“I hope you’ve got a good something or other. He’s going to try and kill me if he can, and I know a lot, of guys who have been. But I’m not ready to join that club yet. Besides, you promised me a vacation to anywhere I wanted to go, and I plan to be around to take advantage of it.

  “Am I your beneficiary on your insurance policy.” he asked with a broad smile.

  “Don’t be funny. He means business, and no your not.”

  “I’m sorry, old boy. Just a little humor there.”

  “I’ll laugh about it a couple of months from now.”

  “Let’s get back to Bill and between the three of us, should be able to keep you alive. And......get those two at the same time.”

  “I’m all for that.”

  Bill put two of his best men on the job and by noon the next day we were ready for whatever Mead had in mind for me. We were expecting a set up, and since I was the target, we wanted to make it look good. I was to stay out in the open and give them plenty of time to find me and then head for my apartment. Bill’s men were on the roof of the building across the street and Jerry had two agents down stairs to keep an eye on who came through the entrance. Both Jerry and Bill posted themselves down the hall from my door.

  It was a long wait and the tension was growing with every passing hour. By night fall, nothing had happened, and it seemed like it wasn’t going to. Contacting Jerry, by using a series of beeps on his and my receivers, he had nothing to report yet. The same from the others.

  Lying on the bed, with a revolver under the pillow, I partially dozed and rested. Just then, I heard a clicking noise like the sound of a key being inserted into a lock. Another click, and that brought me to my feet. I placed two pillows under the sheets and covered them with the blanket and stood behind the door, waiting. With the bedroom door partly open, I could hear footsteps getting closer. I could see the barrel of a gun pointing at the bed. Four faint shots were fired through the silencer and sprayed the pillows. The footsteps were noisy now, running out the front door. Almost ejecting from the bedroom, I made my way to the front room seeing a figure disappearing just as the door was being slammed shut. I fired two shots and also heard a couple more. When I opened the door, I could see a figure sprawled on the floor a few steps down the hall. Jerry and Bill were hurrying toward me with their guns in their hand.

  “Are you O.K.?” Jerry questioned.

  “Yeah, I’m O.K. But I don’t think he is,” pointing to the man on the floor.

  “Do you know him?” Bill asked.

  “Just from seeing him at the resort.”

  “Well.....he won’t be bothering anyone anymore.” Jerry said.

  Looking at him and then to Jerry, “I’m not going to grieve for him, that’s for sure. He put four holes in my bed.”

  “The other one got away,” Bill said.

  “Another one?”

  “Yeah, that’s who we were shooting at.”

  “You mean I got this guy through the door?”

  “You’re a better shot than you give yourself credit for.”

  “As a matter-of-fact,” I asked, “By the way, how did this man get into my apartment without you seeing him.”

  “Don’t know. We were watching the other one.” Bill replied.

  “Well......it’s over for now, anyway. We can relax for a little while and see what takes place.”

  Jerry interjected, “I don’t think so. The one that got away will go straight to Mead, and when he finds out that your still alive, he’ll try again.

  “Great,” I said. “We’d better wind this thing up before one of us really gets hurt.”

  “What about the girls,” I asked. They’ll surely try and do away with them, now that he knows who we are and that we’re on his ass.”

  Since everything was out in the open now, that is, about me and Jerry, the police were called to take care of the man in the hall. We still didn’t want publicity about any of this and we again reminded the chief inspector of what we had talked about before. They removed the body and took care of the normal police work. After showing them what took place, they left and all was quiet. Going back into the apartment, I fixed the three of us a drink.

  Early the next morning, Braxton phoned and told me that Heinman had instructed him to call me and let me know that my services were no longer needed. Braxton said he didn’t know what it was all about, but that he was personally sorry to see this happen. I thanked him for his concern and hung up.

  Jerry kept a vigil with several of his men scattered outside the resort and at the docks. He also alerted the Coast Guard to be on standby in case we needed them in a hurry. Bill had Mead’s estate staked out, and two men on Heinman’s tail around the clock.

  The next morning, I was driving on a road paralleling the beach, on my way to meet Jerry. I noticed a car coming up behind me fast, so I stepped on the accelerator in an attempt to keep a safe distance. The car behind me looked like one of Mead’s limos. The highway was only two lanes and had a cliff down to the ocean. Before I knew it, the speedometer read eighty-five, as the big black car stayed right with me. All of a sudden, the car rammed into the rear of mine, causing it to start swaying, and making it hard to hold the wheel straight on the road. A second bump and then a third and fourth, and finally the tires started skidding sideways as they smashed into the side of me. The car was completely out of control and was being pushed toward the edge of the cliff. My senses reacted swiftly just before going over the edge, and I jumped from the car, grabbing onto a bush. Hanging by my hands without any foothold, I heard their car stop and the footsteps coming to the cliff’s edge. My car was in the ocean and burning.

  “That should take care of him for good, this time,” one of them said.

  “No one could survive a fall like that,” said the other. Let’s get back and tell Heinman, he can rest easy now.”

