Albert Uhlander still stood with his back to the French window, attentive but unreadable, a silent silhouette that moved only to raise the black outline of a whiskey glass to unseen lips.
‘So you supported Hoffritz and McCaffrey and Koliknikov and Tolbeck and God knows how many other twisted “geniuses,”‘ Dan said. ‘And now, while searching so diligently for a way to control the masses, you’ve lost control. One of these experiments has run wild, and it’s rapidly destroying everyone involved in it. Soon it’s going to destroy you as well.’
‘I’m sure you find this ironic turn of events to be enormously satisfying,’ Boothe said. ‘But I don’t believe you know as much as you think you do, and when you hear the entire story, when you know what’s happening, I think you’ll be as eager as we are to stop the killing, to put an end to the terror that came out of that gray room. You’re sworn to protect and preserve lives, and I am familiar enough with your record to know that you take your oath seriously, even solemnly. Though the lives you’ll have to protect are mine and Albert’s, and though you despise us, you’ll do what’s necessary to help us, once you know the whole story.’
Dan shook his head. ‘You have nothing but disdain for the honor and integrity of common people like me, yet you’re relying on that honor to save your ass.’
‘That … and certain inducements,’ Uhlander said from his place at the window.
‘What inducements?’ Dan asked.
Boothe studied him intently. Bright miniature patterns of Tiffany stained glass reflected in his icy eyes. Finally he said, ‘Yes, I suppose it won’t hurt to explain the inducements first. Albert, would you bring it here, please?’
Uhlander returned to the chair where he had been sitting, put his whiskey glass on a nearby table, and picked up a suitcase which had been standing beside the chair but which Dan hadn’t noticed until now. He brought the piece of luggage to Boothe’s desk, put it down, and opened it. The suitcase was filled with fifty- and hundred-dollar bills in neatly banded stacks.
‘Half a million dollars, cash,’ Boothe said softly. ‘But that’s only part of what I’m offering you. There’s also a position available with the Journal. Head of security. It pays more than twice your current salary.’
Ignoring the cash, Dan said, ‘You pretend to be so cool, but this makes it clear just how desperate you are. This is out of panic. You say you know me, so you know an offer like this would almost surely have the opposite effect intended.’
‘Yes,’ Boothe said, ‘if we wanted you to do something that was wrong in order to earn the money. But I hope to show you that what we want you to do is the right thing, the best thing, the only thing that a man of conscience could possibly do under the circumstances. I believe that, once you know what’s happening, you’ll do the right thing. Which is all that we want. Really. You’ll see that the money isn’t being offered to alleviate your guilt, but … well, as a bonus for good deeds well done.’ He smiled.
‘You want the girl,’ Dan said.
‘No,’ Uhlander said, his eyes glittering, his face more hawklike than ever in the queer mix of shadows and colored light. ‘We want her dead.’
‘And quickly,’ Boothe said.
‘Did you offer Ross Mondale this much money? Wexlersh and Manuello?’ Dan asked.
‘Good heavens, no!’ Boothe said. ‘But now you’re the only one who knows where to find Melanie McCaffrey.’
Uhlander said, ‘You’re the only game in town.’
From their side of the desk, they watched Dan with carnivorous anticipation.
He said, ‘Apparently, you’re even more depraved than I thought. You think killing an innocent child could in any way be construed as the right thing, a good deed.’
‘The operative word is “innocent,”‘ Boothe said. ‘When you understand what happened in that gray room, when you realize what’s been killing all these people—’
‘I think maybe I already know what’s been killing them,’ Dan said. ‘It’s Melanie, isn’t it?’
They stared at him, surprised by his perception.