Dr. O (16 page)

"May as well, things here are kinda slow for the moment."

"Patching you through, and kid, be careful around those FBI creeps."

"Gotcha—" but Peggy was off.

Noone came on all bluster. "All right, Sergeant, I hope you're pleased with yourself."

"Sir?"

"The files, Muro... the stolen ones, the ones Joe Swisher was supposed to have hidden in some hole somewhere, were found in your safety deposit box."

"What? How, who gave authorization to go into my—"

"You're dealing with the fucking G-men, Sergeant. What'd you expect?"

She thanked God that she had brought the papers from Oliguerri's desk with her. They hadn't left her bra. Anyone wanting them would have to kill her for them. "They found what they wanted then."

"Real swift, that Thorpe. She invites you out West and moves in on you here. You're swimming with sharks, kid."

"So I'm learning."

"But taking those records, that was stupid, Muro. They could charge you with theft, obstruction of—"

"I think Thorpe has bigger plans for me than that."

Noone was silent for a moment. "Robyn, why don't you come back home. You're needed here. Let them take care of that whacko, Ovierto."

"No, Cap, I'm in it for now."

"Watch your backside, girl."

"Thanks, Captain, for the concern."

"They think you've got something else belongs to them."

She played dumb. "Oh?"

"Something out of Oliguerri's lab... some papers."

"I wasn't in there long enough to—"

"To have a drink of water?"

He knew... they knew. The papers she had taken from the lab must be important and were likely the reason Thorpe had invited her in. What was so important about them? The figures, the equations, the words themselves, which were in his Nigerian tongue? "I took the files because they were in Joe's place. That's all I took, Captain."

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you, kid?"

"No more than you would lie to me, sir."

This silenced him again. She took the opportunity to say, "Look, I've got to go. I'll check in when I can."

"Do that... do that."

When she hung up the phone, she wasn't sure who she could trust any longer. And she wasn't sure how long she could hold onto the notes from Oliguerri.

"There you are," said Thorpe, who was suddenly be-side her. "It's time to go. I've had Walter take your things to the car at the rear of the hotel. It's time to move out."

Who was Walter, she wondered —her best trained sniffer? Had he gone through her bags before taking them to the car? "Thank you... very thoughtful of you," she said, accompanying Thorpe. "Listen, Inspector Thorpe, don't you think it would be best if we could try to trust one another, since we are going to be working together?"

"But I do trust you, Sergeant."

"Not quite enough. I understand your people looted my safety deposit box in Chicago."

"I wasn't aware that the Chicago Bureau had taken such steps." She stopped, staring at her, giving Robyn the benefit of an "ah, ha!" glance. "So, it was you who made off with the files I'd left in Swisher's care."

"Don't give me that. You knew all along. You knew it when you invited me in that night at the airport."

She half smiled at Robyn. "You're very smart, Robyn —as smart as you are beautiful. So, you know what we're really looking for. Why don't you tell me where it is?"

"All I took were the files."

Thorpe dropped her gaze, considering this. "All right... all right, then that would mean that our fiend, Dr. Ovierto, has what we want. That information could make him even more dangerous than he already is."

"What information is it, and how does it make him more dangerous?"

"Sorry-"

"Oh, shit! You're sorry... you can't tell me... top fuckin' secret, is it? Having to do with this God Project you were talking about upstairs?"

"Pythagoras is not my concern! Ovierto is!"

"That's the name of the project?"

"Forget it. Concentrate on Ovierto, damnit."

"Be a good soldier, huh... just do my duty, like you do yours, and let other people make the moral choices?"

"Don't talk to me about morals. Morals... what good are they when you're hunting a demon?"

"If you don't hold onto your morals then you become the demon."

"Nice speech, Sergeant, but give it a rest! Please! After you see the results of this Devil's work, and then you imagine a potent weapon capable of destroying whole populations falling into his hands... then you tell me about morals."

Walter honked the horn just outside the rear door as the two strong-willed women bared their teeth at one another. Finally, Thorpe said, "I wasn't always an Inspector... wasn't always an FBI agent, but I have always been a woman, Robyn, and I'm telling you woman-to-woman that there is only one objective here, and that is to see Ovierto to his grave any way we can. Now with this document which you most certainly have tucked away somewhere... possibly on your person... we might lure the bastard to us, and when he gets close enough to two such women as we are, he will not live to move away from us. Is that clear?"

"I don't have it," she put out her arms in supplication. "Do you understand?"

"Then we must assume he has it, since Hogarth's testimony is that the notes were in the lab when she went out to Swisher."

The mention of Joe's name used like a pawn in her game, coming from her cold lips, made Robyn walk away from her and get into the waiting, unmarked police car behind Walter.

"You don't get it, do you, Muro?" Thorpe said when she got into the automobile. "We are all of us expendable in this, all of us."

Robyn said nothing, feeling the scratchy papers against her breast. She realized that all that stood between her and Thorpe, with her goonish Walter, all that kept them from strapping her to a chair and ripping her clothing away, was her gun and something she hadn't expected from Thorpe, forbearance.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Hogarths were being held at a heavily guarded, fortified location, a building which was a failed winery, largely empty, with a connecting house, all in Spanish architecture surrounded by gently sloping hills, overlooking a lake which could be viewed from the elaborate, wraparound veranda. Windows studded this veranda on two levels, and it gave some cover from the sun and the rain which was plentiful here in Washington. It had rained now, off and on, since Robyn's arrival. But for now the sun was out, covering the dry December lawn with a glistening sheen.