  The car drove away and I started struggling to get my feet on anything solid, but my body was hanging much too far in the air to do any good. I couldn’t use my left arm at all, and I suspected that it was broken, and my left side felt as though I had been hit by a sledge hammer. Still hanging from the bush in desperation, I pulled with all my might in a last attempt to save myself. My right arm aching with the strain, I gradually pulled myself to a small ledge. Lying there exhausted, I heard another car stopping at the top of the cliff. The thought had crossed my mind that they had returned to make sure I was dead. Then I saw the uniform of a Highway Patrolman. Calling to him, he made his way down the steep embankment to where I was. After making sure that I wasn’t in danger of falling over the edge, he went back to his car and with the assistance of a rope, he pulled me to safety on top of the cliff.

  The next thing I remember, I woke up in a hospital bed with Jerry and Bill standing there. I told them what had happened and that Heinman was starting to get a little on the rough side.

  “I believe he thinks I’m dead now.” I said.

  “That’s good. At least he’ll stop sending his men all over the place looking for us. That is, until he finds out you’re still moving around.”

  “I hope to hell he doesn’t find out.”

  “You take it easy for a few days and do what these people in here tell you.” Bill said.

  “But we don’t have a few days. I can’t be laying around here knowing Jill and the others are still in trouble.”

  “A day or two won’t make any difference. In fact, it might even help.” Jerry said.

  “Like make him think the law is off his case for awhile?” I asked.

  “I’m hoping he won’t do anything with the girls for a week or so. He might even get back into the swing of the same routine.”

  I stayed in the hospital until late that evening, then slipped out the back exit. My arm had not been broken, just pulled out of joint at the shoulder, but three of my ribs were smashed and ached with every breath I took. I couldn’t go back to my place so Jerry had arranged to get me a room. I rested that night, and then felt I had to go on.

  DESTINY TAKES A HAND

  Mead’s residential estate was ten miles from the hospital and another five from my room, where I changed by bloody clothes for clean ones. The cuts and bruises were beginning to take their roll, as the sedatives became less effective. The ever present pain in my left side escalated to a constant one. I slowly got back in my new car, that Bill had arranged for me from his selection of many government owned ones. I was a little skeptical at first when he offered, because I didn’t want to end up with one of those standard, black wheeled, squared off ones. Not only were they real easy to spot by almost anyone, they were ugly to boot. This one was a Mercedes, and I didn’t feel the least bit sorry for the tax payers, considering what this organization was doing for them. It even eased the pain a little when going over the bumps. I pulled off the road outside the estate in a grove of trees, and slowly eased my way to the large house on foot. It was surrounded with acres of lawn and shrubbery. A patio encircled two sides of the stone mansion with large french doors at each end. Since Mead was staying at the resort temporarily, I thought, maybe only the servants would be there. Finding their quarters to make sure they weren’t going to be at the same place I wanted to go, was not easy. With mansions like this, the servant’s quarters were better than most families had, and they could use the entire home when the boss wasn’t there. I peered through several windows, but couldn’t see a thing. Walking around the corner, I could hear the sound of voices. Coming to the second window, I found two of the help watching television in the huge den, with their feet propped up on foot stools and sitting in their boss’s leather chairs. They were watching a football game, but I had no idea who was playing and at that moment didn’t really care. I just wanted them to stay interested for a half hour or so. Slipping around to the other side of the house, I tried several windows to no avail. All were locked tighter than a drum. Thinking that it was just as well, because I don’t think I could have crawled through anyway. Using a lock-pick, I eased the tool inside the keyhole, feeling for the right combination of the tension springs to unlock it. I turned the pick, opened the door and entered the darkened study. The heavy drapes over the windows and doors dissipated the light from the full moon. Taking a small flashlight from my inside coat pocket and shining it around for orientation, I spotted the desk off to one side and decided to start the search at that point. I was looking for anything that would tie Mead and Heinman to the Russian Agents or to the murders. I opened the large center drawer, carefully lifting papers and glancing at the contents, but nothing of interest popped up. I searched each remaining drawer with the same results. My eyes searched through the room again, along the walls and shelves. Bookcases contained hundreds of books, ranging from the civil war to the present time and of politicians, including life histories of the presidents of the United States. It was scary enough that he almost made it into the State Senate, but just glancing at the books made me think that his ambitions were higher. I struck that thought out of my mind. It was just too much to even consider.

  On one of the walls, hung a portrait of a beautiful woman. I had no idea who it was, but going through the files on him, it mentioned that he had a wife, but that she was deceased. If that was his wife, he didn’t deserve her. Another painting was on the next wall depicting a mountain scene. Trying to find the location of a wall safe, I picked that one. Flashing the light behind it, I could see the dial of the locking system. Carefully, with the use of a ruler from the desk, I checked behind the painting for any electronic wires that might set off an alarm. The ruler stopped about halfway down, and shining the light again could see the wire and traced it to a switch inside the bookcase. Flipping the switch to the off position, I removed the painting from the wall and started turning the numbers on the dial. With marvels of today, in the electronics field, it was still a challenge to open the safe. Twisting the handle, I opened the small door. Just as I was about to reach inside, I heard a noise at one of the windows and strained my hearing to find out which one. Leaving the safe door partially open, I quickly hung the painting back in its place and concealed myself behind the couch at the other end of the room. As I looked toward the window, the frame of a man had pushed back the drapes and was stepping inside. He flicked on a flashlight and walked to the desk, as I had done. It quickly ran through my mind, what the hell is going on here with two people entering the same room, on the same night. Taking off his jacket, he walked to the hall door and placed it along the slit at the bottom, and returned to the desk. He turned on the desk lamp that directed the light straight down, and started searching through the drawers. When I looked up, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was Jerry, I wanted to let him know that I was here, but didn’t want to scare the hell out of him either.

