The Devil's Assassin (9 page)

“Where am I going
to find a computer to send e-mails?”

“Don’t you
government ‘agents’ ever go out prepared? I have a laptop over there.”

June sets down
her bag and first walks over to the window to throw open the heavy drapes
letting the bright sunshine into the guest house’s dark room. The view is out
the rear of the guest house and a heavily treed backyard, though not so heavy
as to block the sun. She then walks over to the desk on which sits Linus’
laptop computer.

“What about other
governments?” asks
Linus.
“What about the public?”

She stops at the
desk, removing her orange cardigan sweater. She is wearing a long sleeve white
blouse and khaki pants.

“I’m not in
charge of letting other governments know about this issue or any issue, though
I am sure that the lab is going to get calls in about 100 languages this
weekend.
Same with the public.
There are people in the
government who take care of these things.”

Linus looks
doubtful.

“The wheels are
turning full speed now, Linus. I promise.”

He seems somewhat
mollified by her sincerity. She sits down and opens the laptop, pressing the
On
button.

“How about the hunt for ‘our’ creature?”
Linus asks.
“The wheels turning
on that too?”

“The police were
brought on board, fully, yesterday. Detective Maas got his all-points bulletin
and I imagine the press is all over the issue about now.”

Linus smiles as
he digs in his duffle bag for the phone cord for the computer’s modem.

“That’s good
news, June. Let’s hope there’s more good news to be found in Argentina.”

               
›

Fairmount Park is
a large outpost of nature in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with lots of trees,
grass, and ponds and streams. As with most parks, there are plenty of park
benches, more than a few of which are occupied by homeless men and women at
night. Some areas of the park are well lit, while others are not.

In a more crowded
area of the park, some people are sitting, drinking from brown sacks or
smoking, but most are sleeping since it is 3:00 a.m. In a quieter section of
this area that has fewer benches, there is a bench on which a man sleeps. A
couple more trees separate another bench from this one and someone sleeps on
this one too. These are the last two benches along a path that then runs into a
densely wooded area.

From the darker,
densely wooded area, something watches the two men as they sleep and then
creeps forward toward the bench that’s nearer to the woods. The lurker moves
stealthily and confidently. As he gets closer, he suddenly steps on an unseen
plastic water bottle making an incredibly loud noise in the quiet park. He
keeps advancing on his target, however, because he’s close enough to be in
control of the situation and because even after the loud noise his target is
still deep in sleep.

A second man
sleeping on the bench near the lurker’s target is wakened by the noise of the
water bottle being stepped on and opens his eyes to see a hairy humanoid
heading for the man on the other bench. His right arm goes for his metal cane,
which is always on hand for protection when sleeping outdoors, as well as
helping him
walk
. He calls out as he reaches for it.

“Crap, look out.
Get up!”

The original
targeted man hears the cry from the other man, but is slow to respond. For the
moment it doesn’t matter. The creature has turned around to face the man with
the cane. That man stands waving his cane as the short creature approaches. The
man is nervous but filled with adrenaline. He’d hoped the creature would flee,
but he tries to show confidence.

“You want some of
this, monkey? Keep coming and you’ll lose your teeth.”

The creature
confidently continues toward the man. When he is in striking distance of the
cane, the homeless man shouts and takes a powerful swing at the head of the
creature. The creature deftly puts his arm up near his head and leans away so
that the swing is deflected. The man’s immediate backswing comes down at the
lower leg of the creature. This move surprises and hobbles the creature. But as
the creature grunts, bending down in pain, he uses that bend to somersault
forward toward the man. As he comes out of the roll, the lance is coming out
and he is bouncing up to the man’s chest. He lances him quickly and the brave
man goes down in a heap.

Meanwhile, the
other homeless man, who had been the first
target
has
been watching this horror unfold, and though he is still tired from drink, his
adrenaline starts flowing at the sight of his brave acquaintance’s
killing. 

“You bastard!” he
shouts running at the beast, intent on tackling him and choking the life out of
him.

The creature
decides that with all the noise and the proximity of so many other people that
killing off one
more weak
human isn’t worth the chance
that he’ll get caught, so he makes a strategic escape into the woods. The man
discontinues his chase at the woods’
edge,
sober
enough to realize his disadvantage were he to continue on.

The noise that
the two men had made while fighting the creature has woken other people in the
park, many of whom saw what had been happening and had come over to investigate
or try to help. But it is too late for the man who fought the creature and died
saving another man. There was nothing for the crowd to do now except get the
attention of the police.

›

A Toyota
four-wheel drive is heading west on a highway from Buenos Aires through the
pampas. Argentine music is playing as a beautiful panoramic view of the Argentine
plains passes by. Linus is driving, and June is sleeping in the passenger seat.
Linus turns the music down a little to keep from disturbing her. She looks
peaceful, even angelic to him as she sleeps. She stirs after he adjusts the
volume.

“You don’t have
to do that,” she says sleepily.

Linus smiles.
“You
haven’t been much company the last couple hours.”

“I had a long
night on the red-eye. How much longer before we get to Villa Huidobro?”

“Another hour or
so.... I appreciate your coming down to South America to tag along with me, but
based on my last two stops, you may feel you’ve wasted your time.”

“Any info we can
get on this creature is useful, Linus.”

“Well, at least
your presence ought to lend some authority to my poking around.”

