I
watched him as he nodded into the phone, his fine
Spanish profile troubled. When he hung up the
phone, he turned to me.
"Three things," he said. "The woman's call was
made in a phone booth near the Palace of Justice.
My men weren't able to get there soon enough to
see her, she wasn't on the phone long enough. Two,
the house at two-three-five Arboles is listed in the
name of one Pedro Salas, about whom we have
nothing in the files. Three, the newspapers have
just received another communique from El Grupo
Febrero, saying that the nation can expect the trial
to end by Friday, and that on Saturday they will
strike again, this time, quote, 'as high as we can
go.' "
Today was Monday.
"I guess I should check out General Rodriguez's
office," I said.
'61 thought you'd want to do that. I've already
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
18
(28 of 244)
18
110%
NICK CARTER
she'd hung up. Then she said, ' 'All right," very,
very softly.
"I can't come to the police station," she said.
"Can I come to you?"
There was another very long pause.
"Will you be alone?" she finally asked.
"Yes."
"Two thirty-five Arboles," she said, "tonight af-
ter ten." Then she rang off immediately.
Lorca's face was grim when I hung up, and I ex-
pect mine was the same. it was a risky business,
meeting her alone. It could be a trap, but it was a
chance I had to take. Right now it was the only
lead we had.
Another phone rang and Lorca picked it up. I
watched him as he nodded into the phone, his fine
Spanish profile troubled. When he hung up the
phone, he turned to me.
"Three things," he said. "The woman's call was
made in a phone booth near the Palace of Justice.
My men weren't able to get there soon enough to
see her, she wasn't on the phone long enough. Two,
the house at two-three-five Arboles is listed in the
name of one Pedro Salas, about whom we have
nothing in the files. Three, the newspapers have
just received another communique from El Grupo
Febrero, saying that the nation can expect the trial
to end by Friday, and that on Saturday they will
strike again, this time, quote, 'as high as we can
go.' "
Today was Monday.
"I guess I should check out General Rodriguez's
office," I said.
'61 thought you'd want to do that. I've already
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
19
(29 of 244)
+ 110%
sent word to the Defense Ministry that you'd be
there sometime this afternoon. One final thing,
Nick. I'll be frank with you. If this doesn't end
soon, it's going to be catastrophic for my country.
Unlike your country, Spain is a new and fragile de-
mocracy. It cannot stand the strain. Already there
is talk of moving back to the days of Franco. I,
personally, don't want that to happen, but we have
to catch this group soon or the whole edifice will
come tumbling down."
This strong man suddenly seemed very sad, not
just for the killings, but for the fate of his nation. I
wanted very much to help him.
I caught a taxi outside Lorca's office. As we
drove through Madrid, I noticed that the streets
were very deserted for this time of day in midweek.
Then I remembered that it was siesta time, and that
many people were now inside napping, avoiding
the blazing afternoon sun. In a few hours they'd be
back out to open their shops and socialize in the
bars and cafes.
The Ministry of Defense was located in the huge
complex of government buildings near the center
of the city. Like the rest, it was an enormous,
imperial-looking structure of white marble. Stand-
ing before it, at the top of a steep series of marble
steps, were almost two dozen guards in full-dress
military uniforms. I wondered if they were always
there, or if they were on special duty as a result of
the threats of El Grupo Febrero. A couple of the
guards stood in front of me at the top of the steps,
but I flashed the card Lorca had given me and sped
past them into the building. Here I was stopped by
20
NICK CARTER
another guard. I told him I was here to see General
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
20
(30 of 244)
20
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
another guard. I told him I was here to see General
Pena, who was General Rodriguez's top aide. The
guard steered me to the elevator where I met an-
other guard. He telephoned up to General Pena's
office before he let me enter the elevator. When I
arrived on the fourth floor, I was met by still an-
other guard. Security was tight here all right. The
government seemed to be running scared. And for
good reason.
I was escorted into General Pena's office, then
the guard clicked his heels and exited, leaving me
alone. General Pena's office could not have been
more of a contrast to the one I'd just left. It was
enormous, with heavy antique furniture, ornately
framed portraits of military men on the walls, and
thick velvet curtains, which were drawn across the
windows. The gloom in here belied the glar-
ing white sun outside. But I guess that was the
point.
I heard doors open to my right, and General
Pena appeared. He was in full dress but his sleepy
eyes told me that I had awakened him from his
siesta. He was a short, bald man, just past middle
age, but he was powerfully built and his military
carriage was impeccably straight.
I wanted General Pena to tell me the circum-
stances of General Rodriguez's disappearance, and
I wanted to find out exactly what the contents were
of the papers Rodriguez had been carrying. Gener-
al Pena treated me with politeness, but unlike
Lorca, he was excessively formal. As we talked it
became clear that he felt the army and the army
alone should be investigating Rodriguez's kidnap-
ping, and that he resented Lorca's being put in
charge of the investigation. That also meant that he
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
21
(31 of 244)
arge o
+ 110%
e Inves Iga ton. Thatalso meant t
AND NEXT THE KING
at e
21
resented me. I knew, however, that Pena must be
under orders from the Minister of Defense, who
had no doubt gotten his orders directly from the
King. And the orders were to cooperate.
