Council of Kings by Don Pendleton Read Free Book Online Page A

adjusted several knobs on a small control panel there. A television screen flipped up on his desk.
    He pushed a switch and a videotape began rolling in a Betamax.
    Johnny Bolan's likeness appeared on the screen in profile. Joey froze the image and forwarded it to a set of computer memory banks for scanning and matching.
    A few moments later the screen changed and the results were shown: NO EXACT IDENT. TWO SIMILAR CLASSIFICATION CHOICES.
    The screen then showed a picture of a young television actor whose face resembled Johnny's. A coincidence. Joey hit the delete button and the screen went blank. Then another profile came up. It was the Executioner.
    Joey laughed. He studied a split screen of the two profiles, first in line sketches, then with the best photograph they had of the Executioner. There were some similarities, but a dozen or so differences. Again, a coincidence. He hit the CONTINUE button and the computer reported: No EXACT MATCH ON SCREEN IMAGE. NOT A KNOWN FIGURE IN ANY OF THE IDENT BANKS. NOT A FRIENDLY. NOT A COPY WITH ANY LEA MEMBER ON FILE.
    Joey touched a button and the screen recessed neatly into his desk. He touched another.
    "Yes, Mr. Canzonari?" asked a voice through a small speaker.
    "How many tails on the man who just left my office?"
    "Two."
    "Good. Get a report back to me as soon as you can."
    "Yes, Mr. Canzonari."
    * * *
    Johnny sensed he was being followed even before he left the building. He caught a cab, saw a tall man in a brown suit grab the next cab in line. He told the driver to take him to the airport, then asked for the police station instead. When they arrived Johnny said he now wanted to go to his hotel.
    The cabby was getting curious.
    "Someone's following us," Johnny said.
    "Not for long." the cabby replied. He gunned the Chevy down the block, into an alley, around the block and into the alley again. He parked behind a bakery. Five minutes later he eased out the other end of the alley and drove Johnny to the hotel. Johnny gave him a ten-dollar tip.
    There was a message in Johnny's box with his key, listing a number to call.
    Johnny hurried to a pay phone and dialed. It was the number Charleen Granger had given him to use in an emergency.
    Someone answered on the first ring.
    "Yes, hello!"
    "This is Johnny. I had a message to call this number."
    "Thanks. I met you last night when you talked to Charleen about her sister. I'm her husband." There was a catch in his voice.
    "Is something wrong?"
    "Charleen has been kidnapped. There was a note on the front door. It said not to go to the police or to tell anyone, and I would be notified in six hours about ransom. We don't have any money!"
    "Mr. Granger, I'm sorry. It's the same people who hurt Charlotte. Stay there. Wait for their call. I'll talk to a friend and get back to you."
    After Johnny hung up, he realized he had no way to contact Mack. A chill darted through him. He had once been involved in a Mafia kidnapping in San Diego, and his lady, Sandy Darlow, had been killed. Who else would want to kidnap Charleen, except the Mafia?
    Johnny hurried to his room. As he waited, he paced up and down, staring at the phone, demanding that it ring.
    Until it did, he could only worry.
    Time and again a terrible scene returned to his mind. It was what he had seen when Sandy Darlow lay on that stainless-steel table in the garage in San Diego.
    What he had seen was turkey meat.

10
    Bolan powered the Thunderbird from the underground hotel garage and swept out of Portland on Southwest MacAdam Avenue, which turned into Riverside Drive and followed the Willamette River south.
    He drove upstream until he came to Lake Oswego, a town as well as a lake about two and a half miles long, developed as a showplace for luxurious waterfront homes with docks.
    The Executioner was interested in talking to Tony Pagano. He had never met Tall Tony. His intel indicated that in this posh community Pagano now headed a branch office for the Canzonari family.
    It was not