The naked edge

5

"Global Protective Services," the receptionist's voice said.

Using his cell phone, Cavanaugh stood next to the Taurus at the deserted edge of the shopping mall's parking lot. In the background, he heard objects clattering, as if workman were removing debris from the explosion at the GPS office. "Mr. Brockman, please."

"I'm sorry. He's not available."

"Then give me Mr. Karim."

"May I tell him who's calling?"

"Mr. Stoddard. He's expecting my call."

"One moment."

Cavanaugh heard a click, then nothing. He held the phone closer to his ear as an eighteen-wheel truck roared past on a neighboring highway.

"Cavanaugh?" Karim's voice suddenly asked. "Where are you? We've been worried about-"

"What's your cell-phone number?" Cavanaugh worried that the office phones were tapped.

Karim told him the number.

"Go to encryption. I'll call you right back."

Duncan's justified mania about security had prompted him to arrange for all GPS cell phones to have a scrambler capability so that protectors could speak to one another while eavesdroppers with radio scanners would hear only garbled words. It was the only time Cavanaugh felt comfortable using a cell phone.

Immediately, he activated the encryption on his phone, then pressed numbers.

On the other end, the phone barely rang before Karim answered. "Are you okay?"

"We had another casualty. Eddie's dead."

"What?"

"A needle hidden in his car's steering wheel. It had some kind of poison on it."

The phone became silent for a moment as Karim reacted to this information. "A sharp object. Like the others. After Eddie parked and came up to the office, somebody must have gotten into the building's garage and rigged his car."

"Maybe," Cavanaugh said.

"How else would-"

"After Jamie, Eddie, and I went down in the elevator, did you, Kim, Brockman stay together?"

"Together?"

"Waiting for the police and the fire department. Did you stay together?"

"No, not all the time. We went back to your office, trying to save files and contain the damage. Each of us had different things to do. When the police and the fire department showed up, things got more confusing. Why? What are you getting at?"

"Would there have been time for one of you to go down to William's office?"

"I don't understand." Karim sounded more confused. "Why would any of us have wanted to go there?"

"Because one of you got information that we went there."

But how? Cavanaugh thought. Did someone have William's office bugged to find out if he learned who Aaron Stoddard was?

"Wait a minute," Karim said. "Are you suggesting one of us tried to kill you?"

"Where's Brockman?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. Home probably. Even if he's not the boss any longer, he's entitled. We spent all night at the office, remember." Karim's voice had an edge to it. "Or maybe he's as dumb as I am, and he's putting in another shift, meeting a client or whatever. Don't tell me you think Brockman-"

"I'm just trying to cover the possibilities. "

"Next, you'll be asking about Kim. I'll save you the trouble. She's not here. Did you think she had something to do with this? What about me?"

"I told you I'm just trying to cover the possibilities. There isn't time for this. We need to do something about Eddie. I'm in a parking lot at a shopping mall in Hoboken."

"Then I guess I'm not the only one having a fabulous time."

"Tell the police I'll leave Eddie with his car."

Cavanaugh told Karim the license number and directions to the shopping mall.

"Everything's the way it was when he got killed, except the needle's in a plastic bag on the seat next to him.

"The police won't be happy you moved the murder weapon."

"Would they rather somebody else died from being stung by it? Tell them to expect to find our fingerprints all over the car. But maybe they'll also find some evidence left by the killer. We'll call them later and answer their questions. But there's no way we'll take the risk of exposing ourselves by coming in."