The Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell

me. No one else has ever been as kind to you. You're safe. You've nothing to fear."
    Chris sighed. "Do you want to make me happy?" Chris nodded. Eliot smiled. "Of course you do. You love me. Listen carefully. I want you to answer some questions. Tell me the truth." He was suddenly conscious of the smell of peppermint in the dentist's office. "Have you heard from Saul?"
    Chris took so long to answer Eliot thought he wouldn't. He breathed when Chris said, "No."
    "Do you know where he is?"
    Chris whispered, "No."
    "I'm going to give you a sentence. What does it mean?" Four days ago, the message had been cabled from Atlanta to Rome, in care of Chris at the Mediterranean Flower Shop, the agency's office there. Till his disappearance, Chris had been the assistant bureau chief, on probation while Eliot studied the possible bad effects of the monastery on Chris's work. The message had not been signed, but that was not unusual. All the same, its arrival coincided with Saul's disappearance. Assuming Saul would try to contact Chris, Eliot had learned that this message-in contrast with many others Chris had been sent-bore no relation to agency codes. ""There's an egg in the basket,"' Eliot said. "A message from Saul," Chris answered, eyes closed, -groggy. "Go on."
    "He's in trouble. He needs my help."
    "That's all it means?"
    "A safety-deposit box."
    Eliot leaned closer. "Where?"
    "A bank."
    "Where?"
    "Sante Fe. We both have keys. We hid them. In the box, I'll find a message."
    "Coded?" Eliot's bony fingers clutched the dentist's chair.
    Chris nodded. "Would I recognize the code?"
    "Private." "Teach it to me."
    "Several." Eliot straightened, his chest tight from frustration. He could ask Chris to explain the several codes, but there was always the chance that, by failing to ask a crucial question, he might not learn all the information he required. No doubt Chris had taken precautions to stop an enemy from posing as himself and gaining access to the safety-deposit box. Where was the key, for example? Was there a password? Those questions were obvious. What troubled Eliot were the questions he couldn't imagine. Chris and Saul had been friends since they'd met in the orphanage thirty-one years ago. They must have hundreds of subtle private signals. All Eliot had to do was fail to learn one of them, and he'd miss this chance to trap Saul. Of course, the agency's computers could decipher the private code, but how long might the process take?
    Eliot had to move now. He rubbed his wrinkled chin, abruptly thinking of another question. "Why did you want your teeth removed?"
    Chris answered. Eliot shivered. He'd thought nothing could shock him. But this?
    Chris swelled with affection as he cradled the candy bar. "A Baby Ruth. You still remember."
    "Always." Eliot's eyes looked sad. "But how did you find me?" Chris's tongue felt thick from the Amytal. "Trade secret." Eliot grinned, his lips taut as if on a shrunken skull.
    Chris glanced out the jet's window, hearing the muffled roar of the engines as he squinted from the sun and studied the snowlike clouds spread out below him. "Tell me." He sounded hoarse, staring back at his foster father.
    Eliot shrugged. "You know what I've always said. To guess an opponent's next move, we have to think as he would think. I trained you, remember. I know everything about you."
    "Not quite."
    "We'll discuss that in a moment. The point is I pretended I was you. Knowing everything about you, I became you."
    "And?"
    "Who owed you favors? Who could you depend on for your life? Who had you depended on? As soon as I knew what questions to ask, I calculated the answers. One of them was to have men watch the Special Forces bars in Honolulu."
    "Clever. "So were you."
    "Not enough-since I was spotted in the bar. And followed, I assume."
    "You have to remember you were playing against your teacher. I doubt anyone else could have guessed what you intended."
    "Why didn't you order me picked up in Honolulu? I violated the