Prey

Chapter Forty-One

Thursday September 23rd

At precisely sixteen minutes after midnight that Thursday morning, the phone in the firearms examination area of the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, rang loudly.

Ed Rhodes picked it up on the first ring.

"Forensics Laboratory, Rhodes."

And then: "Yes, sir. He's right here," Rhodes said as he handed the phone over to Lightstone.

"Hello?"

"Special Agent Lightstone?"

"Yes."

"This is Nigel Hooper from Holland and Holland. I understand that you've been inquiring about one of our rifles?"

"Yes, sir. A double-barreled African Hunter, chambered for the. 416 Rigby cartridge. We're trying to find out the name of the individual who purchased the weapon."

"Do you happen to know when he might have made his purchase?"

"No, I don't."

"Perhaps a serial number, then?"

"Uh, no, sir, " Lightstone said, speaking loudly over an annoying hiss in the telephone line. "All I have is a description of the etching on the receiver, and the fact that the weapon was sold to an American."

"I see. Well, perhaps we could start with the etching," Nigel Hooper said politely. "That might help narrow things down a bit."

"The etching is of a single wolf standing on a rock."

"Umm, I'm afraid that's a rather common design request," Nigel Hooper said. "Is there anything else about the etching that might be distinctive?"

"I'm afraid that I'm doing this from memory," Lightstone said, recalling in his hallucinatory dream how the first point of light had become a slowly rotating disk and then the face of a dog that really wasn't a dog after all.

"I see. Are you certain that the creature is a wolf?"

"I assume it is," Lightstone said. "That's what was etched in script just below the rock. W-O-L-F-E."

"Oh, really?"

"Would you have any idea of how many rifles Holland and Holland might have made with that particular etching?"

"Yes, I think I can tell you exactly how many," Nigel Hooper said. "But first, perhaps I should explain that while we Brits may use the English language a bit, uh, differently than you Yanks, we still spell wolf 'W-O-L-F.'"

Henry Lightstone sat in absolute silence as he listened to Nigel Hooper explain the background of a certain. 416 Holland and Holland African Hunter with the picture of a wolf etched into its receiver.

"Yes, you've been a wonderful help, Mr. Hooper. Thank you very much," Lightstone said as he hung up the phone and turned to the four haggard individuals who had been hanging on every word.

"Dr. Reston Wolfe," Lightstone said with a tired smile. "Special executive assistant, U.S. Department of Interior, Washington, D.C."