Dog Tags

CHAPTER 20

ALAN LANDON WAS LISTENING TO THE MOST BORING SPEECH EVER DELIVERED WHEN HIS CELL PHONE RANG. More accurately, it didn’t ring; it vibrated. And it wasn’t his cell phone, at least not his main one. It was his second phone; the one he always answered, no matter what.

Since he was sitting on the dais next to the mayor of New York, and it was the same mayor who was giving the boring speech, answering the phone took some delicate maneuvering. He quietly got up and walked off the stage, hoping that everyone would assume he was going to the restroom. Since the mayor was twenty minutes into a talk on the intricacies of educational reform, the likelihood was that the audience was so close to comatose that they wouldn’t have noticed a hand grenade going off on stage.

As Landon was walking, he opened the phone in his pocket so that the call would go through without cutting to voice mail. He knew the caller would be smart enough to hold on and wait for Landon to answer.

Actually, there was no doubt that Marvin Emerson would hold on. M had called Landon at least thirty times in the last year, and Landon had answered every single time. He also always knew that it was M calling even before he said a word, yet M’s phone ID was blocked. It could only mean one thing: He was the only one who called on that particular phone.

When Landon reached an area in the hallway that afforded him some privacy, he took the phone out of his pocket and spoke into it. “You have news?”

“I do,” said M. “The lawyer pulled it off. The dog is going to be released from the shelter.”

Landon couldn’t help but smile. “Justice triumphs. When will this take place?”

“I’m told tomorrow.”

“Where will it be taken?” Landon asked.

“I don’t have that information yet. But I will. Our people will be there, waiting to follow whoever takes him.”

“Make sure that you are personally involved in that process. But don’t take any action yet. Just keep track of his whereabouts.”

“Will do,” M said.

“Is that all?”

“No, and the other news is not as good.”

Landon hated statements like that. He didn’t need anyone to characterize news in advance; he could certainly figure out for himself whether it was good or not. Those were wasted words, which amounted to wasted time. “Speak.”

“The operation in the prison was not successful. And one of our three people was killed.”

“The other two?”

“Don’t worry, they can’t implicate anyone. They don’t know where the orders or money came from.”

“I trust you’ll take other steps to rectify their failure?” Landon asked, though it was more a statement than a question.

“I will, but it’ll be much harder now.”

“That’s why I pay you the big bucks,” Landon said before cutting off the call and heading back to his seat on the dais. He got there just in time to catch the last five minutes of the speech, and to lead the applause.

Like everyone else in the room, he was applauding the fact that it was over.