And cooperate he did, explaining to me in detail
how Rodriguez's car had been stopped going be-
tween here and a military installation on the out-
skirts of town. Rodriguez's driver had been killed
and the car itself was found riddled with machine
gun fire. Neither the police or the army had found
any clues near the car that might lead to the kid-
nappers, not even any fingerprints.
The papers that General Rodriguez had been
carrying were ones that contained state secrets re-
lating to the operation of Spain's military bases,
and, more importantly, Spain's plan for the de-
velopment of nuclear weaponry.
"So it would be possible for someone to con-
struct a bomb from the papers Rodriguez was car-
"Yes, provided they had the proper scientific ex-
pertise. Yes, I'm afraid so, Mr. Carter."
"Did anyone know that the General was carry-
ing these plans?"
"No, not even the officers at the installation to
whom he was taking them. It had all been arranged
secretly, in consultation with the Minister of De-
fense. But not even the Minister knew exactly the
day that they were to be delivered. He left them
strictly in General Rodriguez's charge. I was the
only person who knew General Rodriguez was car-
rying the plans that day, and he didn't even tell me
until a few minutes before he left. It was a horrible
coincidence that they picked that day to kidnap
him."
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
22
(32 of 244)
+ 110%
It certainly was a horrible coincidence. Who
knew what the terrorists would do with those
plans? Our only hope was that El Grupo wouldn't
know what they'd found, and that Rodriguez
wouldn't break under torture and tell them. But
even if Rodriguez didn't break, it seemed unlikely
to me that it would take the group long to figure
out what they'd come across. From what I could
see El Grupo Febrero was a highly sophisticated,
extraordinarily clever group of terrorists. If El
Grupo could come up with the right equipment
(perhaps from the Russians) it wouldn't take them
too much time to put the nuclear plan they'd found
into use.
I'd learned from General Pena what I wanted to
learn, so I took my leave, and taxied back to the
hotel. I hadn't rested since t left California, so I
climbed into bed to sleep until my ten o'clock ap.
pointment. I hoped my dreams would be more
pleasant than the waking nightmare surrounding
me.
Calle de Arboles was a quiet residential street lo-
cated on the outskirts of town. Its small stucco
houses were lined up in an orderly fashion, and
most had small yards in front. Lights shone from
houses all along the street, and as I drove along in
the Mercedes Lorca had given me to use, I occa-
sionally heard the sounds of laughter and music
coming from windows and open doorways. I
cruised past two-thirty-five and saw a light coming
from a front window. I turned the corner at the end
of the block and parked the Mercedes on a side
street, two blocks down from Arboles.
AND NEXT THE KING
23
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
23
(33 of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
23
I headed back to Arboles on foot, but just as
was turning the corner onto the street I saw a large
green van drive up and park directly across from
two-thirty-five. I ducked behind a hedge at the end
of the block and watched. After a few seconds a
door of the van opened, and a light came on inside.
What I saw in that van chilled me: there were four
men and one of them was speaking into a walkie-
talkie. This looked like a trap all right. One of the
men threw a beer can onto the street, then closed
the door again. I waited, but the men made no at-
tempt to leave the van. Now I couldn't go in the
front door of a house that was obviously being
watched, and watched, I thought, for my arrival.
But I sure as hell wanted to find out who was inside
that house and what was going on there.
I looked around me, studying the layout of the
neighborhood. Behind me, in the middle of the
block was a narrow alley that had to lead past the
back of two-thirty-five Arboles. I memorized the
shape and color of the house, then, seeing that the
men inthe van still weren't ready to make a move,
slid along the hedge until I came to the alley. The
alley was very dark, and both sides of it were
bordered by stucco walls taller than my head. I
made my way to what had to be the right house. I
checked back to see if anyone had followed me: the
alley was deserted. I pulled Wilhelmina, my 9mm
Luger, out of my breast pocket. I grabbed at the
high stucco wall, gained a footing, and thrust my-
self to its top.
I found myself looking down into a small garden
with a few orange trees, a bed of roses that looked
like it needed tending, and a patio with two
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
24
(34 of 244)
24
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
wrought-iron chairs. The back of the house was
dark. I let myself down into the garden and moved
around it, making sure that it was deserted. At the
back door of the house, I could see into a small
kitchen, very neat and orderly. The door from the
kitchen into the rest of the house was closed. I tried
the outside door. It was locked. The window into
the kitchen was also locked, but its latch didn't
look very sturdy. Holding the window's frame at
the bottom, I pushed upward. Within seconds I
could see that the latch was beginning to pull itself
loose from the window, and I just hoped it
wouldn't clatter to the floor or the table below the
window when it came off. I gave a final heave, the
latch broke, and the window opened with a
whooshing sound. Unfortunately the latch fell
onto the oil-cloth covered table with a thump. I
hoped the noise hadn't been heard, but I didn't
have any time to wait if it had. I climbed through
the window, jumped across the table, and with
Wilhelmina still in hand, went to the door leading
into the rest of the house. I paused there. The only
sound was the hum of the refrigerator. Who knew
what or who was on the other side of the door? But
I had to take that chance.
