Ian raised his glass. “Brothers in arms,” he said.
Stone drank to that.
Ian yawned. “I think I’d better go fight the jet lag,” he said, setting his glass down.
“Of course,” Stone said, rising and shaking his hand. “Sleep well.” He had seen Caroline slip into the elevator.
Dino called the following morning to thank Stone for dinner. “The port was fantastic.”
“Way too good for you,” Stone replied.
“I hesitate to bring this up,” Dino said, “but I believe Caroline and the Brit were hatching something.”
“They were indeed,” Stone said. “I heard her slip out at six AM.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“I discovered I’m not very good at sprinting over distance, and Caroline is indefatigable.”
“So you planned that?”
“Let’s just say I thought seating them together was a good idea. And speaking of ideas, I’ve had a thought about resolving the Gino Parisi thing.”
“You’re going to kill him?”
“Certainly not. Tell me this: Does your department have somebody undercover who might deliver a little message to Frank and Charlie?”
“Maybe. What kind of message?”
“I’d like for them to hear that Gino wants to get rid of them.”
“You want them to hear that Gino is firing them?”
“No, I want them to hear that Gino thinks they’re too expensive, that it’s cheaper for him to hire someone else to, ah, fire them.”
“That’s a dirty, rotten thing to do to anybody,” Dino said. “I love it.”
“I thought you might.”
“Let me see what I can do. This would have to happen very subtly.”
“I thought your fine Italian hand could manage that.”
“I’ll get back to you.” Dino hung up.
Joan came into the office. “The two goons are back—the real goons, not the ersatz ones.”
“Tell you what,” Stone said, “ask Fred to take them some coffee and Danish. Maybe they haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“Now, why would you want to do that?”
“I want them to think well of me.”
She looked at him narrowly. “Why?”
“Because if they think well of me they might be a little less interested in causing me harm.”
“You think you can buy off a pair of pro goons with coffee and Danish?”
“It can’t hurt to try. And do it every morning. I want them to get used to it.”
There was a rap on the back door to Stone’s office.
“Come in!”
Ian Rattle let himself in from the kitchen. “Good morning.”
“Come in and have a seat, Ian. This is my secretary, Joan Robertson. Joan, our houseguest, Major Ian Rattle.”
Joan shook his hand.
“I think you have a delivery to arrange,” Stone said to her.
Joan left, shaking her head.
“I wanted to thank you again for last evening,” Ian said.
“Did you enjoy your second dessert?”
Ian seemed surprised. “Did you arrange that?”
“No, Caroline arranged it. All I did was give her the opportunity.”
“The generosity of Americans never ceases to amaze me!”
“Really, it was less an act of generosity than self-preservation. Are you comfortable in your suite?”
“It’s bloody marvelous,” Ian replied. “Better than my London flat.”
“Peter did a nice job on it, I thought. He’s left a DVD collection of old films. You’re welcome to sample them.”
“I love good movies. He’s a film buff, is he?”
“He’s a film director, and a very good one. My library is available, too, if you want to read. I don’t want you to start getting cabin fever.”
“Frankly, I could use the rest, if I can have an occasional visit from Caroline.”
“If that’s what you think of as rest, go right ahead. Does she understand that you’re not really here?”
“We discussed that.”
“Invite anyone you like, as long as you trust them.”
“My orders are to have no one in, unless they’ve been approved by my service.”
“I see. We can call Caroline my guest, then.”
“Thank you. Holly said that the Agency had taken special security precautions here. What sort of precautions?”
“They removed the brick veneer from the front and rear of the house, put up half-inch steel plating, then replaced the brick. They also replaced all the windows in the house with armored glass in steel frames. You won’t have that problem with the windowpanes that you did in your so-called safe house.”
“That’s a relief. I’ve been instinctively staying away from windows ever since.”
“I’ll see you at lunchtime in the kitchen,” Stone said, and Ian went upstairs.
Arnie Jacobs tended bar at a joint downtown, and he had a very nice sideline in snitching for the NYPD. Bartenders were invisible to a lot of people, who would talk freely while he was standing there, polishing glasses. Now he had new instructions from a detective in the Organized Crime Division, and he was polishing glasses and thinking about how he was going to reverse the process when Frank Russo came in with his buddy Charlie Carney. He poured them both their usual without being asked.
“Hey, Arnie,” Frank said.
“Hey, Frank.” Arnie leaned in. “I picked up a little something yesterday, might interest you.”
“I’m all ears, Arnie.”
“Coupla guys I didn’t know came in yesterday, ordered beers and started gabbin’. Lotsa people think bartenders don’t got ears, y’know?”
“Okay.”
“I hear your name mentioned.”
“How mentioned?”
Arnie looked carefully around. “Not so good.”
“Then I better hear it.”
“They’re talking about some guy named Gino. I didn’t get his other name.”
“Yeah? I know a Gino or two.”
“This one owes you money.”
“Oh, that Gino.”
“I guess. Problem is, he doesn’t wanta pay.”
“I tell ya, Arnie, nobody wants to pay.”
“This one thinks it’s maybe cheaper to take you out. Charlie, too.”
Frank froze. “Tell me exactly how he said it.”
“One guy says, ‘Gino wants to hire us to take out Frank and Charlie, says it’s cheaper than payin’ him.’”
“Exactly like that?”
“Exactly.”
“No doubt in your mind?”
“Not a one.”
Frank tossed off his drink and put a hundred on the bar. “Thanks, Arnie.”
Arnie made the hundred disappear. “Always a pleasure, Frank.”
“C’mon, Charlie,” Frank said, standing up. “We got a collection call to make. You drive.”
—
In the car Frank produced a nicely made silencer and screwed it into the barrel of his little 9mm, then tucked it into his belt.
“You gonna off ’im?” Charlie asked.
“Depends,” Frank said, getting out his cell phone. “Gino? Frank. I gotta see you right now. Yeah, I know it’s quitting time, but it’s important. I’ll be there in ten.” He hung up.
They parked in the garage next door to Gino’s office building. “C’mon,” Frank said. Charlie followed him next door and inside. On Gino’s floor, Frank said, “Stay by the door, don’t let nobody in.”