The Destroyer - 05 - The Destroyer 005 - Dr. Quake by Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir

Author:Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir [Murphy, Warren & Sapir, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pulp Action
Publisher: PINNACLE BOOKS
Published: 2010-03-19T14:52:30+00:00

FOURTEEN

But across town, in the office of the First Aquino Trust and Development Corporation, Lester Curpwell IV was sweating.

He faced two men. He had known they were trouble when they came in, without an announcement, without an appointment.

The tall man leading the way wore a dark blue suit that was hand-tailored. But even the tailor's art failed to conceal his muscular bulk. He almost rippled when he walked.

The man who followed him wore a brown suit with white shadow stripes. He had a face that was ratlike and twisted into a grim smile, as if he alone knew a joke that no one else had heard.

The burly man sat down in the chair facing Curpwell. The other man stood against the office door, his back to it, not too subtly shielding the office from intrusion.. With a penknife, he began to clean his fingernails.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Curpwell said to the man facing him, who was already seated.

"No thanks. This one'll do fine," the man said.

"Well, now that you're in here, suppose you tell me what you want," Curpwell said.

"Sure. I'll make it simple, Curpwell. You're a businessman, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Well, I'm a businessman too. So no fancy-schmantz around the bush. I want to know your earthquake secret. I'll pay for it."

"Earthquake secret?" Curpwell said. His stomach turned over. Harris Feinstein was right. Curpwell should have gone with him to Washington. It was only a matter of time before the thing got out of hand. That's what Feinstein had said. He had been right. It was out of hand now.

"Yeah. Earthquake secret. I want to know how you do it so that you're able to shake down the people around here."

"I'm afraid, Mister. . . ." Curpwell waited for the ; man to fill in the blank but there was no response, so he went on: "that I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have any earthquake secrets. If you want to know about earthquakes, go see Doctor Quake at Richter Institute. Sign up for one of his seminars. But don't waste my time with nonsense."

"Curpwell, it can be easy or it can be hard. Have it your own way," Manny the Pick Musso said. "I want to know how you do it."

"And I don't know what you're talking about," Curpwell said, lowering his eyes to the desk where he had been reading a stack of financial reports showing that the Curpwell empire was in deep financial trouble. He did not look up, so he did not see the burly man in the blue suit nod to the man at the door. He did not see the coming of the blow against the back of his head.

And because he was unconscious, he did not see ; the big man in the blue suit slide a shiny icepick from his inside jacket pocket and carefully remove the cork from its gleaming dart-sharp point.

wished that he had made his report to the Presidential aide a little more danger-filled. Perhaps the government would not have just disregarded the whole thing.

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