I turned the doorknob and opened the door a
crack. Light from the next room flooded into the
kitchen. Opening the door wider, I peered into
a small living room, modestly and sparsely
furnished. No one was in sight. Slowly I wedged
through the door into the room.
"Drop it," a woman's voice on my right com-
manded.
I didn't drop it. I spun around and found myself
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
25
(35 of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE XING
25
face to face with one of the most beautiful women
I've ever seen. Her narrow, delicate face, her long
black hair, and her large, soulful eyes made her
look like a Madonna in a Spanish Renaissance
painting. She held a small silver handgun, which
was aimed right at my chest, as Wilhelmina was
aimed at hers. We stood there several seconds, just
staring each other down.
"Drop it," she finally said again.
"I could say the same. Are you the woman I
talked to this afternoon?"
don't know what you mean."
"EI Grupo Febrero?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she
said. But I recognized the soft, nervous voice. "Get
out of here."
"You said this afternoon you had information."
"I don't know what you mean or want. Just
please get out."
"Or you'll call your friends in from outside?"
Her face recoiled as I said this, as though she'd
been slapped, and her arm with the gun jerked
back. But the gun was still pointed at my chest.
"Your friends outside," I persisted, "in the green
van."
She looked involuntarily toward the front win-
dows, and I had my chance and moved rapidly. I
knocked the gun out of her hand. As it clattered to
the floor I reached out and grapped her with my
left arm, pinioning her to my chest. She let out an
involuntary cry, but she didn't struggle. She felt
like a small, defenseless animal in my arms, and I
don't like to hurt women, not unless I have to. But
I knew those men were outside and I didn't have
26
NICK CARTER
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
26
(36 of 244)
26
110%
NICK CARTER
much time to make her talk.
"You called this afternoon." I said.
She didn't answer. I tightened my grip around
her body.
"Yes, I called."
"So why lie about it?"
"Please," and she was crying softly by now. "Let
me go. I'm afraid." I wanted to let her go, but I
couldn't take any chances until I found out what
she knew.
"Tell me about the men outside."
"l really don't know what you're talking about,"
she said through her tears. I released her, but kept
her covered.
"I can't talk about El Grupo Febrero, please. I
shouldn't have called. I really don't have any in-
formation." Her voice was pleading with me and it
was filled with fear.
"Have you been threatened?"
She looked into my eyes for the first time.
"Yes."
"If you talk?"
"Yes."
Your life?"
"It's not just me, it's .
and her voice trailed
away.
But I didn't get a chance to wait for her answer,
for just then I heard a door slam outside, and I
could tell from the sound it was the van.
"Does the bedroom overlook the street?" I
asked her.
"Yes, but ..
"Are the lights out in there, the shades drawn?"
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
27
(37 of 244)
+ 110%
"Are the lights out in there, the shades drawn?"
AND NEXT THE KING
"The lights are out, but
"Let's go." I took her arm.
"No, please, not in there," and she shied away
from me. I knew what she was thinking.
"I'm not going to hurt you, but it looks like the
men I mentioned are paying us a call."
She led the way down the hall to a small
bedroom. We looked out through its darkened
window. Four men had gotten out of the van and
were crossing the street: an enormous man, almost
seven feet tall and packed with muscles, seemed to
be leading the way. Another of the men had a nar-
row scar across the length of his forehead as
though someone had tried to scalp him and cut too
low. All four were wearing blue jeans and work
shirts.
"Oh, no," the woman whispered.
"Have you seen them before?"
"Only today. The man with the scar. I remember
seeing him this afternoon."
'SAfter you'd made the call to the police station."
She hesitated, thought for a moment. "Why, yes,
it was near the phone booth that I saw him."
"Was he following you?"
"I don't know," she hesitated, looking out at the
men again. "For the last few days I've felt as
though I were being followed. I can't explain why,
I didn't see anyone, but I just felt something." The
men were now on the lawn.
"All right. Stay in this room. Don't come out
under any circumstances." I handed back her gun,
which I'd pocketed. ' 'If anyone comes through that
door shoot."
couldn't. I really didn't mean to shoot you.
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
28
(38 of 244)
28
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
It's not even loaded."
"Do you have any bullets?"
' 'In the bureau."
"All right. Get them. It's your life or theirs.
Promise me you'll shoot at whoever comes through
that door. And shoot to kill." She looked up at me,
her eyes full of fear, but she nodded.
I rushed back into the living room, just as I
heard the men's footsteps on the front porch. I
moved to a position beside the front door, avoiding
walking past the shaded windows. I didn't want
them to see my silhouette.
The doorbell rang, a loud clattering sound. I
held Wilhelmina and waited. The doorbell rang
again, and this time whoever was ringing left his
hand on, and the sound became an insistent, de-
manding shriek.
"She's got to be in there," I heard one of them
say.
"Him, too?"
"I don't know. But she's there all right."
The leader, who must have been the tall man,
told two of the men to go around and enter
through the back way. Then suddenly there was a
blast of gunfire that shook the door and sent the
lock flying off its hinges.
The man with the scar entered first, his gun
pointed out in front of him. I didn't let him get far.
