Stuart Woods - Heat

They got their luggage and a cab, and as they approached the Midtown Tunnel, the lights of the skyscrapers swam out of the fog.

“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” Jenny sighed.

“Not even the mountains of Idaho?”

“I never want to go back. I want to live in one of those buildings.”

They were at the hotel by six and, as they approached registration, Jesse saw Kip Fuller. He was behind the front desk, pretending to use a computer.

“My name is Barron; I have a reservation,” he said to Kip.

“Yes, Mr. Barron; just a moment.” Kip tapped a few computer keys. “Here we are; a room with a view. How did you wish to pay?”

Jesse handed him his credit card, and Kip produced two room keys. “Bellman!” he snapped, and a uniformed man appeared at Jesse’s elbow. “Please take Mr. and Mrs. Barron up to their room.” He handed the keys to the man.

“Oh, by the way,” Jesse said, “I’d like to put this case in your safe.” He waited for the receipt.

As they made their way to the elevator Jenny tugged at Jesse’s sleeve. “They must know you here, the way they’re treating you,” she said.

Jesse laughed all the way up.

The room was large and sported views of both the Chrysler and Empire State buildings. Jesse tipped the bellman generously and began unpacking, while Jenny inspected everything in the room and read all the information in the hotel’s information packet.

“You can have dinner in your room!” she exclaimed.

“We’re not going to do that,” he said. “I’m taking you someplace fancy.”

“Where, where?”

“A place called Café des Artistes.” He had booked the table a week before. The phone rang, and Jesse picked it up.

“Out your door and to the left,” Kip said. “First door; it’ll be ajar.” He hung up.

“I’ll be right down,” Jesse said into the dead telephone.

“Where are you going?”

“They didn’t get a proper imprint of my credit card, so I have to go back to the front desk for a minute. Why don’t you get into a tub? Dinner’s at eight.”

Jenny began removing clothes from her luggage.

Jesse left the room and went next door. He pushed open the door and closed it behind him. Kip Fuller stood up, smiling, and offered Jesse his hand.

“Jesus, it’s good to see you,” he exclaimed, clapping Jesse on the back.

Jesse smiled back. “You too, Kip.”

Kip turned and indicated another man. “This is Ted Manners, from our office. Ted, this is Jesse Barron.”

Jesse noted that Kip had used his cover name.

“Ted, will you excuse us?” Kip said.

Manners nodded and left the room.

“I wanted him to get a good look at you,” Kip said. “He’s going to be following you while you’re here.”

“Following me?”

“Or maybe I should say, following the man who’s following you.”

Jesse blinked. “Somebody followed me here?”

“About thirty-five, five-nine, a hundred and sixty pounds, dark hair, gray suit and a gray felt hat. He was on your flight.”

“I guess they’re not taking any chances,” Jesse said.

“What’s in the briefcase you checked downstairs?”

“I don’t know, but I suspect that’s why I’m being followed. I guess they want to see if I’ll do as I’m told.”

“It was pretty heavy,” Kip said. “Felt like a lot of money, to me.”

“Why would they send me to New York with a lot of money?”

“Where are you supposed to take it?”

Jesse produced the card, and Kip made a note of the address. “We’ll check it out. Listen, I want you to make time for a serious debriefing while you’re here. When’s good?”

Jesse shook his head. “Not if I’m being followed. I’m not taking any chances on getting busted, not at this stage of the game. Anyway, you know everything that’s happened so far.”

“I didn’t know about the woman,” Kip said. “She’s lovely.”

“My landlady. Well, that’s how it started out, anyway. Things developed.”

“I see. What will you be doing while you’re here?”

“I’ve got an appointment at an architect’s office at Fifty-Seventh and Fifth tomorrow at two. There’s a chance I could have to see them again on Monday. I’m to drop off the briefcase at eleven tomorrow morning.”

Kip nodded. “What will you do with the rest of your time?”

“Show Jenny the town, I guess, maybe do some Christmas shopping.”

“Your tail will probably drop off after you’ve delivered the briefcase. If that happens, I’ll pull Manners off, too.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that. I don’t want to spend the weekend looking over my shoulder.”

“We’ll have a look at the briefcase overnight.”

“Be very careful, Kip; I don’t want any marks or scratches on the thing. It might even be alarmed or have a dye bomb inside.”

“We’ll X-ray it; don’t worry, I’ll handle it with kid gloves.”

Jesse glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to get back; anything else?”

Kip shook his head. “Nothing. If you need to reach me, there’ll always be somebody in this room. Just ask the operator to ring extension two-zero-four-six.”

Jesse looked at Kip narrowly. “Is my room bugged?”

“Behind the mirror over the chest of drawers.”

“Is there a two-way mirror?”

“Nope. We’ll respect your privacy.”

“Thanks.” He started for the door.

“Let me take a look first.” Kip opened the door and looked up and down the hall. “Okay, go.”

Jesse slipped out of the room and let himself in next door. He could hear the bath water running.

“Jesse?” she called.

“It’s me.”

“I’m going to smell great tonight,” she said. “There’s wonderful bath oil here.”

“You always smell great. We have to leave here in an hour.”

“I’ll be ready.”

Jesse stretched out on the bed and looked at the ceiling. With two men following him it was going to be a lot harder to accomplish what he had planned for New York City.

They had barely sat down at the restaurant when Jenny looked around and said, “There are naked ladies on the wall here.”

“I know. They were done by a famous illustrator of the thirties named Howard Chandler Christy.”

“How do you know that? How do you know this place come to that?”

“On my trip to the convention, a supplier brought me here and told me all about it. Do the naked ladies make you uncomfortable?”

She looked around the room. “They have different faces, but they all seem to have the same body.”

“He must have had a favorite model,” Jesse said, laughing.

“They don’t make me uncomfortable, exactly,” she said. “They make me want to see you naked.”

“Order some dinner,” he said, “and I’ll see what I can do.”

They swept back into the hotel room, full of good food and wine, stripping off clothes as they went.

“Just a minute,” she said, “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

Jesse made sure she was gone before he lifted the corner of the mirror, located the hidden microphone and held it to his lips. “Fuck you, Kip,” he said, “and the horse you rode in on.”

He found a pair of nail scissors, snipped off the microphone and dropped it behind the chest of drawers.

Jenny came running to him.

Jesse left the hotel at eight o’clock the following morning, the briefcase in his hand, and walked uptown on Madison Avenue. Jenny had still been in the tub when he’d left, and she had a morning of sightseeing planned. The street was full of other men and women, most carrying briefcases, hurrying to their jobs, and he felt anonymous among them, until he caught sight of his tail in a shop window.