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Agent Griggs.
Jake seemed to be there, too. At the edge of the small surrounding crowd,
working his way closer to Beth.
He sensed what was going to happen. "No--it's a kamikaze!"
he warned. But Beth didn't pay any attention to him. She shook free of
Griggs. She dodged Neal. She pushed by the German cop.
"No!" shouted Jake.
She put her arms around the other Jake, started to kiss him. Then came the
explosion and she... Jake turned away. He couldn't watch that.
"That's a damn shame," observed the gaunt waiter.
"And what a waste," chuckled a fat man who was having sausage for breakfast.
"A nice piece like that."
Jake went charging over to him. He grabbed the fat man's shirt front, jerked
him out of his chair.
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He didn't say anything, simply started punching the man in the face as hard as
he could.
Gomez got hold of him in a bear hug from behind. "Jake,
c'mon! Leave the guy alone."
WIIII. m 8 h at her
"Bastard." Jake tried to keep hitting at the fat bloody face. Tugging harder,
his partner dragged him clear. "Not his fault." Jake tore free of Gomez,
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staggered, stumbled. He sat down in a wooden chair.
"They killed her," he said slowly. "Bastards killed Beth."
"Yeah."
Jake leaned far forward, put his hands out flat on his knees.
Very quietly he started to sob. "That's what this was all about,"
he said in a voice that was not quite his.
The Rio hotel room started talking to Gomez at a few minutes before 8
A.M. the next morning.
"Born dia, senhor," said the wall speaker near the head of his floating
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bed. "There is a visitor in the lobby who desires to come up to your suite."
Blinking a few times, yawning once, Gomez elbowed himself into a sitting
position. "Oh, soS." he managed to say.
"Sim. His name is Dan Cardigan."
"Oh, then you don't want me. Contact Jake Cardigan in the other bedroom." He
started to stretch out again.
"We've already tried Senhor Cardigan's room. There was no answer. Do you wish
us to detain the young man down here until--"
"That's okay, send the lad on up." Sitting on the edge of the bed, Gomez
rubbed his eyes, tried a few yawns and then, reluctantly, left the wide oval
bed.
He and Jake had been out until near 3 A.M." asking questions all over
Rio, trying to get a lead on the present whereabouts of Jean Marie
Sparey. They'd had no luck whatsoever, even with the other Cosmos operatives
Bascom had sent down helping them.
He located his clothes where he'd discarded them a few hours earlier.
When the door announced a visitor, Gomez was dressed and nearly wide
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awake. "Good morning, amigo," he said, letting Dan in.
"Don't lecture me about coming here," requested the young man. "I got a
special leave from the academy, so I'm not in trouble. When I talked to my dad
on the phone yesterday afternoon-Well, I thought he might need me down here."
"Good idea." Gomez led him into the living room.
Glancing around, Dan asked, "Where is he?"
Gomez crossed to the door of Jake's room and knocked. He waited a half a
minute before opening the door. "The answer to
I'
i' your inquiry, Daniel, is somewhere other than here."
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il
Hurrying over, Dan looked into the empty room. "He didn't even sleep in the
bed."
"He must've sneaked away after I turned in."
"Where to?"
Shrugging, Gomez turned away. "Probably wanted to follow up on something."
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Dan caught his arm. "That's not what you really think, is it,
Sid?"
Facing him, Gomez attempted to look guileless. "Eh?"
"You figure he's probably off at some damn Tek house. The
" shock of Beth's death has--"
"I don't figure anything, lad." He nodded toward a sofa. "Sit yourself down."
"Don't feel like sitting. He blames himself for her death, doesn't he?"
Gomez nodded. "That he does, si."
"But he couldn't have known that--"
"He thinks he should've tumbled earlier that this was just a flimflam to get
him out of the way."
"But why would they go through all this trouble? What I mean is, if
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they didn't want him to be around to protect Beth--why not just try to kill
him?"
Shaking his head, Gomez said, "We're not talking about efficiency and logic
here, my boy. These guys, whoever worked this one out, wanted to kill Beth,
sure. But they also wanted to hurt
Jake. See, revenge is sometimes much more fun if your victim is around to
suffer."
"You're saying they didn't want to kill him?"
"Exactly, Daniel. Because they know blaming himself for her death is going to
hurt him one hell of a lot."
"They really must hate him."
"That they do. They wanted Beth out of the way, but this was also an act of
vengeance against Jake." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]