Dr. Torvalt started to reach for the pistol, then hesitated. “Should I be touching this?”
“Why not?”
“Well… I don’t know, I mean... it’s evidence, isn’t it?”
“Were you planning on arresting him? Come on, snap out of it, Doctor. You act as if you’ve never seen a dead body before. What the hell kind of a pathologist are you?”
“There’s no need to be sarcastic, Colonel,” Torvalt said, stiffly. He wrenched the pistol loose from the dead man’s grip. “After all, it isn’t every day I walk into the middle of a war.”
“War?” Steiger snorted. “Hell, this wasn’t a war, Doctor. This wasn’t even a small skirmish. This was merely murder.”
“Merely?” said the doctor.
Steiger winced. “Sorry. I tend to get a little testy when people try to kill me.”
“Here.” Torvalt handed Steiger the gun, handling it gingerly.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Steiger, examining it.
“What kind of weapon is that?” Torvalt said, fascinated in spite of himself. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“That’s because it’s a bit before your time, Doctor. It’s a true collector’s item. A Semiautomatic lead projectile pistol fitted with a custom silencer. A 10-mm Colt Delta Elite, circa the late 20th century…”
“The 20th century?” said Torvalt, with astonishment. Alarmed faces were looking in through the windows in the doors. Several hospital staff people started to come in.
“Stay out!” snapped Steiger. They quickly backed out once again. “Doctor, I want this place secured. I’ll have I.S.D. co-ordinate with you. Get those men up off the floor and then I want a full workup on that one,” he pointed at the assailant’s corpse. “Retinal patterns, finger and palm prints, dental analysis, genetic mapping, the works. I want to know who he was before the night is out.”
“Colonel, that’s impossible! There’s no way I can do all that in—”
“Then get someone who can. This is top priority. I’m holding you personally responsible.”
There was a knock at the door.
“What is it? Steiger shouted, angrily.
“I.S.D., Colonel.”
“That you, Danelli?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Come on in. “
Three commandos in black base fatigues entered, their sidearms held ready. Steiger recognized them and lowered his pistol.
“You all right, sir?” Sgt. Danelli said, holstering his pistol.
“Yeah. You got here quick.”
“Responding to a report of a dead body, sir. One of the hospital cleaning staff found one of the doctors murdered.” He bent down and pulled the nametag off the dead man’s Jab coat. “Now we know why. What are your orders, sir?”
“First of all, get some more people down here and secure the area.” Steiger winced, holding his arm up as Torvalt staunched the flow of blood and examined the wound. “Nobody comes in, nobody leaves. Nobody goes off duty. I want all hospital personnel questioned. Everybody. We probably won’t learn anything, but do it anyway. Delegate someone to take charge of that. I
want you personally to get on the horn right now and call the old man. Alert his security detail, tell him we’ve got two men down, both dead, and I’ve got a superficial flesh wound. Pure dumb luck. The hitter was a pro. It was the Network, no doubt about it. Find out how many people knew about my brother’s body being brought in. Then get on to the S & R team that actually brought him in. I want to know how that hitter knew to be here. Then have someone call Archives Section and tell them to stand by for a download. Dr. Torvalt here is going to feed them everything they need for an ID check on the hitter. I want to know who the son of a bitch was. You got all that?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Right. Go to it.” Steiger winced again as Torvalt probed the wound. “Christ! You having fun, Doctor?”