Phillip Margolin - The Associate

The next morning, the sun was hiding behind a lead sky and there was a threat of rain in the chill air. Daniel was sore from his run and he limped out of bed. After breakfast, he watched the first half of a Seattle Seahawks’ game on TV, but Kate’s house was beginning to feel claustrophobic. He remembered the mess in his apartment and drove over at halftime. The apartment didn’t look any better than it had the day before. Daniel turned on the football game and watched while he straightened up. Everything was in decent shape by the time the game ended. Daniel was wondering when his life would be put back together when the phone rang. His hand hovered over the receiver as he debated whether to take the call. He had no desire to talk to a reporter, but it could be a friend and it would be nice to talk to someone who cared enough to call. “Hello?” “Daniel Ames?” a man asked. He had an accent-Slavic, Russian perhaps. “Who is this?” “We have to meet.” The man sounded desperate. “About what?” Daniel asked cautiously. “I witnessed Arthur Briggs’s murder.” The answer was rushed. “I know you didn’t kill him. That’s why you’re the only one I can trust.” The hair stood up on the back of Daniel’s neck. “Dr. Kaidanov?” “Will you meet with me?” “Will you go to the police and tell them I’m innocent?”

Daniel asked excitedly. “We must talk first.” “Fine, where are you?

I’ll come right away.” “No, not in daylight. You might be followed.

Tonight at ten come alone to Rest of Angels Cemetery. I’ll meet you near Simon Prescott’s mausoleum.” “You’re joking?” “I lost my sense of humor when those bastards tried to kill me at the lab.” “But a cemetery, after dark?” “Rest of Angels is where my mother is buried.

Are you going to be there?” “Yeah, don’t get excited.” “I’ve earned the right to be excited. I’ve been running for my life for almost a month. You should be able to relate to that.” As soon as Kaidanov told Daniel how to find the mausoleum, he hung up and Daniel dialed Kate’s house, hoping that she was back from Arizona, but all he got was her answering machine.

Daniel left for Rest of Angels at 9:30 without having heard from Kate. The main gate closed at sundown. Kaidanov had instructed him to park in a housing development that was separated from the cemetery by a shallow ravine and a quarter acre of forest. Daniel put up the hood from his windbreaker. Heavy rain had turned the walls of the ravine to mire. He slid down one side then scrambled up the other. By the time he was out of the depression, he was shivering and covered with mud.

Rest of Angels sprawled across a hundred and twenty-five hilly and wooded acres overlooking the Columbia River and was surrounded by another hundred and seventy-five acres of forest. On summer days the cemetery was a serene and picturesque shelter for the dead. When Daniel broke out of the forest, the rain-slashed graveyard looked like a set fromDracula. A cemetery after dark would never have been his first choice of a place to meet, especially with a murderer running loose. The mausoleums and monuments provided excellent cover for a killer. Daniel ran between the graves to the Prescott mausoleum, then ducked behind the crypt. The rain and the biting wind were making him miserable and he pulled the strings of his hood tighter to protect his face, all the while looking around for Kaidanov. His senses were strained to the limit, but the downpour made it hard to hear and his hood limited his peripheral vision. “Ames.” Daniel spun around, fist cocked. He held his punch when he recognized Kaidanov. The scientist looked as miserable as Daniel felt. Water ran down his face and beaded a mustache and beard that Daniel had not noticed in the picture on the liquor cabinet in Kaidanov’s living room. “You scared the shit out of me,” Daniel said as he sagged against the tomb. “We don’t have much time,” the Russian answered. He was shivering and his voice trembled from the cold. “I want you to tell Geller Pharmaceuticals that I’ll testify that my study is a hoax.” “The results aren’t real?” Daniel asked, stunned by Kaidanov’s revelation. “Of course not.” “And Insufort is safe?” “I don’t have time for this,” Kaidanov said impatiently. “You tell Geller’s people that I want money and protection. I’m not meeting anyone until I’ve been paid and all of the safety precautions have been arranged to my satisfaction.” “Why me?”

“Because I don’t know who to trust at Reed, Briggs or Geller. I want one million dollars. That’s cheap considering how much I’ll save them.

I also want a safe house and bodyguards.” Kaidanov looked around nervously. “They tried to kill me at the lab. Then they tried again when they murdered Briggs.” “Who tried to kill you?” “I don’t know. I never met anyone. I received my instructions by phone or in the mail or at a drop. They paid me to transform that building into a lab and to phony up the study. They told me the results they wanted.” “Why did you do it?” Kaidanov shrugged. “Gambling debts. They promised me enough to pay them and more. I was stupid. I believed them.” “Do you know who killed Arthur Briggs?” “I’m sure it was the same person who tried to kill me at the lab, but I didn’t see his face. Everything happened too fast. Arthur warned me and I got away. I was lucky at the lab, too.” Kaidanov laughed. “That fucking monkey. It saved my life.”

“The monkey that was shot?” “I was seconds away from being set on fire when the little beast came out of nowhere. It was amazing. Its coat was solid flame and it still had the strength to attack.” The Russian shook his head in awe. “The last thing I saw was its teeth sinking into the killer’s shoulder.” Kaidanov shuddered. Blood, skin, and brains spattered Daniel’s face. He stepped back instinctively, making a strangled sound as he stared in shock at the remains of Kaidanov’s face. The scientist lurched forward and clutched Daniel’s jacket. His back absorbed the next bullet. The explosion acted like a slap. Daniel shoved the body away and jumped behind the mausoleum, barely avoiding a bullet that nicked the edge of the crypt and sprayed him with rock chips. Daniel sprinted between the graves toward another mausoleum.

Someone was running parallel to him, several rows over. The killer pulled up and assumed a shooting stance. Daniel dove behind a stone angel just as the angel’s head exploded. Daniel scrambled forward, crablike, but he held out little hope of escape. It wouldn’t take long for the killer to figure out that he was unarmed and helpless. He took a quick look around. The mausoleum was two rows away. The killer would expect him to head for it because it provided the best shelter, so he started circling back toward Kaidanov’s body, hoping that the heavy clouds and rain would cloak his movements. Daniel risked a look over his shoulder and saw a figure racing toward the mausoleum. As soon as it disappeared he leaped up and raced away. A gun fired and Daniel felt the wind track of a bullet speeding by his cheek. He shifted gears and ran all out, dodging behind the tallest monuments and widest headstones. Another bullet ripped the fabric of his hood and creased the side of his head, sending him sprawling headfirst into a granite slab. Fighting for consciousness, Daniel gritted his teeth and struggled to one knee, then tumbled back down. Footsteps pounded the ground, drawing closer. A shot. Daniel braced for the impact, but none came. Two more shots, but from opposite directions, then another and another. Daniel looked around. A figure was firing toward his assailant, who turned and fled. “Stay down,” Kate Ross yelled. Daniel crawled behind a large headstone. His head was throbbing. When he touched the skin above his left ear, blood dampened his palm and pain flared in his temple. Kate crouched beside him, a gun in her hand.