Gambit by David Hagberg (fantasy novels to read txt) 📕

in a week or more. Even his hair had turned gray and had thinned. And although he’d never been a large man, now he was practically a skeleton.

Li was visibly shaken. “Maybe we’ll come back next week,” she said.

Taio wanted to agree with her, and he was about to say so when Buerger stuck out his hands at arm’s length, both of them as steady as a rock.

“You’re right, I do look like shit, but my hands still work, and so does my brain. So if you want something from me, I’ll require your respect as well as your money, you Chink bastards.”

Buerger had answered the bell and let them into the front stair hall of his three-story house, which was all dark wood and pale plaster walls, on which were hung fine paintings—many, if not all of them, Taio thought, were originals. And although the doctor looked like a wreck, the house was immaculate, especially the parlor on the second floor and even more so his work space on the third, looking down on a mews in the rear.

His laboratory, as he called it, using the British pronunciation, was a miniature but very well-equipped scientific station with a binocular microscope and other equipment, including a compact electron microscope in one corner. In another was a first-rate photo studio and worktable with the tools to produce perfect IDs, including driving licenses, social security cards, and passports for any country in the world. In another was a dentist’s chair in which minor plastic surgeries could be performed, along with hair implants, various colors of contact lenses, and makeup that was so waterproof it could last for weeks even though the operator took showers daily.

The entire operation was state of the art, to match the man’s expertise, which was rumored had been perfected in the Bundesnachrichtendienst—the BND—which was the German secret intelligence service, among the very best in the world.

“You have housekeepers,” Li said.

“Of course I do.”

“Will we be disturbed anytime soon?” Taio asked.

“Not for six days, and I could hold them off longer than that, depending on what you want me to do. In any event, they never come to this floor.”

Li looked at her husband and shrugged. It was his call.

Taio took out his Frank Kane passport, Li gave him hers, and he handed both of them to the doctor, who took them over to his credentials workstation, flipped on a strong magnifying light, and examined them for just a few moments each.

“Nice work,” he said, looking up.

“It’s yours,” Taio said.

“I know. But you’ve never used them, or the other set I made for you until now?”

“Once just after you altered our appearances.”

“Then wouldn’t you consider it dangerous to use the same identities again?”

“These identifications are on no database anywhere. We made sure of it before deciding to use them again.”

The differences in their present appearances now and what they looked like in both sets of passports were small. Taio’s head was bald then, he had a mustache and wore blue contacts, over which he wore glasses with thick dark frames. Li had long blond hair and green contacts. But the biggest change was the pigment of their skin. Taio was pale, while Li was tanned. And the changes had been made to their entire bodies, so if for some reason they were ever subjected to a strip search, the coloring would look perfectly natural.

The last time they’d gone through the changes, Buerger had lingered over the nipples of Li’s small breasts and the area on either side of her pudenda. Taio hadn’t liked it at all, and she had seen that he was on the verge of breaking the man’s neck then and there. But she had signaled to him that it was okay, she would bear it.

They had discussed it on the way over, and Taio had promised that this time the doctor would die.

“Good, because if you don’t kill the bastard when he’s done with us, I’ll do it myself. With a great deal of pleasure.”

“Did you think to bring the glasses and contacts with you?” Buerger asked.

“We destroyed them when we finished our operation,” Taio said.

“That’s okay; I have replacements,” the doctor said, glancing at the passports. “But you didn’t get rid of these. Why not?”

“It would have been a shame to destroy such works of art.”

“Bullshit, but of course I agree with you,” Buerger said, and he looked up. “One million euros. Each.”

“No,” Taio said, and he held out his hand.

“Pay him,” Li prompted.

“It’s too much. We’ll go elsewhere.”

“No one is better.”

“True, but where we’re going, the officials don’t look too closely.”

“Verdammt, I’m not asking for the moon. And you came to me, which means you know the best and can afford the best.”

“Two hundred thousand euros—one hundred for each of us.”

Buerger didn’t hesitate. “Let me see the money.”

Taio pulled a wad of euros out of the bag and handed it to the doctor. “Here’s five thousand.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Neither of us can trust the other. But I want the work done and believe you’ll do another good job. And you need the money, and it’s here in this bag, along with some other currencies.”

“Let me see.”

Taio pulled out a stack of American one hundreds. “Here’s five thousand U.S.”

“I’d take American dollars.”

Taio put the money back in the bag and zipped it up. “When you’re done.”

Buerger pocketed the euros. “Who’s first?”

“Li,” Taio said.

The doctor practically licked his lips. He nodded toward the dentist’s chair. “Disrobe, my dear, just like before, while I get my things.”

“This time, you’ll be professional about it,” she said. “I’m not a piece of meat.”

“Naturlich.”

Buerger kept his word. Starting with Li’s back, including her neck, he sprayed on the tanning solution, which almost immediately colored her skin. Working down, he did her buttocks, without lingering, her dancer’s legs, and even the soles of her feet and the backs of her toes.

It took less than ten minutes for the solution to sink into her skin and completely