Trifecta

by Pam Richter

* * * * *

  Tony Hernandez was an expert in audio and visual taping equipment. He waited until Ferd was wheeled out of his hospital room for an electrocardiogram. The nurses in ICU watched him close the curtains in the room and wondered what he was up to. Rumors were flying; Ferd was a famous celebrity and his real identity was being hidden.

  Tony found that the audio transceiver had been placed too close to the television set. Stupid fucking amateurs, he muttered as he took out the tape.

  The video equipment looked like a smoke detector attached to the ceiling. He climbed like an agile monkey on top of the bed's side railing to remove the video tape. He was quite gung-ho about getting the tapes to Whitcomb. He thought that some kind of important meeting had taken place, but he was worried. The old guy had turned the television on so loud that Tony didn't believe the audio tape could have picked up much.

  When he arrived Burgess Whitcomb's office, the chronically exhausted Willard Modert, told Tony that one of the agents had been deactivated because he had made contact and was injured. Tony was panting for more information, but Ivar and Malcolm came out of Whitcomb's office and he was summoned inside. He reluctantly went into Old Hood Eyes' office, without learning any more of the details.

  Tony presented his material. Whitcomb asked if the noise from the television could be screened out of the audio tape. Tony said he would try.

  While watching the three people in the hospital room on the miniature video equipment that projected an image on the wall, the only thing remarkable to Burgess Whitcomb was that when Dr. Steinbrenner introduced the women to his doctor, he indicated that the redhead was Sabrina. Maybe they were trading wigs. The only sure thing was that the women would have to be brought in for questioning soon.

  Burgess had instructed his agents to see if they could figure a pretext to bring the two in. The proverbial spitting on the sidewalk. He had agents checking for criminal activities, even tax evasion, but so far there was nothing he could use in the past history of Sabrina Miller.

  Whitcomb could always bring in Eve Miller for questioning because there were no records for her existence. The FASTFIND Computer network which integrated data from the IRS, police, social security administration, passport office, immigration, credit bureaus, unemployment and motor vehicle licensing had come up with nothing. That alone would be justification to question her.

  Earlier in the day Burgess Whitcomb had two investigators covering Ferd's Tanning Salon. Malcolm's recording, taken the night before, alluded to a meeting there at noon to destroy some machinery in Dr. Steinbrenner's lab. Only Alexander had arrived. He went into the place briefly, which seemed to signify Alexander had not known that the whole lab had been demolished the previous night.

  Burgess Whitcomb didn't think the two women could have done it. They didn't appear strong enough, even with the help of Mark Ponti.

  One thing was clear. The destruction at the lab was not random violence. There had been no fingerprints found anywhere, which suggested that professionals had done the job and then wiped it clean. He wondered if it had been the Japanese, who had been observed following the women.

  CHAPTER 17

  Ferd Steinbrenner was drowsing after his electrocardiogram. Even sedentary activity left him extraordinarily fatigued. When he opened his eyes he saw five Japanese men standing before him in impeccable dark business suites, alike in appearance as blackbirds. For a moment he thought he was dreaming the improbable scene. They stood there, staring and impassive.

  "I see you are awake, Dr. Steinbrenner."

  The man speaking had short greying hair, a sharp vertical line between close set eyes, a large tan mole on his cheek, and ghastly uneven dull yellow teeth. He seemed the head of the unlikely contingent.

  The man gave an abbreviated bow. "My name is Sato Hashimoto. I have recently come from Japan to meet you."

  All the Japanese nodded and smiled.

  "I brought my computer expert with me. As the head of Hashimoto International, I do not understand all the technicalities of advanced computer usage. Mitsuto is very pleased to meet you."

  The youngest of the men smiled and bowed quickly. Ferd wondered what this was all about.

  Hashimoto continued, "We have learned from your honorable sons about your breakthrough in computer usage and would like to acquire the components. We will look forward to working with you in the future."

