Free The Vanishers by Donald Hamilton Page B

betraying; we could even have made him trouble about his involvement in other kinds of professional behavior including a spot of homicide and attempted homicide unauthorized by Washington. Not exactly the kind of public servant we should cherish, right? Well, his dubious organization was abolished; the FBI took up the slack. However, Bennett didn’t appear to be a very bright guy, and it seemed that he’d merely acted as figurehead while the smart boys did the dirty work. We took care of them; but we decided that Bennett wasn’t dangerous and it was safe to make a deal with him. We agreed to let him tell us some things we needed to know in order to wind up the dirty business, in return for immunity.”
    “So he went free?”
    I nodded. “The decision was mine, and I’m afraid I was wrong. Apparently the guy wasn’t as dumb and harmless as he acted. Somehow, after we turned him loose, he got himself welcomed back to that screwball city on the Potomac we just left. He even promoted himself a new position with a bit of salary and influence from which, it seems, he’s been keeping an eye on us, the agency that smashed his beautiful government career. Well, his first beautiful government career. Now, with my chief missing, he seems to have embarked upon a second, bossing our outfit…”
    I stopped, as our dinners were placed before us, steak for me, fish for her. Having been brought up on fresh-caught mountain trout as a boy in New Mexico, I avoid the tired, mushy stuff that masquerades under the name of fish these days in most parts of the U.S.A. I reminded myself that they do it much better in the European lands towards which we were heading; and I’d better start giving my prejudice a rest. I glanced at the handsome woman beside me.
    “What about a spot of champagne, or would that be overdoing it?”
    “What else is there to do here but overdo it?” Astrid asked, laughing; but after I’d got us the bubble-stuff, she grew serious again. She said, “So what it amounts to is, you have a new boss, at least until your old one returns. But even if you do not like or respect this Mr. Bennett, is that sufficient reason for us to flee out of the country?”
    “I’m not fleeing out of the U.S., I’m fleeing into Sweden,” I said, “By way of Norway, because that’s the way the plane flies. But I’m afraid you don’t quite understand the kind of people you’ve managed to get yourself mixed up with, looking for help with your private problem. Well, by this time you must have some idea of what our outfit really does. Counter-assassination is the polite description; we’re the guys, and gals, who’re sent out to kill the killers when nobody else is tough enough to deal with them. Naturally, with our special talents, we’re also used for other work like visiting pretty ladies in the hospital—pretty ladies with mysterious illnesses.”
    I saluted her with my champagne glass. After a moment she smiled and returned the gesture, but her eyes were troubled.
    I went on: “Now consider Mr. Bennett. After receiving a serious setback to his career through no fault of his own, as he sees it, he’s managed to fight his way back to the kind of powerful position for which he is, he feels, superbly qualified by talent and experience. In this position he has at his disposal the services of a gang of rabid wolves like me, who don’t much care whose throats they mangle as long as they get to taste a little blood… What’s the matter?”
    “You are not like that, Matt.”
    I grimaced. “It’s sweet of you to say so, but you don’t know what I’m like, Mrs. W. You’ve only seen me on my best behavior. Anyway, Bennett’s right where he wants to be now, in full control of a government agency pretty much like the one I helped smash for him a few years back. The appointment’s only temporary, in Mac’s absence, but do you think for a moment that Bennett’s going to let it be taken away from him if there’s any possible