"Only base ingrates, my General."
"Or Serbs," Anwar Anwar-Sadat said, shuddering.
THAT NIGHT Anwar Anwar-Sadat returned to his luxury apartments well after midnight, bleary of eye but buoyant of heart. It was a fortunate turn of events, this Mexican earthquake. It was as if a door of opportunity had opened in the earth's crust.
Switching on the light, he saw a man seated in the overstuffed chair beside his sphinx-filled bookcase.
"Who are you?" he demanded of the seated figure.
The man stood up. He was a tower of black, from the knit balaclava that muffled his head down to his shiny combat boots. His black nightsuit was festooned with popcorn pockets and black leather holsters bristling with implements of violence.
"Enter the Extinguisher."
"Oh, yes, yes. Of course. Very good to meet you. But I have not time for you now. I have had a very trying day."
"Anin is dead. You can thank the Extinguisher for that."
"Yes, yes, excellent. He was a big thorn in my side."
"The Extinguisher makes a speciality of pulling out thorns. Just name one and he'll by waxed and booby-trapped inside of forty-eight hours. Guaranteed or your money back."
Anwar Anwar-Sadat hesitated. "What do you wish in return?"
"Sanctioning."
"You want me to sanction you? As I sanction Iraq or Libya?"
"No, the Extinguisher wants sanctioning. He needs an operational franchise. Free-lance isn't his style. He has skills. They're on the market, but he doesn't want to work for just anybody. He wants to work for the UN."
"Why must you work for the United Nations?"
"The Extinguisher doesn't work for despots or tyrants. He stands for justice. His holy war must continue. But the Extinguisher has to eat like an ordinary mortal, too. We're talking salary here. I was thinking in the mid-five-figure range."
"I cannot pay you a salary to liquidate for the UN. There would be a paper trail."
"We can work something out."
"Also I have no proof you slew Anin. Can you prove this?"
"There are fourteen Hydra-Shok rounds in him. You can check it out."
"I will. But it is not proof. By now the autopsy has been performed."
"The rounds have skull noses. It's the Extinguisher's trademark."
"Yes. Yes. Like the Ghost Who Walks?"
"Who?"
"The Phantom? A very famous figure of justice."
"Look, I'm not kidding here. I-I mean the Extinguisher-wants to work for the UN. With my skills and reputation, we can clean out the international drug lords, the would-be Hiders and the petty tyrants before they can get started."
Anwar-Sadat shook his head violently. "I cannot sanction any of this, interesting as it may sound."
"How about another dry run?"
"What do you mean by dry run?"
"Name a bad guy. He's gotta be evil. I'll take him out."
"For dinner?"
"No. That means extinguish him."
"I cannot instruct you to assassinate anybody, although there are many obstacles to my new world order."
"Name one."
"There is an insurgency in Mexico."
"Sure. Subcomandante Verapaz. He's welded the Maya peasants into a paramilitary force, and they're all in revolt."
"He is a thorn, for he has taken up arms against the new world order. Not that I would ask you to terminate him, you understand."
The man in the balaclava winked broadly. "Understood."
"Nor do I promise payment should he meet an unseemly end."
"The Extinguisher assures you he's as good as buzzard bait."
"Why must you refer to yourself in the third person?" asked Anwar Anwar-Sadat.
"Because the Extinguisher is greater than one man in combat black. He's a symbol, a force of nature. He is good personified against evil incarnate, the irresistible force all immovable objects fear and a wild-haired warrior for our time."
"Yes. Like Zorro."
"No, damn it! Like the Extinguisher. Stop dragging those other guys into the conversation. They're not real. I am. There is only one Extinguisher, and his true name will never be known."
"But you have told me that your name is Blaize Fury."
"Another alias for the hero with a thousand faces."
Suddenly the man in black strode to the balcony window.
"Where are you going?"