The Death Dealers (10 page)

He, Vey Locca and Sarim Shey were together covered by two more of the young guys and they made no bones about it because they each had police service revolvers in their hands. Talbot was there, eyes narrowed now, looking for me, waiting for an explanation. I pointed under Teish’s chair, reached down and picked up a sliver of wood no longer than a match-stick that had an eighth of an inch of needle protruding from one end.

I handed it to him. “Get this analyzed right away. Ten to one it’s got a slow-acting poison on it that would take effect in about fifteen minutes.”

Teish’s eyes were staring now, frightened. “Please, Mr. Mann ...”

“No trouble, it’s cleared now.” I pointed to the TV set. “Can I check something?”

One of the guards there started to say something, but Talbot waved them off, having already established his authority over theirs. “Go ahead, old chap.”

I walked over, put the set on the right channel and there was Teish giving the end of his speech to the welcoming crowd at the ship. I knew how they worked it then. I looked at Teish and said, “I’ll be back. Come on, Talbot.”

They tried to stop us at the door, but Talbot flashed his credentials and got us out. In the corridor I saw Dick Gallagher and he was blazing mad, repositioning his men and throwing out the orders. I yelled to him to follow me and he came running. When we reached the end I said, “No questions, buddy. How do we get to the roof?”

He was sharp enough to wait me out. He pointed, led the way to the fire exit and we took the stairs two at a time to the top, then went past the two uniformed cops there to the door that led outside. I found the antenna that had been turned, a pipe wrench still fastened to it, but nobody was in sight.

“All the exits covered?”

Dick nodded.

“Then they had him planted here in plenty of time. He’s still got to be around.”

“Come on, come on. Let’s have it.”

“They had it timed just right. They screwed up the set downstairs by turning the antenna and fading out the picture, knowing somebody would call a maintenance man in. The guy was supposed to brush past Teish, hit him with the needle and he hardly would have felt it. A little fiddling with the set, then the guy on the roof redirected the antenna to bring in the picture while the maintenance man made his escape. Meanwhile, Teish is sitting there dying and never knowing it.”

Dick scanned the rooftop. He had to be there. No other roofs joined this building so he was behind one of the roof exits or the ventilators. We would spread out, each taking a different route to cover any possible escape.

It was Talbot who spotted him behind the enormous air conditioning exhaust structure in the middle of the roof. He let out a shout, pointed and we ran up to cover it from three sides, not knowing if the guy had a gun or not. He took a look to see where we were, the top of his head showing through some latticework on the structure. Dick fired into the air just once, but it was enough. He must have thought we were there to kill and let out a muffled scream and ran like a scared rabbit toward one of the roof doors, then saw us coming and changed direction.

He did it too fast and was too near the edge. The gravel surface of the roof was like marbles under his shoes and he skidded in a frenzied slide toward the top of the parapet, clutching wildly at the air, grabbing momentarily at the slick tiles that covered the raised brick parapet, then his own momentum took him over. We could still hear him screaming ten floors down before he became a dark blob on the sidewalk below that gradually began to glisten a wet red in the lights.

Dick muttered, “Damn!” and put his gun back slowly, then turned toward the exit we came out of.

They had cleared the main room when we got back. The herd had been gathered in another place and only a handful of people were left. Teish, Vey and Sarim were engaged with three people and the largest was Hal Randolph. He followed Teish’s eyes, saw me and excused himself. When he reached me there was a florid tone to his skin and he was holding himself in check tightly. “You have some talking to do, Tiger.”

“Why?”

“No gas, let’s us just talk.”

I shrugged. “So I crashed the party. I think you have everything by now.”

“Not the little ends that are so important.”

I waved my thumb at Talbot. “Hell fill you in. I gave him the needle that was supposed to drop off Teish.”

Randolph squinted, looked at Talbot and said, “Well?”

Talbot took his handkerchief out and unfolded it. The gimmick lay in the middle, the tip still dark with a strange substance. “Going over to the lab now. Unless you want to handle it.”

Randolph took the handkerchief out of his hand. “I do,” he told him, then listened while Talbot filled him in. When he finished, Randolph said, “Come over here.” He walked across the room to the other one where the TV set had been installed, pushing the door open. Inside, a table had been pulled up and two men bent over a body stretched out there. “We brought him back in here for a preliminary exam.”

I took a look at the body in the coveralls. “That’s the one who tried for Teish,” I said. “What happened?”

“Look at his neck.”

I saw the mark then, a discoloration that seemed to dent in the neck as if somebody had laid a pipe across it. I touched the crease, felt what had happened, then straightened up. “A professional touch. I only knew two people who could pull that trick and both of them are dead now.”

“He was dead when our men picked him up. They thought he was unconscious, but that blow was as expertly delivered as a headsman’s ax.”

I let my mind drift back. “It looked like he just took a swipe at him enough to knock him down.”

“Who, Tiger?”

“The guy with the beard.” I watched Randolph closely and saw how he was watching me, taking in every inflection of my voice, every gesture I made. “Didn’t you pick him up?”

“In the general commotion he seems to have disappeared.”

“So why worry? He won’t be hard to recognize. Hell, he came in with a card. I saw the guard pick it up at the door.”

“Oh, he did that, all right, but the card wasn’t his. It belonged to Carmen Beship who had a general resemblance and sported a beard like that, but five minutes ago the eminent Mr. Beship was reported dead in his own apartment from a blow exactly like this guy got.” He locked his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. “And you seem to have taken charge nicely, even to the one on the roof. Nobody’s around who can talk, or maybe
you
have an explanation, Tiger?”

“Malcolm Turos,” I said.

“And nobody really knows what he looks like.”

