The Fear In Yesterday's rings

ass, trying to find out things. You really have no choice but to take my word that no leaks will come from us. You'll be other people's problem.'

Zelezian thought about it, finally shook his head. 'No. Afterward, you might decide that breaking your word is something you can live with also.'

'You've got loboxes and the capacity to breed more. We're both aware of what a lobox can do. You've got articles of clothing from both Harper and me. That's your insurance policy. Now, you give Harper's sweater back to her, but you keep my jacket. If I break my word, if you ever have any trouble you think I caused, you can cart one of your loboxes into my neighborhood, prime it with my jacket, and let it loose. If I break my word, I'll know I run the risk of one day walking down the street and having one of those things jump out from some alley to tear my throat out. I know I can't defend myself against a lobox; even if I wanted to put a stop to you, I'd know that the price would be a horrible death. I certainly don't want to be constantly looking over my shoulder for a prehistoric creature that has nothing more on its mind than making a meal out of me. That's your guarantee that I'll keep my mouth shut.'

Zelezian glanced first at the lobox, then at his son. Luther Zelezian, who I somehow suspected might be on our side, nodded to his father. He said, 'If I loosed one anywhere in New York City, it would keep stalking, no matter how long it took, until it found and killed him. We know that from the trials. Frederickson seems to have a strong argument.'

'All right,' Arlen Zelezian said, looking back at me. 'Agreed. Now answer my questions.'

'Ah. Now, how do I know I can trust you to keep your part of the bargain?'

'Even if you are no longer, as you Americans say, on my case, who else might be?'

'How do I know I can trust you, Zelezian?'

'You don't have any choice but to trust me. Now, tell me how you came to know so much about me.'

'Computer,' I said, watching the lobox. 'The bank that sold you the circus ended up with all its transactions on the public record because they were in financial trouble and under investigation by federal regulatory agencies. That's how I got the name of Battle Eagle Corporation. Then it was just a matter of checking out Battle Eagle with contacts I have in Interpol, the CIA, and the FBI.'

Arlen Zelezian grunted. 'What about your brother? Why isn't he out here with you?'

'My brother's back in New York State working on other matters. He has no part in this. He doesn't even know I'm here.'

The tall, gaunt, bearded man raised a large hand, cocked his index finger, and pointed it in my face. 'A lie. The Frederickson brothers always work together. Indeed, if he were to fail to hear from you for any length of time, it's a certainty that he would come looking for you.'

He paused, as if waiting for me to respond to what he'd said, or try to refute it. I remained silent. It seemed he knew as much, or more, about the Fredericksons as I knew about the Zelezians. But then, a lot of people knew about the Fredericksons. It was the price of success-and why we constantly tracked each other.

Zelezian continued, 'Suppose we were to work out some arrangement whereby you and the woman would be free to go in exchange for your promises of silence? How would we manage to keep the other half of Frederickson and Frederickson out of our business?'

'I'll call him and give him some kind of story about how I've lost interest in the matter. You can listen in on the conversation.'

'Oh, I most assuredly would. Now, you've already told me one lie. Another lie will cost the prying man who wore this jacket his life, so be very careful what you say. I don't bluff. Who else knows about my business here? What individual, private firm, or government agency hired you to check up on me?'

'I'm not working for anybody but myself, Zelezian. Phil Statler had a breakdown after he lost the circus. I found him a few days ago, sick and dying, an alcoholic who'd been living on the streets of New York City. I feel I owe the man. I figured that if I could find a way to buy back the circus for him, it would give him a reason to live and clean up his act. My first stop was a circus community in Florida to see if I could line up some financial backers, which is how I happen to have Harper with me. Check with your son. He'll tell you I tried to sound him out about buying the circus.'

'I'm aware of that, Frederickson. Luther told you the circus was not for sale. Did you think you could somehow get him to alter that decision by sneaking around here in the middle of the night? I think you had a pretty good idea of what you might find here.'

There was something in his voice and manner I didn't like at all. 'Just hold on and listen, Zelezian,' I said quickly. 'I did have an idea what I might find here, but not because of any official or extensive investigation. Nate Button, the man you're threatening to kill, approached me in Lambeaux, the last town you were in. He was investigating the killings, which you already know, and he assumed I was in this part of the country to do the same thing. He was the one who said he was convinced it was a lobox doing the killing, and he told me what a lobox was. I didn't pay any attention at the time-the same as nobody is going to pay any attention to him now. It was only after I started thinking of your background, bioweapons, and where a large mammal that would kill over such a large range could remain hidden that I thought of the circus, and then decided that it was my civic duty to check out the situation. Nobody else, with the possible exception of Nate Button, has any notion that World Circus has any business other than making its paying customers happy, and nobody will care what Nate Button thinks. That's it.'

Arlen Zelezian stared at me with his black, dead eyes for a few moments, then slowly shook his head. He turned toward Luther, nodded in the direction of the shredded jacket back in the ring. Luther, who looked uncomfortable, hesitated a moment, but then turned around and walked to the ring. He picked up the torn fabric, slowly walked back.

The lobox quickly rose off its haunches, and its ears stiffened as it turned and looked at Luther. This was a routine, obviously, with which it was well familiar, and its hide had again begun to quiver.

'What are you doing, you sons-of-bitches?' I said tightly, having to force the words out of a constricted throat as I looked back and forth between father and son. 'I've told you what you wanted to know, and now you keep your end of the bargain. Don't kill that man.'

Arlen Zelezian nodded once again to his son.

'Kill!' Luther commanded as he threw the tattered remnants of Nate Button's jacket toward the main entrance to the Big Top.

Harper screamed as the lobox, its driving paws kicking up clots of sawdust, bolted away, racing toward the far end of the tent. I watched in horror as it disappeared into the night, wondered just where Nate Button was at the moment as death raced toward him like an express train from hell, ready to disembowel him and tear out his throat.

'I warned you that your next lie would cost that man his life,' Arlen Zelezian said to me in a low, calm voice that had a slightly reproachful tone. 'And I warned you that I didn't bluff. Did you really expect me to believe an absurd story about you wanting to buy back this circus to give to your poor, old, sick ex-boss? Do you take me for a fool? Come, now. Tell me the truth, or the woman will be next. Who sent you to spy on me? Who else knows I'm in this country, and why?'

For a few moments I was too paralyzed with shock and horror to speak, but then the words erupted out of me in a half shout, half scream. 'That's the truth, you dumb fuck! Do you think I'd have brought a woman along with me if I'd known I was going to find a crazy killer like you! Jesus Christ, you just killed that man for nothing!'

I stood trembling with rage, fists clenched at my sides, as the bearded man hovered over me, looking down into my blood-engorged face. Finally, he shrugged. 'Yes,' he said evenly, 'I see your point. Perhaps I was a bit too hasty. Now I think you may have been telling the truth after all.'

I lunged for him, going for his kneecaps and groin. The barrel of his Magnum came up fast and hard, catching me on the side of the head. I was probably unconscious long before I hit the ground, but there was the sensation of a considerable amount of time passing as I floated down a long, black well shaft echoing with screams, growls, and the gnashing of teeth until I finally landed in an ocean of blood that drowned out everything.

Chapter Eight