“Good. I like explanations; then I can tell who’s lying.”
“Ed Rawls has spent his life in secrecy. He was a spy, after all, and an important one.”
“Has Ed done something he’s ashamed of?”
“We all have,” Stone said.
“Not I.”
“There will come a time, believe me, and you won’t enjoy reliving that time in your life. Ed has spent a good portion of his life killing people, and he is proud that he did it well, but ashamed that he did it at all. When you grill him, it causes him pain.”
“Oh, I get it.”
“Try and restrain yourself. If you think you might cause him pain, ask me first.”
“I can do that, I guess.”
“I hope to God you can.”
Chapter 57
Stone went down to breakfast the following morning because he wanted to be out of the bedroom before Carly woke and made further demands. Ed Rawls was already at the table.
Stone sat down. “Tell me about this Sergeant guy, Ed. He seems to cause you to become skittish. Why is that?”
“Sarge is an old Marine who got drummed out of the Corps for being too much himself.”
“And what was he that frightened people when he was himself?”
“He was a homicidal maniac who enjoyed killing people. In fact, he almost killed his commanding officer, a man a lot of people would have enjoyed killing, but Sarge didn’t mind telling people about how he had tried to eviscerate the man.”
“I suppose that would cause a certain hesitancy in those who surrounded him.”
“You could say that.”
“Have you had dealings with him?”
“Not yet,” Rawls replied, “and I’d like it to stay that way.”
“Just how good an assassin is he?”
“As good as I am, I hear,” Rawls replied. “But whereas I take satisfaction in doing my work well, Sarge apparently invests his job with a certain glee that is absent from mine. And frankly, that scares the living shit out of me. Which is why I try to be where he ain’t.”
“That seems to be working.”
“Yes, but I can’t tell for how long. I wasn’t even sure that he was aware of my existence until I began hearing from friends who were hearing from their friends. Apparently, I’m no longer a casual target, but an assignment.”
“And who is the assignee?”
“Those Russians who are supposed to be at Peter’s beck and call, but who really want him not to exist. Not to mention me, who acted as his guardian.”
“And me?”
“I don’t know if he is even interested in you, but if I were you, I would behave as if he is. The Russians are not particularly fond of you.”
“Greco is.”
“Every rule has an exception. But it is a small one, in this case, and I wouldn’t count on it saving you.”
“How long do you think it would take Sarge to lose interest in us?”
“I wouldn’t count on that, either.”
“Then how do I stop him?”
“Kill him before he kills you.”
“How?”
“Take your pick of weapons, and never be without one.”
“Have you thought of going after him, Ed?”
“I’ve dreamed about it,” Rawls replied. “I’ll let you know when I come up with a plan.”
“Please do.”
Rawls sighed. “The plan may have to include using you for bait.”
“If it does,” Stone said, “I’d appreciate it if you try not to miss.”
Stone saw Rawls off, then returned to the breakfast table for coffee. Carly was waiting for him.
“I had hoped for another round before breakfast,” she said.
“I wanted to see Ed Rawls off and seek some advice from him.”
“What advice?”
“How to thwart this guy, Sarge, and keep him from killing me.”
“How?”
“By killing him first.”
“How can I help?”
“Go armed and shoot first.”
“You mean, seriously?”
“You should take him seriously, though I have no reason to think he knows you exist.”
“So I should run from somebody who isn’t chasing me?”
“Sort of like that. I do think you should stay away from me, until this thing is resolved.”
“You want me to stay away from you?”
“No, no, that’s certainly not what I want. It’s just that I don’t want to contribute to making your existence worse.”
“You think I have a bad existence?”
“No, but I think it would make your life worse if someone is trying to kill you.”
Carly thought about that. “I was in a similar position once, but I figured out how to resolve it.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Well, when I was about fifteen, there was this little shit named Bobby Haney in my class who thought he would amuse himself by making my life hell. He hit me a couple of times, and it hurt, but I was faster than he was, so I ran. Then I got tired of running.”
“So, what did you do?”
“I got some books from the library on self-defense, read them, and practiced for about a month. I saw a couple of films on the subject, too. I got pretty good at it, I figured, but I still had a problem: my weight deficiency. I knew that if Bobby Haney hit me, he could hurt me so badly that I couldn’t defend myself, so I worked on not getting hit.”
“Did that work?”
“I had to find out using the real thing, not a dummy, so I sort of put myself in harm’s way. I went to the gym after school, when I knew the wrestling team would be working out, and I waited until they had finished and were leaving the mats, then I walked over to where Bobby Haney was toweling himself off and just stood there. He was the last to leave, but then he saw me. He said something like, ‘You little cunt.’ So I spat in his eye. I’m still a pretty good spitter.”
“And what did Haney do?”
“What I knew he would do. He ran at me. I did a little sidestep and tripped him. He fell off the mat, onto the hardwood floor and landed on his chin. I figured that was as good as hitting him there, because he bit his tongue.”
“Okay, tell me why you’re still alive.”
“When Haney got up, I kicked him in the ribs, and he went down again. He kept doing that, and so did I. Pretty soon, he couldn’t get up anymore; he was sort of helpless. So, I walked slowly over to where he sat, pulled his chin up, and hit him in the nose, as hard as I could. I felt the cartilage break. He spouted blood, but he still couldn’t get to his feet. I could hear feet behind me, running toward me, so I turned and dodged a couple of wrestlers, tripped one of them, who fell into a pool of Haney’s blood. The other one stopped, and just stood there, no doubt wondering whose blood he was seeing.”
“What happened then?”
“I just looked at Haney and said to him, ‘I don’t want to see you again, except in class. Anywhere else, and I’ll hurt you.’ ”
“And that was it?”
“I never saw him again, except in class.”
“That’s a good story, Carly, but we’re not dealing with school bullies here. So please don’t try that, if anybody bothers us.”
She shrugged. “As you wish.”
Chapter 58
Stone got a call from Bill Eggers, his managing partner. “I need you in my office for lunch with a prospective client,” he said.
“Sure, who’s the client?”
“Name of Peter Greco. He’s the CEO of a conglomerate, made up of half a dozen companies. He reckons they’ll spend about three million a year on legal fees.”
“See you at lunch.” He didn’t mention that he knew Greco and that he had declined to represent his group, something that Greco had said he understood and would respect.