58
Stone watched Dino’s face as the phone rang. It betrayed no emotion.
“Hello,” Dino said. “I’m calling on behalf of Stone Barrington. What is it you want?” He listened carefully, nodding. “Is that all?” He listened again. “I’m afraid there’ll be a delay. That item is not in this country.” He listened. “The item is in a safe in the library of Mr. Barrington’s house in England.”
Stone could hear an angry voice replying.
Dino continued to listen. “Hold on, I’ll find out how it can be opened.” He left the phone near his lips as he talked to Stone. “Who knows how to get into that safe?”
“I do,” Stone replied.
“No, I mean somebody else who can get into it—somebody in England.”
“The manager of the estate, Major Bugg, has the combination. I will instruct him to open it on presentation of a password.”
“And what is the password?”
“Let me think . . .”
“Not too long,” Dino whispered, his hand over the phone.
“The password is Arrington.”
“Did you get that?” Dino asked. He spelled the name carefully. “Now, when will you release Ms. Harmon?” He listened. “Surely Mr. Owaki has someone in England who can pop over to the house and see Major Bugg. Well, how long then? I would like to point out that Mr. Barrington has followed your instructions explicitly. You have no further reason to hold Ms. Harmon.” He listened. “By the way, what is your name?”
Stone heard the click when they hung up.
“Well,” Dino said, “that should be long enough for my people to get a location. By the way, Stone, you’d better call Major Bugg and ask him to put a thumb drive in your safe, and to open it for whoever gives him the password.” Dino dialed a number on his own cell phone.
Stone called Major Bugg, who was probably having his tea interrupted, and told him what must be done.
“What is a thumb drive?” Bugg asked.
“It’s a small computer device about the size of a thumb, hence the name.”
“I don’t have one. Where would I get it?”
“At a computer shop. Is there one in the village?”
“Yes, a small one.”
“It’s a small device. Could you send someone there immediately and buy one of the largest capacity available?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I’ll call you in a few minutes, and we’ll do a data transfer from my computer to the thumb drive.”
“Yes, my assistant knows how to do that, I believe.”
“Thank you, Major Bugg.”
Dino was still on the phone. “Keep that connection alive,” he said to his officer. “Don’t let it get away from you.” He hung up.
“Did they get a location for Fred’s cell phone?”
“Yes. It’s a few feet from your house.”
“What?”
“Apparently in a car, parked in front of your house. They’ll track it, if it moves.” He spoke to his driver. “You can keep the siren on, now. How long?”
“Ten minutes, if the traffic isn’t too bad.”
“Okay.” Dino called his office and ordered a car situated at each end of Stone’s block, then he sat back in his seat and appeared to relax.
“Why are you so relaxed?” Stone asked.
“I’m always relaxed when I’ve done all I can do. Can you think of anything else I should do, right this minute?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Then I’m going to relax. I might even take a nap.” He put his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes.
“I wish I could relax like that,” Stone said.
“It takes practice.”
Dino’s cell phone rang, and he answered it. “Bacchetti.” He listened for a moment. “Well, shit,” he said. “Call me back when you’ve reestablished— What? Okay.” He hung up. “They lost the signal when the guy hung up. I’ll call it again.” He pressed the button and gazed out the window. “Hello? This is the same person who phoned a moment ago. Do you remember me? Yes, that’s the one. Listen, Major Bugg has left his office for the day, and someone has been sent to his home to get him to return to the house. It’s going to take about an hour, since he lives half an hour away from the house. Have you got that? Okay, then let’s talk again in an hour, unless you’d just like to chat for a while—I’ve got plenty of time.” Dino put down the phone. “Goodbye, Mr. Beria.” He hung up.
“I’m not surprised they lost the connection,” Stone said. “Were they able to get a fix again? Are they still sitting in front of my house?”
Dino’s phone rang. “Bacchetti. Which way? Are you on it? Thanks.” Dino sat back and relaxed again. “The car left your house and turned downtown on Second Avenue. We are in pursuit.”
“But you’ve lost the connection again?”
“Yeah, but he said to call back in a couple of minutes so they can get a new location.” Dino put his head back onto the headrest and appeared to doze.
Stone waited impatiently, then jabbed Dino with an elbow.
Dino didn’t open his eyes. “Yeah?”
“It’s been a couple of minutes—make the call.”
“It hasn’t been more than half a minute,” Dino said.
“I timed it with my watch,” Stone lied.
“Oh, all right.” Dino called the number. “Hi, Mr. Beria, how’s everything going?” He held the phone away from his ear while the man on the other end shouted. “Why shouldn’t I call you Mr. Beria?” Dino said. “That’s your name, isn’t it?” Another torrent of shouting. “I mean, have you sent somebody to the Barrington house in England to get the thumb drive? Well, he should be back at the house inside an hour. How’s the weather where you are? Oh, good, I hear it’s raining like hell in England, but then, it usually is. Tell your guy to drive carefully; those country roads can get slippery when they’re wet.” Dino put down his phone. “They hung up again. Some people just can’t carry on a conversation, you know?”
“Yes, I know,” Stone said.
Dino’s phone rang. “Bacchetti. Did you get a new location? Why the hell would they do that? Okay, I’ll call them again in a couple of minutes.” He hung up.
“Now what?”
“Now they’re on First Avenue, headed uptown. Every time they hang up we lose the connection. I’ll call back in a couple of minutes, and this time I want to see you timing it.”
Stone pressed the start button on his Rolex Daytona. “Okay, I’m timing it.”
“Let me know when it’s two minutes,” he said.
“I’ll do that,” Stone said. “And we need to go to my house.”
“Why?”
“I want to send Bugg some data from the thumb drive so when they check it out, it will appear to work.”