“Maybe,” nods
June. “Actually, I jumped at the chance. If the lab wants to pay for me to
visit a country I’ve always wanted to see, that’s all the better for me.”

Linus looks at
her doubtfully.
“Yeah, right.
Did Van Horn send you?”

“Van Houten,” she
says smiling. “Yes. He and I both thought it would be a good idea to stay close
to you because you happen to know more than almost anyone else about the
creature. And you appear to not be worried about stirring up any hornet’s nests
along the way.”

She pauses to
look more directly at him. “And I think you also seem to care about finding him
a great deal; care that no one else gets hurt. ... Of Course this last reason
doesn’t carry that much traction with my boss, but it does with me.”

Linus looks over
briefly at June as he is driving, connects with her eye to eye. Always
embarrassed when the attention is on him, he tries to brush it off. “Maybe I
feel a little responsible having found him first. Sure I don’t want anyone else
hurt, neither do
you.
Neither does Van Houten for that
matter.”

They drive on in
silence for a moment.

“Question.
Why’d
you give up biology?”

“A difficult
professor,” says Linus. “I’m not proud of the decision. But I’ve had a steady
job as a result of the career I ended up in.”

“Not exactly a ringing
endorsement. You should go back and finish your degree in zoology. Just look at
your interest in this creature, and the fact that you have a lemur. I think
you’re more interested in animals than in guarding prisoners.”

Linus thinks
about it for a moment.
“Maybe.
Hey, speaking of
lemurs, who’s watching Sava? Not Van Holder I hope.”

June smiles.
“Don’t worry. I have someone very trustworthy looking after him at the lab.
He’s being treated like a celebrity, actually.”

Linus is
grateful. “Thank you.”

“De nada,”
replies June. “Do you think you could stop at the next Burger King or its
Argentine equivalent along this highway? I am really hungry.”

“I don’t know
that they have Burger King’s out here in the pampas, but I am sure we can find
something in the next little town we pass through.”

June nods in
agreement. “This is really a beautiful drive.
Straight road,
verdant farmland, the occasional tree, nice weather, not a lot of traffic.
Quite a bit different from south Jersey.”

“It is very
different. A lot fewer people out here.... You want to drive for a while? I can
check the map and see how far the next town and our lunch
is
.”

“Sure thing,”
June replies with a smile.

Linus pulls the
car over to the side of the road and happily relinquishes the driver’s seat to
June. Once they’re buckled in, the car and its occupants resume their journey
through the grasslands of Argentina in search of food and a deadly killer.

›

Linus and June
are standing in front of the desk of a policeman at the Villa Huidobro police
station, in the province of Cordoba, Argentina. Another policeman stands
scowling nearby.

“What do you mean
you have someone in custody for the murder?” asks Linus.

Detective Arroyos
is dark-skinned, fit looking, and has a good command of English, despite the fact
that they are in the heart of Argentina where he rarely gets to use it. As a
police detective, knowing English has come in handy on occasion for Arroyos.

“This is what we
police in Argentina do, Señor,” says Arroyos. “Find out who commits crimes and
put them in jail. You know, like NYPD Blue, but without the beautiful female
detectives.”

Linus bristles
with anger. June puts a hand on Linus’ shoulder indicating that she’ll take
over.

“What kind of
evidence do you have on this fellow, Detective Arroyos?”

The detective
narrows his eyes at the woman. “We have motive and opportunity. We’ll get the
evidence... or a confession.”

“And what was the
man’s motive?” asks June. “Can you tell us that?”

“Is this an
inquisition?” says Arroyos indignantly. “I don’t explain my investigations to
every Tom, Dick, and Mary who walk in here.”

“We’re not ‘every
Tom, Dick, or Mary,’” says June. “As Linus explained to you a moment ago, we
have information concerning the killing and have come a long way to share it
with you. Very frankly, Detective Arroyos, whatever motive he may have had, we
believe the man you have in custody is innocent.”

“Well, that’s
what HE says. Why do you say it?”

June replies.
“The victim was killed by a tiny puncture to his lung, correct? How many times
have you seen that since you’ve been investigating homicides?”

Arroyos shrugs
.
“There’s a first time for everything.”

“This kind of
puncture wound is consistent with a new species of animal that my lab has had
in its possession. We have the animal on videotape killing one of the lab’s
scientists. Mr. Hather has just come from China and Canada where he was
following up on two killings with the exact same causes of death.... Tell me
Detective, has your suspect been to China and Canada in the last few days?”

Arroyos rolls
his
eyes.
“An animal!
Why?”

Linus jumps in
before June can answer. “We suspect that because of competition for food, this
animal evolved over time into a hunter. A hunter that only hunts Man.”

“And where has
this animal been?” asks a visibly skeptical Arroyos. “Someone ought to have run
across them if they’ve been going around killing people for so long.”

“People have run
across them, Detective,” says Linus. “But the ones who do are dead. This
creature is very stealthy. It avoids contact with people. Even so, there are
legends about the creature in some countries.”

Linus hands the
detective a drawing he’d been working on. It is a pretty good rendition of the
creature. The detective laughs when he sees it.

Linus responds
with some anger. “I have surveillance photos for you on disk. That’s just to
give you an idea.”

Arroyos shakes
his
head. “I think this is very surreal.” He looks at the policeman who is still
scowling nearby. “
Pinch
me quiere,
Pablo. Todavía debe estar en la cama.”