Read Online The Road to Gandolfo by Robert Ludlum - Free Book Online

There was an open door on the right wall that led to a small bathroom, and a horizontal clothes rack on the left. The room was no more than ten feet by twelve feet, but all things considered, far grander than Sam had visualized.
    The only thing missing was MacKenzie Hawkins.
    “You see,” said Lin Shoo, “how considerate we are; how well appointed are the general’s accommodations?”
    “I’m impressed,” replied Devereaux. “Except I don’t see the general.”
    “Oh, he is there.” The Chinese smiled and spoke softly. “He has his little games. He hears the footsteps and conceals himself on either side of the door. Twice the guards were alarmed and made ill-considered entrances. Fortunately, there were several to overcome the general’s strength. Now all the shifts are alerted. His meals are delivered through a slot.”
    “He’s still trying.…” Sam chuckled. “He’s something.”
    “He is many things,” added Lin Shoo enigmatically as he approached a webbed circle beneath the unidirectional glass and pushed a red button. “General Hawkins? Please, General, show yourself. It is your good and gracious friend, Lin Shoo. I know you are beside the door, General.”
    “
Up your ass, slant eyes!
”
    Lin Shoo released the button momentarily and turned to Devereaux. “He is not always the essence of courtesy.”The Chinese returned to the speaker and pushed the button again. “Please, General, I have a countryman of yours with me. A representative of your government. From the armed forces of your nation—–”
    “You better check her goddamned purse! Maybe up her skirt! Her lipstick might be a bomb!” came the shout from the unseen general officer.
    Lin Shoo turned back to Devereaux in bewilderment. Sam gently moved the Chinese out of the way, pushed the button himself, and yelled into the speaker.
    “Get off it, you chickenfucker! Show that hairy ass you call a face or I’ll open the slop-shoot and drop in that fucking lipstick! I’ll
frag
you, you miserable son of a bitch!—– Incidentally, Regina Greenberg says hello.”
    The immense head of MacKenzie Hawkins slowly appeared in the pane of unidirectional glass. It merged from the side, huge, crew-cut, leather-lined. Mac’s expression was one of utter consternation. A half-chewed cigar was gripped between his teeth, beneath wide, bloodshot eyes that betrayed disbelieving curiosity.
    “How so? What do you say?” Lin Shoo’s controlled lips were parted in astonishment.
    “It’s a highly classified military code,” said Devereaux. “We only employ it under extreme conditions.”
    “I will not pursue the matter; it would not be courteous. If you flip the lever on the side of the glass, General Hawkins will see you. When you feel comfortable, I shall admit you. However, I will remain outside, please.”
    Sam pushed the small handle on the sides of the glass; there was a click. The large, squinting face reacted with instant hostility. Devereaux had the feeling that Hawkins was observing something very obscene but unimportant: Sam, the military accident.
    Devereaux nodded to Lin Shoo. The Chinese reached out with both hands, as if to pull with one and push with the other, and unlatched the door. The heavy steel panel opened; Sam walked in.
    To an enormous fist that came rushing toward him, on a direct collision course with his left eye. The impact came; the room, the world, the galaxy spun out of orbit into theshimmering of a hundred thousand splotches of white light.
    Sam felt the wet cloth over his face before he felt the pain in his head, especially his eye, and he thought that was strange. He reached up, pulled the cloth away and blinked. All he saw at first was a white ceiling. The center light hurt his head, especially his left eye. He realized he was on a bed, so he rolled over and everything came back to him.
    Hawkins was at the writing desk, papers and photographs scattered about the top. The general was reading from a sheaf of stapled