Silversword by Charles Knief Read Free Book Online

found that encouraging.
    â€œI was an English major at San Francisco State,” he said. “Read very many great novels. You ever read The Old Man and the Sea ?”
    â€œYes. I like Hemingway.”
    â€œMe, too. That was his greatest novel. Probably one of the best ever. It said so much, and yet was very short.”
    â€œClancy should have studied him.”
    He laughed.
    â€œYou ever read Finnegan’s Wake ? Or Ulysses?”
    He smiled. “That’s one of the reasons I quit school. The greatest novelist of the twentieth century? Somebody said so. Some
poll of professors. I couldn’t get through it. I tried. I really tried. I’m not stupid. But it was unfathomable. The experience made me question my commitment to literature. That, and other things.”
    â€œSo how did you get into guarding bodies?”
    â€œI was working my way through college as a martial arts instructor and club bouncer. Carrying a lot of units and working a lot of hours. Very tough schedule, but so was I, I thought. Many times people would ask me about bodyguarding and I suggested one of the better students. One day I thought, why not? And took the next offer that came in. It just so happened that the client was not paranoid but really was in danger from some bad people, and the first night I was on the payroll they tried to take him out. I got lucky and stopped them. Legally. The police, the client, the district attorney, everybody was very happy that it worked out the way it did.”
    â€œAnd word spread.”
    â€œVery quickly. The incident got a lot of publicity because of how it happened. Suddenly I had so many offers I could pick and choose, and I could charge outrageous fees. It brought me much more money than club bouncing or instructing, so I quit school. Now I do this full time.”
    â€œJust like Bill Gates,” I said.
    He nodded, a little proudly. “A little different, but the same idea. He quit Harvard.”
    â€œAnd one major difference,” I said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI’ll bet you’re not as tough as Bill Gates.”
    He flashed a grin. “We’re landing,” he said, noting the changing pitch of the Gulfstream’s engines. “You’ll soon be home, Mr. Caine. Back with your boat and your landlubbers and everything.”
    I looked out the window and saw the Waikiki beach party pass below, the venerable pink Royal Hawaiian and its white sand beach shimmering in the sunshine, the surf line dotted with bathers and surfers. “My landlubbers?” His use of the term finally cut through the fog, making me smile.

    â€œNautical term, isn’t it? Raise the landlubber? Sheet the jib? Walk the plank, and all that?”
    â€œI’ll make you walk the plank if you raise any landlubbers around me, pal,” I said. “You’re going to live with me?”
    â€œDon’t look so alarmed. Chawlie hired me to make sure nothing happens to you while you heal. It should be easy duty here in Hawaii. I’m told you only have friends here.”
    â€œSure,” I said. “Nobody here but friends. You’ll be safe.”
    â€œI’ll just hang around and watch what happens. Don’t worry about me. I can be very unobtrusive. I don’t eat much. And I am being paid very well, so I plan to steal very little.”
    â€œGood to know,” I said, settling back in my seat to wait for the touchdown, thankful once again to be back in the Islands. Thankful that Chawlie had felt grateful enough to help me while I recuperated from my wounds. Thankful, once more, all things considered, to be alive.
    â€œBy the way, Mr. Caine,” said my watchdog, buckling into his leather seat across from mine. “Chawlie wants to see you as soon as we land.”

6
    â€œY ou look good, John Caine, for a man with a bullet in his back and a price on his head.”
    Chawlie rose to greet me, shuffling across his private reception