Double blind

Epilogue

Aldridge Hammond, the spotted, reclusive, and deadly chairman of ICER sat alone in the dim light of his private office, allowing the memory of the incredible chain of events that had — once again — claimed a powerful member of his carefully orchestrated conspiracy, to flow through his mind.

He was still sitting there, an hour later, when his executive assistant entered the private office through a side door, placed a state-of-the-art infrared videocassette on his desk, and whispered a question in his ear.

He nodded his mottled head silently.

Some moments later, Hammond watched in fascination as the two camouflage-clad green figures instantaneously recoiled from the door of the helicopter, first in shock… then in death.

He had his assistant stop the tape at that point, freezing the almost painfully sharp image at that precise moment of betrayal, the instant First Sergeant Aran Wintersole realized he was to be sacrificed in a failed — and in retrospect, meaningless — attempt to protect Tisbury and Smallsreed.

Then Hammond motioned for the assistant to go back to the beginning, seeking the earlier segment that had caught his attention.

She located it, and this time he watched a different green figure hit the ground hard, start to fight his way out of the encircling chokehold, and get knocked back by the sleek green creature that lunged out of the trees… But then the two of them hesitated and looked up — directly into the far distant lens — at what?

The silenced helicopter?

The camera?

Me?

"You see something, don't you?" he whispered fiercely, irresistibly drawn to the glaring eyes of the panther and the searching eyes of the man who — thanks to some incomprehensible twist of fate — had become the nemesis of ICER.

And, so it would seem, my most dangerous enemy.

He signaled his assistant again, then watched silently as a thin white rectangle appeared on the screen… then enlarged to frame the two dissimilar heads. Moments later, the printer stopped churning, and she placed the resulting digitized photograph on his desk.

He stared at it for a long moment, slowly dissipating his tightly controlled rage with soothing thoughts of his yet-unused resources.

Then, in a deliberate action that spoke volumes about his future intentions, the chairman of ICER slowly placed his mottled fingers over the glaring eyes of the panther and the seeking eyes of Special Agent Henry Lightstone.

And obliterated them from his sight.