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"I KNOW A little out-of-the-way hotel in Chinatown called the Mandarin. No one will ever think of looking for us there. We'll call Mr. Kingsley from the room." Ta
CHAPTER 23
HARRY FLINT WILL take good care of the women, Ta
Flint had never failed him.
It amused Ta
Ta
Carballo was a huge man with a scraggly beard and blue eyes that were like daggers. He had a long prison record. He had been on trial for murder. The evidence against him was overwhelming, but a member of the jury stubbornly held out for acquittal, and it ended up in a hung jury. Only a few people knew that the juror's little daughter had disappeared and a note was left behind: If you keep quiet about this, your daughter's fate will be determined by the jury's verdict.
Carballo was the kind of man Ta
TANNER HAD ALSO heard about an ex-felon named Harry Flint. He had investigated Flint's life thoroughly and decided he was perfect for his needs.
Harry Flint had been born in Detroit, into a middle-class family. His father was a bitter, failed salesman who spent his time sitting around the house complaining. He was a sadistic martinet, and at his son's slightest infraction, he enjoyed whipping him, using a ruler, a belt, or anything else that was handy, as though he wanted to beat success into his son to make up for his own inadequacy.
The boy's mother worked as a manicurist at a barbershop. While Harry's father was tyra
Doctors had told Harry's mother that she was too old to have a child, so she considered her pregnancy a miracle. After Harry was born, she lovingly fondled him and was constantly hugging him, patting him, and kissing him until eventually Harry felt smothered by her love. As he got older, he loathed being touched.
WHEN HARRY FLINT was fourteen years old, he trapped a rat in the basement and stomped on it.
As he stared at the rat slowly, painfully dying, Harry Flint had an epiphany. He suddenly realized he had the awesome power to take life, to kill. It made him feel like God. He was omnipotent, all-powerful. He needed to have that feeling again, and he began to stalk small animals around the neighborhood, and they became his prey. There was nothing personal or malicious about what Flint was doing. He was just using his God-given talent.
Angry neighbors whose pets were being tortured and killed complained to the authorities, and a trap was set. The police put a Scottish terrier on the front lawn of a house with a leash to keep her from ru
He pried the dog's mouth open and started to insert a lit firecracker. The police pounced. When Harry Flint was frisked, he had a bloody rock and a five-inch fillet knife in his pocket.
He was sent to Challenger Memorial Youth Center for twelve months.
One week after Flint arrived, he attacked one of the other boys, maiming him badly. The psychiatrist who examined Flint diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic.
"He's psychotic," the doctor warned the guards in charge. "Be careful. Keep him away from the others." When Harry Flint had served his time, he was fifteen years old and was released on probation. He returned to school. Several of his classmates looked upon Flint as a hero. They had become involved in petty crimes such as snatching purses, lifting wallets, and shoplifting, and Flint soon became their leader.
In an alley fight one night, a knife sliced a corner of Flint's lip, giving him a permanent half-smile.
As the boys grew older, they turned to carjacking, burglary, and robbery. One of the robberies became violent, and a shopkeeper was killed. Harry Flint was convicted of armed robbery and abetting a murder, and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was the most vicious prisoner the warden had ever seen.
There was something in Harry Flint's eyes that made other prisoners leave him alone. He constantly terrorized them, but no one dared report him.
One day, as a guard passed Harry Flint's cell, he stared inside unbelievingly.
Flint's cell mate was lying on the floor, in a pool of blood. He had been beaten to death.
The guard looked at Flint, and there was a smile of satisfaction on his face.
"All right, you bastard.
You won't get out of this one. We can start warming up the chair for you." Flint glared at him and slowly raised his left arm. A bloody butcher knife was deeply imbedded in it.
Flint said coldly, "Self-defense." The prisoner in the cell across from Flint never told anyone that he had seen Flint savagely beat his cell mate to death, then pull out a butcher knife from under his own mattress and slice the knife through the flesh of his arm.
THE CHARACTERISTIC THAT Ta
Ta
"TELL THE PILOT to warm up the Challenger. We're going to Japan. There will be two of us." The news had come at a bad time, but it had to be taken care of immediately, and it was too sensitive to entrust to anyone else. Ta
While the plane was crossing the Pacific Ocean, Ta
The drive from Narita airport took one hour, and Ta
AKIRA ISO WAS waiting for him at the Fumiki Mashimo restaurant. Iso was in his fifties, with a spare figure, gray hair, and bright brown eyes. He stood up to greet Ta
"It is an honor to meet you, Mr. Kingsley. Frankly, I was surprised to hear from you. I ca