The Cold Smell Of Sacred Stone

wandering on the roads in Rockland County. The same with Marl Braxton. Everyone else is accounted for, so we're assuming for now that Garth and this Braxton took off together. There's also a male nurse who hasn't shown up for work for two days, and who doesn't answer his phone-but we're not sure if that's connected with any of this. He wasn't on duty when all of this happened.'

'Tommy Carling?' I said.

'Yes,' Lippitt replied, his eyes and voice registering surprise. 'How did you know?'

'Just a guess; Carling was Garth's nurse on the day shift. You know, Braxton's supposed to be very dangerous. I never saw him do anything violent, but-'

'Marl Braxton is indeed dangerous,' Lippitt said in a flat voice. 'I've reviewed his file.'

'What's his story, Lippitt? I know information about Braxton is classified, but-'

'Marl Braxton is fifty-five years old, although he looks at least a decade younger,' Lippitt said evenly. 'During the Korean War he organized and operated in a special, very secret unit which came to be known as Reprisals.'

'He was an assassin?'

Lippitt nodded. 'Of sorts. Reprisals could include assassinations, but they could also be other things- depending on what it was the North Koreans had done that called for reprisals. The North Koreans are a tricky bunch, and they started doing sneaky little things to annoy us and our allies after we sat down to negotiate with them at Panmunjom. That's when the Reprisals unit was set up. Marl Braxton was the principal operative in his own unit, and he was very good at what he did. Then the North Koreans caught him. They had him for five years, and he was severely tortured-with acupuncture techniques, of all things. First they ruined any chance he would ever have for a sex life, and then they ruined his mind. We eventually got him back in a swap of prisoners, but by then he'd become hopelessly damaged goods. He continued to carry out reprisals-killings; but he was carrying them out against our own people-people Braxton felt had betrayed him, or who were guilty of crimes that were only fantasies in Braxton's mind. When he does decide to kill, he's cold and calculating-which makes him far more dangerous, in a way, than the patient who wanted to kill you, Mongo. Marl Braxton gives no warning; but when he decides that a person should die, for whatever reason, that person usually dies. Over the years, the prognosis hasn't changed; he will never respond to treatment.'

I swallowed hard, found that my mouth had gone dry. 'And this is the man who's with Garth.'

'Maybe they're together, maybe not. The police in the county have been notified, as well as the NYPD. There's a Missing Persons bulletin out for both Braxton and Garth.'

'I would think you'd have them put out an APB for Braxton.'

'We can't have the police put out an APB for Braxton without questions being asked about his background, and things like the Reprisals unit aren't matters we like to see discussed in the newspapers. Also, the police might want to try and interrogate Braxton after they picked him up; not good for Braxton, not good for us-and potentially deadly for any police officer who tried too hard to pick him up, or pushed him too hard afterward. Let's see how far we get with the Missing Persons bulletin. The police are simply supposed to notify us immediately if they spot either Garth or Braxton.'

'I have to call my parents,' I said huskily.

'I already have,' Lippitt said. 'They're taking it well. Your parents, as you well know, are strong and positive people. They're grateful for the fact that you're alive. I apologized to them for not removing Garth from the clinic as soon as I suspected something might be wrong. I apologized to them, Mongo, and I now apologize to you.'

'You don't have anything to apologize for, Lippitt. You immediately let Veil know what your suspicions were, and he let me know. At the time, I thought you were out of your mind. You gave me the information, and I should have paid more attention to it. It certainly does explain why Slycke was so paranoid about me.'

Veil said, 'Sure. Slycke was caught between a rock and a hard place. He was forced to take orders from, and feed information to, his K.G.B. controller. In the beginning, he may have thought that Mr. Lippitt was on to him.'

'Which I wasn't,' Lippitt said, anger and disdain resurfacing in his tone. 'I only became suspicious when Garth first showed signs of regaining consciousness, and then the two operatives at Prolix took off.'

Veil grunted. 'The K.G.B. must have been leaning on Slycke hard from the beginning to keep them up to date at all times on what was happening with Garth. But you were right here all the time, Mongo, keeping a close eye on things, and they perceived you as a threat to their interests-for whatever reasons. You even mentioned to Slycke the possibility of removing Garth from the clinic, and that must have had the Russians climbing the walls. They didn't miss any of the implications of what was happening to Garth as a result of the NPPD poisoning, and they wanted to keep a close watch on all developments. They ordered Slycke to cut you out of the picture, which he tried to do.'

'And then you started to make some very heavy noises, Mongo,' Lippitt said. 'Not only did you make it clear to Slycke that you still intended to remove Garth from the clinic, but you threatened to investigate his private life. You must have really rung his bell with that one, and he couldn't tolerate the danger of being exposed a second time.'

'Which was why I ended up being carted around by Mama Baker,' I said. I was thirsty. Veil poured me a glass of water from a pitcher on a table beside my bed. I drank it down, sighed. I was feeling better-better, for certain, than the man who had tried to kill me would ever feel. 'I thought I saw Slycke with a needle stuck in his brain. Was that real?'

Lippitt nodded. 'We don't know whether his controller ordered him to kill you, or whether it was his own idea. We're leaning toward the theory that Slycke thought it up on his own, since he was the one who felt most immediately and personally threatened; the K.G.B. could have gotten rid of you in a number of other ways. No matter whose idea it was, it seems that Slycke got caught in the same trap he'd set up for you. He knew about this Baker's obsession with killing dwarfs, and he figured he'd simply arrange for Baker to nab you 'by accident' after you'd sneaked into the clinic for an unauthorized visit to Garth. He probably sent the nurses off on some errand before he went down to ambush you. He used your beeper to signal Veil at the appropriate times while he took you upstairs and shot you up with those drugs. Then he opened up the secure unit-and got ambushed himself, with nobody around to help him. He'd juiced up the men in that unit beforehand; the blood of Baker and the other patients in the secure unit showed definite traces of amphetamines. . definitely not the medication of choice for disturbed and violent men.'

'He'd primed them to go off beforehand,' Veil said quietly, 'and one or more of the patients in that unit blew up in his face. One of them got hold of Slycke's keys and-fortunately for you-opened up the whole place. Then the nurses came back and saw what was happening, but they were too late to save Slycke-or themselves. You were lucky Baker felt he had to make a special, ritual sacrifice out of you, or you'd have been killed right away, like the others.'

'I don't understand why Garth didn't try to help me,' I said, looking away from the two men.

'You don't know whether or not Slycke medicated the nonviolent patients,' Veil said quietly. 'He may have doped everybody up, and Garth slept through it all.'

'Then where is he now?'

'There's no sense in speculating on what he could or couldn't have done until we find him, Mongo,' Lippitt said. 'And we will find him; or he'll turn up on his own. How far could he have gone?'

Part II

Missions of Mercy

14

About thirty-three miles, depending on construction detours.

I was out of the hospital two days later. There was no word on Garth or Marl Braxton. There was also no sign