Chris Mooney - World Without End

"Besides King, Alan Matthews was the only witness who has seen Angel Eyes. Now we might have another." Again Conway reached inside his pocket and came back with a card, only this one was slightly bigger. He handed it over and said, "This is from Renee Kaufmann, John Riley's girlfriend. She had it waiting for me at the funeral home last night.

She was in Amsterdam when Riley was killed."

"And now she's waiting for you at the Aquarium."

Conway nodded.

"We have a witness who's seen Angel Eyes's real face."

"The note says she has evidence to back it up. What do you think that means?"

"I don't know. Maybe she recorded something."

"This is quite a breakthrough."

"I want to bring her in. I want her protected."

"I agree. Stephen, do you think Angel Eyes knows about the woman?"

"I don't know. Right now, I think he's focused on me. He thinks I know the decryption code."

"Do you?"

Conway mentioned the last words Randy had spoken to him.

"They mean something, I'm sure," he said.

"But what happened inside the lab is still hazy. Any leads on Dixon?"

"I'm sure he's close to the suit. Stephen, before our visit, you talked with Raymond?"

"In Austin. He wanted to be updated about what happened in the lab."

"Walk me through your conversation. I want to make sure Raymond hasn't missed anything."

Conway did. When he was done, Faust held up the card from Renee Kaufmann and said, "Have you told Raymond about this most recent development?"

"He told me to go directly through you. He also said you'd give me a new Palm Pilot, a watch, and a phone."

"Those items aren't ready yet. You're staying at the Copley Fairmont, correct?"

"Room 602."

"I'll drop them by later. The next time you talk to Raymond, tell him he should read Spiritus Mundi."

"What's that?"

"A medieval text for Christians. It lays out what Christians need to do in order to die in the grace of God."

"I don't understand."

"Don't worry. He will." Faust glanced down at his watch. Ten minutes before noon. The Aquarium was a good fifteen-minute walk.

"You better get going. When you find Ms. Kaufmann, bring her outside.

I'll be there with a van, waiting. I'll keep her safe, Stephen. And you. Remember that. There are not many people you can trust in this world, but you can trust me. I'm a man of my word."

Conway nodded, turned around, and started a light jog down the path carved through the glass towers. He had reached the end of the last tower when Faust called for him. Conway turned around, his pale face almost white in the sunlight.

"

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity," Faust said.

"It's a line from Yeats's poem "The Second Coming. Don't underestimate the depths of human cruelty."

"

Faust removed his cell phone and hit the speed dial for the programmed number, his eyes tracking Stephen until he disappeared into the mob loitering around Fanueil Hall.

"It seems that software they downloaded into the suit was encrypted,"

Faust said. His eyes had settled on the disrespectful young man who was still screaming into his cell phone.

"They need a decryption code in order to operate it. Otherwise, the suit is useless."

"And they're keeping Conway alive because they think he knows the code," Gunther said.

"Yes. Raymond believed that John Riley knew it. Stephen accidentally called him from inside the lab. And it gets better. They're pinning the death of a man named Jonathan King on us."

"Who's that?"

"The chemist of some sticky foam. Apparently, he's the one who originated the name Angel Eyes."

"So Bouchard's been stealing items for a while now."

"Yes. Where are you?"

"I'm sitting on a bench, looking directly at the front entrance of the Copley Fairmont."

"And how is Mr. Cole?"

"Still under. He won't be coming up for a while. I planted the bugs and transmitters but I didn't find anything useful to get us closer to the suit."

"And the rest of Mr. Cole's brood?"

"The guy shadowing Conway and the surveillance team they had covering him have all been taken down. When Cole wakes up and finds out what happened to his men, he'll talk to Bouchard. It won't take them long to figure out we're involved. We're not living in the shadows anymore."

"I have a witness who not only saw Raymond kill Mr, Riley but claims to have evidence to back it up. She's at the Aquarium, waiting for Stephen. I want to bring them both in."

"You think Bouchard will hand over the suit for the woman?"

"Raymond's soul operates on currency. If we have the woman and evidence and threaten him with exposure, Raymond will hand over the suit." Faust would not put the woman in danger. She would be brought into the fold, safe from harm. But I will use her to bring you trembling to your knees, Raymond, he said to himself.

Gunther said, "A van just pulled up in front of the hotel."

"The Russians?"

"CIA. One of them I recognize from Austin. Five new players, they're moving inside the hotel."

"Probably on their way to see Mr. Cole. Any sign of Misha?"

"No. It's weird. It's like he's disappeared."

"Misha isn't one to hide, and he's predictably impatient. I'm sure he's restless by now. My guess is that he's sick of playing by Raymond's rules. Move your team to the Aquarium and call me so we can coordinate our efforts. We cannot leave any room for failure. If Raymond's men get Ms. Kaufmann first, her fate will be sealed."

"Understood."

"Be careful, Gunther. The vultures are circling," Faust said and hung up. He put his phone away and walked out of the memorial toward Curley Park, his arms by his sides and stretched wide to allow his gloved hands a final run across glass.

Outside of the towers, Faust removed his sunglasses from his inside jacket pocket and walked toward the young man still engrossed in his conversation. A few feet behind him, a black limousine had pulled up against the curb.

Faust held the sunglasses in one hand and let them dangle by his side.

Mounted on the belly of his forearm and hidden underneath the coat was a unit with a retractable blade. He scratched his forearm and with the press of a button the blade sprang from the unit. His gloved hand, the one holding the sunglasses, hid the blade from view. Smiling, Faust approached the man.

"Richie, hold on," the man said, and then pulled the phone away from his ear, his attention locked on the advancing Faust.

"What's the problem now?"

To the casual observer, Faust looked like he was about to walk past the man. Faust lifted his hand to put his sunglasses on, moving his wrist up to give the blade room to cut. In a swift, practiced motion the blade sliced the man's throat so quickly that he didn't realize what had just happened.

Three steps and Faust reached out and opened the door to the limo. He climbed inside the car and shut the door, and through the tinted window watched the gentleman on his knees, gasping, his pale, trembling hands clutching at the gash in his throat, desperately trying to stop the bloody tide.

The inside of the New England Aquarium was deceptively small. In the center was a mammoth circular glass fish tank with a concrete ramp that spiraled all the way to the top. The glass was segregated into sections, allowing different, boxed-in views of the tank. Arranged outside the tank were several rock formations in water that held dozens of Little Blue Penguins. An Aquarium employee dressed in a wet suit stood in water that glowed aquamarine from the underwater lights. He fed the penguins from a bucket of fish. A group of kids leaned spellbound against the handrail, as the man talked over his headset microphone about the feeding habits of penguins.

It was just after noon, and the Aquarium was scattered with mothers pushing infants in carriers or holding the hands of toddlers who kept pointing with wide-eyed fascination at the exotic, colorful fish gliding through the dusty-colored water and dodging their way in and out of the spaces between rock and coral formations.