He turned to look at his brother again. Andrew’s eyes were closed. He was asleep. Furious, Tanner walked over to him and slapped him hard across his face.
Andrew jerked awake. “What—?”
“Pay attention when I’m talking to you, you cretin.”
“I—I’m sorry, Tanner. I was just—”
Tanner turned to a computer. “Now, let’s see what women’s hotels there are in Manhattan.”
Tanner did a quick search on the Internet and printed out the results. He read the names aloud. “The El Carmelo Residence on West Fourteenth Street…Centro Maria Residence on West Fifty-fourth Street…The Parkside Evangeline on Gramercy South, and the Wilton Hotel for Women.” He looked up and smiled. “That’s where Cartesian logic tells us they might be, Andrew. Now let’s see what technology tells us.”
Tanner walked over to the painting of a landscape on the wall, reached behind it, and pressed a concealed button. A section of the wall slid open, revealing a television screen with a computerized map of Manhattan.
“Do you remember what this is, Andrew? You used to operate this equipment. In fact, you were so good at it, I was jealous of you. It’s a Global Positioning System. With this, we can locate anyone in the world. Remember?”
Andrew nodded, fighting to stay awake.
“When the ladies left my office, I gave each of them my business card. The cards have microdot computer chips about the size of a grain of sand imbedded in them. That signal is picked up by satellite, and when the Global Positioning System is activated, it pinpoints their exact location.” He turned to his brother. “Do you understand?”
Andrew swallowed. “I—I—yes, Tanner.”
Tanner turned back to the screen. He pressed a second button. Tiny lights began to flash on the map and started downward. It slowed at a small area, then flowed ahead again. A moving pinpoint of red light swept along a street, going so slowly that the names of businesses were clearly visible.
Tanner pointed. “That’s West Fourteenth Street.” The red light kept moving. “There’s the Tequila Restaurant…a pharmacy…Saint Vincent’s Hospital…Banana Republic…Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.” The light stopped. A note of victory came into Tanner’s voice. “And there’s the Wilton Hotel for Women. That confirms my logic. I was right, you see.”
Andrew licked his lips. “Yes. You were right…”
Tanner looked at Andrew. “You may go now.” He picked up his cell phone and dialed. “Mr. Flint, they’re at the Wilton Hotel on West Thirty-fourth Street.” He turned off the phone. He looked up and saw Andrew standing in the doorway. “What is it?” Tanner asked impatiently.
“Will I be going to—you know—Sweden, to pick up my Nobel Prize they just gave me?”
“No, Andrew. That was seven years ago.”
“Oh.” Andrew turned and shuffled back to his office.
Tanner thought about his own urgent trip to Sweden, three years earlier….
HE HAD BEEN involved in a complicated logistics mishap when his secretary’s voice came over the intercom. “Zurich is on the line for you, Mr. Kingsley.”
“I’m too busy for—never mind. I’ll talk to them.” He picked up the phone. “Yes?” As Tanner listened, his face became grim. He said impatiently, “I see…. Are you sure? She—No, never mind. I’ll handle this myself.”
He pressed down the intercom button. “Miss Ordonez, tell the pilot to have the Challenger ready. We’re flying to Zurich. There will be two passengers.”
MADELEINE SMITH WAS seated in a booth at La Rotonde, one of the finest restaurants in Zurich. She was in her early thirties, with a lovely oval face, bobbed hair, and a beautiful complexion. She was visibly pregnant.
Tanner walked over to the table, and Madeleine Smith stood up.
Tanner Kingsley held out his hand. “Please, sit down.” He sat down opposite her.
“I am happy to meet you.” She had a lilting Swiss accent. “At first, when I got the call, I thought it was a joke.”
“Why?”
“Well, you are such an important man and when they said you were coming to Zurich just to see me, I could not imagine—”
Tanner smiled. “I’ll tell you why I’m here. Because I’ve heard that you are a brilliant scientist, Madeleine. May I call you Madeleine?”
“Oh, please, Mr. Kingsley.”
“At KIG, we treasure talent. You’re the kind of person who should be working for us, Madeleine. How long have you been with Tokyo First Industrial?”
