Free The Viper Squad by J.B. Hadley

“Have to be off. You won’t forget you’ve all sorts of people looking over
     your shoulder, will you, Dwight? By the way, there was a little news item that might interest your TV people. I’ll tell you,
     but don’t reveal your source. Seems that Russian scientist who died at Harvard earlier today didn’t have a heart attack. He
     was killed with poison, perhaps with a dart from a blowgun. In Cambridge, of all places. You can’t say you weren’t the first
     to get that news from us.”
    As Dwight walked his old friend to the elevator, he saw what looked like a retired pro-football player with a flatface and a broken nose sitting in the reception area. He had no doubt that would prove to be Chips Stadnick.
    When Dwight came back, he ushered Stadnick into his office before him, closed the door after him and went alone to the conference
     room to phone his news team with the information Dudley had given him on this Russian’s death. They loved things like poison
     darts and blowguns.
    “How are things going?” Dwight asked cheerfully when he came back to his office.
    “I’m afraid I lost him, sir,” Stadnick said.
    “Who?”
    “The subject I was assigned, sir. The man who tried to kill your reporter last Tuesday. But I’ll get him for sure next week.”
    “Good. Good.”
    Dwight had other things on his mind. He did not associate the Russian’s death with the man they had under investigation, and
     Stadnick did not mention he had lost his quarry in Cambridge.
    “He’s a tough nut to crack,” Chips said to break the silence that had developed. “But we got a real lead on him now for the
     first time. One of your reporters remembered seeing him in old footage taken in Thailand after those mercenaries grabbed the
     Vanderhoven grandson in Vietnam.”
    “He was one of them?” Dwight asked with interest. “Who was that man they said was commander of the group? A Green Beret they
     called ‘Mad Mike,’ wasn’t it?”
    “Right, sir. Mike Campbell. If you ask me, he’s probably some kind of wacko maniac—”
    “But he does get results.”
    “Yes, sir. So I hen.”
    “That’s what’s important, Mr. Stadnick.”
    “Yes, sir. I’ll do better this Tuesday.”
    “I want you to leave tomorrow for El Salvador.”
    Stadnick recoiled as if hit. “Oh, no. Not me.”
    “I’m going to tell you something which I want kept very quiet. But first we’ll discuss economics. W. Stadnick,I know you’ve heard the phrase ‘Money is no object.’ That condition applies here. Succeed or fail, you will consider—ably
     enrich yourself by going to El Salvador for me tomorrow.”
    Dwight almost smiled at the look of greed on Stadnick’s broken face. This man would be a good start. If he could find Sally
     without undue publicity, Dwight would not have to hide his face from his political friends. Most of all, he would not have
     to tell his wife their daughter was missing and have to live through her emotional hysteria. He could feel he was getting
     events back under control. There were so many other things Sally could have done. Why this?
    Mike Campbell joined Andre Verdoux on a grassy bank some distance outside an alpine village after passing around bottles of
     beer and wine to the rest of the company. They had just climbed from the village, laden with shopping bags of bottles. Since
     Swiss soldiers on maneuvers were forbidden to enter stores to purchase things for themselves, the presence of two foreign
     observers provided them with a convenient loophole in these regulations.
    Mike had phoned Tina in Arizona while they were in the village. He said to Andre, “I think she’s finally begun to believe
     I really am in Switzerland with you, like I told her. She knows I’d never contact her during a real mission.”
    “She sounds like a fine woman,” Andre said. “I notice you take care that I never meet her.”
    Mike smiled. “Not because I’m afraid she would fall for your Gallic charm, Andre. It’s just