59
Meg woke up slowly, realizing that she was in the luggage compartment of an SUV, with a pull-out cover closed over her head, cutting out much of the light. Her hands were secured behind her, her handbag chain around her neck, and her ankles were taped together. Her handbag lay about an inch from her nose. There were two things she immediately wanted from the handbag: a little sewing kit, and a small .380 pistol that Stone had given her from his safe when she had complained about feeling in danger. She would get some satisfaction from telling Stone that she had been right.
She heard a cell phone ring and one end of a conversation; she supposed Stone was on the other end. The talker hung up and said angrily, “He keeps calling me Mr. Beria.”
“Why not?” another male voice asked. “It’s your name.”
“Yes, but he’s not supposed to know it.” Then for reasons unknown to her, they switched to Russian.
Meg managed to get her small handbag between her teeth and drag it to a spot near her head, in the center of the compartment that contained her.
WHEN THEY REACHED the house, Stone told Fred to put the Bentley in the garage, just to give him something to do. Then he took Dino into his office.
“What’s going on?” Joan asked as they passed her desk.
“Beria has taken Meg,” he replied, and continued into his office. He sat at his desk and turned to his computer, then glanced at his watch. “Time’s up,” he said to Dino. “Call Fred’s number again.”
Dino pressed the button and waited for an answer, which came quickly. “All right, Mr. Beria, we’re making progress. Major Bugg has been summoned and is on the way to Mr. Barrington’s house. He should be there in about half an hour. It’s still raining hard over there, by the way, so let’s hope he doesn’t drive into a ditch. Okay, okay, I’ll call you in half an hour.” He hung up. “Beria doesn’t like chatting with me.”
“How do you know it’s raining in England?”
“It’s always raining in England,” Dino said. “Also, I needed something to talk about to keep him on the line long enough for my people to get another fix.”
Stone called Major Bugg’s cell phone. “Mr. Barrington? I have obtained a thumb drive from the computer shop in the village. What shall I do with it?”
“Please plug it into your computer’s USB receptacle,” Stone said. “I want to send you some files.” He took the thumb drive from his office safe, plugged it into his computer, and established contact with Bugg’s machine. He chose the first file from each of four sections of the files on his computer and transmitted them to Bugg’s computer as different documents. “There,” he said, “all done. Now please take the thumb drive to the safe and lock it inside. Someone will come for it, then you can open the safe and hand it over.”
“Of course, sir,” Bugg said. “Will you be calling again?”
“When the transaction is complete and the person has left, follow him out and get a description of his car and the number plate before he drives away.”
“Yes, sir. Are you sure you don’t wish me to capture the man?”
“Not necessary, just call me back with the car’s description and the number plate.”
“Yes, sir.”
MEG MANAGED to maneuver into a sitting position, with her back against the rear of the SUV’s backseat, and her handbag near her hands. She managed to unzip it and find the sewing kit, then unzip that and find a small pair of scissors. Cutting the duct tape that held her hands was harder than she had expected, but she managed to free her hands, then her feet. She then opened the handbag, found the small pistol, pumped a round into the chamber, and set the safety. Now she examined the latch of the rear door of the vehicle and decided she could open it from the inside. She tried to relax while she waited for the car to stop for a traffic light.
“WHERE WAS the last fix on Fred’s cell phone?” Stone asked.
“While you were talking to Bugg they seemed to be heading for the FDR Drive,” Dino said. That highway ran along the East River, north and south.
“All right, time to call them again,” Stone said.
Dino made the call. “Hi, Mr. Beria,” he said. “It’s me again, remember? Well, sure I’m hard to forget. I just wanted you to know that Major Bugg has arrived at Mr. Barrington’s house and is waiting there for your man to come and get the thumb drive. No, no, he’s unarmed. He’s happy to give your man the drive. He won’t be a problem. How are you doing? Are you making progress toward where you’re going to let Ms. Harmon out of the car? Thanks, I appreciate that.” Dino hung up.
“He hung up again, but that should have been long enough for a fix. He says he’ll let Meg go as soon as his man in England calls and says the drive checks out.” Dino’s phone rang again. “Bacchetti. No shit? All right, I want every unmarked vehicle you can muster there as soon as possible. No sirens or lights, and don’t bunch up in a pack. Go!” He hung up.
“Where is Meg?” Stone asked.
“Apparently Beria left the FDR Drive and drove onto Randall’s Island, in the East River, and now he’s on Wards Island, where the garbage collectors’ school is.”
“The garbage collectors have a school?”
“Well, sure, they’ve got to learn to make the truck work and how to load it properly and how to empty it, and all that.”
“Who knew?” Stone said.
THE SUV had not stopped, but it had slowed down a lot. Meg decided not to wait for it to come to a halt; she would just roll out onto the ground and hope for the best. She reached for the door latch and struggled with it, but it didn’t work. She tried to retract the cover over her head so she would have access to the rear seat, but that didn’t work, either. She would have to wait until someone unlocked the rear hatch from the outside.
The SUV had made a turn and was now on a rougher road with lots of potholes. Where the hell could she be? Then she heard brush scraping along the sides of the vehicle.
The car stopped, and she could hear the two men arguing, still in Russian. She wished she knew what the hell they were talking about.
She heard the two front doors open, then slam shut. The two men continued to shout at each other as they walked along the two sides of the vehicle toward the rear hatch.
Meg scrunched down with her feet against the hatch and her head against the back of the rear seat, then flipped the safety with her thumb and held the weapon in both hands, pointed at the hatch.
Then the hatch opened and daylight flooded in.