'And Danner's man?'
'We hope he comes in after us and not wait for us outside. Privacy is always good.' He looked her directly in the eye. 'And I make no promises about his disposition, Devon. If you want to keep your hands clean, then don't come with me. Stay in the car with Walt and Ned.'
Marrok might be wrong. Danner's man might not even be waiting for them. And, if he was, would she care if the murderers of Hugh and Terry were killed? The fierce surge of rage at the thought shocked her but brought an answer in itself. 'I told you, I'm going with you.'
A TALL, HEAVYSET MAN IN A police uniform was standing in front of the door of the clinic.
Walt cruised by and parked down the street in the parking lot of a con ve nience store across from the shopping center. 'Over to you, Marrok,' he said as he started to get out of the car. He whistled for the Lab. 'Come on, Ned. Let's stretch our legs.'
'No, what are you thinking?' Marrok said. 'Stay in the car. If any of Danner's men are here I don't want them to see Ned. And I want you at the parking area behind the clinic in fifteen minutes.'
'Right.' Walt hesitated. 'I could take out the policeman for you. No trouble.'
'Just take care of my dog.' Marrok took Devon's elbow. 'Come on. Let's do it.' He spoke rapidly, concisely, as he propelled her across the street to the shopping center and down the side of the hill. 'Move fast toward the back entrance while the cop is still out front. He'll probably be doing regular rounds soon. You go inside the clinic.' He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. 'Take this. Don't turn on the lights, but don't use the flashlight until you need it. I'll make enough noise to bring the cop around back once we're ready for him. I get rid of him and join you inside.' They had reached the back of the building, and he lowered his voice. 'Find that computer as quick as you can. I hope to hell they didn't take it.'
'The door is padlocked,' she whispered. 'How can we-'
'Quiet.' He bent over the lock. A moment later he released the padlock and opened the door. 'Go!'
She slipped inside and closed the door.
A second later she heard the sound of the lid of the garbage can by the back door being hurled against the side of the building.
Make enough noise to bring the police officer, he had said. That certainly was enough noise. He'd promised not to kill him. Could she trust him? She was tempted to open the door and look out.
No, it was too late. She had to trust his word. Find the computer and get out of here.
The computer they used for IDs was in the examining room where she'd last seen Hugh. A chill went through her as she remembered how he'd looked up from his paperwork and smiled at her right before she'd left.
Don't think about it. Get the computer.
She walked quickly down the hall. She didn't need to turn on a light. She knew every inch of the clinic. She opened the door. The laptop computer was usually on the shelf across from the examining table. Now was the time to flick on the light. There were no windows in the room so it shouldn't-
Dear God!
She shrank back against the wall, staring at the floor.
'Devon.'
It was Marrok, standing in the doorway.
'I wasn't expecting-' Lord, she felt sick. The outline in yellow chalk on the floor had to be where Hugh's body had been found. And traces of something dark red… 'I suppose I should have known. I've seen enough TV police shows. It surprised-'
'Shh.' He was suddenly holding her in his arms. 'I know. Take a deep breath. You'll be fine in a minute.'
'I was just remembering that last thing I said to him. And then I saw-' She pushed him away. 'I'm okay.' She wasn't okay, but she couldn't lean on him. She had to stand on her own. 'The laptop is on the shelf across the room.' She averted her eyes from the yellow outline as she moved toward the shelf. 'Hugh was always very neat about putting away-It's not here!'
'Shit. The RFD remote?'
'There were four of them. They're all gone.'
'Make sure. Look around. Could they be anywhere else?'
She shook her head. 'We kept them here.'
'Keep looking. I'm going to go through the other rooms.'
She looked on all the other shelves, then went to the medical chest across the room. It was sealed with yellow tape. That's right, they'd suspected drug theft.
She broke the tape and opened the door. Not many bottles or capsules left. No computer.
'Anything?' Marrok was back.
'No.'
'I drew a blank, too. Let's get the hell out of here.'
She followed him out of the room.
'Wait. I'll go ahead.'
Because someone might be waiting outside? At the moment she was more afraid of staying here in the dark knowing that pitiful, horrible chalked outline was in the next room. Was there another outline on the floor in the reception room? Of course there was. And more blood…
He opened the door a crack and looked outside. 'There's Walt. Let me go ahead. Run!'
'THEY'VE LEFT THE CLINIC.' CASWELL glanced up from the cell phone to look at Danner. 'Sherwood wants to know what to do.'
'What does he think he should do? Kill the bastards.' Danner gazed down with angry frustration at the computer that had been delivered to him from Brady's clinic. 'I've got the info from the microchip.'
'Little good it's doing us. We can't even decode it.'
'I'll get there. It may take time, but I'll find a way to do it. I just didn't realize that this damned code would be so hard to break, or I would have had a roomful of cryptologists waiting to work on it.'
'You've always underestimated Marrok. You still think of him as that Indian kid you could bamboozle and manipulate. He's not that kid any longer.'
'I never tried to manipulate him,' Danner said. 'I only did what I had to do. I was the only one who was capable enough to manage the project. That old man was pissing away everything I'd dreamed about since I was a boy. If Marrok hadn't exploded and taken away what was mine, I'd have given him the opportunity of a lifetime. He betrayed me.' Danner's eyes were glittering with emotion. 'I looked upon him as a son.'
Caswell opened his lips to make a skeptical comment, then closed them. Danner probably believed what he was saying. A son? Danner might have felt a myriad of emotions toward that young Marrok, but Caswell would bet paternal feelings weren't among them. He'd always been amazed that Danner never felt hypocritical about any of his dealings. He believed that he could do no wrong, and anyone in conflict with him had to be misguided and, therefore, subject to punishment and destruction. 'Marrok obviously didn't regard you in the same light.'
'He betrayed me,' Danner repeated. 'He was a drunken piece of refuse, and I still made him my friend. I let him sit at my dinner table and taught him to be a human being instead of a savage.'
'He must have had a little bit of potential of his own, or he wouldn't have been able to keep us from catching him all these years.' He paused. 'And you seemed to be very willing to eliminate your 'son' even before he broke away.'
'Sometimes it's necessary to sacrifice for the higher goal. I would have tried to save him. He didn't understand that.'
'It's difficult for a man to look upon himself as a sacrifice.'
'That's why I had to be stronger and wiser. Like Abraham when he was told to kill his son.'
Talk about a God complex. And Danner didn't even realize there was anything odd about the comparison.
'May I point out that Marrok may still be of use if we can't decode this?'
'Any code can be broken. And this one was concocted by a geeky kid.'
'Geeky kids have found ways to break into secured sites at the Pentagon. And Marrok may have gone in and improved the code over the years.'
'If we kill him, then we'll have plenty of time to work on it.'
Caswell waited. Danner was a brilliant man, and most of the time he used that brilliance with a manipulative
