by Stuart Woods
“You got me,” Sandy said. “Never seen anything like it.” In fact, he had seen something exactly like it. Marty was copying things that the Technical Services Department at the Agency had been making for years.
“Well,” Marty said, sounding very pleased with himself, “here’s what you do with your client’s house. You go to the main breaker box and replace one of the breakers with mine. Then you go into each room of the house you want to bug, unscrew a power receptacle and crimp the other little thing so that the spikes penetrate both the positive and negative wires. Then you go outside and find an outdoor power receptacle and plug this into it.” He handed Sandy a small, black box with a short antenna attached. “What you’ve done is turned the whole house’s wiring grid into a receiver system that’s picked up and retransmitted by the box with the antenna. I’ll sell you a receiver with a dedicated, off-the-books frequency, and you’ll be able to hear and, if you want to, record everything that’s said in the house. You can even make it voice activated.”
“Wow,” Sandy said, pretending to be impressed. “How much?”
“The circuit breaker is eight grand, the crimpers are two hundred each and the retransmitter is two grand. Your receiver is a grand.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m the one paying for it,” Sandy said. “The client will pick up the tab.”
“How many crimpers you want?”
Sandy counted on his fingers. “Eighteen.”
Marty turned to a calculator on his desk and began tapping in numbers. “That comes to fourteen thousand six hundred bucks,” he said. “Call it fourteen thousand even, and with cash, no tax.”
“Done,” Sandy said. “I’ll need to make a run to get the cash; that’s more than I walk around with.”
“Sure; I’ll have everything packed up and ready for you in half an hour; you can pick it up anytime today.”
Sandy stood up to go. “You must have a great workshop here,” he said.
“I do. You want a gander?”
“God, yes, please!”
Marty walked him through another door and into a large, beautifully equipped workshop where four men were hunched over worktables, wiring and soldering. “There you go. I can build you just about anything you want in here.”
“This is really something,” Sandy said. “I mean, I’m working out of my basement, you know?”
“Listen, I used to work out of my basement,” Marty said.
“You’ve got a lot of building here,” Sandy said. “What do you do with the rest of it?”
Marty walked him through another door into a storeroom filled with components and wiring, then into a large garage. Sandy counted four unmarked vans and half a dozen cars. “I keep larger equipment and my vans in here, and my employees park here, too. That’s about as big a draw as health insurance. You got any idea what it costs to park in this city these days?”
“Tell me about it,” Sandy said. He turned and saw a staircase going up to a windowed office in the high-ceilinged garage. “More work space?” He noted that blinds were pulled down over the windows.
“Nah, just storage,” Marty said, steering him back toward the retail shop.
“I’ll be back in a little later with your fourteen grand,” Sandy said.
“You do that,” Marty said, turning back toward his office. “Bye-bye. Nice doing business with you.”
Sandy picked up his wire in the shop, then walked back to his car. He got out his cell phone and called Lance.
“Yes?”
“It’s Sandy. Martin Block gave me the ten-cent tour. He’s got four vans that the lady could be moved in, and there’s a room I didn’t get to see, up a flight of stairs in the garage. If Block has her, that’s where she’ll be. By the way, there are two cops in a Crown Vic sitting near the building, drinking coffee and eating doughnuts.”
“Good work, Sandy.”
“Oh, one more thing, Lance.”
“What?”
“I’m going to need fourteen thousand dollars.”
“What?”
47
STONE’S CELL PHONE RANG, and he picked it up. “Yes?”
“It’s Lance. My man is back; he’s cased the building, and there’s one room where Arrington is probably being held. Part of the building is a garage, and the room is up a flight of stairs. It’s the only logical place they would keep her.”
“Then let’s get in there.”
“No, I don’t think so. Billy Bob is supposed to call you midafternoon, right?”
“Right.”
“Billy Bob will give you some complicated routing to meet him at some place or other. They’ll track your movement, then, at some stage, either exchange you for Arrington or keep you both.”
“That had occurred to me.”
“They’ll move her in one of Block’s vans—he’s got four. We’ll raid the place as they’re leaving—they won’t be ready for us then.”
“And what if Arrington isn’t there?”
“Then we’ll sequester everybody on the premises, so they can’t call Billy Bob, and you’ll have to go through with the meet. If Arrington isn’t at Block’s business now, it seems likely that they’ll take you or both of you back there, and we’ll be ready for them.”
“And if Billy Bob doesn’t have Arrington there now, and if he doesn’t take her back there, what?”
“We’ll be on your tail. We’ll plant a transmitter on you, and we’ll have a chopper on the job. When he gets wherever he’s going, we’ll be right on top of him.”
“It sounds good, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Suppose he just shoots us both and dumps our bodies.”
“Well,” Lance drawled, “there is that. We can’t cover every contingency, can we? The upside is, we’ll at least take Billy Bob, and we’ll roll up Block’s operation.”
“I’m sure that will be very comforting to me when I’m dead. How is Peter?”
“He’s a sensible lad; he’s curious about your and his mother’s whereabouts, but Corey is handling him well, and he seems happy enough.”