With my left hand I chopped down hard on his gun
arm, sending the gun clattering across the tile floor,
and with Wilhelmina I struck a clean blow against
the side of his head, just below the ear. He
crumpled to the floor immediately, out cold, as
blood trickled from beneath his ear. I slammed
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
29
(39 of 244)
110%
AND NEXT THE KING
29
the door against the big man coming in behind
him, and took the few seconds this gave me to run
toward the sofa on the opposite side of the room.
The big man was quick, though, and as I dashed
a bullet whizzed past my head, missing by only a
fraction of an inch. Another bullet whizzed by me,
just as I ducked behind the sofa. Then I looked up
to aim. He'd stationed himself beside a chair near
the front window. As he looked up to see what his
shots had done to me, I let loose with my first shot,
but he ducked back down and the bullet hit the
wall behind him. He sent another couple of shots
toward me, and I could feel the chipped plaster be-
hind me spinning off against the back of my head.
I aimed again. One shot shattered the glass window
just to the left of him, but the other grazed the side
of his cheek. When he raised up to aim again, I
went for his gun hand and landed on target, nick.
ing the bone of his elbow. He howled with pain as
his hand jerked back and involuntarily sent his gun
crashing through the front window.
As I stood up to move toward him, I heard a
noise to my left and turned just as one of the other
men moved into the living room from the kitchen
and sent a slug toward me. Only by throwing my-
self as quick as I could to my right did I miss that
one. He raised his gun to aim again, which was his
mistake, for without bothering to aim, I fired and
hit him right between the eyes. As he fell, I fired at
his friend coming from the kitchen, but he jerked
back behind the door. It was then that I felt a bone-
crunching blow on my right arm. Now it was
Wilhelmina's turn to go crashing to the floor. As I
whirled around I caught a severe blow on the right
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
Of 244)
+ 110%
side of my neck and saw the big man standing
before me, a poker iron in his hands. If I hadn't
turned and glanced off the blow with my neck
muscles, the back of my head would have been
crushed to pulp. I staggered from the blow, but I
managed to duck and miss as the poker came down
again. I rammed my head as hard as I could into
the big man's gut, and we both went crashing onto
the hard floor. He still had the poker, though, and
he brought it down on my back, temporarily knock-
ing all of the air out of me. Then he was on top of
me, with my throat pinioned beneath the poker.
"Get away from him, Carlos, so I can blast
him," said his companion who had now come in
from the kitchen. But Carlos wanted to finish me
off himself and told his friend to find the woman.
He pressed the grooved edges of the poker deeper
into my throat, as I gasped for breath. And he
leered to his companion, "Don't kill her off yet.
She's real pretty and I know how to get informa-
tion from the women." They both let out nasty
laughs as Carlos' friend moved to the hall. My
breath had now returned, and gathering up all my
strength, I jabbed my knees up hard into Carlos's
lower back, stunning him enough so that his grip
loosened on the poker. This was the opening I
needed to push the poker away from my neck.
Carlos lost his balance as I pushed up, and we
rolled across the floor, the poker now wedged be-
tween our chests. The poker's rough ridges were
cutting into my flesh, as they were no doubt cutting
into his also.
It was then that the woman screamed from the
bedroom, and the scream was followed by a volley
AND NEXT THE K!NG
31
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
(41 Of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
31
of shots. The woman's heartbreaking cry seemed to
give me added strength, and I managed to slam my
fist hard into Carlos's ribs. He reeled back and the
poker slid out from between us. I darted to grab
the poker just as I saw his hand pick up one of the
guns that had fallen to the floor. "Don't move," he
said and brought the gun to my face. "If you move,
you're dead." And I would have been. I let the
poker slip from my hand and quit struggling. He
grabbed my right arm, the arm where I keep Hugo,
my stilleto, and he brought the gun up to the left
side of my face, only inches from my temple. He
forced me onto my back and straddled me, his
knees pressing into my ribs.
"Now, amigo," he whispered, "tell me what you
want with the lovely lady here."
I had to stall. I had to try to keep alive and hope
that he'd eventually loosen his grip on my right
arm.
"She asked me to help her. She says she's being
followed."
"You are from the police?"
"No, I'm a friend."
"You lie," he said, and his big ugly face creased
itself into a savage frown. He brought the gun
closer to my temple. I knew his finger was on the
trigger, although he hadn't cocked it yet. I had to
make a move before he cocked it or it was all over.
"And you are from El Grupo Febrero?" I asked
him.
"El Grupo Febrero." He yelled it out and then
broke into a maniacal laugh. "EI Grupo Febrero,
St." Then his laugh stopped as abruptly as it had
begun, and his face turned red with anger. "What
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
32
(42 of 244)
32
110%
NICK CARTER
do you know of El Grupo Febrero?" he shouted at
me. I didn't answers "Talk," he said, and pressed
the gun with such force against my left temple that
his whole body seemed to bear down on it. In
bringing such force to the left side of my body, he
slightly decreased the grip on my right arm and
gave me the opening I needed. I jerked my wrist,
Hugo slipped into my hand, and concentrating all
of my strength in my right arm I broke his grip so
quickly he didn't know what was happening. I
went straight to Carlos's heart and plunged Hugo
into its depths. His mouth opened in a silent
scream and blood spurted from his chest into my
face. I felt his body go rigid and knew that he was
dead. If I hadn't paralyzed him on my first strike,
my head would have been a mass of blood and
bones scattered across the floor.