  “Jerry......It’s me, Harry.” I said softly. “Shhhhh, don’t shoot me or anything.”

  He straightened up with a surprise look that would have won an Academy Award.

  “Damn it, Harry. You just took five years off my life.” he said in a whispered nervous tone.

  “Sorry, but I had to let you know.”

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, then added, “You’re supposed to be in the hospital.”

  “The meals were lousy and the bed wasn’t very comfortable either.”

  “Very funny. But, you shouldn’t be here or anywhere right now. You’re going to be needed in about a week and in good health."

  “I’ll be alright by then. By the way, I’ve already been through the desk and didn’t find anything. I really didn’t expect to, but any little bit of information is good. I have the wall safe already open and maybe there’s something in there.”

  Removing the painting, I reached inside and withdrew a small metal box. Taking it to the desk, we scanned each piece of paper, as Jerry took a few snap shots of the ones he thought important. A small plastic case inside the box contained five smaller plastic capsules of micro film.

  “Well I’ll be damned,” Jerry said.

  I viewed all five films, and nodded my head at Jerry. “That’s it alright. I’m just glad the films in those capsules are not the real thing. If they were, we’d be in big trouble.”

  “How right you are, old boy.”

  “Well......I found out what I wanted to know. The guys in Washington replaced the real ones with these just in time.”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here.” he said.

  Putting everything back just like it was, he picked up his coat from the bottom of the door as I turned on the alarm switch to its original position. Jerry started toward the window, but I stopped him, showing that I had an easier way. We departed through the french doors, and made our way to the road. We drove about ten miles down the highway, and pulled off to the side. I got out of my car and was leaning against the side.

  “You must be crazy, leaving the hospital in your condition. Aren’t you in pain?”

  Not being able to hide it, I said, “Yeah......I think I need to go back to the hospital for a little while. By the way, what did you photograph back there?”

  “There was some documents that directly connected Mead and Heinman to the Russians. I’m going to send them to Washington for review and find out how much they are worth for prosecuting those two.”

  “With all the other things we have it should be.” I added.

  The pain in my side was getting worse and the cut on my forehead had started bleeding again. Jerry followed me to the hospital and helped me inside and up to the same floor where I was before. The head nurse stood up when she saw me and looked at me for a few seconds, then told Jerry to take me to the room. I got undressed, put on the hospital garb and waited for the nurse to clean me up. She said she could stop the bleeding and would give me a sedative that would keep me here for at least twelve hours. She sounded very forceful and besides she was big enough to make me stay there. At least, I wasn’t going to argue with her. Not now anyway.

  “Nothings going to happen for a couple of days, Harry. So, stay here and relax. If anything comes up, I’ll let you know and then you can get out of here. Agreed?”

  “Agreed. I’m not going to do anything but lay here. I really do need some sleep now.” I said.

  Two days later, I left, and could walk without jabbing pains in my side. The bandage around my chest was holding me together. Jerry and Bill met me at the exit door and they drove toward the beach.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, looking around at an area that I hadn’t seen before.

  “To your new room. We checked you out of the other one. We had a couple of men get you some clothes from your apartment, so you’re all set for now. We told the manager of the apartment that you were killed in a car accident and we’d be back to get the rest of your things later.”

  “If anyone checks on me back there, they’ll stop chasing me.”

  “That’s the plan. To.get them off your butt and on to other things. It’ll make things happen that wouldn’t have, if they thought you were still making trouble for them.”

  “How will we keep in touch?” I asked.

  “There isn’t any phone in here, so we’ll do it by the same way we did before, when we worked together overseas. Here’s your coding device, and you know how to use it. Bill has one also. We’ll keep you posted.”

  “You two watch out for Mead. He’s a real pain in the ass when it comes to killing people.” I said.

  “See you later.” they both said, as they walked out the door.

  I unpacked my suitcases, and put the clothes in the closet and chest of drawers, then laid across the bed to get some rest before nightfall. Sleeping most of the afternoon, I began to get a little restless during the evening, and was glad to see that it was almost eight o’clock. Although, I wasn’t completely up to par, I felt good enough to tackle the tasks ahead. Jerry and Bill were on time, and the plans we had made that morning were going to happen. The three of us used Jerry’s car and drove to where Mead docked their boats. All were in their respective docks, which was unusual, and had us thinking he may be closing up shop and taking precautions to not make anymore waves right now.