‘A sweater made from reindeer fur. You’ll love it!’
Payne smiled. ‘How’s Kaiser doing?’
‘He’s okay. He’s on his way to some private medical facility that’s on retainer. Huber and Richter just left. They pulled out about five minutes ago.’
‘Why didn’t you wake me?’
Jones laughed. ‘Why? Because I heard you had a hissy fit on the way here. Petr thought it might be best if we let you rest.’
Payne shook his head. ‘Give me a break. I didn’t have a hissy fit. I gave an impassioned account of our current status. No more, no less.’
‘Like I said, a hissy fit!’
‘Whatever.’
Jones patted him on the back. ‘I have to admit, I was kind of surprised when I saw Heidi. That’s a curveball I didn’t expect.’
‘The question is, what do we do with her?’
Jones made sure no one else was listening. ‘I’ll tell you what I’d like to do to her. That girl is gorgeous!’
‘For the record, I said with her. I didn’t say to her.’
‘With her, to her, in her, behind her – they’re all prepositions. As long as she’s having fun, what’s the difference?’
Payne rolled his eyes. ‘Before you run to the store to buy whipped cream, don’t you think we should clean up our mess first?’
‘I thought I did that when I torched the bunker.’
‘Did you wipe down the ATV?’
Jones shook his head. ‘Nope.’
‘What about that guy you shot?
‘Which guy?’
‘The one in the car park.’
‘What about him?’
‘Did you get the slug from his head?’
‘Nope. Not enough time.’
‘Which gun did you use?’
Jones grimaced. ‘My Sig.’
‘Like I said, we’ve got a mess to clean up.’
‘I guess you’re right. What did you have in mind?’
Payne smiled. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.’
48
Kaiser’s Warehouse
Innsbruck, Austria
After punching in the code to unlock his encrypted cell phone, Payne entered the phone number from memory. In his line of work, contact lists could get people killed.
His friend answered on the third ring. ‘This is Dial.’
‘Hey, Nick, it’s Jonathon Payne.’
Nick Dial leaned back in his office chair and grinned. He hadn’t spoken to Payne in almost a month, which was normal for them since their hectic schedules got in the way of their friendship. Born in America but stationed in France, Dial ran the homicide division at Interpol, the largest international crime-fighting organization in the world. His job was to coordinate the flow of information between police departments any time a murder investigation crossed national boundaries. All told he was in charge of 186 member countries, filled with billions of people and hundreds of languages.
Dial asked, ‘Are you calling to give me shit about your party?’
Payne laughed. Every year he sent Dial an invitation to his end of summer boat party, even though he knew Dial wouldn’t be able to attend. The journey to Pittsburgh was a tad too long. ‘Come on, Nick. When was the last time I gave you shit about anything?’
‘Let me think. When was the last time we talked?’
‘Touche.’
Dial smiled at his word choice. ‘Finally, a French word I can understand! I swear, I’d like this country a whole lot better if everyone spoke English.’
‘Hold up. You live in France and can’t speak French?’
‘I can speak it just fine. I simply prefer English.’
‘What about German? Can you speak German?’
‘My German is okay, but not great. Why do you ask?’
‘Because DJ and I are headed to Oktoberfest.’
‘Really? Wow, you two party a lot. When are you going?’
‘We left Pittsburgh yesterday. We should be in Munich by the end of the week.’
Dial pondered the timeline. Something didn’t add up. ‘Please tell me you’re not going by boat. If so, I’ve got some horrible news. Germany is not on the water.’
Payne played along. ‘Are you positive? My instructors at the Naval Academy assured me it was. If you’re right about this, the Pentagon has several invasion plans they have to change.’