Read A Jungle of Stars (1976) for Free Online Page B

find P.O. Box 716. The combination is A-B, D-E, B-C. There'll be an envelope with some front money, an address, and directions from Dulles to your new office."
    "Dulles?"
    "Yeah. You're a Washingtonian now, son. Be there sometime tomorrow, won't you?"
    "How are you so sure this package is there?" Savage asked skeptically.
    Hunter was just so damned sure of himself.
    "Why, because I mailed it almost two weeks ago, of course," came the reply.Savage felt that he was made of glass. "How long ago did you rent that box?" he asked.
    "One of my people rented it -- let's see -- two days after you were killed would be about right. Why?"
    "How the hell did you know I'd be here, in this town rather than another?" demanded Savage.
    If voices could shrug, this one did. "Hell, man, I know how your mind works better than you do. If it makes you feel any better, it took my men the better part of a day to find the motel, though. But, you're kind of conspicuous, you know, once somebody looking for you has your general area."
    "I don't think I like being so transparent," Savage commented. "Makes me nervous."
    The voice chuckled. "Savage, old buddy, as you're going to find out, you're one of the least transparent beings in the entire galaxy."
    Savage mulled the remark but didn't reply.
    "Well," Hunter continued, "I have other things to do. I'll see you in person in Washington. Want that box and combination again?"
    "I got it," Savage replied. "I'll be there."
    He heard a click and the line was dead.
    Savage slowly undressed and placed all the torn and bloody clothing in a laundry bag. He'd dispose of it tomorrow. No problem, really. He was certain that even if there had been forty witnesses to the killing, Hunter would have him free in no time.
    He felt suddenly very tired, and flopped nude on the bed.
    As he lay there in the darkness, he thought about the night's work. The McNally business still didn't make sense and he didn't dwell on it, but he was aware of a change within himself.
    He had killed a man in cold blood in such a way that the other man hadn't had a prayer. One can't murder The Flying Dutchman. And he found it curious that he felt no guilt, no pangs of conscience, no remorse -- no more than if he'd swatted a fly.
    He had given the enemy better than that.

5
    THE BOX CONTAINED a current airline schedule of Washington flights, a Xerox copy of directions on getting to an address on 16th Street in that city, and a certified check for $1,000. It was the latter that particularly interested him -- it was drawn to the account of the SHW Tool & Die Company.
    Steve Wade's parent company.
    Wade was something of a legend among the powerful, although few people in the general public had ever heard of him. He kept out of the limelight, though not to the extent of a Howard Hughes. Wade was just not an outgoing person beyond his business, and he rarely if ever socialized. He was still, however, accessible, and he had been hauled up a few times by various congressional committees for meddling in some pricing schemes and making some questionable international trade deals. One national credit card magazine had profiled him as a "mover" and "shaker." Nobody really knew what he was worth, but his background had been profiled rather well in that article.
    The son of middle-class parents, he had been an undistinguished scholar and a somewhat introverted youth. Except for a small bald spot and obviously bad teeth, he'd kept his looks through the years. Savage could remember the tall but pudgy figure, perennially about twenty-five, peering out of the magazine's pages. After an unremarkable college career, he had finally graduated with a degree in political science and gone to work as a junior clerk in the State Department. Then, abruptly, he'd quit his job, borrowed capital from the wealthy parents of an old school friend, and started playing the stock market -- with phenomenal results.
    In bullish times, he had always seemed to pick the $5 stocks that