'This is certainly drastic enough to use him.' 'Sir, there's no point in keeping this
conversation going, even over a line as secure as this. Good-bye.'
TWO
His name was Remo, and he felt mildly sorry for the man who had erected the poorly
hidden detection devices outside this elegant Tucson estate. It was such a good try,
such a sincere effort to construct a deadly trap, yet it had one obvious flaw. And
because the builder did not appreciate this flaw, he would die that day, hopefully
before 12.05 P.M.-because Remo had to get back to Tucson early for important business.
The electric beams, functioning very similarly to radar, were rather well concealed and
appeared to cover thev required gGo-degree ring which is supposed to be perfect for a
single plane. The land was cleaned of just the kind of clump shrubbery that afforded
concealment to attackers. The X layout of the ranchhouse, seemingly an architectural
eccentricity, was actually a very good design for cross fire. The estate, though small
and pretty, was a disguised fortress that could most certainly stop a mob executioner or
could, if it came to it, delay a deputy sheriff- or two or ten.
If it ever came to it-because there was no chance that a. sheriff or a state trooper
would ever besiege this estate outside of Tucson. The man called Remo was now very
simply penetrating the one flaw in the entire defense: The builder had not prepared for
the eventuality of one man walking up to the front door by himself in broad daylight,
ringing the doorbell, then executing the builder along with anyone else who got in the
way. The estate was designed to prevent a concealed attack. Remo would
not even *e stopped as he walked past the beams in the open Arizona sun, whistling
softly to himself. After all, what danger could one man be?
If Mr. James Thurgood had not been so successful in his business, he would probably live
to see i.oo P.M. Of course, if he were not so successful, he would be seeing i .00 P.M.
every day from the inside of a federal prison.
James Thurgood was president of the Tucson Rotary, the Tucson Civic League, a member of
the President's Panel on Physical Fitness and executive vice-president of the Tucson
Civil Rights Commission. Thurgood was also one of the leading investment bankers in the
state. His profits were too big. After several layers of insulation, his money fueled
the heroin traffic at a rate of $300 million a year. It returned a greater yield than
land development or petrochemicals, and for James Thurgood-runtil this bright, hot day-
had been just about as safe.
Between Thurgood and the neighborhood fix was the First Dallas Savings arid Development
Corporation, which lent large sums to the Denver Consolidated Affiliates, which made
personal loans to people who needed them very quickly and in large amounts, one of them
being recently Rocco Scallaf azo.
Scallafazo offered no collateral, and as for his credit rating, it wasn't good enough to
be bad. It was non-existent, since no one had ever given him a loan before. Denver
Consolidated transcended the narrow regulations of banking and dared risk capital where
other institutions would not. It gave Scallafazo $850,000 on his personal signature.
Denver Consolidated never got back the money. Scallafazo was picked up later with a
suitcase full of Denver Consolidated's funds as he attempted to purchase raw heroin in
Mexico. Undaunted, Denver Consolidated made another unsecured loan of an equal amount to
Jeremy Wills, who was arrested without the money but with a trunkful of heroin. The
Scallafazos and Willses were always being picked up, but no one could tie the
evidence legally to the First Dallas Savings and Development Corporation, James
Thurgood, President. There was no way to get Tucson's leading citizen into court.