“Bring him back to the city, will you? When we’ve got Arrington back, I want to reunite them immediately.”
Lance was silent for a moment.
“Take him to my house; I’m going there myself.”
“Is there another way in besides the front door and your office door?”
Stone explained how to get into the common garden behind the houses and to his back door.”
“All right, I’ll have him there in two hours. Where’s Dino?”
“He’s right here.”
“Tell him Sandy spotted two of his men, sitting outside Block’s in a Crown Victoria, eating doughnuts. Tell him to pull them off before Block spots them. I’ve already got a team in the neighborhood.”
“Right.” Stone hung up. “Lance’s man made your two guys outside Block’s. You see what I mean?”
“How does he know they’re mine?” Dino asked.
“They’re in a Crown Vic, eating doughnuts, how else?”
“Shit,” Dino said. He got on the phone and ordered the two men back to the precinct. “And when you get there,” he said to them, “you’d better not be wearing black shoes and white socks.”
“I’m going back to my place,” Stone said, standing up.
“You think that’s safe?”
“Billy Bob won’t expect me to be there, and anyway, he thinks he’s going to grab me later this afternoon.”
“I’ll come with you,” Dino said.
STONE AND DINO drove back to his house and parked in the garage, while Dino’s car and driver followed.
“Call your driver and tell him not to park in my block,” Stone said. “I don’t want anybody to make the car, if we’re being watched.”
“Oh, all right,” Dino said and made the call.
As they approached the house, Stone took Dino’s shoulder. “Get down in the footwell. If they’re watching, I want th
em to think I’m alone.”
Dino grumbled but followed instructions.
When they were inside the garage and the door was closed, Stone said, “All right, we’re in. You can get up.”
Stone looked at his watch. “One o’clock,” he said. He led Dino upstairs to his bedroom and began unpacking the guns and ammo he had taken with him. He handed Dino the box containing Lance’s Keltec. “Take a look at that.”
Dino opened the box. “Jesus, it looks like a toy.”
“It’s a three-eighty-caliber, and it weighs ten ounces, loaded.”
Dino handled the little gun. “Billy Bob is going to tell you to come unarmed,” he said.
“I suppose so.”
“Then go armed. Wear something on your belt. You got an ankle holster?”
“No.”
Dino pulled up his right trouser leg and undid the Velcro fastening of his own, which held a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 special. “You can take mine.”
“What’s the point?” Stone said. “He’s going to search me thoroughly.”
“You still got that Thunderwear I gave you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“For Christmas, dummy, the Thunderwear.”
“Christ, I’d forgotten about that.” Stone went into his dressing room and rooted around in the bottom drawer of his dresser. “Here it is.”
“Put it on.”
“Dino . . .”
“Just do it.”
Stone took off his trousers and boxer shorts and put on the Thunderwear. Dino screwed the silencer into the Keltec, shoved a magazine into the butt, racked the slide and handed it to Stone. “See if it will fit with the silencer.”
Stone took the gun and slipped it into the pouch in the undershorts. “Too long.”
“Take the silencer off and try again.”
Stone unscrewed the silencer and stuck the gun into the Thunderwear, then inserted the silencer next to it. “Fits nicely.”
“Put your pants back on, you’re embarrassing me,” Dino said.
Stone put his pants back on.
“You’ve got a three-eighty or two, haven’t you?”
“In the gun safe.”
“Put on a three-eighty holster and a double-magazine pouch.”
Stone did so and stuck his Walther PPKS into the holster.
“Now put the two spare Keltec magazines into the pouch. When they search you, they’ll take the Walther, but probably not the ammo.”
Stone did so.
Dino handed him the ankle holster with the S&W. “Now put this on.”
Stone wrapped the Velcro around his ankle and secured it.
“Now, when they search you, they’ll find the Walther and the snub-nose—your piece and backup piece—but guys don’t like to feel around other guys’ crotches, so they’ll probably miss the Keltec.”
“It’s worth a try,” Stone said.
“You bet your ass it is,” Dino replied.
48
AT TWO-THIRTY, Stone and Dino were having a sandwich in the kitchen, when there was a soft knock at the back door. Stone opened it to find McGonigle, Corey and Peter standing there. “Come in,” he said, scooping up Peter.
“Stone,” Peter said, “where did you go?”
“I’m sorry, Peter, I had to sneak out for a while to run an errand. Did you and Corey have a good time?”
“We played all sorts of games, but we couldn’t go outside.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to Central Park,” Stone said, setting the boy on the kitchen table.
“What’s Central Park?” Peter asked.
“It’s a great big, beautiful park, right here in the middle of New York, and you’ll love it. Have you had lunch?”
“We went to Burger King,” Peter said. “I had the double bacon cheeseburger.”
“I’ll bet your mother doesn’t let you have that.”
“No, she’s nutrition conscious. Don’t tell her.”
“Don’t worry, that’s just between you and me.”
“Oh, Dino, this is McGonigle and Corey; they’re Lance’s people.”
