The Brotherhood of the Rose (43 page)

place is bad enough as it is. You must have sensed the mood. The guests are dead already. They just don't know enough to lie down."

"You made your grave."

"Not me." Eliot raised his chin, proud. "I'll soon have my roses again. I've got this." He gestured fiercely at the pole. "So here I am, the best chance you'll get. Kill me now, and escape across the river. Who knows? You might even get away Otherwise, either make peace with me, or dammit, leave me alone." He stared at the river, swallowing, his outburst havirg weakened him. "I'd rather, though, we got along."

"It won't be that easy." Saul tasted something bitter. "One thing you owe me."

"What?"

"An explanation." "Why? Would it make a difference? If you know about Castor and Pollux, you must have learned about---'. "There were five of you." Saul spoke rapidly, spitting his words. "The descendants of the original Abelard group. Each of you had orphans, sons, fanatically loyal. Just like Chris and me. You used us to sabotage operations you thought were wrong." He gestured, impatient. "Get on with it."

-You learned all that?" Eliot blinked, astonished. "You taught me."

Studying Saul with new awareness, Eliot slowly sat on the bank. His wrinkles deepened. His skin turned a darker gray. "An explanation?" He struggled with his thoughts. For a moment, he didn't move or even seem to breathe.

He sighed. "All right, I guess you deserve..." He squinted at Saul. "When I was young'--he shook his head as if he couldn't remember ever being young-----Just getting started in the profession... I used to wonder why so many foolish decisions were made. Not merely foolish-disastrous. Cruel. At a cost of so many lives. I asked my foster father."

"Auton."

"You know that too?" Saul only glared. "He said in his day he'd wondered the same. He'd been told the decisions only seemed disastrous. Underlings like himself didn't have the big picture. There was a room with maps and strategy boards. High-level politicians went there to get the big picture, and sometimes they had to make decisions that might look stupid'from a narrow point of view but actually were smart if every factor was considered. He said he believed this for many years till he rose so high he was one of the men in that room, and what he discovered was that the decisions were exactly as stupid as they appeared. Those men had no big picture, They were as confused, as petty as anyone else. Eventually my promotions allowed me in that room, and I discovered what he meant. I've seen the secretary of state refuse to talk to the secretary of defense-I mean he literally turned his back on the group and sat in his chair facing a corner. I've seen men arguing about who was allowed to sit next to whomlike school kids-all the while they committed billions of dollars to interfere with foreign governments in the name of our national security, but actually because big business felt threatened by socialist factions in those countries. They endorsed dictatorships or fascist coups or---2' Eliot jerked in disgust. "What we did in Ecuador, Brazil, Zaire, Indonesia, and Somalia alone makes me sick. All told, millions of people have been killed because of our interference. And the rank deception. Skilled operatives dismissed when they send in accurate reports that aren't in line with current political thinking. Then someone in the front office rewrites those reports to make them what the administration wants to read. We don't gather truth. We disseminate lies. When Auton asked me to take over for him as a descendant of the Abelard group, I grabbed the chance. Someone had to act responsibly, to try for balance and sanity."

"The Paradigm job," Saul said. "All right, let's get to it. We've got an energy problem. So what do we do? We make an agreement with the Arabs to buy cheaper oil, provided we stop our commitments to Israel. All unofficial, of course, the negotiations conducted by American billionaires- but with the tacit agreement of our government. The ultimate result? We get to drive big cars while Israel disappears. I'm not denying the claims of Arab factions. The Mideast situation's complicated. But dammit, Israel exists. We're talking about destroying a nation."

"So you had me kill the negotiators."

"A few men as opposed to a nation. The message was clear-don't try it again."

"But after, you tried to kill me."

"The president wanted to get even for his best friend's death. With that kind of power behind the investigation, you'd have been found."

"You know how I felt about you - I 'wouldn't have talked."

