Veil

'Not now, Doctor.'

'Doctor? We're getting rather formal all of a sudden, aren't we?'

'I want to wait until Pilgrim and Ibber get here so that I won't have to repeat myself.'

'Henry will be here?'

Veil nodded. 'I asked Pilgrim to bring him over.'

'Veil, what's wrong?'

'That's what I'm trying to find out. It's time to sort out a few things.'

'But—'

'Kendry?!'

Veil turned to face Henry Ibber, who had stopped just inside the door to the conference room. Ibber's high, shiny forehead glistened with perspiration, and the mouth below the drooping black mustache gaped open with astonishment.

'Come in and sit down, Ibber,' Veil said curtly. It seemed that Pilgrim had not told his investigator who wanted to see him, and Veil wondered why.

Ibber's dark eyes suddenly flashed with anger. 'What the hell are you doing here, Kendry? And who are you to be giving me orders?'

'Go ahead, Henry.' Jonathan Pilgrim's voice, soft but insistent, came from the doorway just behind the large- framed Ibber. 'Do as he asks.'

Ibber thrust his stocky shoulders forward and glared at Veil for a few moments, then abruptly walked across the room and sat down at the table, next to Sharon. Pilgrim, walking casually with his hand in his pocket and a faintly bemused expression on his face, entered the room and sat down at the end of the table closest to where Veil was standing, apart from his two colleagues.

'It's your show, my friend,' Pilgrim continued, turning to Veil. 'Let's do it.'

'We'll do it, all right, Colonel,' Veil said, his voice hard. 'You've been jerking me around since I got here. I don't like being 'handled,' and I want to know why you felt you had to do it. I also want to know what part you expected me to play in this spook show you've got over here.'

Pilgrim glanced sharply at Sharon, who blanched and put a hand to her mouth. 'The tape,' she said in a husky voice. 'He's heard the tape.'

'You're damn right I've heard the tape. I've also had a very interesting chat with Perry Tompkins, who was kind enough to show me his latest paintings. That means it's time to tell me the name and rules of the game you've been playing.'

Veil had been speaking to Sharon, but the woman was still staring wide-eyed at Pilgrim. 'Jonathan, I'm so sorry. I never thought—'

'Don't worry about it, Sharon,' Pilgrim said easily as he lit a cigar. 'It's not your fault. I'm the one who brought him over here. I knew it was risky, but I couldn't think of any other place to put him where he'd be safe. He'd have eventually found out, anyway; hell, I'd have told him. It's just bad timing.'

'My God, Jonathan. He's the one, isn't he?'

Pilgrim looked at Veil and winked broadly. 'That's him.'

'Come on, Sharon,' Veil said. 'Are you trying to tell me that you didn't know or guess? You were the first person I was supposed to see. Does the Colonel always use his director of near-death studies to conduct garden- variety interviews on the other mountain?'

'No, but—'

'I'd told her that we had a couple of people out sick,' Pilgrim interrupted. 'She really did just make the connection, Veil. She saw Perry's work, but she's never seen yours. You've heard the tape; I wanted Sharon to work with you because I needed her special perspective, but I didn't want her to know why. I wanted any discoveries about you to be made independently, not by somebody like me—looking for and hoping to make them.'

'Excuse me,' Ibber said, looking back and forth between Sharon and Pilgrim. 'Would somebody mind telling me what this is all about?'

'Sorry, Henry,' Pilgrim said with a shrug. 'I'm afraid your time is being wasted. Veil was quite insistent that I include you in this meeting, so I brought you over. I don't think he'd have believed me if I told him that you didn't have the slightest notion of why I really wanted him here.'

'Your real reason for wanting me here isn't the point, Colonel. Somebody tried to kill me, remember?'

'I remember,' Pilgrim replied softly.

Veil turned to face the Institute's chief investigator. 'Ibber's the man who ran my background check.'

'Just a minute, Kendry!' Ibber shouted as he leapt to his feet. 'Are you accusing me of something?'

'You'll know when I accuse you of something,' Veil said without emotion.

'I checked you out the same as I do, or someone on my staff does, every other individual who's invited to the Institute. I wrote up my report and submitted it to Jonathan. Period.'

'You knew that the man who tried to kill me was a Mamba—an Army assassin.'

'So what? That was none of my business.'

'Then what were you doing there when Parker questioned me?'

'Parker wanted another witness. In case you didn't notice, he and Jonathan don't get on too well.'

'Jonathan?' Sharon's voice was trembling. 'What is all this talk about killing?'

The Institute's director removed the cigar from his mouth and pointed it like a spear at Veil's chest. 'It's still Mr. Kendry's show; let him direct it the way he wants.'

Veil felt the first stirrings of doubt, and he frowned slightly as he studied Pilgrim's face. 'They really didn't know about your plans for me, did they?'

Pilgrim grunted softly. 'Now you've got it. I'm curious as to what it is you think you know. Do you believe that one of us is responsible for the attack on you? All of us?'

'Make your point, Kendry,' Ibber said in a voice still heavy with anger.

Veil wheeled on the investigator. 'Did you find anything in my background that you thought was particularly interesting?'

'As a matter of fact, I did. I suspected that your military record had been doctored, and I included that in my report. Again, so what? Picking up on things like that is what I'm paid to do.'

'Did you tell anybody else?'

'Why should I tell anybody else? What the hell makes you think you're so goddam important, Kendry? As far as I was concerned, you were just another subject for investigation.'

'You didn't know that your boss really wanted me here as part of near-death studies?'

'I don't have anything to do with near-death studies, Kendry. This is the first time I've ever even set foot on this mountain. And I still don't know that what you say is true. All I hear is you talking.'

'It's true,' Pilgrim said, his voice flat and slightly distant. 'In fact, I have been running a game on Veil, and he has every right to be upset. His mistake is in thinking that there's some connection between that game and another problem he and I have to deal with. He's wrong, and I think he's beginning to see that. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to find him willing to let the two of you go on now about your own business.'

'I'd prefer to stay,' Ibber announced as he abruptly sat down in his chair. 'Kendry dragged me over here, and now I think I have the right to know what's going on.'

'Henry,' Sharon said quietly, touching the investigator's arm, 'I really think we should both go.'

'It's all right, Sharon,' Pilgrim said casually. 'Half my cat's hanging out of the bag, anyway, so we may as well all hear Veil drag out the rest of the beast. Assuming that's all right with him, of course.'

'Oh, Jonathan,' Sharon breathed, 'it's so personal.'

Ibber cleared his throat. 'Jonathan, would you like us to leave?'

'I told you that was up to Veil,' Pilgrim replied distantly. 'He's in charge.'

'Why did you want me for near-death studies, Jonathan?' Veil asked quietly, ignoring Ibber.

Pilgrim motioned for Veil to sit down at the table, but Veil shook his head. 'If there's a connection between why I wanted you and that other business, I'll be damned if I know what it is,' Pilgrim said easily. 'I told you that.'

'Why didn't you tell me you were a Lazarus Person?'