  Ferd could feel his heart leap and start to pound. Now his sons, meaning Alexander of course, had spoken to a Japanese corporation. Ferd had a great sense of foreboding, as though a great weight had been added to his body, pushing him with force into the mattress. He decided to find out what these men knew. He nodded pleasantly.

  "Ah, so Alexander has informed you that we would be coming. Good. Then you know that for this new and wonderful scientific breakthrough, we are willing to invest several hundred million dollars into research and development. Of course, you would receive a salary commiserate with your crowning achievement in science."

  A salary? Ferd thought, amused and indignant.

  The Japanese men were all tittering and nodding, except for Sato Hashimoto. He was looking steadily at Ferd. His flat eyes resembled those of a venomous snake.

  Ferd stopped smiling. The tittering ended.

  "We are extremely pleased and wish to reach an amiable agreement. So we will discuss this very carefully, when you are better. We do not want to cause you any exertion at this time. You may be assured your achievements will be highly praised and you will receive abundant recompense."

  A salary? Ferd wondered just what Alexander had promised these men. Maybe he had told them all about his computer.

  Ferd felt his heart go into a fast uneven rhythm. Atrial fibrillation, he thought, but it was not life threatening. The numbness he suddenly felt was in his right arm, which was good, because he knew he wasn't having a heart attack. Just fibrillation. Unfortunately his condition had been progressing so well that the monitors had been removed. The ICU staff would not know that he needed immediate help. An injection of digoxin to restore his normal heart rhythm, the doctor inside Ferd prescribed.

  "We would like to take the Miller women back to Japan with us. To study them."

  Alexander had told them everything.

  "And, of course, you would be the head of the research team. Our corporation will buy the rights to your computer components. Would it not be edifying to have a young and brilliant work force to do research with you?"

  A peculiar numbness was spreading over Ferd's face. He could feel that the right side of his face did not respond when he tried to smile. He was not smiling at the men in the room, just experimenting, but they evidently thought he was, and they all smiled and bobbed nods. All except Hashimoto.

  "Ah, then we have the beginnings of an understanding. This has been a most enlightening conversation. I will have my staff start working out the details of a contract so that we will be in total agreement."

  Ferd wondered about Sato Hashimoto's use of the word conversation. He himself had not spoken a word. And now he was afraid he couldn't. He was having a stroke. Ferd knew it in a detached way, as a medical doctor. Emotionally, this was what he had dreaded most in his life. One of the delicate capillaries in his brain had burst. Ferd hoped it would not cause serious brain damage.

  Ferd was also in fibrillation, which was making him short of breath, but no one in the room seemed to notice.

  Ferd had not agreed with anything Hashimoto had said, so he shook his head. Surely the man knew the meaning of No.

  Evidently he did because Hashimoto subtly changed tactics. "Since we have learned about Eve and Sabrina Miller we have been keeping tabs on the women. We are also aware that your government is interested. The American government would surely want the computer for their own usage and would take it away from you. The Soviet Union also would like to acquire it. I have read the report stating it is to be a new, special type of weapon."

  When Ferd tried to reach for the bell that would summon
a nurse he found he could not move his right arm. Then suddenly he lost sight in his right eye. He couldn't tell if the lid had dropped, or if he had actually become blind in that eye. Ferd was suddenly terrified, both by the deadly calm man before him and his own deteriorating condition.

  "We have many pictures of the women." One of the men in the room held up the obligatory camera, complete with telephoto lens.

  Ferd felt the numbness creeping down his right leg. It was a prickly, tingling sensation. He started panting to gain their attention, so they would realize he needed help. Then he slumped sideways off his pillow, as if he had passed out.

  He saw the computer expert, Mitsuto, rush toward him and could feel the man checking his carotid artery. Then Mitsuto rang the emergency bell at Ferd's bedside.

  Hashimoto and his contingent were pulled roughly out of the hospital room by orderlies, doctors and some very disturbed nurses. The halls echoed with the sound of the emergency team bringing medical equipment for the code-blue signal.

