David Morrell - Assumed Identity

“Get away from me!”

Outside the compartment, someone pounded on the door.

“Impressive,” Buchanan said. “Quicker than I expected.”

Holly’s expression was a combination of fright, relief, and bewilderment. “What do you-? Quicker than-?”

Buchanan opened the door. A tall man in his thirties-square-jawed, broad-shouldered, heavy-chested, an ex-football-player type-was about to ram his shoulder against the door. He blinked in surprise at Buchanan’s sudden appearance

“And who are you?” Buchanan asked. “The husband?”

The surly man looked past Buchanan to make sure that Holly was all right.

“Or the boyfriend? Come on,” Buchanan said. “I’m running out of categories.”

“An interested party.”

“Then you might as well join the party.” Buchanan opened the door wider and gestured for the man to enter. “There’s no point in standing in the hall and waking the neighbors. I just hope we all fit in this tiny compartment.”

His rugged features contorted with suspicion, the man slowly entered.

Buchanan felt the man’s wide shoulders press against him. He managed to close the door. “It’s a good thing you didn’t bring company. We might run out of oxygen.”

“Shut up with the jokes,” the man said. “Take off her clothes? What did you think you were-?”

“Inviting you,” Buchanan said.

The big man opened his mouth.

“That tape recorder’s a little too obvious,” Buchanan said and turned to Holly. “I figured you meant for me to find it. Then I’d feel safe to talk, nothing I couldn’t deny later, your word against mine, but what I wouldn’t know is that the good stuff would be transmitted by a microphone you were wearing to your partner in a nearby compartment. The only way I was going to find that microphone was by doing a strip search, so I thought I’d suggest the idea and see what happened.” He turned to the man. “And here you are.”

“You. .” Holly didn’t finish the curse.

“Hey, I meant what I told you. I’ve got nothing to do with this secret-agent stuff. But that doesn’t mean I’m an idiot,” Buchanan said. “Now is there anything else you want to ask me? Because it’s late. I’m tired. I want to get some sleep.”

“You. .”

“Yeah, I’m probably that, too,” Buchanan said.

“Come on, Holly,” her companion said.

Buchanan squeezed out of the way. With difficulty, he opened the door. “Thanks for paying for the beer and sandwiches. You really know how to show a guy a good time.”

Holly’s eyes narrowed. “I’m staying.”

“Don’t be crazy,” her companion said.

“I know what I’m doing,” she said.

“Look, this is all very interesting,” Buchanan said. “But I mean it. I’m tired.”

“And I mean it. I’m staying.”

“Fine,” Buchanan said. “Anything to convince you I’m telling the truth. You can satisfy yourself that I don’t say anything incriminating in my sleep.”

“Holly, think about it,” her companion said.

“I’ll be fine, Ted.”

“Yeah, Ted,” Buchanan said. “She’ll be fine. I promise I won’t take off her clothes. Good night, Ted.” Buchanan guided him out the door. “Stay tuned. I hope my snoring won’t keep you awake.”

In the swaying corridor, a white-haired elderly woman in a nightgown adjusted her spectacles and peered intensely at them from the compartment to the right.

“Sorry if we woke you, ma’am,” Buchanan said. He watched Ted walk along the corridor and enter the last compartment on the right. With a wave to both him and the elderly woman, Buchanan stepped back into his compartment and closed the door.

He locked it and studied Holly. “So which position do you like? Top or bottom?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea because I stayed. Ted’s really very tough. If he thinks I’m not safe with you, he’ll-”

“Bunks.”

“What?”

“I’m talking about bunks.” Buchanan reached up to grab a lever and pulled down the top one. He started to prepare the bottom one. “I don’t know what you expect to accomplish by this. But I suggest we flip a coin to see who uses the bathroom first.”

“Oh.”

“And if you don’t happen to have a toothbrush, you can use mine.”

“On second thought. .”

“You bet.” Buchanan unlocked and opened the door. “Good night, Holly.”

“Good night.”

“ How did she know my real name? How did she know so many of my pseudonyms? How did she know where to find me? I asked her those questions several times.” Buchanan was in a phone booth on Loyola Avenue, not far from Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans. The street was noisy. The October sky was hazy blue. The weather was warm and humid. But all Buchanan cared about was what he heard on the phone and whether he was being followed.

“We’ll find out,” his deep-voiced contact officer said. “Do whatever you were going to do. Don’t change your plans. We’ll get back to you. But if anything new develops, call us immediately. Just remember, the evidence she claims to have-the photographs-they aren’t conclusive.”

“But she’s not supposed to have those photographs at all. What happened in Fort Lauderdale after I left?” Buchanan demanded. “This problem was supposed to have been taken care of.”

“We thought the woman was merely a hired hand. Nobody guessed she’d be a reporter. When she didn’t resurface, she didn’t seem important.”

“For all I know, Bailey’s involved in this, too.”

“No,” the voice said firmly. “He isn’t. Just stay calm. Enjoy your furlough. At the moment, the woman can’t prove anything.”

“Tell the colonel he was in one of the photographs she showed me.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to tell him. Meanwhile, in case we need to get in touch with you, stick around your hotel room between six and eight tonight. After that, check the possible rendezvous sites we agreed on before you left.”

Tense, Buchanan hung up the phone, picked up his travel bag, opened the booth’s door, and stepped out.

A redheaded woman and her male companion appeared from behind trees in a nearby park.

God, Buchanan thought.

He stalked toward them. “Enough is enough. You’re not going to ruin my furlough by following me.”

Holly McCoy looked disappointed that she’d been spotted.

“Who were you phoning? Your superior officers to tell them you’d been exposed?”

“An old friend who moved down here. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Prove it. Let’s go visit him.”

“His girlfriend told me he had to go to Houston for an emergency sales conference.”

“Convenient. What’s his name?”

“Lady, I’m annoyed that I won’t get to see him, and you’re not making things any better by-”

“Holly. Please, call me Holly. I mean, since we nearly spent the night together, we might as well use each other’s first name.”

Buchanan turned to her male companion. “Whatever you’re being paid, it isn’t enough. After listening to her all the time, don’t you just want to put a noose around your neck and put an end to it all?”

He walked away toward the entrance to the nearby post office.

“Brendan!” Holly called.

Buchanan didn’t respond.

“Bren!” she called.

Buchanan kept walking.

“Hey!” she called. “What hotel are you using?”

It had been so long since anyone had used Buchanan’s first name and his nickname that he didn’t identify them with himself. Slowly, they registered on him. He turned. “Why should I make things easy for you? Damn it, find out for yourself.”

In front of the post office, a man got out of a taxi. Buchanan ducked in and gave directions to the driver. As the taxi sped into traffic, the last thing he heard Holly shout was, “Hey!”