Stuart Woods - Reckless Abandon

“I’ve been in Florida for a couple of days, and I’m headed home now. I should land at Teterboro in about two and a half hours.”

“I have some information for you.”

“Go ahead.”

“The business you and I discussed apparently took place last night.”

“Yes, I saw something about it on television this morning.”

“Your Mr. Rodriguez took part in the process, and when the arrests had been made, he left the scene in an FBI car. My, ah, acquaintances do not now know where he is. They haven’t heard from him at all.”

“Do they expect to hear from him?”

“Apparently so, but they didn’t expect him to leave with the FBI. They’re assuming he has either been arrested or is being questioned about some other matter.”

“I see. Thank you very much, Eduardo. I’m grateful for your assistance.”

“I’m glad I could be of service, and I hope the information I gave you is of some use.”

“I hope so, too.”

“Please come and have lunch again soon.”

“I will, and thank you again. Goodbye.” Stone punched off. “You heard that on your headset?” he asked Holly.

“Yes,” she said. “Maybe they’re holding him for me.”

“You think?”

“Can I use the phone?”

“Sure.” He handed it to her.

“How do I get information?”

“Dial four-one-one, just like on the ground.”

She did that and got the number of the FBI office in New York and was connected. “Special Agent Grant Harrison,” she said to the operator.

“Just a moment. I’ll see if he is in the office. Who’s calling, please?”

“Chief Holly Barker of the Orchid Beach, Florida, Police Department.”

Half a minute later, Grant came on the line. “Holly?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Where are you? What’s that noise?”

“I’m in an airplane between New York and Florida.”

“There’s good news: We made our bust last night.”

“I saw it on television this morning. Where’s Trini Rodriguez now?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?”

“Trini has been given immunity from prosecution for his cooperation, and he’s back in the Witness Protection Program.”

Holly turned red. “Grant, you can’t give somebody immunity from multiple state murder charges.”

“He has immunity from all federal charges.”

“I have a warrant for his arrest on twelve counts of murder one, resulting from the bombing at the church.”

“I understand that, but I can’t tell you where he is.”

“So, by hiding him, you’re effectively giving him immunity from state charges?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way, but you can characterize it as you wish.”

“This really stinks, Grant.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, Holly. This operation was vital to national security, and we couldn’t have pulled it off without Trini’s help. Listen, I’m headed back to Miami later today. You want to get together this weekend?”

“No, I don’t. Not this weekend or ever again.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I was hoping we could…”

“I’m afraid that, from now on, you’re going to have to do that to yourself,” she said, and hung up. She turned to Stone. “You heard?”

Stone nodded. “Not good.”

“What am I going to do now?”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.”

STONE AND HOLLY were already having a drink at Elaine’s when Lance arrived.

He settled himself at their table and ordered a drink. “So, how was sunny Florida?”

“Sunny,” Stone replied. “I don’t know how they stand it down there.”

“Yes, it’s a hard life. Holly, are you keeping the criminal elements of Orchid Beach in check?”

“Oh, that’s not hard. It’s mostly traffic and the occasional drug bust or burglary.”

“Aren’t you bored?”

“Funny you should mention that.”

“Oh, really?”

“I’ve told Stone I’m thinking about making a change. God knows, life is good down there, but it’s not very interesting.”

“Perhaps I can be of help,” Lance said. “Let me work on that.”

“Sure.”

Stone spoke up. “Actually, you can be of help on something else, Lance.”

Lance smiled. “Trini?”

“Right,” Holly said.

“I saw the news reports. When I heard that they’d taken Trini away in an FBI car I suspected they’d be hiding him. Is he back in the Witness Protection Program?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Have you spoken to anyone at the FBI?”

“Yes, but I’m never speaking to him again.”

“Holly, surely you know by now that the FBI is never going to stretch to help anybody in local law enforcement.”

“I knew that, but it’s been brought home to me afresh.”

“Perhaps your best move would be to humiliate the FBI into turning Trini over to you.”

“Humiliate them? That sounds like fun.”

“Of course, you’d be burning your bridges. They’d never return another phone call of yours.”

“Just tell me how to humiliate them.”

“I know a well-placed reporter at The New York Times . I’m sure he’d like a story about how the FBI is hiding a mass murderer, keeping him from being prosecuted. Would you like to meet the gentleman?”

Holly grinned and opened her mouth to speak, but Stone threw up a hand.

“Hang on,” he said.

“What?” Holly asked.

“This is a very big step.”

“Well, yeah, I guess it is.”

“I think you ought to give some thought to the consequences before you act on this. First of all, you’re going to enrage the FBI.”

“I’d like that,” she said.

“You might not. Suppose you need them on an important case. I mean, you still have to use their lab, their computer databases, their expertise. You might find all that suddenly unavailable to your department-not overtly, just in small ways. They might ‘misplace’ your lab samples, or your computer connection might suddenly go down.”

“Stone has a point, Holly,” Lance said. “If you go to the Times , it would be like a declaration of war on the FBI, and they could make things uncomfortable for you.”

“You still have to answer to your city council, don’t you?” Stone asked.

“Well, yes.”

“You wouldn’t want key members of the council to start getting phone calls from highly placed people at the FBI, complaining about you.”

“I guess not. Maybe I should just resign. That would fix all the problems you’ve brought up.”

“But then a whole new set of problems might arise,” Stone said. “God help you if you should ever get into some kind of trouble with the Feds.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You might be caught up a tree, so to speak, and need the Bureau’s help, or at least their inattention.” He waited to see if the penny would drop about the tree. It didn’t.

“What do you mean, ‘up a tree’?”

“Just a figure of speech, but a pertinent one.”

The penny dropped. “Oh,” she said.

Stone turned to Lance. “Isn’t there something else you might be able to do to help Holly locate Trini-something that could be accomplished without tossing a grenade into the Bureau?”

“I’d need more to go on than I have,” Lance said. “If I had Trini’s name in the Witness Protection Program, for instance.”

Holly sat up straight. “Robert Marshall.”

“What?”

“That’s Trini’s name in the Program. I got it from… a source.”

“And how long have you known this?”

“Since not long after I came to New York.”

Lance pulled out his cell phone and dialed a three-digit number. “Robert Marshall,” he said. “New listing.” He took out a notebook and wrote down something, then hung up. He ripped the page off the notebook and handed it to Holly. “Eighty-eighth Street,” he said. “Two blocks east of here.”