Trifecta

by Pam Richter

  After what seemed at least an hour, but was only a few minutes, Stephan came down the hall from the direction of his father's room in his motorized chair. He was wearing a coat and no one would have realized that he had bandages, dressing for a gunshot wound, under the shoulder of his business suit.

  Stephan wheeled over and stopped too close to the couch where Sabrina and Eve were sitting. They were penned in, with Alexander's cast making it impossible to leave from one side and Stephan's chair blocking the other end of the couch.

  "I guess you came to find out about our father," Stephan said.

  They nodded.

  "Well, Dad's temporarily lost his ability for speech, so it's hard to access his mental acuity."

  "Can't we just see him for a minute?" Eve asked.

  "No," Alexander exploded, so loudly that the nursing staff at the desk turned and looked at him.

  "Shh..." Stephan said, frowning severely.

  "What I want to know," Alexander said belligerently but quietly, "is if the computer will be at the meeting tomorrow."

  "We will be there," Sabrina said pointedly, stressing the 'we.' She felt contemptuous that Alexander still seemed to think that making money was his foremost concern, when his own father was in such serious condition.

  "You will provide the documentation and the bank card as you promised?" Sabrina asked. "As your father wishes."

  "Only if the computer shows up," Alexander said bluntly.

  "That was not a condition imposed by your father," Eve said.

  "No, it was not," Stephan interjected. "But I have power of attorney, and I'm making the decisions now."

  There seemed to be nothing more to say and Sabrina and Eve stood up. Eve had to step over Alexander's cast to get past him. As she did so, he grabbed her arm so that she was off balance for a moment. Then she wrenched her arm violently away.

  "You're the one, aren't you," Alexander said.

  "Can you tell us apart?" Eve asked.

  "Not with the hair alike, no, but that was an easy test. You responded exactly as I expected."

  Sabrina knew Alexander was greatly underestimating Eve, who was smiling at him, but probably very angry.

  Eve leaned forward and took one of Alexander's metal crutches from him. She bent the very tip of it, right above it's rubber padded end, like a wishbone. When Alexander started to protest, Eve barred her teeth and growled very quietly, almost inaudibly. Sabrina was reminded of a deadly tiger for just an instant. She felt a thrill of fear herself. Eve suddenly appeared deadly. She was reminded of the transformation from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde, but this was not done with camera tricks that showed a fade in, with a watery, wavering, out of focus picture. The change had been instantaneous.

  The noise Eve made was almost imperceptible, but the effect of her expression and the threatening growl was immediate. Alexander pushed away from her and almost toppled his chair backward. Stephan quickly moved his wheelchair back to allow the women room to leave.

  As they walked out of the lounge and down the long hospital corridor, Sabrina looked back and saw Alexander trying in vain to straighten out his metal crutch. She couldn't help smiling, but wondered if it had been a wise thing for Eve to do. At least she found herself in a greatly improved mood.

  "No one was watching." Eve seemed to be reading Sabrina's thoughts. "I just couldn't resist with them acting like that. Big bullies."

  "They are obnoxious."

  "I thought they were scaring you."

  "Yes. A little," Sabrina admitted. She didn't want to acknowledge that Eve had also scared her for a moment.

  "I'll be careful not to give myself away in the future. But I couldn't let Alexander hold my arm like that, like he could physically manhandle me."

  "He could with most women, so just for the meeting tomorrow, you might have to restrain yourself."

  "It will be hard, if I get really angry."

  * * * * *

  When Sabrina arrived back at her shop she saw the man before she could retreat. She knew it was Sato Hashimoto and she knew he had seen her. Ah, hell, she thought. This was one confrontation she didn't want to face right now.

  The sight of the small man fascinated her in an awful way. He was saying something to Bea as he caught her eye and she had a glimpse of the yellow teeth, but it was the brown mole on his cheek that was really hideous; it was irregular in shape and color, large and grainy in appearance, like it was deciding to grow larger in another direction, either higher or sideways, on his cheek. She was reminded of dire warnings of melanoma.

