«Everything I’ve told you is true!»
«I’m sure it is for you, and I wish you well. Also, if you like, I’ll call you a cab. You’ve got sufficient money in your wallet to get you to Rhode Island and another FBI office out of state.»
«You’re derelict in your duty, Agent Mikulski.»
«My wife says the same thing where the bills are concerned. What can I say? I’m a failure.»
«You are a sniveling bureaucrat afraid to stand up to those who would trash our country’s laws and constitutional rights!»
«Hey, you’ve got Desi Arnaz, this guy Goldfarb, and two squirrelly generals on your side. What do you need me for?»
«You’re a disgrace.»
«I’ll buy that… Now, unless you’re going to mop up my floor and wipe down my desk, please get the hell out of here, huh? I’ve got work to do. The first-grade class at the Cape Ann grammar school is marching on City Hall, demanding equal voting rights.»
«Funny, funny!»
«I thought it was pretty cute.»
«It wasn’t, and I don’t need your help for transportation. My driver happens to be the champion wrestler of New England!»
«If you’re selling tickets, I’ll buy one if you’ll only please just leave,» said the FBI agent, gathering up Devereaux’s belongings and handing them to him.
«I won’t forget this, Mikulski,» Sam rejoined, rising with all the dripping dignity he could summon to his one-shoed feet. «As an officer of the court, I intend to file charges at the Justice Department. Your dereliction of duty cannot be tolerated.»
«You do that, pal, only get the name right, okay? I mean, we wouldn’t want a screw-up like you did with those two generals, would we? There are a lot of Mikulskis around here.»
«You think I’m crazy, don’t you?»
«That’s for the doctors to say, not me, but frankly I’m leaning in that direction.»
«You’ll see!» said Sam the Avenger, turning and hobbling to the door, twice skidding on the wet floor. «You’ll hear from me!» he added, going into the outer office and slamming the door behind him.
Unfortunately, Special Agent Mikulski did hear about Sam, precisely three minutes and twenty-one seconds after his departure. As the FBI man swallowed his fourth gulp of Maalox, the priority line on his telephone console rang; he pressed the button and picked up the phone. «Mikulski, FBI.»
«Hey, Teddy, it’s Gerard over at the base,» said the commander of the 10th District Massachusetts Coast Guard station.
«What can I do for you, sailor?»
«I called on a hunch that you could fill me in on the Frazier-Devereaux alert.»
«What …?» asked the special agent, barely audible. «Devereaux, you said?»
«Yeah, we got that cork-popping loon Frazier but no Devereaux, and Frazier didn’t tell us a thing. He just sat there with an ass-eating grin and made his phone call.»
«‘Didn’t?’ ‘Sat?’ … Past tense?»
«It’s nuts, Teddy. We had to let him go and that’s what we can’t understand. What was that stupid alert about anyway? We damn near burned out an engine, stranded three men in a dinghy, and crashed five marina buoys which we have to pay for, all for nothing! Devereaux disappeared, and we don’t even know what he was wanted for. I figured you federals could fill us in.»
«We never even got the alert,» said Mikulski forlornly. «Tell me what happened, Gere.» Commander Gerard did so and the special agent blanched, reaching for his Maalox. «That son-of-a-bitch Devereaux just left here a few minutes ago. He’s a walking banana barge! What the hell have I done?»
«If you didn’t get the alert, you didn’t do anything, Teddy. We teletyped out our report and that’s all we could do… Hold it, I just got handed a note. A shaver named Cafferty from the Boston P.D. is on the phone. Do you know him?»
«Never heard of him.»
«Wait a minute. P.D.-Boston is where that goddamn alert originated! I’m going to give that bastard a salvo he’ll never forget! Talk to you later, Teddy.»
«Eight months, four days, and five and a half hours,» mumbled Mikulski, opening his top drawer and looking at his marked-off retirement calendar.
29
The champion wrestler of New England drove his Jeep into the Birnbaum driveway in Swampscott. «Here we are, Mr. Devereaux. I’ve seen this place from the water but never from inland. Some joint, huh?»
«I’d ask you in, Boomer, but the conversation’s going to be pretty heavy and very confidential.»
«I’ll bet it is! You land up on our beach, then the FBI, then here—wow. But don’t mistake me, sir, I wasn’t hinting, honest. I’ll split fast, and if anybody without legal authority asks me, I never saw you.»
«Well put—legally. However, I insist on paying you.»
«No way, Mr. Devereaux, it’s been an honor. But if you don’t mind, I took the liberty of writing out my name in case—in a couple of years from now maybe—you might at least consider me for a clerking position. No special privileges, I wouldn’t want that.»
«No, I don’t think you would, Boomer,» said Sam, taking the piece of paper and looking into the clear, earnest eyes of the pre-law student. «But if I want to grant them, there’s nothing you can do about it.»
«Sorry, sir, I have to be good enough. You learn that in weight-class wrestling.»
«Let’s put it this way. With that statement you won’t have to look for us, we’ll find you… Thanks, Boomer.»
«Good luck, sir!» Devereaux climbed out of the Jeep; it spun around the drive and disappeared through the gates. Sam looked at the imposing brick entrance to the Birnbaum beach house, took a deep breath, and hobbled up the flagstone path to the door. Things would be so much simpler if he had both shoes, he considered as he rang the bell.
«I’ll be damned!» roared the huge black mercenary-chemist, Cyrus, as he pulled back the door. «I don’t know whether to hug you or to slug you, but get the hell in here, Sam!»
Devereaux trudged sheepishly into the foyer, his blotted clothes, matted hair, and shoeless foot apparent for all to see. The «all» consisted of Cyrus, Aaron Pinkus … and the love of his eternal existence, Jennifer Redwing, who stood in the far corner of the room staring at him. What was in her alert—angry?—eyes, he could not tell.
«Sammy, we’ve heard everything!» shouted Aaron, who rarely if ever shouted, as he rose from the couch and spryly ran around it to greet his employee by gripping Devereaux’s both arms and placing his elderly head against Sam’s left cheek. «Thank Abraham, you’re alive!»
«It wasn’t that hard,» said Devereaux. «Frazie may be a maniac, but he sure knows how to drive a boat, and then there was this kid who’s the champion wrestler of New England—»
«We know what you’ve been through, Sammy,» exclaimed Pinkus. «Such courage, such chutzpah. All because you acted on principle!»
«It was dumb, Devereaux,» said Cyrus, «but you got guts, man, I’ll give you that.»
«Where’s Mother?» asked the avenger, avoiding Jenny’s eyes.
«She and Erin went back to Weston,» answered Aaron. «Apparently Cousin Cora fell into some teapots.»
«And Desis One and Two are on beach patrol with Roman Z,» added Cyrus.
«They let in Boomer’s Jeep—the car I was in,» said Sam, disapproval in his statement.