“And I’ll bet Crisp still has his job,” Stone said.
“No, thanks to a little work of mine, but he still has a job: He’s the AIC in American Samoa.”
“Samoa?”
“It was the most remote place they could find to send him. The AIC in Miami is now one Grant Early Harrison, who was the FBI guy I was trying to save when I stuck Trini Rodriguez. He was undercover at the time.”
“Well, Grant Early Harrison must be very grateful to you,” Stone said.
“Grateful, but not very. He’s how I know Trini Rodriguez is in the Program and in New York, but he stopped talking to me the moment he realized that I planned to take Trini.”
“So there’s no more help forthcoming from Agent Harrison?”
“None at all, the bastard, and after I got him his job, too.”
“And how did you do that?” Stone asked.
“After this business was over, and Ed Shine and a lot of other people had been arrested, a deputy director of the FBI paid me a visit and asked me for my account of events. I managed to toss a couple of hand grenades into Harry Crisp’s lap, resulting in his getting shipped to the farthest reaches of the Pacific Rim, and I said some very nice things about Grant, which, ultimately, got him the AIC’s job in Miami.”
“I don’t ever want you for an enemy,” Dino said. “You’re not Italian, are you?”
“No, but I’m an army brat, and I put twenty years in, myself, commanding MPs. In the army, you learn how to work the system.”
“Do you learn how to stick a knife in somebody’s throat, too?”
Holly put a
hand on Dino’s arm. “Oh, Dino, that’s the first thing they teach you in the army, didn’t you know?”
“Are you armed?” Dino asked.
“No, I didn’t want to deal with the hassle at the airport.”
“You got your badge and your ID with you?”
“Sure.”
Dino reached under the table and fiddled with an ankle, then he put his napkin over something and slid it across the table. “I think you’re going to need this,” he said.
Holly lifted the edge of the napkin and peeped under it. “Oh, Dino,” she said, “a Walther PPK. How sweet of you!”
Stone peeped under the napkin, too. “I’ve got one just like it,” he said.
“That’s yours,” Dino said. “You didn’t think I’d give her my piece, did you?”
“What are you doing with my Walther?” Stone demanded.
“You loaned it to me that time when we did that thing.”
“And you never returned it?”
“Holly will give it back to you after she’s shot Trini Rodriguez a few times,” Dino explained.
Holly slipped the weapon into her handbag and returned Dino’s napkin.
“Swell,” Stone said.
“Holly,” Dino said, “I’ve got a couple of friends on the organized crime task force. I’ll mention Rodriguez’s name and see if anybody has heard about him. Do you know what name he’s using in the Program?”