  "Sabrina Miller, I presume," Sato said, smiling in her direction and totally revealing the horrid teeth.

  Bea, standing beside the man, said, "This is Mr. Hashimoto.

  The man extended his hand and Sabrina was forced to take it. "You have such beautiful things here. I'm afraid I got overly enthused and bought many items for my wife."

  Sabrina forced herself to smile, and tried to avoid staring at the teeth or mole.

  "I was hoping to meet your sister, Eve, also," Hashimoto said.

  "Oh, they're not sisters," Bea said, joining in the conversation. "But they look exactly like twins."

  Sabrina knew that Eve, who had entered from the back door, would be able to hear the whole conversation, so she didn't have to worry about her walking in on them.

  "I did want to talk you and Eve informally, before our meeting tomorrow. It sometimes gets a bit cumbersome to arrive at any type of agreement when lawyers are present."

  Sabrina nodded and wondered if the man wanted to reach an arrangement without the meddling of the Steinbrenner brothers.

  "I spoke to Dr. Steinbrenner, before his unfortunate stroke. He and I agreed that Eve Miller should come back to Japan to work for me. He was planning to come to Tokyo himself."

  He was lying.

  "And, if you could arrange time off from your beautiful store, we would love to have you accompany Eve Miller. We could possibly get a little boutique in Tokyo for you, so that you and Eve could be together. I know how close you are."

  Now Sabrina was sure it was Hashimoto's spies that had been following her and Eve.

  Hashimoto went on, "Of course, to begin with, I would pay the lease rent. Rental space in Tokyo is quite at a premium. Just one square foot of land there, in the city, costs about ten thousand dollars."

  "We would have to think over your generous offer," Sabrina said, not having any intention of doing so. The man was very polite, yet so offensive in his assumption that he could buy people.

  Hashimoto looked around, "Where is Eve, now?"

  "Oh. She went on a little trip. I'm not sure where," Sabrina said vaguely. She really needed to find out how much he knew. She had to assume that Alexander had told him everything, but decided to plant a doubt in his mind about the alleged computer. "Eve was curious about why you might want her to work for you. She has no special training or abilities."

  "No special abilities?"

  "Well, she can help me in the store. And she has worked as a model. But really, she knows little of business."

  "Really? No special abilities." She heard his voice go up in pitch and almost hiss on the end of the word abilities, but the man's face remained almost blank except for slightly raised brows. "I had heard that she is a very special person."

  "Well, I think so too," Sabrina said heartily, as she would for a good but slightly befuddled friend.

  "She will be available for the meeting tomorrow?"

  "I think so," Sabrina said, hoping to make Eve sound flighty and frivolous. "Eve tends to travel a lot and she sometimes can't be counted on, you know?"

  "I am so pleased that we were able to meet and talk," Hashimoto said. "I will look forward to the meeting."

  He walked to the door and Sabrina saw a limousine parked outside with several very large men with slick black hair inside. Probably bodyguards.

  At the door, Hashimoto turned back to her. "By the way, I was wondering what salary Alexander Steinbrenner quoted for E
ve Miller?"

  "He didn't say."

  "Ah. Well, we were thinking in the area of a hundred thousand, maybe more. Do you think she would find that satisfactory?"

  "I can't answer for Eve."

  Cheap bastard. Probably thought she was impressed.

  "I was hoping that we could come to some agreement before the meeting. You see, Stephan and Alexander are negotiating for a substantial fee because they say that they can decide what she will or will not do. In the case of Dr. Steinbrenner's death, they will control all of his assets and they consider Eve Miller to be chattel."

  "I don't believe a live person is an object," Sabrina said almost in spite of herself. It was obvious that he was trying to create an animosity between her and the Steinbrenner brothers, so maybe they weren't working together. Alexander had probably just gone to the man whom he thought of as the highest bidder.

