Diehl, William - Show of Evil by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page B

a
railing that separated the desk from the hallway to see who the
celebrity was. The press shoved microphones in her face, yelled
questions at her, jostled for space, while TV cameras scorched the
scene with searing lights.
    Shock Johnson led the stunned and frightened woman towards the
booking desk as she looked around in bewilderment, flinching every time
a strobe flashed, cowering under the blistering TV lights, while the
press screamed at her. At that moment, Eckling appeared from a side
room and took his place beside the tiny, trembling woman, displaying
her like a big-game trophy. Vail watched the feeding frenzy with
disgust.
    'Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?' Shana Parver
said.
    'That son of a bitch is turning this into a freak show,' said Vail,
and he charged into the room followed by Parver and Stenner.
    In the back of the crowded room, Jane Venable eased her way into the
crowd of newshounds. She watched the scene with disgust, then saw Vail
charge the crowd and grab Shock Johnson by the arm. 'What the hell's he
doing?' Vail demanded.

Fourteen
    The man leaned over his worktable, concentrating on the job of
soldering a cobweb-thin piece of wire to a chip smaller than his
fingernail. He was a husky man; his shirtsleeves were rolled up over
machine-moulded biceps. A pair of magnifying goggles was perched on his
nose.
    'Hey, Raymond, goin' to lunch?' Terry called to him.
    'Can't stop now,' Raymond answered without taking his eyes off his
task.
    'Want me to bring you something?'
    'Yeah. Cheese crackers and a Coke.'
    'You got it.'
    Raymond heard the door slam shut. He finished the soldering job and
placed the hot iron in a small, fireproof tray, took off the goggles,
and leaned back in his chair. He stared through the window at the
office across the way, watching the secretaries as they puttered
around, getting ready to go to lunch.
Creatures of habit
, he
thought. He could set his watch by their moves. Noon, five days a week,
and they were out of there. He watched them until they left the office,
then he walked across the small repair room choked with VCRs, TVs, and
PCs and picked up a VCR and brought it back to the worktable. He
removed the top and took out a small minicomputer and a black box about
two inches square. He attached the box to the minicomputer with a short
length of phone wire, then turned on the computer. He typed MODEM on
the keyboard and a moment later a menu appeared on the screen. He moved
the cursor to RECEIVE and hit enter. A moment later, the words ON LINE
flashed in the corner of the screen. He watched the empty office across
the way while he waited. Five minutes passed and the words INCOMING
CALL flashed on the screen and a moment after that:
    ARE YOU THERE, FOX?
    HERE, HYDRA. ARE YOU PREPARED?
    ALWAYS, FOX.
    HAVE YOU SEEN THE SUBJECT?
    YES, FOX. THREE DAYS AGO.
    AND THE REFERENCE?
    IN MY HEAD.
    EXCELLENT. LEAVE TONIGHT.
    OH, THANK YOU, FOX. IT HAS BEEN SO LONG.
    THE TIME IS PERFECT. THANK YOU, THANK YOU. IT IS AN
EXCELLENT PLAN. BE CAREFUL.
    ALWAYS.
    IN TWO DAYS. SAME TIME. TWO DAYS.

Fifteen
    Lex was pissed off. The last trip of the day and he had to drive
thirty-five miles down to Hilltown to deliver a stinking package.
Thirty-five fucking miles, and he had two ladies lined up that night.
Pick-and-choose time. He laughed and slapped the wheel of the minivan.
Maybe he could get them both interested. Hell, what a night that would
be!
    But first things first. Thirty-five miles down to Hilltown. He
couldn't speed.
    Two tickets down, one more and I'm out
. He couldn't afford
to lose his licence, the job was too good, except when they dumped a
late load on him and he had to drive thirty-five miles down and
thirty-five miles back. And drop off the stupid package. Seventy miles.
Ten minutes to do the package. Two hours, no more. He'd be back in town
by 8 P.M. Then he'd make up his mind.
    Toni?
Or Jessie? What
a choice. Brunette or redhead
?
    He was thinking so hard he almost missed