The Stainless Steel Rat eBook Collection by Harry Harrison

I dropped back into the chair. The smile was gone, as was all warmth from his voice.
    ‘I don’t like to be imitated, nor do I like to be played with. I am displeased. You now have three minutes to explain this matter before I kill you then proceed to your hotel room to retrieve themoney you stole this evening. Now the first thing that you will reveal is the location of the rest of the money stolen in my name. Speak!’
    I spoke – or rather I tried to speak but could only sputter helplessly. This had a sobering effect. He might kill me – but he was not going to reduce me to helpless jelly first. I coughed to clear my throat, then spoke.
    ‘I don’t think that you are in toomuch of a hurry to kill me – nor do I believe in your three-minute time limit. If you will cease in your attempt to bully me I shall try to tell you carefully and clearly my motives in this matter. Agreed?’
    Speaking like this was a calculated risk – but The Bishop was a game player, I knew that now. His expression did not change, but he nodded slightly as though conceding a Pawn move – knowingthat he still had my King well in check.
    ‘Thank you. I never thought of you as a cruel man. In fact, when I discovered your existence, I used you as a career model. What you have done, what you have accomplished, is without equal in the history of this world. If I offended you by stealing money in your name I am sorry. I will turn all the money from that robbery over to you at once. But if youwill stop to think – it is the only thing that I could do. I had no way of finding you. So I had to arrange things so that you could find me. As you have. I counted upon your curiosity – if not your mercy – not to reveal my identity to the police before you had met me yourself.’
    Another nod granted me another Pawn move. The unwavering barrel of the gun informed me that I was still in check.
    ‘You are the only person alive who knows my identity,’ he said. ‘You will now tell me why I should not kill you. Why did you want to contact me?’
    ‘I told you – out of admiration. I have decided on a life of crime as the only career open to one of my talents. But I am self-trained and vulnerable. It is my wish to be your acolyte. To study at your knee. To enter the academy of advanced crime inthe wilderness of life with you on one end of the log and me on the other. I will pay whatever price you require for this privilege, though I may need a little time to raise more money since I am turning the receipts of my last two operations over to you. There it is. That is who I am. And, if I work hard enough, you are whom I wish to be.’
    The softening gaze, the thoughtful fingers raised tochin meant I was out of check for the moment. But the game wasn’t won yet – nor did I wish it to be. I wanted only a draw.
    ‘Why should I believe a word of this?’ he asked at last.
    ‘Why should you doubt it? What other possible reason could I have?’
    ‘It is not your motives that disturb me. I am thinking about the possibility of someone else’s, someone in a position of police responsibility whois using you as a pawn to find me. The man who arrests The Bishop will rise to the top of his chosen profession.’
    I nodded agreement as I thought furiously. Then smiled and relaxed. ‘Very true – and that must have been the very first thing to come to your mind. Your office in this building either means that you are high in the ranks of law enforcement, so high that you could easily find out ifthis had been the plan. Or – even more proof of your genius – you have ways and means of penetrating the police at any level, to fool them and use them to actually arrest me. My congratulations, sir! I knew that you were a genius of crime – but to have done this, why it borders on the fantastic!’
    He nodded his head slowly, accepting his due. Did I see the muzzle of the gun lowered ever so slightly?Was a drawn game possibly in sight? I rushed on.
    ‘My name is James