"Not willingly. But under chemicals, you'd have sent them to me. And under chemicals, I'd have sent them to the rest of the group. It had to be protected."

"That isn't logical."

"Why?"

"Because the nation you wanted to protect-Israel-was the nation blamed."

"Temporarily. Once you were killed, I planned to show you worked on your 'own initiative. A Jew, determined to protect your spiritual country. I'd already insured the failure of your last few jobs to prove you were unstable. Israel would be exonerated."

"Sure. And I'd be dead. Is that what you call love?"

"You think I did it easily?"

Eliot's voice cracked. "The nightmares. The guilt. Isn't my grief the proof I didn't want to do it?"

Saul shook with contempt. "Words. Castor and Pollux and me. What the hell happened to the rest? Not counting Chris, fourteen other orphans."

"Dead."

"On similar missions?"

Eliot's throat heaved. "I didn't order it. They were casualties."

"That's supposed to make it all right?"

"You'd prefer they died for the men in that room? They were soldiers."

"Robots."

"But working for someone whose values are more substantial than their government's."

"Values? You want to talk about... ?" Saul's chest constricted. "Here's one you never heard of. You don't betray someone you love!" He trembled, burning. "We trusted you. What else made the shit you put us through bearable? We wanted your high opinion. Love? You're so damned arrogant you think it's your right. You want to'save the world? When we're all dead, there'll still be assholes in that room. And none of us will have mattered. Except for the comfort we gave each other."

"You've missed the point. Because of sons like you and operations I had you sabotage, I've saved who knows how many thousands of innocent lives,"

"But Chris is dead. As far as I'm concerned, it's a damn poor trade. Hey, I don't know those other people. I'm not even sure I'd like them." Glaring, barely able to restrain himself, Saul shook his head with disgust and walked up the bank. "Wait! Don't turn your back on me!

I haven't finished yet!"

Saul didn't stop. "Come back! Where do you think you're going? I didn't say you could leave!"

Saul swung at the top. "I'm through obeying. A son ought to comfort his aging father. Me? I'll make your last days hell."

::Not here! If you kill me, you die and lose!" A son gets big enough--2' -ftat?"

"And smart enough to crush his father. What you didn't count on was I loved Chris more than you." With a final glare, of utter contempt, Saul pivoted sharply. Stalking away, he disappeared beyond the bank.

"

The river hissed. Eliot tried to stand, but his strength gave out. Legs buckling, he slumped on the bank. Throughout the argument, he'd made sure not to glance at the wooded bluff across the river.

But now he did. In confusion. Castor and Pollux were over there. Along with the rest home's manager, an investigator who'd come with a team to conduct an inquest on a suicide, and most important, a sniper.

He'd calculated every detail. Saul had two options. To listen to reason. Wasn't the argument- thousands of lives persuasive? Wasn't one man's life, even Chris's, worth the sacrifice?

Or else to try to kill me. If Saul had chosen the first, I could've lived my last days in peace, perhaps returned to my mission, and saved more lives.

If Saul had chosen the second? Trying to kill me, he would have been shot. With witnesses, I'd have been absolved. The end would have been the same.

But-Eliot frowned-something was wrong. Saul had done the unexpected, choosing neither. He hadn't been convinced, but he didn't try to kill me. Nothing was changed.

Except. He seemed too sure. He balanced his actions carefully, never coming too close.

Had he guessed? Is it possible I taught him better than I knew? Can he read my thoughts?

It couldn't be.

"You were with them." Squinting, Saul sat at the top of the lodge steps, waiting. "What?" Don stopped in surprise, putting a muddy white shoe on the bottom tier. "You ought to do something about your wardrobe."

Don peered down at the knee ripped out of his red polyester slacks. Reflexively he picked burrs from his navy blazer. "I went for a walk."

"In the woods. I know. With them." Saul pointed past the tennis courts toward Castor and Pullox, an investigator who'd arrived by helicopter this morning, and a narrow-eyed man who carried a long slim case that might have contained a billiard cue. Or a sniper's rifle.