There was a long approach to the "safe" house where the Hogarths were virtual prisoners to the situation. Robyn imagined it was most difficult on the child, but then, having the child in such danger must be equally difficult on the parents.

Robyn was escorted into a very beautiful, spacious house, whose rear windows overlooked the lake. She was introduced to Mr. Hogarth, who apparently had had enough introductions to officers to last him a lifetime. He went back to his book and his martini without a word.

"He's a college professor," said Thorpe, as if this explained his rudeness. "Philosophy."

"Where's Mrs. Hogarth?" Thorpe asked an armed man at the window.

He pointed, "At the lake."

"What the hell're they doing down there?"

"Easy, Malloy's with them."

"They shouldn't be outside! Those were my orders."

"The place is guarded on all sides, including the lake."

"Come on, Muro," said Thorpe, rushing out the back.

Robyn caught up to her and they made their way down stone steps for the water, where the child was puttering about the chilly shallows, playing chase with minnows below the surface, while her mother watched, doing some upright sunbathing in a low-cut print dress, her bare arms goose bumped with the cool air. From her stance and the nervous activity of her hands, it looked as if she'd just come away from a fight with her husband.

From across the lake a small boat was chugging closer, the sound of the motor meshing with the sound of birds in the trees. The sun-dappled water made the boat and the man a black silhouette against the water, but Robyn saw the man at the tiller raise something—an object like a gun —and point it toward them. Was it one of Thorpe's people? Just then there rose an explosion from the house that rocked the ground, sending Robyn and Donna Thorpe toppling. Thorpe came up firing at the man in the boat as other agents rushed in toward the flaming house and winery. The boat swung around. Robyn aimed for the motor and put a slug into it before it was out of range.

Mrs. Hogarth and the child were screaming in one another's arms in the shallows where Elena Hogarth had grabbed up her baby. Thorpe rushed into the water, continuing a fire which was useless since Dr. Ovierto was out of range.

Using a hand-held radio she snatched from her pocket, Thorpe called for her men to circle the lake. She shouted for men on boats about the large, winding lake to pursue Ovierto. She pleaded for one of these boats to pick her up. All this time the child was screaming and Elena Hogarth tried to get her up, falling again into the water with her. Robyn rushed in to help with the child, throwing a coat she wore over the girl, who was screaming, "My daddy! My daddy! My daddy!"

Elena Hogarth hugged the child and the coat into her. Thorpe suddenly pushed them to the ground, a ping like a bee sting passing Robyn's ear. "He's got a scope on that thing! Get to cover, now!"

But Ovierto was toying with them all, sending bullets just close enough to frighten them before he suddenly stopped, seeing another boat racing toward him with agents firing at him.

"Get him! Get him!" Thorpe shouted into her radio when the silhouette in the distance lifted a piece of heavy artillery and Robyn saw that it was a bazooka.

"Thorpe! He's got a bazooka! Call your men back!"

But it was too late. Ovierto fired and the boat carrying the agents exploded, the pieces raining down over the water.

"Christ, he turns that thing on us and—" Robyn tugged at Hogarth and the child to run for the other side of the burning house, beyond the smoke, for protection. Thorpe stood her ground, calling up a second boat of agents, who picked her up. They barreled toward Ovierto, who readied to fire, but something was wrong with his artillery piece; he turned, revved the motor to full speed, and raced off.

Robyn got Mrs. Hogarth and the child into the car which had brought her and Thorpe to the winery. Walter was nowhere in sight, most likely inside the house when it had blown with such an impact she guessed plastique explosives had been used. But how had the demon gotten in to place the charge, and when?"

"Get us out of here!" Hogarth pleaded with her.

Robyn hesitated. Thorpe and the others would continue their pursuit of the madman for as long as they could. She had a distraught child and a frightened woman on her hands and must act now to get them to safety.

"We're getting the hell out of here!" Robyn declared.

Robyn wheeled the car around and tore from the grounds, leaving rising flames and a black cloud of smoke behind them.

"Where to? Where can we go?" asked Robyn.

"Anywhere! South... South here on 192. That will take you to the Interstate."

It sounded as good as any other direction to her at the moment, so Robyn punched the big sedan and rocketed south on 192, finding the Interstate and merging with the traffic there.

The girl continued to cry. Her mother damned Robyn and all her kind with a few cutting words. "You people can't protect us... no one can."

Robyn's nerves were frayed and she wanted to tell Hogarth to silence the kid, but she said nothing, her knuckles white against the steering wheel. They drove for an hour before the radio came to life and amid the static they heard a chilling voice say, "Daddy's dead, and mommy's .next ... daddy's dead and mommy's next."

Robyn shut it off, saying, "Christ!"

"He's a devil... he's everywhere," Elena Hogarth said, shaken. "How does he know we can hear him? How did he come on the radio?"

"Anyone with a police band can play electronic detective, Dr. Hogarth, and he doesn't know that we got his message. He's just firing in the dark."

"Like he destroyed the house? In the dark? Killed my husband in front of you people."

"I'm not FBI, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't lump me in with Thorpe's kind."

"You're all the same... Seattle police, FBI... what's the difference?"

"I'm a Chicago cop, that's the difference."

"The Chicago cops couldn't stop this fiend either."

"Joe Swisher was my partner."

This silenced her a moment. "I'm... I'm so sorry. He was a very nice man."

"We... we planned to marry some day."

"Now we have both lost our men to this madness... and poor Oliguerri..."

Robyn looked in her rearview and saw the anguish in the face of the woman, whose skin was slick with tears and an absence of makeup. Dr. Hogarth gasped several times, trying to regain her composure and strength for the child.