'Yeah? What do you do all day?'
'Come visit and you can see.'
He laughed and it was that kind of laugh. Men are pigs.
I got back to the subject and said to him, 'Look, Boris, you don't have much chance of killing or capturing Khalil. I'm thinking you need my help. I want to put your place under surveillance, and I also want you to let me set up a trap.' I explained, 'You leave your fort there, go back to your apartment, take long walks on the boardwalk, go about your normal business, and I'll have people around you who can protect you and also grab Khalil if he makes an attempt on your life.' I assured him, 'I've done this a thousand times. Haven't lost anyone yet.' Not even myself.
He seemed to be thinking about that, then said, 'I will consider that.'
I knew he was stalling so I asked him, 'Why do you want to kill him?'
He replied, 'I did not say I wanted to kill him.'
'Okay, so you want to reason with him?'
'There is no reasoning with that man.'
'So, what's your goal? Your objective?'
'To defend myself until you capture him. Or I may capture him here.'
'And then you'll turn him over to the police or the FBI.'
'Correct.'
'But if you do that, then he'll sing-and it won't be Kalinka.'
'I am not following you.'
'All right. Let me be more clear.' I said to him, 'Your story about your involvement in and your knowledge of Khalil's mission here three years ago and Khalil's story about that are probably not the same story.'
No response.
I continued, 'You knew damn well that he was coming here to murder U.S. Air Force pilots, and that's what you trained him to do. But you bullshitted the CIA, and they believed you-'
'They never believed me. But they found it convenient to say they did.'
'Okay… so they think you were involved with, and had knowledge of, these murders. But if Khalil is captured and interrogated by the FBI, he will implicate you in those murders, and the best you can hope for from the Justice Department is a forfeiture of all your assets and a one-way ticket out of here.' I added, 'The worst would be an indictment for accessory to murder.'
He thought about that and replied, 'They would not let that happen.'
'Who?'
'My friends in Langley.'
'You think?' I asked him, 'Have you heard from them?'
He replied, 'If I have, I could not tell you.'
'Try.'
'This is a closed subject.'
'Okay, then I'm going to have surveillance put around your club and your apartment.'
This was not what I really wanted to do, of course-I wanted to find Khalil myself. But I couldn't pass up this opportunity to set a second trap for him, and the first trap, with me as bait, didn't seem to be working. Also, I had a legal-and maybe moral-obligation to call Tom Walsh about Boris.
Boris said to me, 'May I ask you a question?'
'Sure.'
'Why did you come here alone?'
Good question. I replied, 'Well, I was on my way to Coney Island, and out of the blue I had this thought that Boris Korsakov could be living in Brighton Beach.'
'That sounds very improbable.'
'Right. Okay, your club and apartment will be under surveillance in the next hour or so, and you'll be followed if you decide to come outside for some fresh air. Also, I'd like you to consider cooperating with this surveillance, and let us put a few people inside your club. Okay?'
He didn't respond to that and said, 'You came alone because you want to kill him. Not capture him, Mr. Corey, but kill him.'
'I don't remember saying that.'
'Oh, but you did.' He further informed me, 'You'd like to do it yourself, of course, but you would accept me doing it. The important thing for you-and for me-is that he is killed.'
'Boris, I think you were in the KGB too long.'
'Long enough to know how to solve a problem.' He continued, 'We understand each other, so you don't have to say anything, but please think about what you were thinking about when you arrived here… unofficially.'
'Well, to be honest with you, I've rethought that.'
'No. You are trying to make yourself feel better about your unorthodox method of dealing with Asad Khalil.'
Boris had a point there, but I replied, 'I didn't call you for psychotherapy.'
He replied, 'We are both men who have seen some of the world, and we understand how things are done.' He informed me, 'In Langley, they told me a little about your involvement with Khalil when he was here last, and I have concluded from that and from what you yourself said to me three years ago that you have some personal reasons for wanting Khalil dead. And he feels the same about you-as he feels about me. So why don't we leave others out of this, and also leave our conversation where it was when you walked out of my office?'
I thought about that. I mean, what was the downside to letting Boris try to kill Khalil? None. But there was a big downside for Boris if Khalil killed him instead. That, however, was not a downside for me-in fact, hate to say it, but Boris would get just what he deserved at the hands of the monster he helped create.
But if Boris killed Khalil, then, yes, I'd have to accept it wasn't me who did it. But Khalil would be just as dead.
'Mr. Corey?'
'Okay. I said a week. That's Tuesday.'
'Good. That is the correct decision for both of us.'
'I hope you still feel that way when you find Khalil sitting in your office.'
Boris did not comment on that, and he said to me, 'As I mentioned, I would not be surprised if Khalil intends to kill your friend, Ms. Mayfield. So you should warn her.'
'Let me worry about that.' I then asked him, 'Have you thought about what else Khalil might have planned, aside from whacking me and you?'
He stayed silent awhile, then replied, 'Well, as I said, he must need to repay someone for his trip to America. But I can tell you that when Khalil was last here, he had not been trained in explosives or in handling chemicals or biological materials.'
'Well, that's good news.' I asked him, 'You didn't have time for that?'
He replied, 'That is not my area of expertise.'
'Right.' I said, 'But he could have learned something new in the last three years.'
'Of course. But I want you to know he did not learn from me.'
'Right. So if we all start keeling over from nerve gas or anthrax, you had nothing to do with that.'
'Correct. And if there is a large explosion-'
'Not your fault.'
'Also correct.'
'Okay, but… do you have any thoughts, any theories about a possible target-is there anything this asshole might have said to you? Like, 'Gee, Boris, I hate to see women shopping in department stores.' Follow?'
'Yes, I do.' He stayed silent awhile, then said, 'He did have what I would call an anti-materialistic opinion. So perhaps he would target something like a department store, but… what real damage would that do?'
'Are you kidding? Boris, this is New York. Have you seen all the ladies on Fifth Avenue?'
He laughed, then said, 'I wish I could be helpful in guessing a possible target… but this man has so many hates.' He informed me, 'He did not like women, though he is not gay. He was a… puritan. He would, like his leader Khadafi, go into the desert for weeks at a time to pray, and live on bread and water. He rejected all comforts and
