“I’m not letting you fly out of here in your condition,” Ed said. “You wouldn’t get there until dawn, anyway.”
Stone’s cell phone vibrated. “Hello?”
“They’re on the ground,” Dino said. “I’m on it.”
42
THEY DEPARTED SANTA Fe Airport early the following morning, feeling better but still tired, having thanked Ed Eagle profusely for his help. They followed the same route back, but stopped at Terre Haute, Indiana, to refuel, and it was starting to get dark when they set down at Teterboro. A car service took them back to the city, and they met Dino at Elaine’s for dinner.
“So where did you follow them to?” Stone asked, when they had ordered a drink.
“To an apartment a couple of blocks from here, on Eighty-eighth Street.”
Holly groaned. “Not again. We’ve traveled, what, a couple of thousand miles, and we’re back where we started?”
“So, why don’t you go over there and get him?” Dino asked.
“We tried that before, and we were met by three or four FBI agents with drawn guns.”
“Oh, yeah, Lance mentioned that.”
“Stone,” Holly said, “why can’t we do in New York what we did in Santa Fe?”
“You mean go to a federal judge?”
“Yes. It worked once, didn’t it?”
“To tell you the truth, I was astonished that it worked.”
Dino spoke up. “You m
ean you got a federal judge to sign off on your warrant?”
“That’s right,” Stone said.
“I’m astonished, too.”
“I think what we would have to do is to force the FBI to show cause why they shouldn’t release him to you. Then there’d be a hearing, where the U.S. Attorney in New York or his staff would argue the motion, and they’d probably win. I think it would be a waste of your time and mine, and speaking of my time, I’ve got to go back to working for a living, instead of chasing Trini Rodriguez all over the country.”
“So you want me to go back to Orchid Beach with my tail between my legs?” Holly asked.
“I wasn’t suggesting a position for your tail, but I think you might have better luck with a federal judge in your own jurisdiction.”
“I think I like Lance’s suggestion better.”
“What, kill Trini?”
“I didn’t hear that,” Dino said.
“I’d love to, really I would,” Holly said brightly.
“Maybe Lance’s other suggestion would be more effective, without getting you put in jail.”
“The New York Times?”
“Right.”
“You said that could make trouble for me and my department.”