Read Assumed Identity (1993) for Free Online

she'd be pleased to return a call, and soon an elderly woman who worked for Buchanan's employers would return the call, the destination of which would of course be traced, the conversation recorded.
    Buchanan's fictitious occupation at that time, three months earlier, had been that of a computer programmer. He had an interest in and talent for computers, so that part of his assumed identity was easy to establish. He worked at home, he told anyone who happened to ask, and the powerful IBM in his apartment, supplied by his employers, validated his claim. As a further proof of his bogus identity, each Thursday he sent backup computer disks via Federal Express to New Age Technology in Boston, another profitable cover organization for Buchanan's employers, but to maintain the skills of his true occupation, each evening for three hours he exercised at the local Gold's Gym.
    Mostly he waited, trying to be patient, maintaining discipline, eager to do his real work. So when an executive from New Age Technology at last phoned, announced that he'd be in Fairfax on business, and wondered if he could pay a visit, Buchanan thought, Soon. Soon I'll be useful. Soon I won't be bored.
    His controller knocked on the door on schedule. That was four p.m. on a Friday, and when Buchanan-MacDonald glanced through the door's security eye, then let him in, the short, gaunt man in a rumpled suit placed his briefcase on the living room's coffee table, waited for Buchanan-MacDonald to close and bolt the entrance, then studied his surroundings and asked, 'Which would you prefer? To go for a walk or stay here?'
    'The apartment's clean.'
    'Good.' The hollow-cheeked controller opened his briefcase. 'I need your driver's license, your passport, your birth certificate, your credit cards, all of your documents for Brian MacDonald. Here are the release forms for you to sign, and here's my signed receipt.'
    Buchanan complied.
    'Now here are your further documents,' the thin-lipped controller continued, 'and the acceptance form for you to sign. Your new name is Edward Potter. You used to be employed as a. Well, it's all in this file. Every detail of your new background. Knowing how retentive your memory is, I assume that as usual you'll be able to absorb the information by the time I come back to retrieve the file tomorrow morning. What's wrong?'
    'What took you so long to get in touch with me?' Buchanan asked. 'It's been two months.'
    'After your last assignment, we wanted you to disappear for a while. Also we thought we'd have a use for you as Brian MacDonald. Now that scenario's been discarded. We've got a much more interesting project for you. I think you'll be pleased. It's as important as it is risky. It'll give you quite a rush.'
    'Tell me about it.'
    His controller studied him. 'I sometimes forget how intense field operatives can be, how anxious they are to. But then, of course, that's why you're field operatives. Because.'
    'Because? I've asked myself that many times. What's the answer?'
    'I should have thought that was obvious. You enjoy being someone else.'
    'Yes. Exactly. So indulge me. Pretend I'm a method actor. What's my new character's motivation?'

    Chapter 4.
    In the restaurant in Cancun's Club Internacional, Buchanan showed no fear when the first twin threatened him. Instead he replied matter-of-factly, 'Give you a reason not to kill me? I can give you several million of them.'
    'We have many millions as it is,' the first twin said. 'What makes you think a few more would make us risk trusting you?'
    'Human nature. No matter how much money a person has, it's never enough. Besides,' Buchanan said, 'I didn't offer a few million. I offered several.''
    'Hard to spend in prison. Impossible to spend in the grave,' the second twin said. 'The practical response to your offer is to eliminate your interference. We resent a competitor, and we have no need for a partner.'
    In the background, the drone of conversing diners muffled their exchange.
    'That's just