Free Menaced Assassin by Joe Gores

all. But it has the facts on its side. A human being exposed to too much radiation will die whether he believes in radiation or not.
    “But I want to explore the other side also. If we cannot scorn science, we cannot scorn myth and legend, either. That guy I just mentioned, who is trying to avoid his fatal dose of radiation, stole the fire at which he cooks his meats from angry gods. It is that same fire, nurtured carefully but used carelessly over the millennia, that has gone from catapult to cannon to missile to smart bomb to megaton that will destroy him because he forgot who he is and where he came from.
    “The tragedy is not that we want science to tell us what to love and what to hate; it is that science isn’t designed to know the difference between them. So we have to look elsewhere. That is what I want to do here tonight…”
    Listening, Dante thought, Love and hate. Life and death. His mind swooped back unbidden to the time when Dalton’s staying alive seemed a day-to-day, even an hour-to-hour thing…

C HAPTER N INE
    It was ten days after Moll Dalton’s funeral, and to Dante’s relief her husband was still alive. And about to depart for East Africa. But Dante was leaving nothing to chance, so here they were on their way to SFO, Will’s stuffed duffel bag and backpack on the backseat of Dante’s car.
    Whatever Molly had sent him must have thoroughly terrified Will; he had followed Dante’s safety precautions to the letter. Leaving his distinctive 4Runner in the driveway and renting a nondescript compact under a name not his own—a trick used in protecting federal witnesses. Varying the times and routes by which he left his office. Changing motels every two days. Monitoring his answering machine until he knew who was calling.
    Dante was still a little sore at him for holding out—but during these ten days he had come to respect the scientist as a careful, moderate, committed, and very bright individual. And even at this last minute he hoped Will might finally trust him enough to talk about the contents of the padded mailer.
    “Where’s all your safari gear or whatever you need?”
    “My kind of work doesn’t require a safari or very much in the way of equipment. I’ve got an old Land-Rover in Nairobi; beyond that, a camera, film, notebooks, all the books I can carry—the rest is perishables I renew every couple of months.”
    Dante glanced over at him. A strange peace emanatedfrom the man, as if he had come to terms with his mourning. Just on impulse, Dante sought to disrupt it.
    “On professional hits, I collect information, collect information, until suddenly something from over
there
comes together with something from over
here
, and I have a toehold.”
    “You seem damned sure Molly was… murdered professionally.”
    “I am.”
    Switching grounds, Will asked, “Information like what?”
    “Why wasn’t your wife’s mother at the funeral? Why weren’t your folks? I snooped around a little, found her mother’s still alive, found out you’re real close to your parents.”
    “Her mother, I don’t know. I’ve never met her. My folks, I asked them not to come. They love me, I love them, they knew that Moll and I loved one another, but they didn’t think she was the right woman for me. So I couldn’t handle their being there.”
    “Fair enough. Why don’t you like your wife’s old man?”
    “Did you know there’s a strong incest taboo among most bird and animal species, Lieutenant? Dian Fossey saw only one silverback gorilla mate with its daughter in all her years there. Gorillas are strict vegetarians, but when the offspring of that match was born, the troop killed it and partially ate the body.”
    “You’re telling me that you suspect St. John of sexually abusing Moll when she was a child?”
    “Once I was able to accept the idea, things began to fall into place. I think that fucker…” He stopped, got control. “I think he also pandered for her, introduced her to people