GRAHAM SIGNALED for Ralph to hurry his ass up and the Lexus crunched some broken glass as it shuddered to a halt in front of him on the street.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Graham said, throwing himself into the front seat and crouching down behind the dash.
“Everything okay?” Ralph asked, his own head swiveling from side to side now as he squealed away from the curb. With his right hand he felt for the gun under his arm.
“No, it’s not,” Graham said, looking back over the seat through the rear glass for signs of their being followed. “We’re fucked. Haven’t you heard?”
Ralph accelerated, checking his mirrors and slowing only to check the traffic before running the red lights. They reached the on-ramp and he floored it. The engine whined and Graham almost fell into Ralph’s lap as he swerved out into the stream of traffic between two tractor trailers. Ralph surged through the traffic as if someone was hot on their tail, never slowing except when his radar detector signaled a speed trap up ahead.
“Okay, Ralph,” Graham said as they raced along. “Get me out of here. Just get me out.”
Ralph cast him a look.
“If they’re going to have someone kill me, how do they do it?” Graham started and then paused. “How would they do it?”
“You mean right now? Today? Or sometime later?” Ralph asked, checking the mirror and blowing through a gap between two cars.
“I don’t think they put these things off.”
Ralph shrugged. “They didn’t get you coming out.”
“I’m thinking to avoid the mess in front of their own place.”
“I haven’t seen anyone on us,” Ralph said, checking behind them again. “You sure about this?”
“I know people, Ralph,” Graham said. “They are going to kill me if I let them, if you let them. So?”
Ralph nodded and said, “They’ll wait someplace they know you’ll go.”
“My Rochester office,” Graham said. “The house in Mendan.”
“Right, so you don’t go there.”
“But you have to.”
Ralph nodded his head.
“There’s a safe in the master bedroom closet,” Graham said. “I’ve got some cash. There’re a couple suitcases on a shelf in there. Put some clothes in one and take all the money. There’s a black felt bag of diamonds, too. Make sure you get that.”
Ralph nodded without comment and they rode in silence for a few minutes.
“I’ll take you to my hotel room,” Ralph said. “It’ll take a little longer, but they won’t think to look for you. It’s not exactly five stars, but you’ll be safe there while I get everything. I’ll have the pilots file a flight plan to Philly then do an equipment landing in Ithaca so no one can waylay us at the Rochester airport. We can drive down to Ithaca and meet them without giving anyone a heads-up that that’s where we’ll be getting on. We can change the flight plan from there to-”
“London,” Graham said. “You’ll get us new passports and we can travel by train to Zurich.”
Ralph raised his eyebrows. “We coming back?”
“When it’s safe,” Graham said. “I’ll defer to you on that.”
Ralph made a face. “Maybe not for a long time.”
“You need anything?” Graham asked.
Ralph patted his prosthetic leg with one hand and patted the gun under his arm with the other. “Got everything I need here and here.”
“Good,” Graham said.
Ralph reached up under the cuff of the pants on the fake leg and slipped something free from the hardware. “Take this. It’s a thirty-eight, easy to use. Just cock it with your thumb and pull the trigger. Nothing to it.”
Graham took the black gun and turned it over in his hand with a snort. “I’m not going to need this.”
Ralph glanced at him and nodded before turning his attention back to the road. “I hope that’s true.”