  As Hashimoto left the hospital with his staff, he hoped Dr. Steinbrenner would not die. If he did, Hashimoto would have the distasteful chore of negotiating with Dr. Steinbrenner's disagreeable sons.

  * * * * *

  "Divide and conquer." Sabrina shook her head ruefully as they drove down Melrose Avenue to her shop in the early afternoon traffic.

  "Pardon?"

  "Real life just isn't like this."

  "What's it like?" Eve asked.

  "A lot more boring."

  Even driving on one of the most fantastic streets in Los Angeles was a normal everyday experience. They passed shops which specialized in everything from the newest fads in clothing and hair-do's, to restaurants that advertised French-Thai food. Melrose could be outlandish, but nothing had prepared Sabrina for the occurrence of a person that was part her and part computer; someone who decided to break people's legs, take out agents of the United States government, or sleep with them. Eve would live a long time before she got a real dosage of everyday life, because to Eve, everything was conceivable. She could do anything she pleased.

  "I'm being surprised all the time," Eve said.

  "I thought you were kidding when you said that we would have to divide up and separate the agents. And hope the stout one went after you."

  "Fifty-fifty chance."

  Eve was looking out the back window of the car. She believed a tan Ford had been following them. She squinted her eyes. She could discern two distinct shapes in the vehicle.

  "Go around the block," Eve said. Sabrina did so and when they got back on Melrose the car had disappeared.

  When they entered Sabrina's shop, Bea almost collapsed when she saw them. She had to sit on the floor with her head between her knees. Bea had lived in the orphanage with Sabrina and knew she had no living relatives. Sabrina couldn't tell her the truth, so she made up a story about finding a long lost cousin. Bea was thrilled, so moved she had tears in her eyes.

  Sabrina took Eve into the back room and started making them lunch. Eve sat down at the slanted easel where Sabrina used charcoal and pastels to design the clothing in her store. Eve started drawing. As she was doing so, she said to Sabrina, "We were being followed. But I don't understand what's happening because one of the men was Ivar Cousin. And I wonder why he is not off the case. He broke cover. He even said so, in the phone conversation I wasn't supposed to hear."

  Sabrina felt unreality slipping into the everyday again. "Are you sure?"

  "I would recognize the shape of Ivar Cousin's head anywhere."

  Sabrina watched over Eve's shoulder as she designed a suit. It was the latest style. On the side of the suit Eve quickly drew accessories. "I would like to see Ivar again."

  "Do government agents carry guns, I wonder?"

  "I don't think he will shoot me. He'll call. Tonight. I have to decide what to do."

  "It might be dangerous." Sabrina took the drawing that Eve had finished, walked into the front of the shop. She put it on the counter in front of Bea.

  "Wow!"

  "Can you make it?"

  "Oh, yes," Bea enthused. "It will be beautiful."

  Eve had finished another drawing. Sabrina could recognize her own designs, but there were subtle differences that did not come from her and which made the clothing unique.

  "I will see him." Eve nodded her head decisively.

  Sabrina guessed that Eve would have to see the agent. If he was just using Eve for sex and information it would be very sad. Eve was so new and vulnerable it was scary.

  Sabrina wanted to warn Eve and keep her from danger, and from being very badly hurt, but it wouldn't do any good. If Eve had sex with the man and liked him there was really nothing she could do. She would have to learn the hard way about men, like all women did. Still, it would be a shame if he was a real jerk.

  That evening Sabrina watched Eve wait for Ivar to call and was reminded of how she had felt when she was a sensitive adolescent, much too tall and skinny, waiting for a call from that special person. It had been agonizing, and most of the time demoralizing. But Eve did not seem at all agonized. In fact, Sabrina realized that Eve was confident Ivar would call. It was an attitude she herself had certainly never experienced.

  Eve smiled at the phone when it rang, but it was Mark calling Sabrina from his office at work.

  Mark said he would have to work late tonight. There had been two more gangland shootings, with three fatalities in south central Los Angeles, He had to go and get eye-witness reports. Sabrina was always scared when Mark took on those kinds of assignments in such dangerous parts of Los Angeles.