“Seven years.”
“Well, seven is your lucky number, because I’m offering you a job at KIG at twice what you’re making now, and you’ll be in charge of your own department and—”
“Oh, Mr. Kingsley!” She was beaming.
“Are you interested, Madeleine?”
“Oh, yes! I am very interested. Of course I could not start right now.”
Tanner’s expression changed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I am having a baby and getting married….”
Tanner smiled. “That’s no problem. We’ll handle everything.”
Madeleine Smith said, “But there is another reason I cannot leave right now. I am working on a project at our laboratory and we are just getting—we are almost at the end of it.”
“Madeleine, I don’t know what your project is and I don’t care. But the fact is that the offer I just made must be accepted immediately. In fact, I was hoping to fly you and your fiancé”—he smiled—“or should I say your future husband—back to America with me.”
“I could come as soon as the project is finished. Six months, maybe a year.”
Tanner was silent for a moment. “Are you sure there is no way you can come now?”
“No. I am in charge of this project. It would be unfair for me to walk out.” She brightened. “Next year—?”
Tanner smiled. “Absolutely.”
“I am so sorry that you had to make this journey for nothing.”
Tanner said warmly, “It wasn’t for nothing, Madeleine. I got to meet you.”
She blushed. “You are very kind.”
“Oh, by the way, I brought you a gift. My associate will bring it to your apartment tonight at six o’clock. His name is Harry Flint.”
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, the body of Madeleine Smith was found on her kitchen floor. The stove had been left on and the apartment was filled with gas.
TANNER’S THOUGHTS CAME back to the present. Flint never failed him. In a little while, Diane Stevens and Kelly Harris would be disposed of, and with them out of the way, the project could continue.
Chapter 26
HARRY FLINT WALKED up to the reception desk of the Wilton Hotel. “Hello.”
“Hello.” The clerk noticed the smile on his face. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. My wife and her friend, an African-American, checked in here a little while ago. I want to go up and surprise them. What’s their room number?”
The clerk said, “I’m sorry. This is a hotel for women, sir. Men are not allowed upstairs. If you’d like to phone—”
Flint glanced around the lobby. Unfortunately, it was crowded. “Never mind,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll be down soon.”
Flint walked outside and dialed his cell phone. “They’re upstairs in their room, Mr. Kingsley. I can’t go up.”
Tanner stood still a moment, concentrating. “Mr. Flint, logic tells me that they will decide to separate. I’m sending Carballo over to help you.”
UPSTAIRS IN THEIR suite, Kelly turned the radio on to a pop station, and the room was suddenly filled with loud rap music.
“How can you listen to that?” Diane asked irritably.
“You don’t like rap music?”
“That’s not music. That’s noise.”
“You don’t like Eminem? And what about LL Cool J and R. Kelly and Ludacris?”
“Is that all you listen to?”
“No,” Kelly said tartly. “I enjoy Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Chopin’s études, and Handel’s Almira. I’m particularly fond of—”
Kelly watched Diane walk over to the radio and turn it off. “What are we going to do when we run out of hotels, Mrs. Stevens? Do you know anyone who can help us?”
Diane shook her head. “Most of Richard’s friends worked at KIG, and our other friends—I can’t get any of them involved in this.” She looked at Kelly. “What about you?”
Kelly shrugged. “Mark and I lived in Paris for the past three years. I don’t know anyone here except the people at the model agency, and I have a feeling they wouldn’t be a lot of help.”
“Did Mark say why he was going to Washington?”
“No.”
“Neither did Richard. I have a feeling that somehow that’s the key to why they were murdered.”
“Great. We have the key. Where’s the door?”
“We’ll find it.” Diane was thoughtful for a moment, then her face lit up. “Wait a minute! I know someone who might be able to help us.” She went over to the phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Richard’s secretary. She’ll know what’s been going on.”
A voice at the other end of the phone said, “KIG.”
“I’d like to speak to Betty Barker, please.”
IN HIS OFFICE, Tanner watched the voice identification blue light flash on. He pressed a switch and heard the operator say, “Miss Barker is not at her desk right now.”