Stuart Woods - Reckless Abandon

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. He just went nuts, according to the agent who’s still alive.”

“Well, since he was standing at the foot of my bed in the middle of the night, threatening to kill me, I guess he missed some sleep. Some people are just grumpy if they don’t get their eight hours.”

“So, what’s your next move?”

“Vito says he’ll be talking to Trini, who will want the details on how we begged for our lives.”

“Did you beg for your lives?”

“No. I concentrated on getting Vito to call Eduardo before he spread us around the cellar. But Vito is going to give Trini details that will please him and then call me and tell me where Trini is, if he can find out. He says Trini is with his Arab friends-or towelheads, as he prefers to call them.”

“I thought the FBI arrested all the towelheads.”

“So did I, but apparently there’s an abundant supply of them.”

“I think I’d like to talk to the towelheads,” Dino said.

“Tell you what: We work together on this, you take the towelheads, and we’ll take Trini.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

“Take him back to Florida and get him tried.”

“That’s a sweet idea. I hope it works for you.”

“You going to help?”

“Okay, you get me a location on Trini and his buddies and I’ll supply a SWAT team. I’ll get a judge to honor Holly’s warrant, and you three can hotfoot it to the airport. I’ll take the towelheads home with me.”

“You’ve got a deal, but no FBI.”

“Why would I want those guys around to take the credit?”

“Why, indeed?”

“Dinner tomorrow?”

“You’re on.”

“And you’re still buying, remember?”

“I remember.”

Dino hung up, and Stone called Eduardo.

“Stone, are you all right?”

“Thanks to your help, I am, Eduardo.”

“I want to apologize for these people of ours.”

“No apology necessary. You can’t be expected to know everything.”

“I’m glad they called me.”

“So am I.”

“Have you had any luck in finding this Rodriguez fellow?”

“I’m working on it. One of the men who, ah, detained us says he may be speaking to him, and he’ll try to find out where he is. There are some Arab gentlemen involved, apparently.”

“I have heard of these people, and I would be pleased to see them caught and put into prison.”

“If we can get a location on them, that could very well happen. I’d be grateful to hear of any information that might come your way.”

“Of course. I’ll call you.”

“Thank you again for saving our lives, Eduardo.”

“Please, I was happy to.”

They both hung up, and now Stone was tired. He went upstairs, got undressed, and got into bed with Holly, who was sleeping as if drugged. Soon, he was, too.

Stone got up at mid-morning the following day and found Holly still sleeping. He reached out to give Daisy a pat, then remembered she was in Florida with Ham. Then he sat up in bed, wide awake.

He got into a robe, went downstairs, and called Ham.

“Hello?”

“Ham, it’s Stone Barrington.”

“How you doing, Stone?”

“I’m okay, and so is Holly. She’s still asleep.”

“What’s up?”

“We’ve had a brush with Trini, and I think you ought to be on the lookout for his people around your place.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I think maybe you might think about changing locations. Why don’t you move into Holly’s place until we can nail this guy?”

“You really think he might be a threat to us here?”

“I do.”

“What does Holly think?”

“I don’t want to wake her to ask, but I think she’d agree with me.”

“All right, we’ll throw some things in a bag and go over there.”

“Thanks, Ham, I’d feel better if you did. Please give my best to Ginny.”

“Sure thing. Bye.” Ham hung up.

Stone went back upstairs, feeling he had done all he could for the moment.

HAM WALKED INTO the kitchen where Ginny was cleaning the fish he’d caught early that morning. One of the reasons he loved her was that she would clean his fish, something he hated doing himself. Daisy was asleep on the floor beside her.

“How would you like a little vacation?” he asked.

“Would I have to clean fish?”

“Nope.”

“I’d love it. Where you want to go?”

“Why don’t we get in that airplane of yours, and you fly us out to the Bahamas.”

“Where in the Bahamas?”

“You know them better than I do. Where’s the fishing good?”

“Ah, ah, ah,” she said, wagging a bloody finger.

“Oh, right; no cleaning fish. Where can we go that somebody else will clean the fish?”

“I know a little resort on Cat Cay that has its own airstrip. You could give your fish to the restaurant and let them worry about the cleaning.”

“Sounds good to me. Why don’t you stick those fish in the freezer and throw your toothbrush and a bikini into a bag, and let’s get out of here.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

“I never knew you to be so spontaneous. Who was the phone call from?”

“Just a guy.”

“C’mon, Ham, what guy?”

“It was Stone.”

“And Stone suggested we take a vacation?”

“Sort of.”

Ginny began wrapping the fillets for freezing. “I want to know the whole story, Ham.”

“What whole story?”

She put the fish in the freezer and came and put her arms around his waist. “You know, you’ve been working on that poker face of yours for so long you think you can fool anybody, but you can’t fool me.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can see right through your eyes into your brain, and right now I see deception.”

“Not much deception. After all, can it be so bad if I’m offering you a trip to the Bahamas?”

“Seems to me I’ve heard you say more than once that the Bahamas are boring, all that sun and sand.”

“Not if I can fish.”

“And what do I do while you’re fishing?”

“I don’t know, what do you do here while I’m fishing?”

“That’s right, you wouldn’t know, would you?”

“Well, I’m not here when I’m fishing, am I?”

“I get naked and do witchcraft incantations.”

“You can do witchcraft incantations in the Bahamas, can’t you?”

“No, I’d frighten the natives.”

“You’d frighten the native here, if I’d known what you were doing. I like the naked part, though.”

“You would, wouldn’t you?”

“I sure would. You gonna get packed?”

“Not until you tell me why we’re going.”

“Stone thought it would be a good idea.”

“Why did Stone think that?”

“He had a little brush with Trini Rodriguez.”

“He said ‘a little brush’?”

“Sort of.”

“And what do you think he meant?”

“Well, usually, having a little brush with Trini involves a death experience, but he was still talking, so I guess he and Holly are all right.”

“So now he thinks we’re going to have a death experience?”

“I think he wants us to avoid that.”

“By going to the Bahamas?”

“No, he just wanted us to move into Holly’s house for a while. The Bahamas was my idea.”

“So you’re more worried than he is?”

“No, I just thought the Bahamas would make a nice change until somebody shoots Trini in the head.”

“Okay, you talked me into it. I’ll go pack.” She gave him a little kiss and turned toward the bedroom.

Ham caught a movement out of the corner of his eye; somebody outside. He’d only seen a shoulder and an elbow. “Don’t do that right now,” he said.