The Road to Omaha (36 page)

“We gotta talk,
fazool
. Everything’s changed. By my side, you’re not the bad guys anymore, but the other bad guys are comin’ after you.”

“Be a little clearer, Joseph.”

“There ain’t
time, fazool
! The big man wants to set up a meet with you in a day or so, but he’s got to play dead for a while, so I’m your connection.”

“Play
dead
, Joseph …?”

“On my Aunt Angelina’s grave. It’s D.C. turf warfare and the big man temporarily lost.… He told me to tell you that the
gumbar
whose back you spiked but whose neck you didn’t sufficiently break in the hotel lobby has spewed his guts out in some chemical factory in Virginia. By now they know you and your crowd are here in Boston and the silk underwear boys are unleashing—here, I wrote this down—the SFIs to go after you.”

“The
SFIs
? Hannibal in elephant shit! He said
SFIs
?”

“I couldn’t make a mistake ’cause he repeated it maybe three times and I didn’t know what it meant.”

“The animals of the world, Little Joseph. I taught ’em, so I should know. Special Forces—
Incorrigibles
. They’re still in stockades, still trying to kill everyone but the cooks and the nurses.”

“Now it’s you and your little group,
fazool
. It took me exactly thirty-one minutes to find you—how long will it take the fuckin’ commandos once they’ve arrived in Boston, which they may have already? Get out of there and call me here at the room-service palazzo when you’re out of the freak-heads’ fire.… And don’t use that fuckin’ limo! It’s a fuckin’ landmark!” Joey the Shroud hung up and the Hawk turned to his troops.

“
Evacuate
!” he roared. “Explanations will come later; there’s no time for them now.
Adjutants
, hotwire two vehicles in the hotel’s parking lot and meet us at the southeast corner.
¡Vamos
!” Mac looked harshly at Aaron Pinkus as Desis One and Two ran out the door, then forced his eyes on Sam Devereaux and finally Jennifer Redwing. “You ask me why I fight the mendacities of those in power, why I take up the sword against the corruptors and the manipulators, whether a century ago or now. Let me make it clear,
goddamn it
! An unseen, unelected government
behind
our government has let loose a pack of psychopaths with only one mission, the success of which will set them free to roam the streets.… That mission is to kill us,
all
of us.
Why
? Because we raised the specter of a crime against an innocent,
manipulated
people over a hundred years ago that will cost the manipulators
billions
to rectify!”

“
Goddamn
your essential truth!” said Devereaux, throwing his martini into the sink. “Let’s get out of here!”

“The
police
, General! I’m a respected man here in Boston. Surely they will protect us.”

“Commander Pinkus, in this out-of-sanction combat, civilian authorities are useless. How the hell do you think I blew up depots from Normandy to Kai Song?”

“I simply can’t believe it,” said Redwing, trying to remain calm. “I
won’t
believe it!”

“
You
won’t believe it, little Injun filly? Perhaps I should remind you of the Eastern companies who promised your people throughout the Midwest plains that they were being moved to far better lands where all you found was arid soil and your cattle froze. It’s no different, young lady!”

“Oh,
Jesus
!” cried Jennifer, racing to the bedroom door.

“What are you
doing
?” yelled Devereaux.

“Your mother, you idiot!”

“Oh, yes, of course,” said Sam, blinking. “Is there any coffee around?”

“No
time
, son!”

“Help Miss Redwing, Sammy.”

“At least we’re out of Samuel—”

“I don’t think there’s a choice,” said Aaron Pinkus.

The five fugitives from the Ritz-Carlton stood side by side at the southeast corner of the hotel waiting for the arrival of Desi One and Two. They smiled inanely at several passersby, doing their best not to appear like a quintet of adult delinquents. The grand Eleanor was held up by Redwing as the former kept struggling with the words of the “Indian Love Call.”

“Shut
up
, Mother!” whispered Sam.

“This is the daughter I’ve always wanted—”

“Put it on hold, Mom. She may be a better lawyer than me, and you
wouldn’t
want that.”

