Стюарт Вудс - Standup Guy

“Who owns the airplane?”

“A guy I know runs a charter company. He buys time on airplanes from various corporations, time when they’d otherwise be sitting on the ground waiting for some CEO to fly somewhere. We’ve got the airplane for three full days.”

“That’s good work, Marty, I’m proud of you.”

He grinned. “Thanks, babe. Oh, and you were right about not offing Barrington. At first I thought you were getting sentimental over him, but after thinking about it, he can’t hurt us.”

“We don’t want to kill anybody at the cabin, either,” she said.

“I know, but we have to be ready to do it if it’s called for. I mean, if there’s more than one car, or three or four guys get out of the car, then we’re at war. No way around that.”

“Let’s don’t get into that position,” she said. “Remember to be charming. Charm works.”

“Up to a point.”

“Oh, what are we going to do with the counter-sorter?”

“We’ll dump it in the lake as soon as we make the cash swap.”

“Good. We don’t want to leave it in the van or the cottage, and we want to Windex the van all over to get rid of prints.”

“I’ve never been arrested,” Marty said, “so I’ve never been printed. You?”

“Nope. I’m squeaky clean.”

“Squeaky clean, I like that. Oh, I got a number in Rio—we can get new passports.”

“Fine. Maybe we’ll go to Europe from there. You’d like Rome. You speak Italian?”

“I grew up speaking it half the time. Couple weeks, you’d think I was a native Roman. Listen, babe, this is gonna work, don’t worry about a thing.”

She leaned over and kissed him on the ear. “I’m not worried, Marty, I’m safe in your hands.”

56

Stone, Dino, and Viv had a good dinner and waited for Dan Sparks to call back. “Listen,” Stone said, “I want to get a shower and a change of clothes.”

“Hurry up,” Dino said. “And bring a weapon.”

Stone went upstairs and let the hot shower run on his face, then he got into some comfortable clothes, holstered his lightweight Terry Tussey .45, and went downstairs. Dino was on the phone.

“Okay,” Dino was saying, “at the convenience store in about an hour. This time, don’t bring police vehicles. If we get there first, let’s don’t scare them off.” He hung up. “Everybody ready?”

They went outside and got into Dino’s car; his driver already had the engine running. “You get something to eat?” Dino asked the man.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. It’s going to be a late night. Let’s hit the West Side Highway.”

• • •

“Drive by the convenience store,” Hank said. “If there are police vehicles there, we’ll have to call it off and meet Tommy somewhere else.”

“Okay,” Parese said. They drove past the store at forty miles an hour. “I don’t see anything that looks like cops,” he said.

“Neither do I, but when we get to the lake, let’s drive around the shore road to the right and approach the house from the other direction.”

“Sounds good.”

They turned off on the road to the lake, and a couple of minutes later they came to the T junction and turned right.

“So far, so good,” Parese said. “And we’ve still got an hour before Tommy is due.”

“Look for clusters of vehicles,” she said. “Any kind of vehicles parked in driveways or side roads.”

Parese did as he was told. “I don’t see anything,” he said.

“Then let’s drive on around the lake,” Hank said. “And turn off your lights, there’s enough of a moon to see.”

Twenty minutes later, they were approaching the cottage.

“Pull into the drive and stop,” she said. “I want to walk down there first.”

He pulled into the drive; they could see the house, and it was dark.

“Never mind me walking,” Hank said, “just turn off the engine and coast down to the front of the house, then turn around and back up near the porch. I’d like to be pointed the other way if we have to move.”

They got out of the van and stood in the dim moonlight, listening. Nothing but an owl somewhere. Parese unlocked the front door and turned on a light. “Looks okay,” he called back.

“Let’s get the bags inside,” Hank yelled. Parese came outside, and they wheeled in the five suitcases and their own bags. They set three of the bags containing the money in the middle of the living room, and put two of them on the dining table.

Parese went back to the van and came back with the counter-sorting machine, then he went back and brought in two grocery bags.

“That’s not a week’s groceries,” she said.

“I just said that for Barrington’s benefit,” Parese replied. “There’s enough for a snack tonight and breakfast tomorrow.”

“You hungry?” she asked.

“I’m too excited to eat. This is gonna happen, I can feel it.” He went back to the van and came back with the two shotguns and the Uzi. “They’re all loaded,” he said, putting them behind the front door.

They put their own bags in the bedroom, and when they came out, they could hear the crunch of tires on gravel.

“This is it,” Parese said. He pulled out his Glock and stood by the door, his back to the wall. A car door slammed.

“Marty?” a man’s gruff voice called.

“I’m here, Tommy. Come on in.”

Hank stood where she could be seen. A man appeared on the porch, and Parese turned on the outside light. “Who’s with you?” he called.

“Just the guy who drove me. He won’t move.”

“Come on in, then.”

Tommy walked into the living room and stopped. “I’m unarmed,” he said, opening his jacket and turning around. He also hoisted his trouser legs so Parese could see there was nothing strapped to his ankles.

“You brought the four and a half?” Parese asked.

“In the trunk of the car. Where’s yours?”

“Right over here.” Parese led him to the dining table and unzipped the two suitcases.

Tommy dug down into the bundles of bills and made sure it was all money. “Good,” he said, zipping up the bags and moving them to the floor. “Now let’s see the others.”

The two men hoisted the other three bags onto the table, and Tommy inspected them, then set them on the floor. “Funny how much money weighs,” he said.

“It’s just paper,” Parese replied. “You satisfied, or you want to run it all through the machine again?” He handed Tommy some folded sheets of paper. “Here’s the count as it went through the machine.”

Tommy took the paper and put it in his pocket. “I’m okay,” he said. “Let’s go get my bags.”

“The lady will go with you,” Parese said. “I’ll wait here.” He nodded at Hank. “Don’t worry, babe, you’ll be okay with Tommy.”

Hank followed the man out to his car and around to the trunk. He opened it with a key and hoisted a bag onto the ground. “Take it in,” he said. “I’ll bring the other one.”

The two of them wheeled the bags into the house and to the dining room table. Parese put them on the table and opened them. They were filled with banded stacks of hundreds. He went through random stacks to be sure there was no newspaper in them.

“You want to put them through the machine?” Tommy asked.

“I’m good. You delivered, Tommy, and I appreciate it.”

“I appreciate the action,” Tommy replied.

The two men hugged, and Parese stood in the doorway and watched him walk back to the car. The driver started it, turned around, and drove up the drive. They could see his taillights through the woods as he drove away.

Parese turned and took Hank in his arms. “It’s done, babe.”

“Let’s get those two bags into the van, in case we need to make a hasty departure,” she said. They each took a bag and wheeled it outside, and Parese hoisted the bags into the van and closed the door. “Now,” he said, “I want to fuck you in the worst way.”