I threw Carlos's body off mine and ran to the
hallway. The man lay there, blood coming from a
wound in his forehead and from one of his eye-
sockets. The eye was rolling down the side of his
cheek. Blood on his shirt indicated he'd been
wounded there too. I walked into the bedroom, not
wanting to look at what he'd done to the woman.
I flicked on the light and saw her sitting on the bed,
tears rolling down her face. She was miraculously
unharmed, although I could see a couple of bullet
holes in the wall above the bed. Apparently, she'd
hit him first, throwing his aim off balance. And
then she'd kept firing. I took the small, silver gun
from her hand and held her shaking body in my
arms. I knew there was nothing I could say now. I
cradled her head against my chest and stroked her
long black hair, as she wept softly.
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
33
(43 of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
33
"Your name is?" she finally asked through her
tears.
"Nick."
"I am Maria." And then she was silent again.
I looked out of the bedroom window and bolted
from the bed. What I saw was the man with the
scar climbing into the van. He'd obviously re-
covered from the blow I'd given him when he'd
first entered the house, and while I was in here had
decided to get away. I told Maria to stay here while
I went after him and not to call the police unless I
wasn't back in two hours. I didn't want the cops
arriving before I'd had a chance to search the men
myself. I hated to leave Maria alone here, but I had
to go after scarface before he got word to his com-
rades about what had happened. I grabbed
Wilhelmina as I ran through the living room. As I
reached the yard I saw the van screeching down the
street. I aimed for its tires, but just as I fired it
turned the corner and my bullets went whizzing
into thin air.
Neighbors had been attracted by all the gunfire,
and I could see their heads peeping out of win-
dows. Only a few, however, had ventured onto
their lawns. A few doors down a teenage boy stood
beside a motorcycle and looked in my direction.
Every minute counted now, and I knew I could
save a lot of time by taking the cycle instead of
walking back to my car. I ran to the kid and told
him to give me the keys to the cycle. He looked at
the gun in my hand and the blood all over my
clothes and face, and must have thought I'd shoot
him too if he didn't. He handed me the keys with-
out a word. I jumped on the bike, put the keys in
34
NICK CARTER
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
34
(44 of 244)
34
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
the ignition, and started the motor.
I called as I took off down the
"I'll return it,"
street. I turned the corner. Scarface must not have
known yet that I was following him, because he
was still in sight on the same road. The van was
several hundred yards ahead of me, heading out of
town.
By the time the van reached open country, on a
winding narrow road, I had closed to a hundred
yards of him, and was still gaining. Unfortunately,
he must have noticed me following him then. He
suddenly picked up speed, and I tried to keep up.
As he increased speed, he began speeding crazily
around every curve. My motorcycle was cornering
fine, thank God for that, so as we went through a
stretch of winding road, I kept gaining on him.
I had to follow him, and take him alive, I hoped.
His three companions were now corpses. Maria
and I had had to kill them, but it had been a bad
break for us as well as for them. Because corpses
don't talk, and what I needed on this case was
someone who would talk, whether he had to be
forced to or not didn't much matter. I very much
wanted to take the man with the scar alive.
I saw now that the van had no license plates, so
there wouldn't be anything to work on from that
angle. If the man got away, I at least wanted to
have some clue. I tried to pull up alongside him. In
my pocket I had a tiny camera loaded with night
film that would take a clear image of him if I could
just get alongside him and aim it at his face. Un-
fortunately each time I approached his left he
veered in that direction, forcing me back behind
him again. He managed this on several curves until
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
35
(45 of 244)
+ 110%
aa cur
AND NEXT THE KING
35
he met a slow-moving, mule-drawn wagon coming
from the other direction.
He wheeled the van to the right. It skidded and
came back to the left, catching the back of the wag-
on which was loaded with produce. The wagon
tipped, then swayed back and tipped part of its
contents into the road in front of me. I felt my
wheels slide as I careened through a •bunch of
tomatoes, but I held on steadily and managed. to
get through the mess.
I was again right on top of the vane Again I tried
to get alongside it, and again he veered to the left,
heading me off. Then, with an enormous squealing
of brakes and screeching of rubber, he braked as
quickly as he could. His idea was that I'd run
smack into the van and break every bone in my
body. Thank God it took him longer to come to a
complete stop than it did for me to react. In that
fraction of a second I veered completely to the left
and went off the road into a ditch. The bike went
out from under me, and I landed in a field, several
feet beyond the ditch. I felt a sharp pain all through
my body, and lay, momentarily stunned, as I heard
the van switch gears and pull off. I picked myself
up, moving very gingerly. I ached, but I decided
that at least there were no broken bones. I went to
the ditch and dragged the cycle back to the road.
Fortunately the earth had been good to it too. No
major parts were broken, although the mirror was
broken off and the windscreen was bent out of
kilter. I cursed the distance between the van and
me and hoped it wasn't completely out of sight. I
jumped back on the cycle and took off.