“I don’t think you’re so hot. Half the time I can’t understand you—”

“You’re not supposed to, Mother. That’s the law—”

“
Quiet
!” ordered the Hawk, nearest the edge of the building, Pinkus at his side. A Lincoln town car had
swung in front of the canopied entrance of the hotel as, simultaneously, Desis One and Two plunged into the curb with their two hotwired cars from the parking lot. “Everybody
hold
it!” continued Hawkins as he and Aaron watched four men in black raincoats climb out of the Lincoln, one from the front and three from the rear seat. The car instantly sped away and parked by the gates of the Public Garden as the four black raincoats walked rapidly into the hotel. “D-One, front and
center
!” said the Hawk in a loud whisper. “Repeat down the line!” he added.

“D-One, front and center—”

“
Desi
! You with the crazy teeth and the curled-up shirt, get
out
here!” cried Devereaux. “Go to Mac!”

“
Mizerloo, my Arab love who is my deseerloo
—”

“Shut up, Mother! You’ve got the wrong words and the wrong country anyway.”

“Don’t talk to my friend, Eleanor, that way—”

“She’s
my
mother! Suppose I refused to have her Jaguar fixed?”

“I’m sure I make a hell of a lot more money than you do, Counselor.
I’ll
take care of it!”

“Wad chu want, Heneral?”

“See that car over there? The one in front of those gates.”

“Sure, I see. A gringo’s sitting in the front.”

“I want him immobilized, the car incapacitated, do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Ees not so hard. He goes to sleep and I rip out the plugs—ees done every night in Brooklyn. Unless you want him dead, which, frankly, Heneral, I do not do.”

“Hell, no! I want to send back a message. They want our asses blown up, boy, and I want ’em to know they can’t
do
it!”

“Ees done, Heneral. Den what?”

“Come back to the hotel, to Mr. Pinkus’s floor, but cover your flanks. Four men in dumb black raincoats went up to waste all of us.… By the time you get there, I’ll probably have removed at least three of the bastards, but you make sure of the fourth.”

“
Hey
! Why chu have all the fun?
I’ll
take t’ree,
chu
take one!”

“I like your spirit, son.”

“Wad about Desi-Two?”

“I’m about to explain,” said Hawkins, turning to Aaron Pinkus. “Tell me, Commander, have you got some place nobody knows about, like a hideaway where you take, say, underprivileged women who might enjoy your company?”

“Are you
crazy
! You don’t know Shirley!”

“All right, I understand.… But there must be someplace off the beaten track where we can stay for a day or two.”

“Well, the firm bought a ski lodge across the New Hampshire border because a very reliable client ran into terribly difficult times—the snow has been very irregular—”

“That’s fine! We’ll join you there.”

“But how will you know where it
is
?”

“Das simple,
Comandante,
” intruded Desi the First. “D-Two wired only automobiles dat had
teléfonos
inside. We wrote down the
números
for both.” D-One pulled out a torn sheet of paper with two sets of numbers written across it. “See? My
amigo
, he has the same as dis.”

“You two are really remarkable. I would very much like it if you’d call me—”

“No time for medals, Commander!” interrupted the Hawk firmly. “Our mission’s not finished. Take Sam, his mother, and the Indian girl up to your place in New Hampshire. Now, get
out
of here! My sergeant and I have work to do!”

The first two black raincoats never knew what happened. Each, to secure escape routes, stood by the exit doors and each in turn was taken from the staircase by the Hawk, rendered unconscious and stripped of all clothing, including his shorts. The third would-be assassin inched his way toward the Pinkus suite, only to be interrupted by a wavering, swiveling drunk, who, once past the killer’s body, swung around and delivered an immobilizing
chi sai
chop to the back of his neck. The fourth and last assassin Hawkins left to his adjutant, Desi the First. It was, after all, the responsibility of command to instill confidence in
his immediate support troops. Actually, it turned out to be a lesson in patience, the mark of a truly superior deep-cover intelligence field man, thought Mac. He waited in the shadows of the exit door, behind which lay the unconscious, naked first killer from SFI. D-One silently emerged from the elevator in his white tie and tails and walked, again silently, halfway down the hallway, then pressed his back against the wall across from the Pinkus suite. For what seemed like the better part of an hour, but in reality was barely eight minutes, Desi the First remained immobile, barely breathing, and then a door opened two doors to his left and a man in a black raincoat came out, an automatic in his hand.

