the phone. “Read me the price.”
“The Victoria family offers payment plans from as low as five dollars a week.”
“How many weeks?”
“The flexibility of Victoria Family payment plans is such that payments can be made at the new member’s convenience. In addition—”
“Stop it.”
“—when you acquire Victoria—”
“Stop it.”
“—or simply preview it in your home, you will receive—”
“Shut up, goddammit!”
The Customer Representative seemed shocked. Apparently, the members of the Victoria family had better manners. “Mr. Gillick?”
“If the next word out of your mouth,” Arnie said, “is not a number followed by the word ‘dollars,’ I’m gonna hang up. Hard.”
“But the Victoria Family—”
“Good-bye, asshole!” Arnie yelled, and banged the receiver down. Jerks. He wouldn’t buy their damned encyclopedia if they put his picture on the cover, now. What the hell kind of way was that to run a business? Afraid to let the customer know the price of the goods until you had him hooked? Especially a supposedly classy business like the Encyclopedia Victoria.
Outside, someone was pounding on the door again.
“Goddammit!” Arnie said again. It was probably somebody from the encyclopedia company, he thought, sent to drag him by the ear into the Victoria Family. Arnie chuckled to himself, and felt a little bit better.
When he got to the door, he saw he was wrong. It wasn’t a kidnapper, it was a private eye. Somebody not especially tall, but sturdy, wearing a trench coat with the collar turned up, and a felt hat pulled down low.
“What do you want?” It occurred to Arnie that this was ridiculous. Here he was, a big electronics expert, yelling through a door. He ought to hook up an intercom or something.
“Mr. Arnold Gillick?”
“ Are you from the encyclopedia?”
The guy in the trench coat tilted his head to the side, puzzled. Arnie still couldn’t see his face. “No. No. What?”
“Doesn’t matter. Look, it’s my lunchtime, can’t you come back?”
“This will only take a second. You are Mr. Arnold Gillick, a security consultant?”
“I’m retired from that. I can’t help you.”
“But you were in the field in, say, 1971?”
“Oh, yeah, I did that kind of stuff from ’69 to about eighteen months ago.”
“Continuously?”
“Yep. Hardly even took a vacation. Of course, there was a lot of trav—”
The man in the trench coat took his hand out of his pocket and the glass shattered. That was how it seemed to Arnie. He’d never get a chance to correct the impression, because the .357 magnum slug that shattered the window shattered Arnie’s head just a split second later.
Chapter Seven
Washington, D.C.
“S O THAT’S WHY I HAD to drop everything and come down here. To meet a President who’s going to be out of office a year from now.”
The old man stopped walking and turned to his son. That meant he was going to say something. The Congressman had made excellent progress in recovering from his stroke, but he still hadn’t reached the point where he could ply his walker, breathe and talk all at the same time.
“He wanted to see you. He’s still the Commander in Chief, you know.” The Congressman faced forward again, plunked the walker a foot or so in front of where it had been, then inched up to it.
He stopped again. “Besides, I think he was beginning to doubt you existed.”
“I can’t wait until you’re well enough to take the Agency back,” Trotter said. The Congressman muttered something about hoping he lived that long, and plunked on.
This walk was supposed to be part of the old man’s rehabilitation. The doctor (the President had lent the Congressman his own personal physician) had prescribed all the walking the Congressman felt like doing. Trotter reflected that his father had certainly picked a good place for it.
The Capitol Mall will take all the walking you can do, and then some. Trotter was beginning to get a little
“The Victoria family offers payment plans from as low as five dollars a week.”
“How many weeks?”
“The flexibility of Victoria Family payment plans is such that payments can be made at the new member’s convenience. In addition—”
“Stop it.”
“—when you acquire Victoria—”
“Stop it.”
“—or simply preview it in your home, you will receive—”
“Shut up, goddammit!”
The Customer Representative seemed shocked. Apparently, the members of the Victoria family had better manners. “Mr. Gillick?”
“If the next word out of your mouth,” Arnie said, “is not a number followed by the word ‘dollars,’ I’m gonna hang up. Hard.”
“But the Victoria Family—”
“Good-bye, asshole!” Arnie yelled, and banged the receiver down. Jerks. He wouldn’t buy their damned encyclopedia if they put his picture on the cover, now. What the hell kind of way was that to run a business? Afraid to let the customer know the price of the goods until you had him hooked? Especially a supposedly classy business like the Encyclopedia Victoria.
Outside, someone was pounding on the door again.
“Goddammit!” Arnie said again. It was probably somebody from the encyclopedia company, he thought, sent to drag him by the ear into the Victoria Family. Arnie chuckled to himself, and felt a little bit better.
When he got to the door, he saw he was wrong. It wasn’t a kidnapper, it was a private eye. Somebody not especially tall, but sturdy, wearing a trench coat with the collar turned up, and a felt hat pulled down low.
“What do you want?” It occurred to Arnie that this was ridiculous. Here he was, a big electronics expert, yelling through a door. He ought to hook up an intercom or something.
“Mr. Arnold Gillick?”
“ Are you from the encyclopedia?”
The guy in the trench coat tilted his head to the side, puzzled. Arnie still couldn’t see his face. “No. No. What?”
“Doesn’t matter. Look, it’s my lunchtime, can’t you come back?”
“This will only take a second. You are Mr. Arnold Gillick, a security consultant?”
“I’m retired from that. I can’t help you.”
“But you were in the field in, say, 1971?”
“Oh, yeah, I did that kind of stuff from ’69 to about eighteen months ago.”
“Continuously?”
“Yep. Hardly even took a vacation. Of course, there was a lot of trav—”
The man in the trench coat took his hand out of his pocket and the glass shattered. That was how it seemed to Arnie. He’d never get a chance to correct the impression, because the .357 magnum slug that shattered the window shattered Arnie’s head just a split second later.
Chapter Seven
Washington, D.C.
“S O THAT’S WHY I HAD to drop everything and come down here. To meet a President who’s going to be out of office a year from now.”
The old man stopped walking and turned to his son. That meant he was going to say something. The Congressman had made excellent progress in recovering from his stroke, but he still hadn’t reached the point where he could ply his walker, breathe and talk all at the same time.
“He wanted to see you. He’s still the Commander in Chief, you know.” The Congressman faced forward again, plunked the walker a foot or so in front of where it had been, then inched up to it.
He stopped again. “Besides, I think he was beginning to doubt you existed.”
“I can’t wait until you’re well enough to take the Agency back,” Trotter said. The Congressman muttered something about hoping he lived that long, and plunked on.
This walk was supposed to be part of the old man’s rehabilitation. The doctor (the President had lent the Congressman his own personal physician) had prescribed all the walking the Congressman felt like doing. Trotter reflected that his father had certainly picked a good place for it.
The Capitol Mall will take all the walking you can do, and then some. Trotter was beginning to get a little
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