  "No, of course not. Which is exactly why we would be willing to pay for her services. If she was an object we would buy her. And I think our offer should be considered highly. There are other interests who would not be willing to pay for her services."

  Sabrina nodded and thought that everybody knew about everybody else, now. He was referring to the Russians, and also to the American government. And the American's must know who he was. His interest might provoke them to act more hastily. Or it might provoke the Russians to do so, and they had already attempted a kidnapping.

  "I'm sure your offer will be regarded seriously by Eve," Sabrina said, trying to be as polite and obscure as the Japanese man.

  "That is a good beginning. Please give my regards to Eve."

  Hashimoto smiled, disclosing his awful teeth again. Sabrina wondered why he didn't get better dental care. He must be one of the wealthiest people in the world.

  Sabrina watched with relief as he picked up his packages and left the shop. She saw one man get out of the back seat and then Hashimoto got in, so that he was riding between two gigantic men; probably so that no one could shoot him without first killing a bodyguard.

  Sabrina felt her nerves finally relaxing as she watched the stretch limousine drive out of sight. She walked into the back of the store. Eve was working at the design table. Bea was watching in awe at the fastest sketching she had ever seen. It was apparent that even Bea knew Eve was different, now.

  "I should get some Japanese language tapes," Eve said, when she saw Sabrina. "Then I'll know what's going on in the meeting tomorrow."

  Bea stood looking at the two women in astonishment.

  "That's a good idea. Do you mind watching the store for a little while, Bea?"

  "I don't understand," Bea said.

  "That's all right. You remember to keep Eve a secret and we'll tell you everything soon. I think things are going to happen pretty quickly now. You see, Eve has some special abilities."

  "Sure, I'll watch the store," Bea said, almost mesmerized by the quick skillful drawing. "And I won't say a word. This is quite thrilling."

  CHAPTER 22

  Ivar couldn't use the front entrance of the Federal Building, although he had security access and could come and go at will, because he would have to sign in and out after 6 p.m. He didn’t want a record of his presence in the building. He would undoubtedly leave evidence, break locks and shred documents. So his first objective was to find a way into the building.

  His second goal was to get a security card for Burgess Whitcomb's office. The only two people who had access cards to enter the office were Whitcomb himself, and Willard Modert.

  Ivar felt as though he was thinking like a real spy for the first time in years, as he drove to the Federal building that afternoon. He had come early on purpose. He sat down in the outer office where Willard Modert was working.

  Modert scarcely gazed up from his surveillance schedule as he said, "You're early, Cousin. Burgess can't see you for a half an hour."

  Modert was muttering complaints that they had lost two good men. One trod upon in a book store. Now Sergi was out of commission, too. Ivar thought, good riddance, but didn't say anything and left Willard mid-mutter.

  The building took up almost one whole square block. Ivar headed for one of the exit doors with egress to a side street. As he left the building, he depressed the tongue lock and jammed it with chewing gum which he had softened in his mouth. Then he slapped grey adhesive tape over the inside lock. When he was outside he pulled the door back open a few inches. The door closed securely behind him, but now it did not lock automatically.

  No one would ever accuse the CIA of such a slovenly manner of jamming a door. The CIA would have used some advanced, quick drying polymer, which would have ultimately failed.

  Ivar figured he had another few minutes to ruin the air conditioning system. He went down to the basement where the building's machinery was located. Ivar was a pretty good mechanic and he smiled briefly at the thought that he could always get a job when he got out of jail, if this backfired.

  He had to pick the lock, but there were no building engineers around to discover him. It only took a couple of minutes. Inside, there were eight immense generators. They made the huge room windy and extremely noisy. Ivar worked quickly, constantly glancing over his shoulder, because he would not be able to hear if someone came in and found him fiddling with the machines. He broke the glass on the thermostat control center because he didn't want to take the time to pick the small U shaped padlock. Then he turned the thermostat up to eighty-five degrees and broke the needle in that position.

