Tess Gerritsen - Double Impact

She batted his hand away and took a panicked step back. “I don’t believe in nice guys.”

“Afraid of men?”

“I’m not afraid of men. But I don’t trust them, either.”

“Still,” he said with an obvious note of laughter in his voice, “you let me into your room.”

“Maybe it’s time to let you out.” She stalked across the room and yanked open the door. “Or are you going to be difficult?”

“Me?” To her surprise, he followed her to the door. “I’m never difficult.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Besides, I can’t hang around tonight. I’ve got more important business.”

“Really.”

“Really.” He glanced at the lock on her door. “I see you’ve got a heavy-duty dead bolt. Use it. And take my advice-don’t go out on the town tonight.”

“Darn! That was next on my agenda.”

“Oh, and in case you need me-” he turned and grinned at her from the doorway “-I’m staying at the Liberty Hotel. Call anytime.”

She started to snap, Don’t hold your breath. But before she could get out the words, he’d left.

She was staring at a closed door.

TOBIAS WOLFF swiveled his wheelchair around from the liquor cabinet and faced his old friend. “If I were you, Guy, I’d stay the hell out of it.”

It had been five years since they’d last seen each other. Toby still looked as muscular as ever-at least from the waist up. Fifteen years’ confinement to a wheelchair had bulked out those shoulders and arms. Still, the years had taken their inevitable toll. Toby was close to fifty now, and he looked it. His bushy hair, cut Beethoven style, was almost entirely gray. His face was puffy and sweating in the tropical heat. But the dark eyes were as sharp as ever.

“Take some advice from an old Company man,” he said, handing Guy a glass of Scotch. “There’s no such thing as a coincidental meeting. There are only planned encounters.”

“Coincidence or not,” said Guy, “Willy Maitland could be the break I’ve been waiting for.”

“Or she could be nothing but trouble.”

“What’ve I got to lose?”

“Your life?”

“Come on, Toby! You’re the only one I can trust to give me a straight answer.”

“It was a long time ago. I wasn’t directly connected to the case.”

“But you were in Vientiane when it happened. You must remember something about the Maitland file.”

“Only what I heard in passing, none of it confirmed. Hell, it was like the Wild West out there. Rumors flying thicker’n the mosquitoes.”

“But not as thick as you covert-action boys.”

Toby shrugged. “We had a job to do. We did it.”

“You remember who handled the Maitland case?”

“Had to be Mike Micklewait. I know he was the case officer who debriefed that villager-the one who came in for the reward.”

“Did Micklewait think the man was on the level?”

“Probably not. I know the villager never got the reward.”

“Why wasn’t Maitland’s family told about all this?”

“Hey, Maitland wasn’t some poor dumb draftee. He was working for Air America. In other words, CIA. That’s a job you don’t talk about. Maitland knew the risks.”

“The family deserved to hear about any new evidence.” Guy thought about the surreptitious way Willy and her mother had learned of it.

Toby laughed. “There was a secret war going on, remember? We weren’t even supposed to be in Laos. Keeping families informed was at the bottom of anyone’s priority list.”

“Was there some other reason it was hushed up? Something to do with the passenger?”

Toby’s eyebrows shot up. “Where did you hear that rumor?”

“Willy Maitland. She heard there was a Lao on board. Everyone’s denying his existence, so my guess is he was a very important person. Who was he?”

“I don’t know.” Toby wheeled around and looked out the open window of his apartment. From the darkness came the sounds and smells of the Bangkok streets. Meat sizzling on an open-air grill. Women laughing. The rumble of a tuk-tuk. “There was a hell of a lot going on back then. Things we never talked about. Things we were even ashamed to talk about. What with all the agents and counteragents and generals and soldiers of fortune, you could never really be sure who was running the place. Everyone was pulling strings, trying to get rich quick. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out.” He slapped the wheelchair in anger. “And this is where I end up. Great retirement.” Sighing, he leaned back and stared out at the night. “Let it be, Guy,” he said softly. “If you’re right-if someone’s out to hit Maitland’s kid-then this is too hot to handle.”

“Toby, that’s the point! Why is the case so hot? Why, after all these years, would Maitland’s brat be making them nervous? What do they think she’ll find out?”

“Does she know what she’s getting into?”

“I doubt it. Anyway, nothing’ll stop this dame. She’s a chip off the old block.”

“Meaning she’s trouble. How’re you going to get her to work with you?”

“That’s the part I haven’t figured out yet.”

“There’s always the Romeo approach.”

Guy grinned. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

In fact, that was precisely the tactic he’d been considering all evening. Not because he was so sure it would work, but because she was an attractive woman and he couldn’t help wondering what she was really like under that tough-gal facade.

“Alternatively,” Toby said, “you could try telling her the truth. That you’re not after her. You’re after the three million bounty.”

“Two million.”

“Two million, three million, what’s the difference? It’s a lot of dough.”

“And I could use a lot of help,” Guy said with quiet significance.

Toby sighed. “Okay,” he said, at last wheeling around to look at him. “You want a name, I’ll give you one. May or may not help you. Try Alain Gerard, a Frenchman, living these days in Saigon. He used to have close ties with the Company, knew all the crap going on in Vientiane.”

“Ex-Company and living in Saigon? Why haven’t the Vietnamese kicked him out?”

“He’s useful to them. During the war he made his money exporting, shall we say, raw pharmaceuticals. Now he’s turned humanitarian in his old age. U.S. trade embargoes cut the Viets off from Western markets. Gerard brings in medical supplies from France, antibiotics, X-ray film. In return, they let him stay in the country.”

“Can I trust him?”

“He’s ex-Company.”

“Then I can’t trust him.”

Toby grunted. “You seem to trust me.”

“You’re different.”

“That’s only because I owe you, Barnard. Though I often think you should’ve left me to burn in that plane.” Toby kneaded his senseless thighs. “No one has much use for half a man.”

“Doesn’t take legs to make a man, Toby.”

“Ha. Tell that to Uncle Sam.” Using his powerful arms, Toby shifted his weight in the chair. “When’re you leaving for Saigon?”

“Tomorrow morning. I moved my flight up a few days.” Guy’s palms were already sweating at the thought of boarding that Air France plane. He tossed back a mind-numbing gulp of Scotch. “Wish I could take a boat instead.”

Toby laughed. “You’d be the first boat person going back to Vietnam. Still scared to fly, huh?”

“White knuckles and all.” He set his glass down and headed for the door. “Thanks for the drink. And the tip.”

“I’ll see what else I can do for you,” Toby called after him. “I still might have a few contacts in-country. Maybe I can get ’em to watch over you. And the woman. By the way, is anyone keeping an eye on her tonight?”