Clint Faraday Collection C: Murder in Motion Collector's Edition by CD Moulton Page B

the hole, then went back to the
shed to hang the suit where it was when he came in. He went back
out and Julio took him back to town. He cleaned up and was at El
Critico by ten o’clock, saying he had been detained by another
Russian. Did Ivan know who he was? He looked much like Ivan, but
was a little thinner and was darker.
    Ivan said he didn’t know anyone else there
from Russia. Was Clint sure he was Russian?
    Clint remembered the pictures of Niklev and
Ghenkof from the net. He said he had assumed that as the accent was
the same. This one said his name was Viktor. He had a scar on his
face and across his nose, but it was not bad. He made the
description close enough to fit Ghenkof or Niklev. Neither had a
scar on their face, but that was a common fixture in disguises.
    That really made him nervous! “Did he have a
gold tooth just to the side of the center?”
    “ I did
not notice.”
    He talked for a minute, then mingled. Ivan
soon sneaked to the door and out. Clint waited, then went out
himself and to the hotel to grab some sleep. About four in the
morning Ivan knocked on his door and asked if the Russian he met
was carrying anything or were there packages he was watching.
    “ No, I
don’t think so, but there could possibly been something in the car
waiting for him.”
    “ There
was a car? There was someone in the car?”
    “ Yes. A
woman, I think. I found it odd when she didn’t come out to be
introduced. She stayed in the car.
    “ Of
course, it well may not have been his car. She may have been
waiting for someone else.”
    “ There
were some things stolen from my place. They’re terribly dangerous.
They are poisons you have to understand to use. I’m afraid someone
might have taken them and could let them get in the water or
something. That would be a disaster! I must find them!
    “ I wish I
knew who took them. I’ll be in terrible trouble if someone, er,
misuses them. It wasn’t quite legal for me to have them, you see.
If someone is harmed or killed by them I could be in serious
trouble.”
    “ Well, I
hope you find something like that and neutralize it! Those kinds of
things should not be carelessly left around! It alarms me that one
as professional as you seemed to be would allow any chance of such
an occurrence at all!
    “ I think
I understand you! You had them in a safe place, but someone
specific would take them. True? Someone who will use them for
personal reasons that are not to the good of anyone
else?”
    “ Much too
close to the truth.”
    Clint said he wouldn’t know anything about
that kind of people here. He was here to escape that life and those
kinds of people.
    Ivan soon left. Clint got a little sleep and
met with Julio and Orlando. He got Orlando aside and explained the
situation and that he was Clint Faraday. Orlando said he was
suspicious of this strange Spaniard and could not help feeling he
already knew him. They would see that nothing else was ever moved
from that property. Orlando suggested that he could take a few
people to see his property and could accidentally find the shed and
mine. He would then, as it was not legally on his property, put
guards on it to see that it was closed and abandoned. Clint said it
might even be a good idea to have someone there with a Geiger
counter who was looking for radium in that kind of place. They
might avoid going into the mine.
    Orlando said he knew just the person to set
that up!
    Clint had introduced Orlando to the mobster,
now ex-mobster, who opened the mine. Paulo Lariez. He had no doubt
Orlando and he had become friends and confidants. He would arrange
it as someone from his mine who came from Mexico to look for
anything he could find in the area.
    “ Ivan’s
luck sucks lately,” Clint remarked. They all laughed.
    Clint felt this part was fairly well arranged
so went back to the hotel. Ivan came in about four and said he had
made no progress in finding the poisons and he couldn’t find but
one person, a taxi driver, who had seen