Several minutes later I still hadn't picked up the
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
(46 Of 244)
36
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
van. Then I heard an explosion from around a
curve in front of me. The sky was illuminated in a
flash, and I heard another explosion. Rounding the
curve, I saw the van sitting on a train track. It had
rounded the curve too quickly and run smack into
a train, a train that must have •been carrying
gasoline. Another explosion sent billows of smoke
and fire through the air. The fire rose high up into
the sky. I could see the crumpled body of the van,
now looking very black and very tiny against the
huge orange flames.
"Corpse number four,"
I said to myself, and
turned the motorcycle back toward town.
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
37
(47 of 244)
110%
Chapter Three
By the time I got back, the neighborhood of Los
Arboles had returned to normal. The neighbors
who'd come out onto their lawns had gone back
inside, and heads were no longer peering out of
windows. The sounds of music and laughter wafted
out of windows into the night air once again. I
pulled up in the yard from which I'd taken the mo-
torcycle. Hearing the sound of the bike's roaring
engine, a head peeped out of a window. Then it
quickly disappeared. I mounted the steps of the
house and knocked. There was no answer. I
guessed that the people who lived inside were still
afraid of the madman with the gun. I knocked a
second time, then a third, and finally the teenager
from whom I'd taken the bike appeared at the win-
dowpane in the door. But instead of opening the
door, he moved his arms in an angry gesture, in-
dicating that he wanted no further part of me. I
could understand how he felt, but I held up my
special Spanish Security badge and motioned him
to come outside. I guess he recognized the badge or
at least knew that it was something official, be-
cause he slowly opened the door and came out
onto the porch. Other faces popped up in the
37
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
38
(48 of 244)
+ 110%
doorway now and a woman, who must have been
the kid's mother, shouted for him to get back in-
side, but he was already moving toward his bike.
I followed him and explained that I had been
chasing criminals. This didn't seem to count much
for him, though, as he surveyed the damage to his
bike: the broken-off mirror, the bent windscreen,
the scratched chrome and battered fenders. His
face became a sullen mask of anger and disappoint-
ment. I pulled out enough money from my wallet
to more than cover the costs of repairs. As I
handed it to him, his face was suddenly wreathed in
smiles. I returned his smile, remembering when I
was a kid with a bike. As I walked down the block
to two-thirty-five Arboles, the boy's shouts of
thanks and good luck followed me.
At Maria's the front door was still open and I
walked into the living room, noticing the two
bloody bodies still on the floore I called out for
Maria.
"In here!" she called from the kitchen. I started
toward the kitchen, then I stopped as I heard an-
other voice from there, a low voice whose words I
couldn't make out. I listened intently and made out
still another voice: this one sounded like a
woman's, but harsher, older than Maria's. What
was going on? Had more members of El Grupo
come? Were they holding Maria, even now, a gun
pointed at her head? Was this another trap I was
supposed to walk into?
I pulled Wilhelmina out of my pocket again, re-
loaded her as quietly as I could, and made my way
slowly to the kitchen door. I stopped at the door
and listened. Now there was silence.
AND NEXT THE KING
39
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
(49 Of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
"Maria?" 1 said.
"In here," she said again.
39
I cocked the gun, kicked the door open with my
foot, and jumped into the room, covering myself.
Blood-curdling screams were let out by two
women, one very old, one middle-aged, who were
sitting with Maria at the kitchen table drinking cof-
fee. I rapidly put down my gun, but not before the
older had upset her coffee and nearly the entire
table. I apologized, and Maria went to comfort the
frightened old woman.
"It's all right," Maria said as she put her arm
around the old woman's shoulder. "This is the man
who helped me. He is from the police department."
The old woman's fright turned into a shy smile of
embarrassment, and the middle-aged woman let
out a short, self-mocking laugh and nodded at me.
Maria explained to me that the women were both
neighbors who had come to stay with her while I
was away, as the women vigorously nodded their
heads.
"You've got to get out of here," i said to Maria.
"When whoever sent those men discovers that they
aren't returning—and they've probably already
discovered it—more men are going to be coming
here."
Both of the women said that Maria could stay
with them. But I vetoed that. Maria needed to get
out of the neighborhood for a while and go into
hiding. Besides I still hadn't had a chance to ques-
tion her. I told her I'd get her a room at my hotel.
The two older women protested this suggestion
ferociously, saying that it was highly improper for
Maria to come to my hotel. They looked at me sus-
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
40
(50 of 244)
40
110%
NICK CARTER
piciously: I'd become a villian once again. But
Maria obviously understood the necessity of get-
ting away.
"It's all right," she said to the women. There was
a gleam of amusement in her eyes when she looked
up at me and said, "I'll go."
She said good-bye to her friends and the women
were crying as they left: they were obviously fond
of her. When they were out the door I guided
Maria past the bodies to her bedroom. She averted
her eyes and I felt her tremble as she stepped over
the man that she'd killed.
While Maria packed I phoned Lorca and ex-
plained the situation. He said he'd send a task force
of special policemen to clean up the mess and
watch the house. I agreed to meet him tomorrow
morning, after I'd tried to get more information
out of Maria.
