Subject Seven by James A. Moore Read Free Book Online Page B

with the Other.
    â€œHello, Hunter. Here’s the thing. You work for me. Give me what I want, and I’ll give you answers about your family and about your past. That’s the way this is played. I’ll give you this much for free. Your family is alive. Or at least they were when I left them behind. They were a little upset, of course. They thought I’d killed you. In their defense, so did I.” Lies. The smile that spread across his face was pure venom, undiluted hatred. The lies came easily enough. Anything he could do to make Hunter suffer was a pleasure. “I’m going to give you a few names to check out, Hunter. I know you’re good with homework and I have other things to take care of. I want you to find out everything you can about the people I write down on the list you’ll find on the mirror. E-mail addresses, home addresses, phone numbers. I want to know everything. Are they druggies? Jocks? Cheerleaders? Sluts? Find out and write down everything you uncover. You do this for me, and we can start giving you the answers you want. And if you don’t? We’ll have a problem.”
    He needed Hunter kept busy. He needed the Other distracted or he would slow things down too much.
    He played back the message twice and then taped his list to the hotel room mirror.

Chapter Four

Evelyn Hope
    â€œDANIEL CLARKSON.” GEORGE MULCHAHY slid a piece of paper across Evelyn’s massive desk in her study. “He just paid off his car, his house and his time-share in Malibu. He also deposited fifteen thousand dollars into his savings account.”
    â€œPeople make money, George. Even when they don’t work for us anymore.” Evelyn’s voice was dry and calm. She wasn’t easily shocked. If she had been, she’d surely have never gotten to where she was in the world.
    George tsked under his breath and crossed his arms. His suit was impeccable and his hair was perfect and if it weren’t for the atrocious glasses he insisted on wearing, he could have been called handsome, in a stuffy sort of way. He was one of the very few people who knew her that could get away with making that rude little noise in her presence. He was Evelyn’s second-in-command.
    Evelyn sighed and then forced a small smile. “Obviously you think I’m missing something about Dan’s sudden income increase, George. Would you like to enlighten me?”
    â€œFunny, isn’t it? Dan suddenly runs across a spare fifty g’s just two weeks after Martin Hanson gets hospitalized in the same city.”
    That got her attention. “Really?”
    George nodded. “Seems Martin was getting extra money for a while too. A look back in his records shows about one hundred and twenty-five thousand extra dollars in spending showing up around his house. New garage, finally got that little boat he was always talking about. Paid cash for it. All of it over the last six months.”
    â€œReally? Are we sure he didn’t just have a paper route somewhere?” Evelyn leaned back in her leather seat and stared at her second. There were a lot of reasons that she’d chosen him as her personal assistant, but one of the main ones was simply that he was one of the most paranoid human beings she had ever met. And that made him valuable. He just didn’t trust anyone, and that especially included ex-employees who had too much information for their own good.
    George made that tsking noise again, and Evelyn lifted an eyebrow and stared at him until he looked away. It was okay to get a little cheeky, but she wouldn’t tolerate anyone, not even her personal assistant, getting rude with her.
    Properly chastised, George looked at his clipboard. She knew it was for show. He had a mind that was too sharp to need a clipboard, which was one of the other reasons she’d hired him and kept him close over the years.
    â€œMartin went to work for Danforth Pharmaceuticals after he left here.