of Al Azziziyah, and all of Libya.' Khalil pulled the pistol out of his pocket and pointed it at Paul Grey.
Paul Grey's eyes darted around the room, as though he were looking for an escape.
Khalil said to him, 'Look at me, Captain Paul Grey. Look at me. I am reality. Not your stupid, bloodless virtual reality. I am flesh-and-blood reality. I shoot back.'
Paul Grey's eyes went back to Asad Khalil.
Khalil said, 'My name is Asad Khalil, and you can take that to hell with you.'
'Look… Mr. Khalil-' He stared at Khalil and recognition dawned in his eyes.
Khalil said, 'Yes, I am that Asad Khalil, who arrived on Flight One-Seven-Five. The man who your government is looking for. They should have looked here, or at the home of the late General Waycliff and his late wife.'
'Oh, my God…'
'Or the home of Mr. Satherwaite, who I will visit next, or Mr. Wiggins, or Mr. McCoy, or Colonel Callum. But I'm happy to see that neither you nor they have reached any such conclusions.'
'How did you know…?'
'All secrets are for sale. Your compatriots in Washington betrayed you all for money.'
'No.'
'No? Then perhaps it was the late Colonel Hambrecht, your squadron mate, who sold you to me.'
'No… did you… did you…'
'Yes, I killed him. With an ax. You will not suffer such physical pain as he did-just mental pain, as you stand there and contemplate your sins and your punishment.'
Paul Grey did not reply.
Asad Khalil said, 'Your knees are shaking, Captain. You can release your bladder if you wish. I won't be offended.'
Paul Grey drew a deep breath and said, 'Look, your information was wrong. I wasn't on that mission. I-'
'Oh. Then forgive me. I'll be leaving.' He smiled, then tipped his bottle of water, and let it pour on the carpet.
Paul Grey focused on the water splashing on the floor, then looked back at Asad Khalil, and an expression of puzzlement crossed his face.
Khalil had the Glock close to his body, the muzzle pushed into the neck of the plastic bottle.
Paul Grey saw the bottom of the bottle pointing toward him, then saw that Khalil held the gun behind it, and he understood what that meant. He threw out his hands in a protective gesture. 'No!'
Khalil fired a single shot through the bottle, hitting Paul Grey in the abdomen.
Grey doubled over and stumbled backwards until he sank to his knees. He grabbed his abdomen with both hands, trying to stem the flow of blood, then looked down and saw the blood seeping between his fingers. He looked up at Khalil, who was walking toward him. 'Stop… no…'
Khalil aimed the Glock with the contrived silencer and said, 'I have no more time for you. You don't have the brains you were born with.' He fired a single shot into Paul Grey's forehead, blowing his brains out the back of his skull. Khalil turned before Paul Grey hit the floor and retrieved the two shell casings as he heard the body fall on the carpet.
Khalil then went to an open safe sitting between two of the viewing screens. Inside, he found a stack of computer disks, which he put into his black bag, then extracted the disk from the computer that Paul Grey had been using. He said, 'Thank you, Mr. Grey, for the demonstration. But war is not a video game in my country.'
He looked around the room and found Paul Grey's appointment book on his desk. It was opened to that day, and the notation said, 'Col. H.-9:30.' He flipped to April 15 and read, 'Conf. call-Squadron-A.M.' He closed the appointment book and left it on the desk. Let the police wonder who this Colonel H. is, and let them think this mysterious colonel stole some military secrets from his victim.
Asad Khalil flipped through the Rolodex and extracted the cards for the remaining squadron members-Callum, McCoy, Satherwaite, and Wiggins. On each card were addresses, telephone numbers, and notations about wives and children.
Khalil also took the card of General Terrance and Mrs. Gail Waycliff, formerly of Washington, D.C., now residing in hell.
He also found the card for Steven Cox, and saw that it was marked in red letters, K.I.A., which he knew to mean killed in action. There was on the card the name of a woman, 'Linda,' and the notation 'Remarried Charles Dwyer,' followed by an address and telephone number.
The card for William Hambrecht had an address in England that was crossed out and replaced by an address in a place called Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the notation 'Dec'd,' followed by the date that Khalil had killed him. There was another woman's name, 'Rose,' and the names of two more females and a male with the word 'Children.'
Asad Khalil put all the cards in his pocket, thinking he could make use of this information someday. He was pleased that Paul Grey was such a meticulous record keeper.
Asad Khalil put his plastic bottle under his arm and held his pistol in his other hand. He slung his black bag over his shoulder and opened the sliding door. He could hear a vacuum cleaner running somewhere. He closed the door and followed the sound.
He found the cleaning woman in the living room, her back to him, and she did not hear him as he stepped up behind her. The vacuum cleaner was very loud, and there was also music playing somewhere, so he didn't bother with the plastic bottle, but simply put the pistol close to the back of her neck as she pushed and pulled the vacuum cleaner. He now heard that she was singing as she worked. He pulled the trigger, and she stumbled forward, then fell on the carpet beside the overturned vacuum cleaner.
Khalil put the Glock in his pocket, placed the bottle in his bag, righted the vacuum cleaner but left it running, and recovered the shell casing. He found his way to the kitchen, then out the back door.
He put on his sunglasses and retraced his route past the swimming pool, out of the screened enclosure, down the shrub-constricted path to the open area of the hangar. He noticed that the aircraft he'd arrived in was now pointing back to the taxiway.
He did not see his pilot and went quickly to the hangar. He looked inside, but did not see her there, then heard talking coming from the loft overhead.
He went toward the staircase, then realized the talking was coming from a television or radio. He had forgotten the woman's name, so he called up, 'Hello! Hello!'
The talking stopped, and Stacy Moll leaned over the half wall of the loft and looked down. 'All done?'
'All done.'
'Be right down.' She disappeared, then reappeared on the staircase and came down to the hangar floor. She said, 'Ready to roll?'
'Yes. Ready.'
She walked out of the hangar, and he followed. She said, 'You can eat off the floor in that hangar. This guy is an anal retentive. Maybe he's gay. You think he's gay?'
'Excuse me?'
'Never mind.' She walked to the passenger side of the Piper, and he followed. She asked, 'Did he buy the vases?'
'Yes, he did.'
'Great. Hey, I wanted to see them. He buy them all?'
'Yes, he did.'
'Too bad. I mean, good for you. You get your price?'
'I did.'
'Great.' She scrambled up on the wing and reached down for his bag, which Khalil handed her. She said, 'Doesn't feel much lighter.'
'He gave me some bottles of water for the trip back.'
She opened the side door and put the bag in the rear and said, 'I hope he gave you cash, too.'
'Of course.'
She got into the aircraft, then slid across to the left seat. Khalil followed her, sat in the right seat of the small cockpit, then buckled himself in. Even with the door still open, it was very hot in the cockpit, and Khalil felt sweat
