GOODBYE, MR. BOOGIE

ONE MAN WITH A RIFLE
CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.

The story built slowly in intelligence circles.

A single man had been responsible for the string of high-profile assassinations that was occurring all over the world. The common signature in each attack lent credence to the single-gunman theory. Every killing had involved a sniper shooting from an elevated position at very long distance.

Once the belief in the existence of a single shooter began to spread, so many killings were blamed on him that the Director of the CIA wondered out loud if the mysterious assassin was just a figment of somebody's imagination. "We're making this guy into the Boogieman," the DCI snapped, and the name stuck.

That was when everybody started looking for the Boogieman.

Inspector Samuel Tay has no interest in any of this, of course. He may once have been a legendary homicide detective for the Singapore police, but now he's retired. He's out of the investigation game. Out of every game, really. Tay doesn't even bother to read the news anymore. He simply has no interest in it. And he has never heard of the Boogieman.

But when Colonel David of the Royal Thai Police appeals for his help, that abruptly changes. Tay and Colonel David established an interesting working relationship when Tay went to Bangkok for Interpol to assist with a complicated and sensitive homicide investigation. Now Tay even looks on Colonel David as something like a friend, and Tay doesn't have many friends.

It seems the Mossad station chief in Bangkok has whispered to Colonel David that they have intelligence the Boogieman is in Bangkok preparing for another assassination. With a major gathering of world leaders scheduled for the city soon, one that will be attended by the President of the United States, Colonel David realizes he has a major problem on his hands.

But what is it Colonel David thinks Tay can do to help him, exactly? There's been no crime. At least not yet. There's really nothing for Tay to investigate.

"You tag him, and we'll bag him," the Mossad station chief tells Tay. "Then it's goodbye, Mr. Boogie."

Tay has no difficulty figuring out what that means.

Fingering a man to be murdered by the Mossad, even if that man actually is a murderer himself, gives Tay pause, but he decides he'll worry about that later. The first problem is to help Colonel David find the Boogieman and stop him before he pulls off another high-profile assassination.

Actually, Tay realizes, that's the second problem.

The first problem is to figure out whether the Boogieman even exists. Or if the Mossad is running some kind of game that neither he nor Colonel David understand.