I let him see the teeth under my grin. “They do now.” I reached in my pocket and handed him one of the duplicate photos I had there. “By now the city police already have it on the wires.”

“You bastard!” He grabbed the photo and looked at it closely.

“Why does everybody always call me that?” I asked him.

Dick Gallagher pushed the door open before he could answer me and said, “You’re wanted outside here, Tiger.”

“He’s not going any place,” Randolph snarled.

“Then you’d better check with somebody further up. Teish El Abin’s asking for him personally and if you don’t get the message it’s your skin.”

I grinned at Randolph who stood there, his face getting redder. “I want to see you later, Mann. Our office. You be there.”

“Sure,” I said. “You have a paper for me I want to pick up. A gun clearance.”

Although nobody had given old Teish the total picture, he put enough of the pieces together himself to know what happened. He was going to get the story anyway so I just gave it to him straight and watched his face tighten into fine lines that highlighted all the thoughts of vengeance that danced in his eyes and when I was done he nodded slowly, waited until he was composed and said quietly, “My most sincere appreciation, Mr. Mann. It will be repaid.”

“No necessity for that.”

Sarim Shey seemed relieved at my gesture. “I say, you acted so quickly no one really knew what happened. Did you actually see the needle he had?”

“Not until he dropped it. But it was all too pat. I caught the angle in time and knew something was coming off.”

“Unusual for a ... businessman to react so quickly, isn’t it?” He said it pleasantly enough, but there was more behind it than that. So I leaned heavy on the movie version of the American type and laughed it off. “Not in my business,” I told him. “Scrambling for bucks is a dogfight every day. I’ve lived with too many people out for my dough and my skin too damn long not to recognize the signs of something coming off.” I stopped, then turned to Teish. “You got any idea who’d pull a stunt like this?”

His smile was expressionless. “One makes many enemies.”

“This was organized.”

“As are my enemies,” he insisted. “It will take a little time to determine which one is responsible. Then countermeasures will be prepared.”

“The cops will handle it.” I tried to sound offhand and hoped it worked.

His eyes seemed amused at the thought. “Yes,” he answered, “I’m sure they will. Now, may I impose upon you for another favor?”

“Any time.”

“Sarim and I must attend a conference, a very important matter that concerns our respective governments. In view of ... what has happened, I do not wish to leave Vey alone.” He reached out, took her hand paternally, and smiled.

“Would it be asking too much of you to see to her safety until we are free?”

Once again I caught a peculiar sense of emotion that came from Sarim Shey. He stood there, in all respects agreeing with his king, but the act just didn’t come across right. I played the game again. “If you’d rather, I’ll get Talbot since you and he ... ”

“I’d prefer to ask you, Mr. Mann.”

I grinned at Vey Locca and nodded. “Be glad to. I just hope there will be no-interference from the security personnel. They seem to have everything locked up tight.”

“I will see to that, Mr. Mann.” He glanced past me, waved a finger at Hal Randolph who was watching us from the door of the other room, called him over and explained briefly what he wanted. I thought Randolph would pop his buttons, but he made a stiff half bow acknowledging the situation and went right along.

Hell, he had to.

We waited until Teish and Sarim had been escorted from the room before we left. I found Vey Locca’s mink stole and draped it around her shoulders, letting the back of my fingers deliberately brush against her bare skin. I saw little muscles appear a moment, a small shudder ran through her and she turned her head and looked across her shoulder. “You are a very interesting person, Mr. Mann.”

“Nothing special.”

A slow smile flitted across her mouth. “And what may I call you?”

“Tiger.” When she raised her eyebrows, I added, “It’s my name.”

I felt her hand slip into mine, her fingers doing strange things. “In my country they tell a story about certain instincts of the tiger.”

“I’ll have to hear it,” I said.

“Yes, you will. Later you will. Now you may take me down to my room and I will expect you to pick me up at eight o’clock. You will be prompt?”

“When one tiger calls another comes running,” I said. “They have certain instincts.”

She crowded me enough so I could feel the pressure of her breast against my arm. “Perhaps you have heard the story already.”

“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.”

I called Martin Grady directly as soon as I reached the street. I let him have my report and gave him the pitch on AmPet Corporation. To expedite matters he was turning over a major block of his stock to me until the assignment was completed, when it would be returned. Meanwhile, I’d be listed as a VIP with the outfit in case anybody investigated.

I said, “Well look, I can handle myself in conversation with the general details of oil exploration and refining, but supposing somebody gets specific about the AmPet operation.”

Grady grunted and I heard a cigarette lighter flick on. “I just anticipated that. Walter Milos, one of our lab men, is in New York right now. We’ll call him from here and have him brief you on the layout. You’re a quick study so pack it in. There will be some truth there to fool anybody familiar with our processes, but nothing specific enough to give them a lead to the actual formula. Besides, what you don’t know you can’t reveal and anybody probing with leading questions will only surmise that you’re not giving anything away free.”

“Where do we meet?”

“He’ll be in another of our suites in the Calvin where Lennie is staying. He checks out tonight so get with it.”

“Roger. How’s the investigation proceeding?”

Martin Grady chuckled, something I hadn’t heard him do in a long time. “Getting nowhere fast. They’re trying for any low blow, even to ringing in the tax men, but it pays to be honest. They picked up Steuben and Les to interrogate them on the Miller affair but their alibis held.”

“Hell, they only set Miller up. One of their own men knocked him off. They should have been grateful.”

“Not those boys. What they want is our leads to their infermation. Chet passed the word that you’re on their list too, so walk softly if you can. Don’t think Hal Randolph is the friendly type. He’ll go along far enough to drop a noose over your head.”