Chapter 52 fourth quarter

Once inside, Decker locked Beth's front door and leaned exhausted against it, listening nervously to the suffocating silence in the adobe house.Then he walked into the living room and grabbed the phone.Under normal circumstances, he would have waited to find a payphone before calling, but now he couldn't wait, and, as he kept reminding himself, there would be no more normal situations.For security reasons, he made a collect call so that the record of this call would not show up on Beth's phone bill. "This is the Raleigh-Hackman Company." A man's peaceful voice came from the phone.

"I have a collect call from Martin Kaworski," the operator said. "Do you agree to pay?" Martin Kaworski was the name Decker gave the operator.It's the code word for an emergency. "Yes," said the voice at once, "I agree to pay." "Go ahead, Mr. Kaworski." Decker wondered if the operator was still listening. "Does your console show the number I'm using now?" he asked the voice on the other end. "Of course." "Call me back at this number immediately." Ten seconds later, the phone rang. "Hey!"

"Is that Martin Kaworski?" "My ID numbers are 8, 7, 4, 4, 5." Decker seemed to hear the sound of the other party's fingers tapping on the computer keyboard. "Is that Steve Decker?" "yes." "Our records show that you terminated your employment contract with us more than a year ago in June, why would you re-establish contact?" "Because four people tried to kill me last night." The other side didn't answer right away, and said after a while: "Repeat again." Decker repeated it again. "I'll transfer the call to you."

The next man's voice had the stern tone of a powerful man. "Tell me everything." In just 5 minutes, Decker described the whole process in his well-trained and concise language.His narration is accurate and lifelike in detail, and the effect is enhanced by the urgent tone. "Do you think this attack has anything to do with your previous employment with us?" the officer asked. "That's the most obvious explanation. Look, these killers are probably Italian. And my last mission was in Italy, in Rome. It was a disaster. Please check the files." "It's been popping up on my monitor while we're talking. Your linking last night's attack to events in Rome is farfetched."

"That's the only thing I think is relevant right now. I want you to look it up, there's nothing I can do—" "But now we have no responsibility to you anymore," said the voice firmly. "Hey, when I resigned you obviously thought you were responsible for me. You spied on me so much that I thought your security clearance would never end. Damn, two months ago, you were spied on me Well. So, without further ado! You listen carefully! There is a detective in charge of investigating my attack, his name is Esperanza. Obviously, he has doubts about my self-report. So far So far, I've been able to handle him. But if something happens again, if another gang of killers try to do what the first guys didn't, then he'll be more sure of his judgment. He'll probably find out a lot more than You think he might have found a lot more."

"We'll let him give up automatically." "You'd better do it," Decker said emphatically. "I've been faithful, and I expect you to be the same. Send someone to help me, and find out who sent those people to kill me." .” The voice on the other side did not answer right away. "I have the number on the phone you're using on my monitor. Is it safe for me to call you there?" "It's not safe, I'll call you again." "Six hours later." The man hung up the phone. Decker immediately put down the microphone, and strangely, the bell rang again.He frowned and picked up the phone. "Hey?"

"I guess you haven't made time to take a shower yet." The voice on the phone was melodious, almost musical.Decker knew immediately who it was—Esperanza. "Yes, how do you know?" "Your phone has been busy. I tried several times to get in touch with you." "I've had to contact some clients to cancel arrangements." "Are you done? I hope you've got it all done—because I want to go to your place for an interview. I've got some information that will interest you."