Escape Out of Darkness Read Free Page A

outside during a break in a recording session and saw one of the musicians, a guy I used to work with, buying a very large quantity of cocaine. He was buying it from someone I’d run into years ago, a man who’s become very powerful in organized crime. At first I couldn’t believe Mancini would be there doing the actual dirty work until I recognized who was with him. I’d seen the second man on Dan Rather just three weeks ago. He was one of the leaders of the rebels fighting the leftist government down there. The U.S.-backed rebels, I might add. It appeared they’d found a new way of financing their revolution.”
    “Not a good idea,” Maggie said mildly.
    Mack grinned. “Not a good idea at all. Mancini recognized me immediately, of course. He’s got a good memory, and I played a pivotal part in his rise to power in the early seventies. I took off, planning to hide out until I decided what to do about the situation. I spent the night with a friend, and when I got back to my apartment the next day a bomb had removed the top floor of my building. It also removed three people living in the other apartments.”
    “And that’s when you went to Peter?”
    “That’s when I went to find the musician who was the buyer in the drug deal. There wasn’t much left of him, I’m afraid. It was pretty effective as far as warnings go.”
    “So you went to Peter?” she persisted.
    “I went to Jeffrey Van Zandt.”
    “Not everyone knows a friendly neighborhood CIA agent.”
    “I know a lot of people,” Mack said. “Van Zandt put me in touch with Wallace and Third World Causes. He thought you guys might be interested because of the rebel connection.”
    “He was right. That explains a great deal. So you’ve got the Mafia after you and the rebels. Not good, Pulaski.”
    “Add the CIA to your list. They’ve been turning a blind eye to the rebels’ fund-raising efforts, what with Congress being so close-fisted about supporting them. According to Van Zandt, the Company wouldn’t mind if a little accident happened to me along the way. I’m something of an embarrassment. Every way I look I see trouble.”
    “What do you want to do?”
    “I’m not interested in heroics. I want to go back to work and be left alone. There’s no way I’m going to stop the drug traffic between here and Latin America, and I’m damned if I’m going to risk my butt trying. People can stuff whatever they want up their noses as long as they don’t involve me. Unfortunately, no one seems to believe that. Everyone wants to shut me up when I have no interest in opening my mouth in the first place.”
    Maggie’s lip curled in disgust. “I guess you’re not out to save the world.”
    “And I guess you are. Third World Causes, Ltd. sounds pretty damned noble. Do you get off on being a lady bountiful?”
    She couldn’t see behind the glasses, but she could guess that those warm hazel eyes were now cold and hard. He hadn’t liked her judgmental tone, and while she couldn’t blame him, some little devil prodded her onward.
    “I get off on making a difference,” she snapped back. “I think looking out for number one gets a little old after a while. But hey, it’s your life. You can live in a little bubble, and Peter and I will do our best to make sure that bubble is safe and no bad guys will get you.”
    “You’re so goddamn smug, lady. You think you’re the expert on life?”
    “I think …” She took a deep, calming breath. “I think we’d better not fight all the way to Houston. It’s about fifteen hundred miles, and we’re supposed to be a newly married couple on our first vacation. There are papers in the glove compartment. Credit cards, driver’s license, the works. You’re JackPortman, forty-one years old, an advertising executive from Phoenix. I’m Maggie Portman, your wife of two years. I’m in corporate law, working for an oil company.”
    “Sounds repulsive.”
    Her strong, slender hands clenched the white