“
¡Iguana, José
!” roared D-One, taking the would-be killer by such surprise that he never knew how the weapon was kicked out of his hand; nor would he ever know how he was rendered unconscious by a swift, hard fist in the middle of his forehead.

“Outstanding!” said the general, walking out of the shadows. “I knew it was in you, son.”

“Why didn’t chu do it, for Christ’s sake?”

“On-scene evaluation, boy! It’s how we all get ahead.”

“I coulda been
killed
!”

“I had every confidence in you, Sergeant. You’re prime meat for Advance G-Two.”

“Ees dat good?”

“We’ll talk about it later. Right now we’ve got to strip this clown to his skin and get out of here. We’re all between a rock and a hard place, adjutant. We’ve got to concentrate on our next moves, and for you and me it’s joining the others somewhere up north.”

“No problem, Heneral. Before I come back up here, I talked to my
amigo
on the car
teléfono
. Wherever dey go, Desi-Two will stay in the automobile so he can tell me where dey are.”

“Fine tactics, son—” The Hawk stopped at the sound of a door opening and then voices. A couple, obviously middle-aged guests of the hotel, walked out of their room. “Quickly!” whispered Mac, reaching down for the unconscious body on the floor. “Stand him up as if he just puked.”

“He came out dat door over there, Heneral. Ees still open!”

“Let’s go!” Together, Hawkins and his adjutant dragged the limp figure to the open door under the astonished stares of the hotel guests.

“Ees a
crazy
wedding downstairs,
amigos
!” shouted Desi the First, glancing behind him. “You wanna join de party?”

“No … no, thank you,” said the middle-aged man, hurrying his wife toward the elevators.

The ski lodge in the hills of Hooksett, New Hampshire, was rustic and sturdy, deserted and dank, and in the best of times would never be awarded more than two stars in the least impressive travel guide. Still, it was sanctuary, and operational in terms of electricity, heat, and telephone service. Also, as it was barely over an hour from Boston, Aaron Pinkus Associates found it to be a convenient out-of-the-city refuge for attorneys and teams of attorneys deliberating difficult cases. In fact, it had become so popular that Aaron had decided not to sell the property, opting instead for gradual and utilitarian remodeling.

“We really must return those two cars,” said Pinkus anxiously to the Hawk, as they sat beside each other in deep leather chairs in the lodge’s former lobby. “There’ll be police bulletins out everywhere.”

“Nothing to fear, Commander. My adjutants have ’em camouflaged in the back forty.”

“That’s not the point, General. It’s grand theft and Sam and I—officers of the court, I remind you—were willing accomplices. I really must insist.”

“Oh, hell,
details
! All right, I’ll have the sergeants drive ’em back and park ’em down the street from the hotel. It’s dark out now and even if they’re picked up, those cops won’t know how they landed up in the backseats of their patrol cars without their trousers.
Hah
!”

“Thank you very much, General.”

“Then they can wire up a couple of other vehicles—”

“
Please
, that won’t be necessary! The firm has a standing arrangement with a car rental agency and my chauffeur,
Paddy, can drive one automobile out here and a friend of his can bring another.”

“They’ll have to pick up my adjutants. I’m not ready to dismiss them yet.”

“Of course. Under the circumstances you’ve described, I’d feel much better if those two young men were around. Here, I’ll write out the address of the rental agency; they can all meet there.” Pinkus reached into his pocket and withdrew a memo pad.

“Aaron, everything’s taken care of!” said Devereaux, somewhat louder than necessary as he walked into the ersatz Alpine lobby, Jennifer Redwing at his side. “The market in Hooksett is sending out a whole bunch of stuff and Red here said she can cook.”

“How do you want the split case of gin and bourbon?” asked Jennifer. “Fried?”

“Industrial lubricant, young lady.”

“Also, quite possibly on your own expense sheet,” added Pinkus. “How did you explain our presence?”

“I said our whole first team was up here busting our asses over a mess of probate problems.”

“Why probate?”

“They think it sounds sexy. Credibility, Aaron.”

“Mr. Pinkus?” interrupted Redwing, for the sixtieth time in twelve hours, glaring at Sam. “I’d like to use your phone to call San Francisco. I’ll reverse the charges, of course.”