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.We laughed at how Ted showed up with a bunch of well-armed sailors, rescuing me just as I was about to get waylaid by smugglers aboard a launch at Pearl Harbor.“Enough talk.” It was Kamal Nazari, or Kermit Nagy, breaking in.“Be at Cool Springs at twelve with the scroll or your wife will die.And come alone.”Closing my eyes, I saw Jill as I had left her yesterday morning, her face wreathed in a broad smile.I hated this man for what he was doing to her.If I had a chance to kill him, he’d take all my rounds in the gut.“What will you be driving?” I asked.“Just be in your Jeep Cherokee.We will find you.”The location he had specified was at the far end of the mall, the most remote section of the parking area, likely to contain the fewest number of vehicles around the complex.I would have preferred the opposite end, which was always full of cars.“I’m not real familiar with Cool Springs,” I said.“I know the parking lot outside of Hechts, though.Why don’t we meet there?”“No changes.”He hung up.It was 10:05.I had an hour and fifty-five minutes to come up with a workable plan.I reached for my smokes.Old habits die hard and come back easy.Chapter 20After spearing the number pad on my cell phone, I caught David Wolfson at his office.He sounded breathless and harried.“What the hell happened?” he asked.“You were to come back and pick up that damned scroll.What if somebody–”“Take it easy, David,” I said.“Nobody is after you.We found the guy’s house but he had left.Apparently the Temple Alliance people were onto him.”“Well, I don’t like it.J.Q.is dead, your wife is missing.How do I know they–”“I called to see about taking the scroll off your hands,” I said.“Oh.It isn’t here.I left it at home.”“Did you enter the wording in your computer?”“In my laptop.But I haven’t had time to do anything with it here.We have a major project three days overdue and the client is calling every hour on the hour.And I need to get by the funeral home where they have J Q.God, what a tragedy.”“How can I get the scroll?” I asked.“I have a key hidden just outside the apartment door.”Welcome, burglars, I thought.Turned out he used one of those fake rocks stuck among a few stones in a garden plot.As I switched off the phone, I glanced up and saw that the bright sun, which had looked so promising an hour ago, was now hidden by a growing mass of clouds.I hadn’t taken time to watch or listen to any news and had no idea what the weather was supposed to do.I thought of Jill, how she checked the weather conditions and forecasts painstakingly before every takeoff.I thought about how much I missed her and felt my eyes burning as I drove toward the motel.I was just pulling into a parking slot when Ted called.“Find any trace of our man?” I asked, holding out little hope.“I found where he wasn’t.He was nowhere around Star Express.”“Well, I have some good news,” I said.“I talked to Jill.”“Thank God! Is she okay?”“Seems to be.They’re supposed to bring her to Cool Springs at noon.”I played the tape of our conversation and plans for the rendezvous.“I have no clue where he was calling from,” I said when I switched off the recorder.“Did they give you any idea at Star Express where he might have gone?”“Claimed he was taking a few days off after a Vegas run.I used the old insurance investigator routine, said I had a few questions about him.The lady gave me a look and said I was the second bunch inquiring into Mr.Nagy this morning.”“The second bunch?”“Yeah.Two guys who sounded remarkably like your friends from the Temple Alliance.”“I wonder if they’ve had any better luck finding the Palestinians?”“Probably not.I was handed over to the boss, Mr.Intermaggio.”“Great.He’s the prototype arrogant Yankee from New Jersey.I’ve often wondered if he had Mafia connections.”Ted gave a short, dry laugh.“He’s a consummate liar, anyway.From the picture he painted of Kermit Nagy, the man will soon be up for sainthood.Intermaggio claimed the guy was Lebanese.”“He’s about as Lebanese as I am.”“Supposedly, he’s highly thought of by his countrymen.Intermaggio said they worked together closely.You turn up anything on Sheridan?”“One lead,” I said.I told him about Mrs.Baker’s description of the post-trip visitors.“You thinking drug dealers?”“Sure has the sound of it.Junkets all around the country.Tractor-trailers that could haul lots of things besides sound equipment and scenery.He brings it home and the dealers drop by.”“And bring their dough [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]