Read Online The Good Doctor's Tales Folio Four by Randall Farmer - Free Book Online Page A

into an elevator,
you must get on the elevator with them…’  Yawn.
    She led him into the deserted teachers’ lounge and sat
him down at an ancient cigarette-burned wood table, leaving petite dust
footprints behind as she walked.  She plunked herself down opposite him.  “I
need this information.  The Focuses need to know.”
    Focus Fingleman understood the dictum about knowledge being
power.  As he didn’t trust her, he couldn’t trust her Transform, either.  “I
assure you, I will do nothing to betray their trust.”  He wanted to help. 
Always did.  The Transform politics and paranoia he could do without.
    He couldn’t imagine a more interesting area of
research.  Transform research had already helped his career.  He wanted more. 
Lots more.
    Woo grew exasperated, noticed Hank notice her
exasperation, and let her face go stone cold.  “Are you an active agent?”  At
least she was competent ex-CIA.  Well, at least ‘ex’ as far as field operations
was concerned.  He wouldn’t put it past the CIA to keep her on the payroll,
even though domestic surveillance was supposed to be an FBI responsibility.  On
the other hand, she was here on Gauthier’s say-so.  She might be on FBI
retainer now.
    “Nothing like that,” he said.  “I really am a doctor,
researcher and Professor.  You can check with Harvard Medical, if you want.”
    “I already have.”  Dahlia’s eyes bored into his.  “Funny
thing, their records on you have some unsurprising gaps.”
    He shrugged.  “I’ve been a doctor my entire career.”
    “A statement that means nothing.  The Agency employs
many doctors, some of whom are field agents.”  Dahlia’s glare intensified, and
her right hand lowered into her ever-present purse.  Dammit!  “Who do you work
for?”
    Hank decided he didn’t have any choice but to come
clean.  “I served in the Army in the Korean War.  Because of my family
background” his mother’s family, several of whom still held high State
Department and Defense Department positions “I was considered trustworthy
enough to do my medical work with a group called the Liaison Detachment.”
    Dahlia nodded and took her hand out of her purse,
thankfully without the concealed firearm.  “Army intelligence, then.”  He
nodded back.  “You patched up spooks, talked to them, and picked up some of
what we’re teaching by osmosis, I take it.”
    “I never did any field work, but” he shrugged “my skills
as a surgeon attracted some interesting attention, and I occasionally did get
drafted into helping with document forgery.”  Being willing to lend a hand, off
the books, got him into the better, higher stakes, poker games, as well as
putting him in a position to listen to some of the most amazing stories.
    The Far East Command Liaison Detachment didn’t last past
the end of the fighting in the Korean War, and Hank had never before been
exposed to the CIA’s newer Cold War tricks.  However, even the new aspects of
what Woo and Gauthier taught felt familiar to Hank.  So far, they had covered
brush passes, live letter drops, dead drops, car tosses, simple cryptography,
cut-outs, simple interrogation techniques, surveillance methods, both vehicle
and on foot, and how to ditch tails.  This afternoon, they had covered the basics
of how to create a fake driver’s license.  Several more days of the same would
follow, and each day would include more and better real world practice.
    All so they could support this new organization Gauthier
and the Focuses were cooking up, this so-called Focus Network, without
attracting the attention of the authorities.  Although the Feds wouldn’t go after
them if they kept their heads down, the various State authorities stayed hot on
the trail of the Transforms.  The Transforms needed to stay underground, and
Gauthier’s Network would serve as their non-Transform support lifeline and safe
communication method.
    Dahlia studied him, face blank.  “I can