“Actually, it’s an employee I want to talk to you about, not employment. A former employee, that is.” I gestured at the row of screens. “Camera number six. Recognize him?”
He looked for a few seconds, then shook his head.
“Try this. Pick up the phone, dial 555- 2978.”
“And say what?”
“Nothing. Just try it. Please.”
He did. The phone in Jack’s pocket vibrated, and he looked straight into the camera, and mouthed something.
“Jack,” Gallagher said, twisting the name into a curse.
“He said you might not be happy to see him. That’s why I’m here doing the talking instead of him. Well, that, and I’m much better at talking.”
“So I noticed. I take it then that you are a…” He let the sentence fall away, as if he couldn’t come up with a “polite” term for what I did.
“Right,” I said. “I’m working something with Jack, and we need something from you.”
He laughed, the sound a nails-on-chalkboard screech. I waited through it, then continued.
“And yes, Jack knows he’s in no position to ask for a favor, which is why he sent me with an offer. An exchange of information. Seems you hired someone a while back to make a hit, and he double-crossed you.”
Gallagher’s eyes narrowed. “No one double-crosses me.”
Gallagher locked gazes with me, but I just sat there, and waited him out.
“Double-crossed me how?” he said finally, mouth barely opening to let the words out.
“He told the mark about the hit, collected a tidy sum for the info, waited until the guy skedaddled to Europe, then came back, told you it was done and collected again.”
“And Jack expects me to pay for the name of this traitor?” A tight laugh. “My dear, all I’d need to do is run a more thorough verification of the hits I’ve called.”
“Sure, but Jack thought this might be faster. A lot faster, considering you’re a high-volume customer.” When Gallagher hesitated, I went on. “How about this? I tell you what we need and you decide if it’s worth it?”
Another hesitation, then he waved for me to continue.
“Twenty years ago you bought a hit on a man under the protection of the Nikolaev family. The man’s name was Sasha Fomin. We’d like to know who you hired for the hit.”
Gallagher waited. When I didn’t go on, his lips pursed. “And that’s it? Jack wants to know who I hired on a twenty-year-old contract?”
“If you remember…”
“Of course, I remember, my dear girl. I don’t forget anything. Including an insult. You make sure you tell Jack that.”
“Jack insulted you by refusing to take your jobs? Well, he’s lining up a whole battalion of enemies then. Between you and me, sir, I think the guy has a serious attention deficit problem. Does a job here, a job there, gets antsy and moves on. He doesn’t mean any disrespect…he just can’t seem to keep at one thing for very long. I think it’s his age. Been in the business too long. I’m already counting the hours until he tosses me aside.”
Gallagher said nothing but I could see he was digesting this. I had no idea how loyal Jack was to his regular employers, but Gallagher wouldn’t know, either-Jack didn’t go around bragging about his clientele. If Gallagher thought he wasn’t the only one Jack had abandoned, that should lessen the insult. After a minute, Gallagher relaxed into his chair.
“And that is all Jack wishes to know? The name of the man I hired?”
“That’s right.”
“I can hardly imagine what use he’d have for such information. The man is no longer even in the business. Retired a year or two ago.” He met my gaze. “And he had the civility to inform me of his retirement, and apologize for any inconvenience it might cause.”
A mini-tornado whipped up in my gut. Retired a year or two ago? That fit our profile. But if Gallagher respected this man, felt some allegiance to a loyal former employee-
“Wilkes.”
I remembered that name. It was the first one Jack had thought…and the one Evelyn had dismissed.
“Wilkes?” I repeated, to be sure.
Gallagher waved his hand. “After John Wilkes Booth, I suppose. These men are hardly creative geniuses. Still, it’s better than ‘Jack.’ Anything is better than Jack. Anyway, Jack knows him. They were…comrades of a sort, back when Jack was more…approachable.”
No question then. This was the same Wilkes-Evelyn’s former lover.
I related what Jack had told me about Gallagher’s traitor. Gallagher accepted the information without any reaction, then called the security room and told them to release Jack. Once Jack was out, Gallagher called him and passed the phone to me, so I’d know he was safe before I left.
“Mind if I use the front door this time?” I said.
“Be my guest. A last word before you go…”
“Hmmm?”
He met my gaze. “You appear to be a bright young lady and I have no doubt you are quite capable at your chosen occupation. Choosing Jack as a mentor speaks well to your intelligence. However, a continued…alliance with him would not. There are three kinds of people in this business, my dear. Those who play the game, those who cannot and those who will not. Only a fool aligns herself with the last. You’d do well to remember that.”
“I will. Thank you.”
“Should you ever be in need of employment, you know where to find me.”
Success. I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed that after the opera house. I walked out of that casino with such a spring in my step I attracted the notice of a prostitute standing outside, waiting for winners. She gave me a once-over, as if thinking maybe my gender wasn’t a complete deal breaker. I flashed her a wide smile, and she sighed before resuming her vigil.
I stepped into the side alley where I’d agreed to meet Jack. He was there, smoking one of his hated American cigarettes, his free hand drumming against the wall. When he saw me, he exhaled a long stream of smoke, then ground out the cigarette and dropped the butt into his pocket.
“You okay?” he said, squinting through the darkness.
“You’re the one I should be asking that. Lose any fingers?”
“None I needed.” His gaze slipped to my hand. “Where’s your gun?”
“I didn’t need it.”
“Nadia…”
“What?”
“You do have the gun, right?”
“Sure.”
“I mean now. On your body. Not back in the hotel room.”
“Would you have taken a gun?”
“Couldn’t. Guards found a gun on me-”
“You know what I mean. If it had been you going to see Gallagher, would you have taken a gun?”
He lifted his hand to his lips, as if forgetting he wasn’t still holding his cigarette. A scowl, then a sharp shake of his head.
“You get anything?” he asked.
“Gallagher went for the deal. He remembered the Fomin hit and he said it was done by a regular of his, someone who just recently retired. A hitman who goes by the name Wilkes.”
For a second, Jack said nothing, then he breathed a long, low, “Fuck.”
“That’s the guy you thought of first when I started rhyming off a profile of the killer. The guy that Evelyn said couldn’t be responsible.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think it could be him?”
Jack paused, gaze emptying as he thought it over. It took about a minute, then he gave a slow nod. “Yeah. Age is right. Haven’t heard much from him lately. Could have retired. He’s good. What’d Evelyn say? Technically adept. So…Gallagher still pissed?”
“At you? Yes. But I told him it was an attention deficit problem, and that helped.”
“Attention…?” A twitch of his lips. “I don’t want to know, do I?”