Approaching from the river, Eliot clutched his fishpoles and tackle box. "My, my, he didn't catch a fish."

"What do you mean I went with them?" Don said. "When I came here, the first thing you did was accuse me of planning to kill a guest. You slapped two guards on me. Then all of a sudden the guards disappeared, so I followed the old man to the river where he offered me the chance to kill him. Since I never intended to kill him to begin with, I didn't know what he was talking about. He's my father, after all. Naturally I felt like seeing him. But he started talking crazy, so I walked away, and you'll never guess what happened next. All of a sudden my guards came back." Saul pointed at two men on lawn chairs near him. "What would you think?"

"I" "It looks to me like that old man set me up. If I laid a hand on him, I'd be dead, and there'd be witnesses to make it legal Don, tsk, tsk. You're not exactly watching over my interests."

the manager puffed his chest as if to argue. It deflated like an inner tube. He gave up the effort. "I had to go along. The old man insisted you'd kill him."

"And without proof, you believed him."

"Hey, he went to the investigating team. If I argued, they'd think I wasn't doing my job. A test. That's all it was. If you meant no harm, you wouldn't be hurt. If you tried to kill "But I didn't. I paid a lot for protection, and what I'm getting for it is threats. Everything's reversed. The old man just proved he wants to kill me. I deserve-hell, demandequal treatment." "What are you talking about? You're already guarded."

"House arrest. They're not protecting me. They're watching me. In the meantime, Eliot can do whatever he wants. It isn't right. He ought to be guarded as well. And not by those clones he brought with him. Your own men. He's paranoid enough to try something foolish."

"Absurd."

"If it hapens, you'll wish to God you'd listened. The investigators'll ream you out. I'm telling you he's crazy. I also want those thugs of his under surveillance."

"I don't have the staff!"

"Just six more guards?"

"In shifts of three? In addition to the men I've got on you? That's twenty-four!" Don sputtered. "I need those men other places. And that's just for now!

What happens when the other h on? They'll want protection too! A lot of them guests :.@ were enemies before they retired! The only reason they're able V to sleep at night is their confidence in a rest home! If they ever thought its neutrality could be violated... guests being for- , lowed everywhere? Bodyguards scrambling all over each other? A rest home's supposed to be quiet and peaceful!"

"You think the others haven't noticed you've got men watching me? When I went for breakfast this morning, everybody in the restaurant took a look at my guards and couldn't wait to get out of there."

"You've been here only two days and-"

"Threatened forty years of tradition." "Not me. Eliot. And you. I didn't ask for those watchdogs.

What goes for me should go for him. If I'm being tailed, then dammit, so should he." d Don gestured. "I won't put guards on him. This madness can't be allowed to escalate."

"Logically you've got only one other choice."

"What is it?" Don looked hopeful. "Do it the other way around. Deescalate. Call off your watchdogs -"

Flanked by Castor and Pollux, Eliot tensed as he entered the greenhouse.

He'd been anxiously waiting for its completion. Eager as a ]over, he came to his roses.

But someone else was in here. At the other end, a man straightened from under a table and ducked out the back.

Eliot frowned. "Wait a minute! What were you-?" Rushing to the door, Eliot threw it open, watching Saul cross the jogging track toward the lodge. "Come back here!"

Saul broke into a run. "What was he-?" Eliot swung to Castor and Pollux. "Check under that table."

Puzzled, Castor knelt. He groped and murmured, "Wires."

"What?"

Startled, Eliot crouched, peering under. Two wires, red and black, dangled from a hole in the table leading up to a rose bed. "Jesus."

"Not a bomb. Not here," Pollux said. "The way he killed Landish." Eliot's eyes gleamed. "What are you waiting for? Call security. Have him stopped if he tries to leave the grounds." Eliot lurched to his feet and almost cheered. "Now I've got him. I can prove he wants to kill me."