The Starshine Connection by Buck Sanders Read Free Book Online Page B

much like the one he had gotten of Anna Drake: money, and lots of it, was tied up in this place.
     Everything from the location and layout to the furnishings and rickrack on the display shelves bragged. It was the sort of
     conspicuous, show-off consumerism Slayton expected of a
nouveau riche,
someone who has gone from the gutter to the top of the mountain with no humbling stops between the two. One of the giveaways
     of a wealthy individual possessing no taste whatsoever was also glaringly obvious: the apartments were outfitted to please
     visitors, not the occupant himself.
    Slayton rolled his eyes, guessing that there would be a safe hidden in a fairly obvious location. In this sort of place, there
     always was.
    He discovered it behind a sprawling abstract rendered by some latter-day Picasso clone, a noisy clash of art-school technique
     with commercial sleaze. It was painted on cheap canvas and mounted in a DeLarge frame that probably cost more than the painting
     itself. It swung laterally out on interior hinges to reveal a formidable-looking safe built into a wall torn down and reinforced
     specifically for the purpose.
    Priorities would follow the safe. The desks would be next, then a general class-two search of the premises. Search priorities
     were arranged according to how much time was available; Slayton figured he had at least half an hour, counting lead time—that
     is, the time he needed to get in and out of the building.
    He had brought along a Hofmeister Box, a safecracking device often employed by the CIA to make the work quick and easy. It
     was a digital pocket analyzer with stethescope probes for attachment to the safe face. One complete twist of the dial on a
     standard safe would cause numbers to fly in red neon across the board face. As the dial passed each key number, it would lock
     in. The calculator aspect of the Hofmeister would then sort the numbers into sequence. On a more up-to-date, push-button combination,
     the connection could be made electronically.
    Slayton worked efficiently, his hands covered with thin latex surgeon’s gloves. After priming the Hofmeister, he did a routine
     check of the apartment windows, starting with the side on which he had entered the building and working clockwise.
    His time estimate had been off by nearly eighty percent. A threesome of men in topcoats were coming up the walk to the townhouse
     door, and from the look of them, they had keys.
    He was already gone from the window.

6
    “What about the alarm?”
    “Mick’s got the cutoff key. Which one of these damn things is for the doors, though—is it the same key?”
    “Naw, shit,” came a third voice through the closed townhouse door. ‘They never bother with stuff like that. It’s always ‘here’s
     the job, here’s the keys, hurry up…’ ”
    Apparently, the men outside the door had the keys to the townhouse, but not the intellect to use them. Slayton had used less
     time—and made less noise. Now there was nowhere for him to run; he was three stories up. There was no time to jump the alarms
     on the windows and get out to the balcony, or the roof. For him, the only way out was past the trio presently on the stairs
     leading to the front door. The men outside were keeping up an almost constant patter of small talk and bitching.
    “Okay, here we go,” said one.
    Slayton had stationed himself behind a plastic portable bar, a gigantic, seashell-shaped eyesore on casters that occupied
     a corner formed by two thick, floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The curtains were open, and he dared not close them; the men
     coming in might see their residual motion. From the street, he was clearly visible, hunkered down behind the bar, his ass
     plastered against the window. The glass was so thick he guessed that it might be bulletproof, and he found himself wondering
     again just what kind of nut had this kind of taste.
    He was in direct line with the door. If luck was with him, he might be able to end-run