  The next phone call was from Tracy Rieber requesting an experimental photography shoot with Eve to see if the camera loved her as much as it did Sabrina. Eve agreed to go to his place next week for the photography session.

  As they were making dinner, Alexander Steinbrenner called and said he would like to propose a meeting. Sabrina put her hand over the mouth piece and told Eve to go listen in the bedroom. She watched Eve take off. It was really remarkable how fast she could move. She heard the click when Eve picked up.

  "I'm on a safe cell phone," Alexander said. "My brother and I are still being followed, I think, but it's important we speak to the...um, the, ah...person called Eve Miller."

  "Why?"

  Sabrina thought that Alexander's voice had an oily sound. She knew he was trying to be ingratiating, but he reminded her of a hyped used car salesman. He asked for a meeting with the computer, no longer calling Eve a person or even using her name. He said that it would be best if they would come to a neutral spot where they would not be seen speaking to each other. Sabrina suggested the jogging path on Doheny and Santa Monica Boulevard. There they would be out in the open and could see if anyone approached. Alexander said that was a brilliant idea. They would meet at noon on the following afternoon.

  When Sabrina asked about the reason for the meeting, Alexander said vaguely that it was about a future job proposal for Eve with great benefits, which included travel. It sounded like a come-on. Alexander requested they bring a color head shot of Eve for making up a drivers license and other identification. Sabrina dreaded the meeting, but knew they had to go so that Eve could get her identity papers.

  As Sabrina was reheating the meal the telephone rang again.

  "May I speak to Eve Miller, please," a man's voice said.

  "Just one moment." Sabrina handed the phone to Eve, but covered the mouth piece. "You can go into the bedroom."

  "Why?"

  "Privacy."

  Eve shook her head and took the phone, "Hello, Ivar."

  "You knew it was me?"

  "Yes, I knew."

  "Oh." There was a pause. "I'm sorry to call so late, but I'm on a rather interesting case and got free for only a moment. I really would like to see you."

  "I want to see you."

  "Ah, good. I have to work late tonight, until about nine. I really can't get free until then, and it's probably too late so...maybe tomorro
w evening would be better?"

  "Nine would be a fine time."

  Sabrina started banging plates and silverware around. Poor Eve was so naive.

  Eve excitedly told Sabrina that Ivar was going to pick her up at the back entrance of the condominium at exactly twenty minutes after nine. They both knew why he was not using a more traditional method to pick her up. Ivar said that he was still supposed to be working so he did not want to be seen. Sabrina thought to herself, Sure, he's going to take you to a public place, but can't be seen going in the front door here. Ivar must think Eve is really stupid with that explanation.

  Eve was thrilled because she was going to see her first movie. She would get to eat popcorn and hot dogs with mustard. Ivar had told her so.

  Sabrina did not say anything about what she was thinking. Ivar was a spy and a liar and thought Eve was stupid. Well, he was going to get some big surprises himself. She hoped Eve would obnoxiously crunch all of the un-popped popcorn kernels, so he wouldn't be able to hear the movie. Then, maybe Eve would hug him, crack a few ribs when the movie was over.

  Luring Eve with food and sex, Sabrina thought sourly to herself, as she helped Eve pick out clothes and get ready for her date. He must really be dumb. Then Sabrina remembered that Ferd had warned Eve about her extraordinary appetites and thought that maybe Ivar wasn't dumb at all. That was even more frightening.

  * * * * *

  Ivar promised himself he was just going out with Eve to accumulate more information as he parked near the back door of her condominium. He really had to call his operative from the Soviet Union. His excuse for not doing so was that he needed more definite data.

  It had been bizarre following her today. He had been forced into the uncomfortable knowledge she had been aware of him. There was an incident when her cousin had driven around the block for no apparent reason. Unless she had been checking for a tail. Just before his shift began he had been told that Eve had hurt one of the investigators. Eve had apparently stepped on the agent's toes, almost breaking them, and elbowed him hard enough so that several ribs were cracked.