In the living room I knelt beside the body of the
big bruiser who'd come after me with the poker
iron. His goon face, with the eyes still wide open in
surprise, stared up at me emptily as I went through
his pockets. I found nothing. Then I searched the
man who'd fallen by the door, and again there was
no wallet, no driver's license, not even a slip of pa-
per that could give me some clue to his identity. If
these were members of El Grupo, it was a smart
organization all right, real professionals; they
weren't taking any chances about leaving clues.
The man in the hall, the one Maria had plugged,
also had nothing in his pants pockets. In his shirt
pocket, however, I did find something: a match.
But not an ordinary match. It was longer and thin-
ner than a kitchen match, and except for the white
head, it was a bright and shiny silver. I know about
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
41
(51 of 244)
+ 110%
metals and by scraping the match's base and rub.
bing the extract between my fingers I confirmed my
suspicions: it wasn't just a paintjob on it's wooden
base, but a coat of silver leaf. Curious.
"What do you have?" Maria asked as she ap-
peared in the doorway, wearing a fresh black
sheath dress and carrying a small suitcase.
"A match." I held it up. "Recognize it?"
"No," she said. "It looks very expensive. Like it
came from a fancy restaurant or something."
"Yes, maybe it did. And maybe it will be a clue."
Then I heard police sirens in the distance, head-
ing our way. I wanted to get Maria away before she
had to answer the police's questions, so I took her
suitcase and motioned her to follow me. I led her
through the kitchen, out the garden, and into the
dark alley behind the house.
' 'Thank you," she said, as we walked through
the alley. She placed her hand gently on my arm.
I said, and put my arm
"You're a brave girl,"
around her shoulder as we walked to my car,
sheltering her from the now chilly mountainous
air.
"Hungry?" I asked as we headed back toward
the central section of Madrid.
Maria laughed for the first time that night and
said, "Yes, I am. It's strange. After something like
that happening the last thing in the world you'd
think you'd want to do is eat. But yes. I'm starv-
ing."
I picked a fine old restaurant I knew off of the
Puerta del Sol. As the maitre'd showed us to our
table near a three-tiered fountain in the center of
the room, heads turned: Maria was that stunning.
42
NICK CARTER
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
42
(52 of 244)
42
NICK
110%
CARTER
Not a man in the room could help looking up at
her luxurious black hair, her pale ivory skin, her
ripe and voluptuous body.
Over paella and wine I told •Maria about my mis-
Sion in Spain. After what had happened, I didn't
see the point of keeping it a secret at this point. I
did, however, skip over a lot of details, just giving
her the broader outlines of the El Grupo Febrero
affair (leaving out the part about the nuclear se-
crets) and my work with the Spanish Intelligence
Force. I hoped that by letting her know as much as
I felt I could, I would gain Maria's trust and that
she in turn would feel she could trust me and tell
me what she knew.
My openness and the wine did seem to relax her.
I couldn't help noticing that as she became more at
ease and more animated she became even more
beautiful. As she told me about her life she at first
avoided talking about the situation at hand, and I
didn't want to push her into talking about it until
the time seemed right. Maria told me that she had
been working as a typist, but was studying to be a
dress designer at night. She had grown up in a poor
family and her father died when she was very
young. Two years ago her mother had also died,
and she and her older brother Pedro, who worked
as a librarian, had moved into their present house.
Maria's voice caught when she mentioned her
brother and the animation briefly drained from her
face. I suspected that here I might find a clue to her
connection with El Grupo.
"Where was Pedro tonight?" I asked.
Her large black eyes filled with sorrow. "l don't
know," she said, and then she immediately
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
43
(53 of 244)
110%
AND NEXT THE KING
43
changed the subjects She began quizzing me about
the fashion industry in the United States, and she
outlined her own career plans. After she finished
her studies at the Spanish Fashion Institute she
wanted to begin designing clothes herself. At first
she would sell these to the large Spanish depart-
ment stores, then when she had saved enough mon-
ey she would open a shop of her own. Eventually
she hoped to branch out, and if she was lucky she
would even be able to some day sell her clothes in
America. Her face became even more animated as
she told me about the hopes and dreams, and I re-
alized that beneath her soft, classical beauty, Maria
was a very modern and a very determined young
woman. When she used the phrase "when all of
this is over" in relation to her plans, I decided that
now was the time to find out what was going on
with her and El Grupo.
"And when did all your present trouble begin?"
I asked.
She was silent. I was almost sorry I had asked
the question, for it was sad to see the happiness
drain from those dark eyes and to see her red lips
tremble and form themselves into a pout. Her gaze
turned inward, as though her mind were replaying
what must be a nightmare experience.
Then she swallowed, as though downing her
fear, and she said, "I guess it all began when my
brother disappeared, over two months ago."
"How did he disappear?"
"That's just it. I don't know. One night, when I
came back late from school, there was a note from
him saying he would be away a few days. I was
puzzled, but I didn't think too much about it.
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
44
(54 of 244)
44
+ 110%
NICK CARTER
Then, after a week, when he had still not returned,
I began to worry."
"That would have been just before the first at-
tack of El Grupo Febrero?"
