The Cold Smell Of Sacred Stone

'How does God provide, Tommy?'

'You seem fixated on financial questions, Mongo.'

'I'm curious; I'm curious as to what Garth is a part of, and who's financing it. If the deed for this place is registered in Garth's name, it could make him legally, or morally, responsible for things he might not want to be responsible for.'

'Did you see anything illegal or immoral happening out there?'

'I just got here.'

'Some people might say that it's none of your business,' the other man said evenly.

'Some might.'

'Would you believe that we picked up this place for a ten percent down payment against the back taxes owed by the previous owners?'

'I don't know. Why shouldn't I believe you?'

'Because you're a very skeptical man, Mongo-some people might even describe you as cynical.'

'Yeah, but I've never tried to buy a bathhouse.'

'It was foreclosed some years ago by the city after they closed it down. At the time, this wasn't exactly a target area for real estate developers, and the city was more than happy to unload it. It was a white elephant.'

'There are a lot of other things going on around here that aren't financed by payments against back taxes.'

'Word gets around.'

'Word of what?'

'Word of good people with good intentions doing good things. Most people really do want to help people who are less fortunate than they are, Mongo, if you only give them a chance-and if you set an example and lead them. There are individuals and corporations, as well as various relief and funding agencies, which heartily approve of what we're doing, and they've been contributing substantial amounts of money, goods, and services. They like what's happening here. Most of the construction and mass organization you saw out there has only begun to happen in the past month or so.'

'What is it that's happening here?'

'What you see.'

'I'm not sure what I see.'

'That doesn't surprise me, Mongo,' Carling said in the same even tone-which was beginning to irritate me. 'Each person must finally be responsible for what he sees-or doesn't see-with his own eyes, how he feels about what he sees, and what he does about it. That's one of Garth's lessons; it seems simple, but it certainly isn't.'

'I'm Garth's Goddamn brother, Tommy, and I've been searching for him for four months! Why is it that none of this great 'word' ever got around to me?!'

Tommy Carling studied me with his expressive, hazel eyes. 'Perhaps you didn't have the ears to hear, Mongo,' he said at last in a very soft voice. 'Somewhere it's written, 'Seek and ye shall find.' '

'You've got to be putting me on,' I said in a low voice, feeling my anger begin to swell in me.

'I don't understand what you mean.'

'No? Let me tell you who else has been just a tad concerned about Garth, my friend. Did it ever occur to you that his mother and father might have liked to receive just one little ring-a-ling to inform them that their son wasn't dead or lying comatose and unidentified in some strange hospital?!'

'But, if Garth chose not to-'

'Garth's sick!' I snapped. 'He's not responsible for anything he thinks, says, or does. You're the one I hold responsible, Tommy!'

'Garth is not sick,' Tommy Carling replied somewhat petulantly. 'He's probably the healthiest person on the face of the earth.'

'You've got to be kidding me.'

'I admit I-we-may have handled things badly, and that maybe I should have pressed Garth to contact you and your parents; but I told you that I was very concerned about what could happen if Dr. Slycke ever got hold of Garth again.'

'And I told you that Slycke was dead.'

'I didn't know that, Mongo. It's the truth; if I had known, I would have handled things much differently. Do you care to tell me what happened to him?'

'Why don't you tell me how you come to be here with Garth and Marl Braxton in this super-Salvation Army operation.'

'The Salvation Army totally supports our work here, Mongo, and they might not think much of your attitude. You tell me your story first. How did Dr. Slycke die?'

Watching Carling's face very carefully, I told him what had happened up in the clinic the night I had gone there in response to Slycke's phone call. When I had finished, Carling tugged absently at his earring and shook his head.

'That's incredible, Mongo; you were incredibly lucky to get out of there alive.'

'So I've been told.'

'I didn't know about any of this. Naturally, since the clinic is a secret facility, news of Dr. Slycke's death wouldn't have been in the newspapers-even if I'd been reading them.'

'Your turn, Tommy. The three of you took off even before Slycke called me, which means you must have snuck Garth and Braxton out from under Slycke's nose.'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'Garth never had any kind of relapse, Mongo. Slycke was lying.'

'I'd gathered that,' I said dryly.

'You talked to Slycke after you talked to me, about the same thing-the possibility of removing Garth from the clinic. You shouldn't have done that. It was why I didn't plan to report the conversation to Dr. Slycke; I knew it would make him very nervous. In fact, he panicked. I'm not sure why he reacted as severely as he did, but my guess is that he was under pressure-as you suspected might happen-from his superiors in Washington to keep Garth under close observation at all times, in order to monitor the effects of NPPD poisoning.' Carling paused, seeming to study the opposite wall for a few moments, then continued: 'Still, he was so upset that you might even be thinking about taking Garth out. I'm not sure I understand it. How could his superiors hold him responsible for potential actions of yours which you had every right to make? It doesn't make sense.'

'Slycke's problems weren't with the D.I.A., Tommy, and they weren't the ones putting the pressure on him. He was an informant for the K.G.B., and they had their hooks into him good.'

Carling's eyes opened wide, and he blinked slowly. 'What?'

'Slycke was passing on information to the Russians, as well as taking orders from them. It was the K.G.B. making him nervous.'

'Ahh,' Carling said distantly, once again focusing his gaze on the wall behind me. 'That could certainly explain a few other things.'

'Like what?'

'I'd told you that Charles Slycke was a good doctor-and I sincerely believed that. It was why what he was planning to do came as such a shock to me.'

'What was he planning to do?'

'He was going to institute a clearly experimental-and potentially dangerous-drug therapy program with Garth. There was absolutely no reason to do that, and it was unethical; he planned to do it in secret, without informing either Garth or you, or even trying to get permission. That made it illegal, as well.'

'Just what kind of a program was this?'

'He was going to medicate Garth with a whole series of very powerful psychotropics. In effect, from what I could understand, his only motive was simply to see what might happen. I couldn't believe my ears when he told me what he was planning to do, or my eyes when I saw the medication orders on the daily sheet.'