Стюарт Вудс - Wild Card

Bob got out his throwaway and saw a missed call on the screen.

“I was worried,” Stone said.

“You had good reason,” Bob replied. “Sherry has taken a bullet to the head. I can’t tell how bad. She’s alive, but unresponsive. I need an ambulance now . I also need two squad cars. I can’t move her into the wagon while the threat is still out there.” He gave Stone the address.

“I’m on it,” Stone said. He hung up and called Dino.

“Bacchetti.”

“It’s Stone. We weren’t careful enough. Bob’s at his place in Brooklyn with Sherry, and she’s taken a bullet to the head. He needs an ambulance and a couple of cars for protection while they load her.”

“Address?”

Stone gave it to him.

“Three minutes, tops,” Dino said, then hung up.

Stone thought he should go to Brooklyn, but then thought better of it. He called Bob back.

“Yeah?”

“Help is on the way. I don’t know which hospital they’ll take her to, so call me as soon as you find out, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Don’t do that,” Bob said firmly. “There won’t be anything you can do, and if we start breaking cover they’ll be all over us.”

“Good point.” Stone could hear an ambulance in the background. “How’s Sherry doing?”

“She’s moving a little, but still unconscious. Here’s the ambulance and a squad car; I can hear another one on the way. I’ll call you when I know something.” He hung up.

Stone called Viv on her cell.

“I’ve already heard about Jamie,” she said. “Precautions have been taken.”

“You haven’t heard about Sherry.”

“What about Sherry?”

“Bullet to the head. Still alive, but it looks bad. Dino responded, and she’s on the way to the hospital. I just wanted you to know that the Thomases are throwing caution to the wind. I expect I’ll be next.”

“I’ll have some people at your house in twenty minutes,” she said.

“Thank you.” He hung up.

Bob was walking rapidly down a hospital hallway beside Sherry, who was on a gurney, holding her hand. Suddenly, she squeezed it. He bent over her.

“It’s okay, babe, you’re in the hospital.”

Sherry whispered something and he put his ear to her lips. “Don’t let them cut off my hair,” she said.

Bob laughed. “You’re gonna be fine.”

The gurney was wheeled into the ER and into an examination area. A doctor pushed him out and pulled a curtain.

“She says don’t cut off her hair!” he yelled at the opening in the curtain.

“Got it!” the young doctor yelled back.

Bob went out into the hall, where an NYPD sergeant walked up to him. “The commish got involved,” he said. “She’ll be moved to a protective custody area when they’re done. For witnesses, and the like.”

“Thank him for me,” Bob said.

The cop nodded, and Bob took a seat and called Stone.

“It’s Stone.”

“We’re at Bellevue. She squeezed my hand and told me not to let them cut her hair.”

“That’s sounding good,” Stone said. “I’ll speak to Dino about a round-the-clock guard.”

“Not necessary. Dino has already arranged for her to be put in a room in the protective custody area.”

“That’ll be locked and guarded twenty-four-seven,” Stone said. “Have you talked to a doctor yet?”

“It’ll be a while, I think. They’ll have to do X-rays and tests.”

“Keep me posted.”

“What are you doing about security?”

“Viv has people on the way.”

“And Jamie?”

“They went after her at LaGuardia, but Viv’s people got her out unharmed. She’s in Atlanta.”

“That’s a better place to be than here,” Bob said.

“Did you look over the neighborhood before you got out of the car?”

“Yeah. Nobody at my house and nobody here. I think somebody had built a nest across the street and was just waiting for us.”

“I hope it was a small-caliber round,” Stone said. “Were you hit at all?”

“No, I’m still in one piece, but that’s more than anybody will be able to say about the Thomases when I’m done with them.”

“Easy, Bob. Don’t go off half-cocked.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

“Just put that out of your mind. We’ll talk when you’re done there. Come back here then. Don’t go home.”

“We’ll see,” Bob said.

Jamie was getting a manicure in her Atlanta hotel suite when the phone rang and one of her guards answered. “Got it,” she said into the phone, then hung up.

“What was that?” Jamie asked.

“Nothing to worry about,” Ida answered.

“If it was nothing to worry about, then it won’t matter if you tell me what it was,” Jamie said. “I insist.”

“Sometimes it’s better if you don’t know everything,” Lane said.

“Well, if it’s something I don’t know, I really need to hear it, and right now.”

“Oh, all right. You know a woman called Sherry in New York?”

“Yes.”

“Someone took a shot at her in Brooklyn this afternoon.”

“And I shouldn’t know that?”

“Does it make you feel better?”

“It makes me feel more knowledgeable,” Jamie said. “Is she dead?”

“No, she’s recovering in the hospital.”

“Now I feel better. What were the circumstances of the shooting?”

“I don’t know, just in Brooklyn.”

Jamie called Stone with her free hand.

“Hello?”

“It’s Jamie. Tell me about Sherry.”

Stone told her. “I don’t know any more than that. Bob will come here when he’s willing to leave her.”

“It looks as though your prediction about the Thomases not acting while they are suing us and the book is out was not accurate.”

“I can’t deny that,” Stone said. “I thought they were more careful people.”

“Reckless, sounds more like it.”

“I can’t disagree. Do you feel safe where you are?”

“I’m on a high floor of a very good hotel with two armed guards. I feel safe for now, but tonight I have to speak to a public audience at a bookstore.”

“Viv tells me you will be speaking to an invited audience of press and public officials, plus whoever might be in the bookstore at the time. The location was not advertised.”

“That’s encouraging.”

“Just do what your guards tell you to do, and don’t argue with them. You’ll be fine.”

“If you say so, though your track record on this subject is less than perfect.”

“If you want perfect, I’m sure Viv can find a nice steel room to lock you in.”

Jamie laughed in spite of herself. “Oh, all right. I’m sure I’ll be safe tonight.” They both hung up.

Early in the evening Bob showed up at Stone’s house.

“What’s the latest?” Stone asked.

“She’s stable and out of the ICU. They put her in a room. Her doctor showed me an X-ray. It was like shooting a bullet through the side of a football without hitting the air bladder inside, so there’s no brain damage. I caught a nap in a reclining chair, then she woke up and talked a bit, but the doctor hustled me out and told me to go home. Sherry wanted it that way, too. I’ll go back tomorrow.”

“Consider yourself at home,” Stone replied.

“What happened to Jamie at LaGuardia?” Bob asked.

Stone told him, then looked at his watch. “She’ll be arriving at the bookstore about now. How about some dinner?”

“Sure.”

They went upstairs to Stone’s study and had a drink first.

“I want to go on the offensive,” Bob said.

“I know you do, and I understand why. Do you understand why you shouldn’t?”

“Because they’ll be expecting me?”