Lee Child - Tripwire

His car was not modified in any way to help him with his handicap. It was a late-model Cadillac sedan with the ignition and the selector on the right of the steering column. Using the key was awkward, because he had to lean across with his left hand and jab it in backward and twist. But after that, he never had much of a problem. He put it in drive by using the hook on the selector and drove out of the garage one-handed, using his left, the hook resting down in his lap.

He felt better once he was south of Fifty-ninth Street. The park disappeared and he was deep in the noisy canyons of midtown. The traffic comforted him. The Cadillac’s air-conditioning relieved the itching under his scars. June was the worst time for that. Some particular combination of heat and humidity acted together to drive him crazy. But the Cadillac made it better. He wondered idly whether Stone’s Mercedes would be as good. He thought not. He had never trusted the air on foreign cars. So he would turn it into cash. He knew a guy in Queens who would spring for it. But it was another chore on the list. A lot to do, and not much time to do it in. The outfielder was right there, under the ball, leaping, with the fence at his back.

He parked in the underground garage, in the slot previously occupied by the Suburban. He reached across and pulled the key and locked the Cadillac. Rode upstairs in the express elevator. Tony was at the reception counter.

“Hanoi called again,” Hobie told him. “It’s in the air.”

Tony looked away.

“What?” Hobie asked him.

“So we should just abandon this Stone thing.”

“It’ll take them a few days, right?”

“A few days might not be enough,” Tony said. “There are complications. The woman says she’s talked it over with him, and they’ll do the deal, but there are complications we don’t know about.”

“What complications?”

Tony shook his head. “She wouldn’t tell me. She wants to tell you, direct.”

Hobie stared at the office door. “She’s kidding, right? She damn well better be kidding. I can’t afford any kind of complications now. I just presold the sites, three separate deals. I gave my word. The machinery is in motion. What complications?”

“She wouldn’t tell me,” Tony said again.

Hobie’s face was itching. There was no air-conditioning in the garage. The short walk to the elevator had upset his skin. He pressed the hook to his forehead, looking for some relief from the metal. But the hook was warm, too.

“What about Mrs. Jacob?” he asked.

“She was home all night,” Tony said. “With this Reacher guy. I checked. They were laughing about something this morning. I heard them from the corridor. Then they drove somewhere, north on the FDR Drive. Maybe going back to Garrison.”

“I don’t need her in Garrison. I need her right here. And him.”

Tony was silent.

“Bring Mrs. Stone to me,” Hobie said.

He walked into to his office and across to his desk. Tony went the opposite way, toward the bathroom. He came out a moment later, pushing Marilyn in front of him. She looked tired. The silk sheath looked ludicrously out of context, like she was a partygoer caught out by a blizzard and stranded in town the morning after.

Hobie pointed to the sofa.

“Sit down, Marilyn,” he said.

She remained standing. The sofa was too low. Too low to sit on in a short dress, and too low to achieve the psychological advantage she was going to need. But to stand in front of his desk was wrong, too. Too supplicant. She walked around to the wall of windows. Eased the slats apart and gazed out at the morning. Then she turned and propped herself against the ledge. Made him rotate his chair to face her.

“What are these complications?” he asked.

She looked at him and took a deep breath.

“We’ll get to that,” she said. “First we get Sheryl to the hospital.”

There was silence. No sound at all, except the rumbling and booming of the populated building. Faraway to the west, a siren sounded faintly. Maybe all the way over in Jersey City.

“What are these complications?” he asked again. He used the same exact voice, the same exact intonation. Like he was prepared to overlook her mistake.

“The hospital first.”

The silence continued. Hobie turned back to Tony.

“Get Stone out of the bathroom,” he said.

Stone stumbled out, in his underwear, with Tony’s knuckles in his back, all the way to the desk. He hit his shins on the coffee table and gasped in pain.

“What are these complications?” Hobie asked him.

He just glanced wildly left and right, like he was too scared and disoriented to speak. Hobie waited. Then he nodded.

“Break his leg,” he said. He turned to look at Marilyn. There was silence. No sound, except Stone’s ragged breathing and the faint boom of the building. Hobie stared on at Marilyn. She stared back at him.

“Go ahead,” she said quietly. “Break his damn leg. Why should I care? He’s made me penniless. He’s ruined my life. Break both his damn legs if you feel like it. But it won’t get you what you want any quicker. Because there are complications, and the sooner we get to them, the better it is for you. And we won’t get to them until Sheryl is in the hospital.”

She leaned back on the window ledge, palms down, arms locked from the shoulder. She hoped it made her look relaxed and casual, but she was doing it to keep herself from falling on the floor.

“The hospital first,” she said again. She was concentrating so hard on her voice, it sounded like somebody else’s. She was pleased with it. It sounded OK. A low, firm voice, steady and quiet in the silent office.

“Then we deal,” she said. “Your choice.”

The outfielder was leaping, glove high, and the ball was dropping. The glove was higher than the fence. The trajectory of the ball was too close to call. Hobie tapped his hook on the desk. The sound was loud. Stone was staring at him. Hobie ignored him and glanced up at Tony.

“Take the bitch to the hospital,” he said sourly.

“Chester goes with them,” Marilyn said. “For verification. He needs to see her go inside to the ER, alone. I stay here, as surety.”

Hobie stopped tapping. Looked at her and smiled. “Don’t you trust me?”

“No, I don’t trust you. We don’t do it this way, you’ll just take Sheryl out of here and lock her up someplace else.”

Hobie was still smiling. “Farthest thing from my thoughts. I was going to have Tony shoot her and dump her in the sea.”

There was silence again. Marilyn was shaking inside.

“You sure you want to do this?” Hobie asked her. “She says one word to the hospital people, she gets you killed, you know that, right?”

Marilyn nodded. “She won’t say anything to anybody. Not knowing you’ve still got me here.”

“You better pray she doesn’t.”

“She won’t. This isn’t about us. It’s about her. She needs to get help.”

She stared at him, leaning back, feeling faint. She was searching his face for a sign of compassion. Some acceptance of his responsibility. He stared back at her. There was no compassion in his face. Nothing there at all, except annoyance. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

“And she needs a skirt. She can’t go out without one. It’ll look suspicious. The hospital will get the police involved. Neither of us wants that. So Tony needs to go out and buy her a new skirt: ‘

“Lend her your dress,” Hobie said. “Take it off and give it to her.”

There was a long silence.

“It wouldn’t fit her,” Marilyn said.

“That’s not the reason, is it?”

She made no reply. Silence. Hobie shrugged.

“OK,” he said.

She swallowed again. “And shoes.”