Shadow of the Condor by James Grady Read Free Book Online

almost covered his blue eyes as he stared at a point directly in front of Kevin's feet. "Would you like to talk? I mean, would you mind?"
    Kevin smiled. "Not at all, Malcolm. Not at all. In fact I’d like to talk. Come in."
    Malcolm stepped inside the room. Kevin quietly closed the door behind him.
    What the good doctor is saying," the old man had told Kevin the day before, "is that our Malcolm, our Condor, has no place to go but to us. He had to come to us, to work with us. Events are programmed that way. He has no other choice, and whether you attributed that to guilt over the deaths and taking our money, alienation, isolation, a strong sense of duty, boredom, a yearning for excitement or whatever, it all boils down to the same thing: He will do it. Am I correct, Doctor?"
    Dr. Lofts looked across the room at Kevin. The huge doctor is the chief psychiatrist for the CIA. His specialty is medically termed "behavior prognosis." The agency gives Dr.- Lofts the man to study and Dr. Lofts projects what the man would do in a given situation. Dr. Lofts and his team came into prominence when their evaluation of Nikita Khrushchev helped John Kennedy decide for the 'Cuban blockade. The doctor smiled. "I enjoy the way you cut through the medical folderol. Yes, I agree with you, Malcolm's ready to come over.
    "Look at the signs. When he first moved to Cincinnati , he attended classes regularly, did all his assigned work and more. He ignored his hobby of escape through-violent fiction, a reaction to his involvement with the real thing. He tried to socialize with the other graduate students and professors, although that attempt was very brief. Now, almost a year later, he seldom goes to classes, the surveillance check shows him reading his type of fiction again and he sees almost no one. The world he found in Cincinnati doesn't correspond to the world he lived in so intensely for that brief period of time. He finds this new world dull and somewhat inane. Couple that with his guilt and feelings of duty, his natural inclination toward alienation, and he's ready to give us a try, if, and I must, emphasize again, if we don't push him into something too big, too deep, too arduous. That is very important, very important.
     
    I should also should add," the doctor continued, "that our boy has a rather romantic view of what he would call 'absurd fate.' He'll come because he knows he'll come."
    "What is the plan, sir?" Kevin asked the old man. "You haven't told me what I'm to do, let alone what Condor will be doing."
    The old man smiled. "That's partially because I'm not sure how things will be done. Your job is simple. Backtrack Parkins, find out where he went and, if possible, why he went there. Then you do the same. Somewhere along the line I hope you'll tumble onto something or someone will tumble onto you. I wish you luck because Parkins evidently covered himself well. All the normal tracking procedures have failed. Be very careful because the opposition, whoever they are, will not want you bothering them as Parkins did.
    "Malcolm's task is even simpler. As you know, I've been saving him until he's ready. He has such a lot of talent. I felt a little Long-term investment was in order on the chance that someday we could make him into -something very valuable. Because he's ready and -because action in his account will help justify the financial outlays we've had to make for our investment, we'll let him do the prying in Montana . A nice cover, nothing so elaborate that the opposition won't know who he is, but nothing so simple that the populace will figure out that he isn't what he seems. For the record, he'll be working for the bureau on loan to us. If my guess is right, he won't run into any trouble from the opposition. They won't want to stir things up after killing Parkins. Malcolm as our Condor may also draw their attention, allowing you, Kevin, a better chance to sneak in the back door."
    "Will you provide any backup for Malcolm? If things