Read Online The Silver Bear by Derek Haas - Free Book Online Page A

only to find him lying facedown on his desk in a pool of his own blood. There was no more news at this time.
    Just then, my door opened and Vespucci showed himself inside. He nodded at the radio, “You heard?”
    I nodded back.
    “Who was the girl?”
    “A girl I’ve been seeing.”
    “Get rid of her.”
    “Why?”
    “Don’t ask me why. You know why without me telling you.”
    He dropped a new envelope on my counter and sat down on top of a bar stool.
    “Mr. Vespucci . . . what I do on my own time is my business . . . now I don’t mind—”
    He cut me off. “You think you are the first one to do this job? To be a professional?”
    “I don’t—”
    “There are reasons why I picked you. Number one.
    No father and mother. Number two. No father and mother. Do I make sense? Yes?”
    I stood there, smarting.
    “Relationships are weakness. In this line of work, you can have no weakness. Or, I assure you, your weakness will be discovered and exploited.”
    “By whom?”
    “By whom?” he snorted. “I forget what a babe you are. You are now in the business of killing men. Women and children, too, if that is your assignment. When you do this job, you make enemies. Enemies in law enforcement, enemies in the families of the person you kill, enemies who are rival assassins. Yes. That’s right. I am not the only fence in this country; not even in this city. There are others who will do whatever they can to stop you from continuing to do what you do. And they will find this girl and exploit her. I promise you that.”
    “She’s the first girl—”
    “What? Who cared for you? Who made love to you? Bah. Let me tell you this, Columbus . . . she is nothing but a weight on your chest, pushing down on your breastbone, crushing the wind out of you. You must let her go. Tell her you will never see her again. I can give you no better advice than this.”
    “I understand.”
    “We’re in agreement, then?”
    “I said I understand.”
    I said it passionately, too, and he stared at me for a long time, measuring me, trying to read my thoughts. I diverted my eyes and picked up the envelope.
    “What’s this, then?”
    “Your next mark.”
    “Will I get a chance to prove myself this time?” Vespucci stood up. “That is not up to me.”
    “Who is it up to, then?”
    “To God, I suppose. Study the contents of that envelope.” He made it to the door. “And forget this girl, Columbus.”
    He didn’t wait for my reply as he shuffled out into the hall.
     
     
    THE name at the top of the page in the second envelope was Edgar Schmidt, a police detective. I did not get the call to kill him, but read about his death on the front page of the Globe three weeks later. The third envelope contained the name Wilson Montgomery, a pipefitter who had dealings with the mob. He died a week later, though I never found out how. The fourth envelope was devoted to a man named Seamus O’Dooley, a nightclub owner. He was gunned down in the alley behind his establishment.
    I studied all of these files with undiminished intensity. In fact, each time I wasn’t called in to complete the mission only served to make me more focused on the next file.
    But I didn’t forget the girl, despite what Vespucci ordered of me. I wanted to please him, but I wasn’t about to cast off the only part of my life that had ever meant anything. So when the holidays rolled around, Jake and I took off in her little Honda for New Hampshire.
    Her family met us at the door. Her father, Jim, took my hand and warmly pumped it as he guided us into the house. In the fireplace, warm flames licked the screen that kept the embers at bay. The house was rustic, like many of the homes dotting the New England country-side, and the inside was filled with wooden Western-style furniture. A brown leather sofa took up most of the living room, and the home felt as warm as the fire. It was a home, a real home, something I’d never experienced.
    Her mother, Molly, studied my face, a