"Yes," her eyes flashed, "but I'm sure my
brother had nothing to do with that. I don't like
the implication."
"So why did you call the police today? Isn't
Pedro your connection with El Grupo?" I was hit-
ting her hard, but I had to. She was silent for a long
while. Finally she spoke again.
"Nick, let me explain to you about El Grupo
Febrero. My brother was a member of El Grupo,
many years ago. But it was not then what it is
now."
"It was a secret organization, wasn't it?"
"Yes. My brother told me about El Grupo dur-
ing the time he was going to their meetings. We
were very close. You must remember that ten years
ago another regime was in power. There were
many injustices, which my brother was against, as
am I. The power of the police and army was un-
checked. There was no real democracy. People who
did not believe what the government believed were
imprisoned, some were even tortured. El Grupo
was for a just and democratic society and for that
reason opposed to that government. To have been
anything but secret would have meant harrassment
and imprisonment for its members. But at that
time El Grupo Febrero was not a violent organiza-
tion."
'S Then it became one?"
"l do not know what happened. As I said, my
brother often talked with me about the group's
AND NEXT THE KING
45
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
45
(55 of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
45
educational and social goals. Then the government
to which the group was opposed fell. I assumed
that the group disbanded when democracy came to
Spain. There seemed no need for it after the present
government came to power. I cannot remember my
brother mentioning it again, except .
" Her voice
trailed off. After a brief silence she went on. "I
have talked with my brother twice since he disap-
peared. About a week after he left I received a call.
He seemed very frightened. He told me not to men-
tion his disappearance to anyone. I asked him
where he was. He said he could not tell me. He said
he was being hunted."
"Hunted?"
"Those were his words. Then a week ago he
called again. He asked me if I was being followed.
I said no. Then, because of his previous connection
to El Grupo Febrero and because I had read so
much about them in the papers, I asked him if he
was still connected with them. He hung up, without
answering. Strangely, it was after this call that I
began to feel that I was being watched. Maybe I
just hadn't noticed it before. There was nothing
definite, but I constantly felt people were watching
me."
"Like at the telephone this afternoon."
"Yes."
"You don't know where your brother was when
he made the second call?"
"l think, perhaps, Barcelona. When I picked up
the phone an operator's voice began to say some-
thing like 'Bar', then immediately my brother's
voice came on the line interrupting her. And we
used to live in Barcelona. We moved here after my
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
46
(56 of 244)
se
46
o Ive •n
+ 110%
arce ona.we movea nere at e
NICK CARTER
mother died two years ago, because Pedro got the
job at the library in Madrid."
"So when Pedro was a member of El Grupo it
was in Barcelona?" Maria nodded her head.
"Did you know any other members of El
"No, as I said, it was secret and I was very young
at the time. I do not want my brother to get hurt,
Nick. That is why I haven't called the police
before. I was afraid the police would track down
my brother, and that they would think him respon-
Sible for what has been going on, because he was
once a member of the group. But I know Pedro. He
could not be taking part in such horrible killings of
innocent people."
I refrained from telling Maria that all kinds of
people could become terrorists, even the most in-
nocent seeming and even the most beloved
brothers. I knew that Maria believed that Pedro
wasn't taking part in the killings, and perhaps he
wasn't, but there was clearly some connection be-
tween his disappearance and the emergence of El
Grupo.
"I will do everything I can to keep your brother
from being hurt, Maria, but only a bad purpose
can be served by your hiding information from me.
Innocent people are dying, the Spanish govern-
ment is being destroyed."
"The only thing I remember about El Grupo,"
Maria said, "is one name. My brother often men-
tioned going to meetings at Dona Pretiosa's. I be-
lieve she had a shop or a bar or something in the
Barrio Chino and that's where they held their
meetings."
****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******
47
(57 of 244)
+ 110%
AND NEXT THE KING
"That's all you know?"
"That's all I know."
47
This information excited me; it was the first con-
crete lead we had about someone who might be
connected with the group. I told Maria that I
would probably be heading for Barcelona to search
for Dona Pretiosa and for her brother.
"Can I go with you?" Her eyes implored me. "If
you do find my brother, I would like to be with you
when you do—regardless of what he's done. And
perhaps I can help prove his innocence."
Taking Maria with me didn't seem like a bad
idea. She knew Barcelona better than I and might
be able to help me find Dona Pretiosa. And—it
was tough to think of it in these terms, but I'm in
a tough business—if Pedro were a member of El
Grupo and I had Maria with me as I looked for
him, it was possible that he would come forward, if
for no other reason than to get in touch with her. I
told Maria I'd find out what headquarters thought
of her plan, but that I would certainly like having
her along—for a number of reasons.
' 'And I would like to be with you Nick—for a
number of reasons." She smiled at me, and we
looked deeply, longingly into one another's eyes.
I had already called the hotel from the restaurant
to have them make up a room next to mine for
Maria. I wanted to keep her as close as possible to
me until I found out what Lorca would advise me
to do with her. I unlocked her hotel door and set
her suitcase inside, then let her pass into the room.
Her pale face looked up at me and again our eyes
met. I could feel the warmth of her body next to
48
NICK CARTER