Firebreak

11

Wiss did the easing, through the back door. He took nearly ten minutes at it, and during that time more cars ran up the road, invisible from here, and two ran down it. Then finally Wiss said, "There you are, you son of a bitch," and the door swung open.

Not yet noon on a bright but sunless day; they didn't need a light to find their way around the rooms. This was a much more utilitarian structure, with a simple kitchen and dining room, a combination living room and recreation room with sofas and a Ping-Pong table and television set and bookshelves, plus the security room, all downstairs. They didn't bother to go upstairs, which was presumably all bedrooms, but clustered into the security room.

The alarm systems were all still functioning. Eighteen monitors showed the inside and outside of the lodge, and another cluster of twelve monitors showed the views from the perimeter cameras. They stood and looked at the different pictures of the lodge, and every one of them was crawling with police.

"Bad guys go in," Elkins commented, "but bad guys don't come out."

'There's no cameras in the basement," Wiss said. "We don't know if they got in the gallery or not."

A small black delivery van appeared on the downhill perimeter monitors, then the exterior house monitors as it drove on by, then the uphill monitors. "So Harry didn't make it," Elkins said.

Lloyd was confused. "Why? What was that?"

"Morgue car," Wiss told him, and a black body bag appeared on the house monitors, carried to the front door by four state troopers. "And that," Wiss said, "is Bob, to go with him."

Parker turned away from the screens. 'Time to talk this out."

They moved to the living room, sat on the sofas and chairs, and Lloyd said, 'The great advantage is, we can watch what they're doing, and they have no idea we're here."

Parker said, 'There's at least thirty cops in that place, with more coming. A painting in a crate is too big and heavy to sneak out. It doesn't matter if you can watch them, and we don't know when somebody's gonna decide to make this place their headquarters."

Elkins said, 'That won't happen, Parker, the action's up there."

"I'll watch the monitors," Lloyd offered. "If it looks like they're coming down here, I'll warn you, and I'll let you know if anything useful happens."

Parker looked over at the window. "It gets dark here around five," he said. 'That's when we leave."

Lloyd was unhappy with that, but all he said was, "We'll work it out before then, I know we will." Rising, he said, "I'll go watch," and left the room.

The other three were silent for a couple of minutes, and then Wiss said, "I know Larry's pressing a little hard, Parker, but he's not like Bob and Harry."

"Fine," Parker said.

"When the time comes," Wiss said, "he'll be okay, I'll vouch for him."

Parker looked at Wiss. "Don't vouch for him," he said.

"Wrong word, Ralph," Elkins said.

Wiss looked uncomfortable. "I'm just saying he'll be okay."

"But don't tie yourself to him," Parker said. "If he's gonna be unhappy, I'm not gonna leave him behind me."

"I understand," Wiss said. "If it comes to that, believe me, he's on his own."