“I’ve heard about you, Dino,” McGonigle said.
“I haven’t,” Corey said, shaking his hand.
“Corey,” Dino said, “will you do me a small favor?”
“Maybe,” Corey said.
“Will you frisk Stone for weapons?”
“Sure,” she said. She turned to Stone and said, “Up against the wall, creep, and spread ’em.” She turned to Dino. “Isn’t that the way the NYPD does it?”
Stone assumed the position, and Corey quickly found the Walther and the S&W snub-nose. She didn’t take the magazines.
“Thanks,” Dino said. “You proved a point for me. You can give him back his guns, now.”
“You’ve got something in the crotch, haven’t you?” she asked.
Stone nodded.
“You’re too squeamish, Corey,” McGonigle said.
“You wouldn’t have found it, either, McGonigle,” Stone said.
“You’re exactly right,” Corey said. “Next time I put my hands on you, I’m going for your crotch,” she said to Stone.
“Promises, promises.”
Stone’s cell phone began to vibrate. He held up a hand for silence, grabbed a pad and pencil and answered it.
“Yes?”
“Good afternoon, Stone,” Billy Bob said. “I’m looking forward to getting together in a little while.”
“Oh, me, too,” Stone said. “It’s been too long.”
“I assume you’re at home.”
“Right.”
“When we’ve finished talking and you’ve hung up, I want you to go to your front door, where you’ll find a small package. Inside is a handheld radio. Exactly ten minutes from now I want you to turn on the radio and back out of your garage in your own car. After that, you’ll receive instructions. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Bye-bye.” Billy Bob hung up.
“Corey,” Stone said, “there’s a package on my front doorstep; will you bring it to me, please?”
“Sure.” Corey left the room.
“What are your instructions?” McGonigle asked.
Stone waited until Corey had returned, then he opened the box. “I leave in nine minutes in my car,” he said. “I get my instructions on this.”
McGonigle was on his cell phone. “Lance, we’ve had the call. Stone is to leave the house in his car in eight and a half minutes; he’ll get his instructions on a handheld radio that was left on his doorstep. I’m looking at it, and there is no tuning knob, and it doesn’t have a brand name, so it will have a single frequency, and it will probably be off any of the commercial spectra. You’re going to need a wideband scanner.” McGonigle listened for a moment, then handed the phone to Stone. “He wants to speak to you.”
Stone took the phone. “Yes, Lance?”
“Time is short; I’m scrambling the chopper now, and we’ll be on you as quickly as we can. McGonigle is going to give you another radio, and you can use that to communicate with me on the chopper. We’ll be scanning all frequencies to try to pick up your other radio, but it won’t matter much. Just repeat all your instructions into our radio.”
“Will do,” Stone said.
“There’ll be a sharpshooter on board. If you think it’s worth the risk, just hit the dirt at any time, and pull Arrington down with you, if she’s there, and he’ll start firing. Don’t get up until everybody is dead.”
“Got it.”
“Is Dino with you?”
“Yes.”
“Let me speak to him.”
Stone handed the phone to Dino.
Dino listened. “I got you,” he said, and handed the phone back.
Stone took the phone back, and he could hear a helicopter’s engine whining as it started up. “I’m ready.”
“I hope so,” Lance said. “Go and get into the car; you’ve got five minutes before you open the gara
ge door.”
“Goodbye, Lance.”
“You’re going to have to play your end by ear, Stone. Good luck.” Lance hung up.
“He told me not to get my people involved,” Dino said.
“I think it’s best that way.” Stone looked at his watch. “Four minutes.”
“I’m going to go and make sure the garage door is working right,” Dino said. “I’ll leave that way. Good luck.” He slapped Stone on the back and was gone.
Stone sat next to Peter on the kitchen table. “I have to leave again for a while,” he said. “But I’ll be back later, and if there’s still daylight, I’ll take you to Central Park.”
“Okay,” Peter said.
“Did I mention they have a zoo?”
“No, really? Do they have lions?”
“They sure do.”
“Oh, boy!”
Stone kissed the boy. “Corey will take care of you. See you later.”
“Bye-bye, Stone.”
McGonigle handed Stone a small handheld radio. “It’s on, and it’s on the correct frequency.” Then he picked up Billy Bob’s radio, removed the back, placed a chip about two inches square inside and closed it. “That will let Lance track you.” He handed it to Stone.
Stone took the radio and walked through the house to his car. Dino had left the garage door open. He got in and started the engine. A minute to go.
At the appointed minute, he put the car into reverse and backed out of the garage, closing the door behind him with the remote control. Then he almost panicked. He had forgotten to turn on Billy Bob’s radio. He switched it on, and immediately heard the voice.
“Stone? Are you there?”
Stone pressed the transmit button. “I’m here, Billy Bob.”
“Get headed east. I’ll give you more directions in a minute.”
“Right.” Stone got headed east. Stone didn’t pray much, but he prayed now.
49
STONE TURNED OFF Third Avenue onto Forty-eighth Street and headed east.
“Take a left on First Avenue,” Billy Bob said.
