Again their eyes met, and their laughter was louder… warmer. «You’re a wicked Indian lady and I should take back your coffee.»
«The hell you will. Frankly, I think this is just about the best coffee I’ve ever had.»
«That’s right, compound your statement. Roman Z made it. Of course, he combed the dunes and undoubtedly picked up slimy urchins from the ocean to mix in with the grounds, but if you start howling, I’ll find a razor and shave off your beard.»
«Oh, Sam,» coughed Jenny, replacing her mug on the table. «You can be amusing, even if you’re one of the most aggravating men I’ve ever known.»
«Aggravating? Me? Heaven forbid… But does amusing mean in tepee terms we’ve got a truce?»
«Why not? I was thinking last night before falling asleep, we have a couple of rugged mountains to climb, and we’re not going to get over them sniping at each other. From here on the fire will be leveled at us, legally and probably otherwise, the otherwise doing nothing for my blood pressure.»
«Then why don’t you let me ‘run point,’ as the Hawk would say? I won’t cross you at the hearing.»
«I know you won’t, but what makes you think you’re more capable of handling the ‘otherwise’ than me? And if you say because you’re a man, we’re back to the sniping.»
«Well, sniping aside, I suppose that’s a natural part of it, but it’s minor. The larger part is that I know Mac Hawkins, know the way he reacts in tight situations. I can even anticipate him, and let me tell you, there’s no one on earth I’d rather have on my side when the wickets get sticky than Mac.»
«What you’re saying is you work well in tandem, as a team.»
«I’m the lesser horse, but we have in the past. I’ve called him a devious son of a bitch more times than a computer could calculate, but when things get nasty, really nasty, I thank the moon and the stars for his God-given deviousness. I can even sense when he’s going to pull something out of that incredible military knapsack of his. I sense it and go with the flow.»
«Then you’ll have to teach me to do the same, Sam.»
Devereaux paused, his gaze on the mug of coffee; he looked up at her. «Do you mind my saying that could be foolhardy—even an impediment?»
«You mean I’d get in the way of the good ole boys?»
«To be hard-nosed, you might.»
«Then we’ll just have to risk my incompetence.»
«Sniper fire again?»
«Oh, come on, Sam, I know what you’re doing, and I appreciate it, even your latent heroics. Truthfully, it’s tempting, because I’m not a fool, I don’t see myself as a female commando, but these are my people. I can’t just fade; they have to know I’m there—was there. For them to listen to me, they have to respect me, and like it or not they won’t if I hide while someone else does the legal work, the tribe’s legal work.»
«I see your point. I don’t like it, but I see it.» There was the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by footsteps in the living room. Moments later Aaron Pinkus emerged from the house, his frail body encased in white walking shorts and a blue short-sleeved shirt, his head covered by a yellow golfing cap. He blinked at the bright sunlight and walked to the table. «Morning, Benevolent Employer,» said Devereaux.
«Good morning, Sam, Jennifer,» replied Aaron, sitting down as Redwing poured him coffee. «Thank you, my dear… I thought I heard voices out here, but as they were neither loud nor brimming with invective, I had no idea it was you two.»
«We negotiated a truce,» said Devereaux. «I lost.»
«So far, things are looking up,» offered the venerated attorney, nodding and sipping from his mug. «My, this is excellent coffee!»
«Brewed with jellyfish and filthy seaweed.»
«What?»
«Pay no attention, Mr. Pinkus. Roman Z made it and Sam’s jealous.»
«Why, because of Roman and my mother? Hey, I’m not that sort.»
«Roman Z and Eleanor?» Aaron’s eyes widened beneath the visor of the yellow golfing cap. «Perhaps I should go back inside and come out again. Things are a bit disjointed.»
«Never mind, it’s silly small talk.»
«I don’t know about small talk, my dear, but it’s silly in the extreme… It comes close to being as silly as the mental gymnastics our friend General Hawkins is going through. I just got off the phone with him.»
«What’s happening?» asked Devereaux quickly. «How are things at the lodge?»
«Apparently the ski lodge, or at least the problem contained therein, is moving its ‘bivouac’ to three suites at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.»
«Huh?»
«I was no more specific than you, Sam.»
«It means he’s eliminated the problem,» said Jennifer brightly.
«And assumed several new ones, I gather,» added Pinkus, looking at Devereaux. «He asked that you set up a line of credit at the Waldorf to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars and not to worry. Since it’s his dilemma, he’ll transfer funds from Bern to Geneva—which I care to know nothing about… Can you do that, can he? Never mind, nothing!»
«Actually, it’s a simple computer transfer, a bank draft to be drawn against by the assigned creditor—»
«I know how it’s done, that wasn’t the question!… Never mind, nothing!»
«That’s one problem,» said Redwing. «What are the others?»
«I’m not entirely sure. He asked me if I knew any motion picture producers.»
«What for?»
«I have no idea. When I told him I once knew a young man at temple—actually, he was thrown out of the temple—who I later learned produced several triple X-rated films, but outside of that fellow, no one else in the industry, he said not to worry, he’d go in another direction.»
«This is one of those times when I sense a devious strategy in the making.»
«Devereaux’s premonition?» asked Jenny.
«Devereaux’s prophecy,» rejoined Sam. «What else, Aaron?»
«Even odder. He wanted to know if we had any clients who had eye trouble, specifically straying left eyes, and preferably someone in need of an immediate infusion of money.»
«Odd?» questioned Redwing. «It sounds crazy!»
«Never underestimate the devious, as the gospel according to Oliver North says with dripping sincerity.» Devereaux paused. «I can’t think of any such client, but if I could, I’d march him right into a Chapter Eleven for whatever Mac’s got in his knapsack… Other than that bit of useless trivia, what’s our next move, Boss? Did you and the Hawk discuss it?»
«Briefly. We’ve got two and a half days to go before the hearing, at which time you, Jennifer, and the general must get out of a vehicle, or vehicles, and mount the steps to the Supreme Court building, be admitted beyond the lobby by the scheduling clerks, pass security, and be taken to the chambers of the Chief Justice.»
«Oh, oh, I hear Mac talking,» interrupted Sam.
«Quite right,» agreed Pinkus. «I believe those were his words, or an approximation thereof, minus a vulgarity or two—or three. He told me he had to approach the situation as if he were mounting a three-man insurgency strike behind enemy lines.»
«That’s very comforting,» said Redwing, swallowing. «What does he expect, a counterinsurgency interdiction where we get our heads blown off?»
«No, he ruled out overt violence—for it could be counterproductive, since they might be caught.»
«Thank heaven for small favors,» added Jenny.
«But he did not rule out interdiction, you had that part right, even the word. He thinks the counterstrategy will be to ‘interdict’ either himself or Sam or both from reaching the Chief Justice’s chambers, for without them the hearing’s a legal wash. Plaintiff and the attorney-of-record must appear together.»