  He heard the generator's thunder gradually quiet as one after another shut down the air conditioning system. Now the building's heaters would efficiently start warming up the building. He hoped it would happen fast enough.

  When Ivar got back to Burgess Whitcomb's office, Malcolm had just arrived. Ivar noticed with satisfaction that hot air was blasting through the ceiling vents.

  Willard Modert was still muttering and erasing and putting new men in position. At last, Ivar and Malcolm were summoned into Burgess Whitcomb's sterile office. Burgess appeared to be at his normal stern, slightly hostile and expressionless self, but Ivar noted his complexion was a slightly brighter hue than normal, due possibly to the heat vent directly over his head that was driving hot air down hard enough to flatten the grey brush cut hair even more securely around his head.

  Burgess started a monologue on the tooth marks left in the throat of Sergi Malcovich. They were identical to the dental records of Sabrina Miller, so it was now an established fact that Sabrina Miller had attacked Sergi. Burgess Whitcomb seemed pleased.

  Ivar wanted to buy time for Burgess to get uncomfortably warm, and he wanted to plant doubt, so he said he had not seen the attack. He thought a dog had bit Sergi.

  Ivar wondered if Burgess was really angry or if he was so uncomfortably warm that his color was deepening. Ivar could feel perspiration springing from his own brow. He would have to get the pictures of the bite marks out of the file tonight. If Sergi healed fast enough, maybe a lack of evidence would be adequate in protecting Eve and Sabrina.

  Burgess said that it must be Sabrina Miller because the blood on the handcuffs also matched her blood type. It was their duty to find out which was which, so that Sabrina could be picked up and interrogated. He did not care how they went about ascertaining that fact.

  "Strip search?" Malcolm suggested politely.

  Ivar knew the comment was Malcolm's way of being humorous, but Burgess looked at Malcolm with utter distaste.

  "Isn't it getting awfully hot in here?" Malcolm asked, to break the tension.

  Burgess nodded, frowning, took off his coat and hung it neatly on the back of his chair.

  "Maybe I can fix it," Ivar said.

  Burgess told him to go ahead, so Ivar climbed on top of Burgess's desk and fiddled with the vent.

  "I can close the vent so the hot air will be blocked."

  "Do it."

  After closing the vents, Ivar jumped off the back of the desk beside Burgess, and in doing so, brushed Bu
rgess's coat from the chair. Ivar said sorry and picked up the coat. He pretended he was shaking it to get out the wrinkles, keeping his back to Burgess and Malcolm, and managed to find Burgesse's office access card and slip it in his own pocket.

  Ivar replaced the coat on the back of the chair and tried to hide his trembling fingers by loosening his tie.

  "That's better. The top of my head was scalding," Burgess said. "Tomorrow we'll pick up Sabrina Miller. She will be charged with physical assault."

  * * * * *

  Learning the Japanese language was interesting, but it was time consuming because the language tape was so frustratingly slow. To listen to each side of the two tapes took over an hour.

  When Eve fiddled with the recording machine she found that she could make the tape go much faster. The high speed squeaks were not the correct pronunciation, so she occasionally listened at normal speed, laughing hysterically at her mispronunciations.

  During the process, Ivar was never far from her mind and she found herself sometimes going so far into a memory that it was like reliving her hours with him. Once she stopped the tape recorder so she could enjoy a recollection. Then she turned it on again. If she was to protect herself and Sabrina, it was imperative that she know what the Japanese were saying in the meeting tomorrow, although it was very seductive to turn off the tape and live in her remembrances.

  Learning the Japanese language had made her more aware of auditory nuances, and as she remembered the way Ivar sounded, and saw the graph of his individual voice print in her mind, she knew he did not come from the United States. She could hear French undertones. And there was another language, too. It suddenly became obvious. Ivar was Russian. It was there, not only in his pronunciation, but in the phrases he used.