Fatal

'So?'

'Something's wrong. He drove us to the mine last night. If he's buried there, how did the car get back here? Lyle, do you have your gun? I left mine with Lewis so that we wouldn't have any trouble with the security people in D.C.'

'Frank's got m' pistol, but they's a shotgun in the back.'

'Bring it, please.'

Cautiously, the three of them approached the lodge.

'Look!' Ellen exclaimed in a loud whisper.

Through the broad living room window, they could see a man polishing a vase.

'That's Hal! That's my uncle,' Matt said. 'Lyle, stand over there and keep the door covered. I… don't know what's going on.'

His confusion did not last long.

He was moving toward the front door when it opened. Hal, nattily dressed in white trousers and a light blue button-down shirt, stepped out onto the low front porch. At the sight of the man, showered, relaxed, and clear- eyed, Matt knew.

'Matthew! God, I'm so relieved to see you. I've been worried sick about you since the explosion. I've called the police and — '

'Pardon me for saying it, Hal, but you don't seem very frantic. In fact, you look downright rested — not at all like someone who's spent the last twelve hours trying to get his nephew rescued from a mine explosion.'

'I've made many desperate phone calls for help, Matthew. I — '

There was no sincerity in his words. Matt's lingering disbelief vanished.

'Can it, Hal,' he snapped. 'You're demeaning yourself. You know what's been bothering me ever since we figured out that the Lassa vaccine was really behind those deaths? Grimes. That's what's been bothering me, Hal. He's not exactly a dope, but he's no Einstein, either. I couldn't understand how a man like that could have gotten involved with the manufacture of Lasaject in the first place. Then he goes and masterminds an epidemic to get his vaccine included in Omnivax; then he discovers that the vaccine has a fatal flaw; and finally, he sets about systematically destroying all the evidence of that flaw. That make any sense to you, Hal, that he was capable of doing that?'

Hal looked as if he was about to issue another denial, then he shrugged nonchalantly.

'Grimes is a jerk,' he said. 'A violent and avaricious jerk, and therefore quite useful to me, but a jerk nonetheless.'

Hearing his uncle openly admit what he had done brought Matt a wave of sadness. 'When did you first learn about the prion disease?' he asked.

'Not that long ago, really. Would you please tell your friend to stop pointing that thing at me?'

'No. Go on.'

'Well, two cases were brought to me for autopsy a couple of weeks apart. One had killed herself, the other had been shot in a bar fight. I recognized the names from our initial field trials and began to suspect that was the connection. Then you got involved with that miner, Rideout, and I was certain. Lasaject was too close to being included in the supervaccine to allow anyone to stumble on the connection, so I simply had to identify those unfortunates who had the side effect and send the late Mr. Grimes and his people to deal with them. I assume he is late.'

'Actually, he's very much alive and talking to the state police right now.'

'Nephew, nephew, you never were a very good liar. And Mr. Sutcher?'

'Well, let's just say things got a little rocky for him.'

Matt glanced over at Ellen.

'Ah,' said Hal, 'the redoubtable Mrs. Kroft, yes?'

'A lot of people are dead because of you,' Ellen said icily.

'Life can be very hard sometimes.'

'Jesus, Hal, who in the hell are you?'

'Just a guy trying to make ends meet. You want to come in for some tea? Of course, I don't allow shotguns in the house. Or better still, why don't you all just leave.'

'Hal, we're not going anyplace until you're tied up and waiting for the state police.'

'Well, I simply can't permit that,' Hall said, with disturbing, singsong confidence. 'So I suppose I'm going to have to dispose of you all, beginning with your friend who insists on pointing that gun at me. You're a Slocumb, I presume?'

'Ah surely am,' Lyle said proudly.

The words were barely past his lips when a shot exploded from where Hal's car was parked, driving Lyle backward into the fender of the truck, clutching his belly. He managed a single, wild shot before he dropped the shotgun, stumbled, and fell heavily on his side.

Standing by the garage, smirking, was Larry, the massive killer Matt was supposed to have murdered, then incinerated.

Matt was just turning to help Lyle when Larry shot the man again, this time in the chest. Lyle, who had been up on one elbow, slumped back onto the gravel and was still. Comfortable with his handiwork, the killer turned the gun on Matt.

'I've been waiting for this chance,' he said. 'You'll never know how much I've been waiting.'

Matt felt his heart stop as he saw the man's sausagelike finger tighten on the trigger.

'No!' he cried.

'Larry, wait!' Hal ordered. 'I'll tell you when.'

Matt felt his knees about to buckle, but beside him, Ellen stood her ground defiantly and even put her arm through his.

'Killing us won't solve any of your problems,' she said to Hal. 'Too many people know.'

'Would you care to give me a list of them, Mrs. Kroft? I didn't think so. But please, don't worry. I can take care of myself. Matthew, I'm sorry about this, really I am. You know I care for you a great deal. Always have. But this is business, and you have become a definite liability. As you see, my man Larry, here, is very much alive. Believe it or not, I conjured up that murder-incineration story on the spot, with you hanging on the other end of the line and Dr. Solari about to visit the FBI. Brilliant, don't you think?'

'You're sick,' Matt said.

'Now, Larry, here, is very anxious to shoot you, but I am a sporting man, as well as one who doesn't want bodies with bullet holes floating around in the lake. That wouldn't appear very accidental. So, I am perfectly willing to have you and Mrs. Kroft step over that fence' — he indicated the split-rail fencing that paralleled the side of the drive — 'and step off the edge. Who knows, maybe you'll miss the rocks.'

'Give it up, Hal,' Matt said, regaining a modicum of composure. 'There're way too many loose ends that are all tied to you. You know, you can still come off looking like a hero in this business by telling the police you are blowing the whistle on Lasaject in order to save all those unborn children from spongiform encephalopathy.'

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, Matt saw movement from the direction of the truck. Lyle!

'The bullet or the drop, Matthew?' Hal was asking. 'Your choice.'

Frantic to stall and keep Hal's and Larry's attention fixed on him, Matt rejected the notion of some sort of outburst in favor of pandering to Hal's ego.

'Hal, tell me one thing,' he said, 'that was you who slipped that note about the toxic dump under my door, wasn't it?'

Hal sighed and nodded with exaggerated modesty.

'If you really must know, yes. I am aware of pretty much everything that goes on around here, and I knew about that unusual — um — storage facility almost as soon as it was established. I sent the note to you figuring that as long as you were chasing after your vendetta against the mine, you were no threat to my interests. Brilliant, no?'

Lyle had moved under the open door of the truck and was pulling himself inside. Matt took a step toward his uncle. Larry moved forward to intervene, his pistol ready.

'Oh, give me a break,' Matt cried, raising his voice angrily. 'You're not nearly as brilliant as you think. You've made one miscalculation after another.' He laughed loudly. 'Man, you must have swallowed your gum when Nikki