The Silencers by Donald Hamilton

Author:Donald Hamilton [Hamilton, Donald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781781162330
Publisher: Titan
Published: 2013-02-10T23:58:00+00:00

15

They pulled out a little after eleven. We could see them go from the window of a tourist court near the highway junction. Security or no security, nobody could have missed the caravan of government cars heading out across the valley.

“Well,” I said, “I guess there’s no doubt about who won the argument. Okay, let’s get to work. I didn’t want to risk bumping into any of Peyton’s minions—no sense pushing our luck—but now they’re gone, let’s grab some lunch and take this town apart. We’ll do it on foot this time, street by street. If you’ve got anything in the way of boots or overshoes, you’d better put them on. It’s getting pretty damn slushy out there...”

It was a rough afternoon, and the snow didn’t help a bit. When we weren’t wading through the slush, it was being splashed on us by passing cars. At dinner time, the tally stood at no Wigwams, one Tepee, two telephone subscribers named Hogan—a hogan is a Navajo hut—and a small Eskimo igloo constructed by a bunch of Spanish-American kids with happy dark faces. They thought the snow was real great. It had closed the schools for the day.

We checked every name and every structure that could possibly be taken to represent an Indian dwelling of any kind, and finally, at dusk, we stumbled into the Cholla Bar and Grill defeated and so tired that we couldn’t even talk until we’d polished off the first round of Martinis.

“I still think,” Gail said, “that our best bet is the Tepee.”

The Tepee was a tent-shaped drive-in we’d discovered on the edge of town that apparently served ice cream and kindred products in summer.

“It’s closed up tight,” I said.

“Well, it’s just the sort of mistake a... a dying person might make. Tepee-Wigwam. Wigwam-Tepee. Janie was trying to tell me, but she just got confused...”

I said, “Gail, the joint was boarded up. The folks who run the place are in El Paso for the winter. We checked; nobody’s been around for months. It’s no damn good.” She didn’t speak, and I said, “You’re still quite sure your sister said Wigwam?”

“You keep asking me that. Of course I’m not absolutely sure. There was a lot of noise and... well, she was dying. I’ve never seen a person die before. But I know what I think I heard. I can’t help it if—”

“Okay,” I said, cutting her off. “Suppose it is Wigwam, are you quite sure she said Carrizozo?”

She set her glass down so quickly that part of her drink slopped out. “Why don’t you say what you really think?” she demanded with sudden violence. “Why don’t you say that you still think I... I’m lying, leading you on a wild-goose chase for some... some sinister purpose...!” Her voice broke. “Oh, God, I wish I’d never come on this fantastic expedition! Just look at me! I haven’t had my clothes off for two days, and I’m so t-tired and d-dirty I could cry! I wish I’d just told that nasty old b-boss of yours what he could do with his lousy blackmailing.

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