Firebreak

2

"Happy hunting," the clerk said, handing over the key, and Parker said, "Thanks."

As they walked down the cold space between the maroon doors of the units and the cars parked out front, Wiss said, "She thinks we're hunters, getting ready for the season."

"Well, we are," Parker said, and stopped at his room, number eleven.

Pointing, Wiss said, "We're all connected, with doors in between. Frank's next, then me, then Larry."

"I'll unpack, then meet where?"

"My room," Wiss said, "it's handiest. Bring your chair, there's only one in each room."

Elkins' room was empty and very neat, as though the guest hadn't arrived yet. Elkins and Wiss were together in Wiss's room, playing cards. This place looked more lived-in, maybe just because of the two men with cards in their hands. All the interior doors were open, and through the last one Parker could see Lloyd seated cross-legged on the floor in there, screens and keyboards and phones in a semicircle on the floor around him, a set of thin black earphones on his head, notepad in his lap, making notes.

Wiss looked up from his hand when Parker walked in. Nodding his head at the dresser, he said, "Bourbon, ice bucket, plastic glasses."

Parker put his chair near the card players, then crossed to the dresser, saying, "What's going on?"

"Larry's getting an update," Wiss told him.

Elkins played a card and said, 'The feds are fighting with Washington. The feds here, fighting with the feds there." He glanced at Parker. "You know what they call it? Washington? You know what the feds call Washington? Sog. Seat of government. Sog. English isn't good enough for them."

Parker brought his glass back, sat beside the other two, and said, "What are they arguing about?"

'The ones here," Elkins said, watching Wiss play, "are absolutely sure there*s something to find. Art. Paintings. They think illegally in the country, maybe Holocaust stuff, stolen by the Nazis. The feds there say, where's your evidence? Where's your probable cause? You are dealing with rich important people here, without a smirch on their character, don't step on your dick out there."

Parker said, "You're saying, they can't find the hidden rooms."

"Not so far," Elkins agreed.

Wiss said, "But Larry says, they're looking for the architect. The main architect, there was more than one there. But the main one's supposed to be in San Francisco, his office is in San Francisco, but they think he's in Tokyo right now, on a project, or Sao Paulo."

Parker said, "Sooner or later, they'll find the plans. You can't hide— What did you say it was? Three rooms?"

"About this size," Wiss said. "About like going from you to Frank to me."

"So it could be a space forty by fifteen." Parker shook his head. "They can't not find that."

"Well, it's the basement," Elkins pointed out, "and it's modern architecture, you know, it isn't your basic shoebox, it's got funny angles, and not all of it has basement underneath, the way it's built into the side of the mountain."

"Also," Wiss said, "part of the job would have been to hide it, fool the eye, make it look as though there isn't any space unaccounted for."

"Still," Parker said, "they'll find it."

"It's looking like," Elkins said, "they're not gonna find it without the plans. And they may not be given the time. They been there since yesterday, it's getting to be an embarrassment, Sog wants them to pull out before the heavyweights start leaning on them."

"From what Larry's hearing," Wiss added, "Marino's already got lawyers in DC bitching about this, pulling in markers from congressmen."

Lloyd came in from his room. "Welcome back," he said to Parker.

"You've been busy," Parker said.

Lloyd grinned, pleased with himself, then shrugged it off and said, "We've all been busy. The latest, the ATF talked to the FBI to get the Italian police to talk to Marino. They're setting up an appointment, in Milan, for tomorrow."

Elkins snorted. 'These are cops," he asked, "when they want to talk to you, they give you an appointment?"

"When you got a billion dollars," Wiss commented, "you get an appointment."

Parker said, "So the law's going to be up there at least until tomorrow."

'That's the other thing," Lloyd said. He sat on the edge of Wiss's bed, the only one not drinking, and said, 'They've given up looking. For now. So most of them are leaving, just two staying on, an ATF art specialist named Hayes and a state CID inspector named Moxon. And they're making the staff leave, too, closing the whole compound, nobody in, nobody out."

'Treating it like a crime scene," Wiss pointed out. "Secure the area, bring out the measuring tape and the Polaroid cameras."

"Two of the staff," Lloyd went on, "are going to be staying at this place here. Dave Rappleyea and Fred Wheeler."

Elkins found that amusing. "We're gonna be neighbors?"

'That's right," Lloyd said. "They're making them share a room, up on the second floor."

Elkins said, "Well, they're employees."

Wiss said, "What about Griffith?"

"He's going back to Dallas," Lloyd told him. "I think they'd have liked to keep him, but it isn't a federal offense to ship empty crates around."

Elkins said, "Are you hearing what his story is? Griffith; what's his explanation for the crates?"

"His story is, he doesn't know what they were for. Marino asked him to bring them up, but didn't say why, and Marino's a very good customer, so Griffith did what he wanted, and expected a phone call at the lodge to tell him what to do next."

Wiss said, "Now Marino's gonna talk to Italian cops. What story is he gonna tell?"

"He and Griffith are e-mailing each other all the time," Lloyd said, "but you know how secure that can be."

Elkins laughed. "For instance," he said, "we're reading it."

"Exactly. So they're being very circumspect, very careful what they say to each other. A lot of 'as you know' stuff."

Elkins said, "Are they on the same page yet?"

'The story's going to be," Lloyd told him, "Marino's moving some of his paintings, the ordinary ones out on the walls in the regular part of the lodge, he's gonna move some of them to his place in the Alps, but he didn't decide yet which ones, so he wanted a bunch of different-size crates."

Parker said, "Nobody's going to buy that, not in Italy and not here."

'They might in Sog," Elkins said. "Money's the only thing they really believe, down in Sog."

"It doesn't matter if they believe it," Lloyd said, "it only matters that it gives their lawyers something to say."

Parker said, "I'm trying to decide, is delay better for us, or worse? Do we still want to break in there, or hijack it on the road?"

Wiss said, "I think it's better where it is. We already know the layout. Also, they don't know yet what they're gonna find. Once they've got it, and see what it is, they'll really do tight security." .

Elkins said, "So we've got until they find the architect."

"Well, a little longer," Lloyd told him. "Until they finish talking to the architect's lawyer."

'Then we should talk with our new neighbors," Parker said. "Make them feel at home. Dave Rappleyea and Fred Wheeler."