Ollie said, “What’s that uptight prick doing here?”
“Probably the same thing as us.”
“Too bad Henry couldn’t get him on the payroll.”
Christoph said, “You think Henry would appreciate it if we blasted both of them right now?”
The decision was moot when a green Peugeot pulled up and the detective got inside.
Ollie said, “What should we do? Probably stay with him for a while, huh?”
Christoph had to agree.
CHAPTER 63
I CALLED MY grandfather.
Fiore made me put the phone on speaker so he could hear everything we said. It was a pretty smart move. Too bad I had confidence that my grandfather was craftier than any FBI agent ever born.
He answered his personal residence phone immediately. He had a slight scratch in his throat and I knew I had woken him from a sound sleep.
I said, “Hey, Grandpa, it’s Michael calling from Estonia.” Me calling him “Grandpa” would’ve immediately alerted him that something was up. I could tell by the pause he was trying to figure it out.
He said, “What time is it there, Michael? Because it’s god-awful early here. Everything all right?”
“Sorry. I forgot you’re seven hours behind us in New York.”
“How’s the trip so far?”
I could tell he was stalling as he figured out what was going on. He had to hear that we were on speakerphone. I wasn’t going to make the obvious move and tell him. That might tip off the FBI agent that we were planning something.
“Everything’s good. I’m coming home early.”
“Why’s that?”
“The FBI is forcing me to go home. In fact, an agent is driving me to the airport right now. Can you call your friend at St. Laszlo’s and tell him I’ll pick up that reference material you needed?”
Seamus played it perfectly. All he said was “You bet, boyo.”
I thanked him and hung up. I looked over at Bill Fiore and said, “Satisfied?”
He nodded.
“I won’t tell an elderly priest that a good Catholic boy from Brookline, Massachusetts, didn’t trust him. And that you made me talk to him on speaker.”
Fiore visibly softened for a moment. “I know you’re not a bad guy. My guess is you’re over here for all the right reasons. But the FBI has to maintain a relationship with all the countries that allow us to operate within their borders. I can’t have every hotshot cop in the US coming over here, thinking they can do whatever they want.”
“How many cops want to come to Estonia?”
“You have no idea how much cybercrime originates from here. Teenagers with access to high-speed internet are figuring out schemes to bilk old people out of money in the US. Every swinging dick in this country has a computer.”
“Sounds like it’s a good idea for me to leave.”
“Finally you’re making some sense.”
CHAPTER 64
THANK GOD ST. LASZLO’S was on the way to the hotel, where I still needed to pick up my carry-on bag. It was hard enough to convince the FBI agent to bring me to the church, let alone to let me get my bag before we headed to the airport.
The church was certainly not as grand as the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on the hill in Old Town; it looked more like a suburban church in Baltimore. But it was still clearly Orthodox, with the three horizontal bars on the cross, the bottom bar at an angle and much smaller than the middle bar.
There were no tourists here. Only a few cars were in the parking lot alongside the church, probably the staff vehicles and something for the priest to drive.
We parked on the street directly in front, where a walkway lined with budding bushes led to the main entrance.
I opened the door, and Fiore opened the driver’s door. He just looked at me and said, “You think I’m going to let you just walk away? I’m with you until I see your smiling face walk down the Jetway to your plane.”
This could get tricky. I considered how far I’d be willing to go to escape the FBI’s custody.
A priest in his clerical cassock stepped out the front door and waved to me. He was nothing like I had expected. I don’t know why I had assumed a friend of my grandfather’s would also be an elderly man, but this priest was in his early fifties with slightly graying hair. He looked to be in pretty good shape and had clear, blue eyes.
He hurried down the steps and along the walkway, extending his hand. “You have got to be Seamus’s grandson, Michael. I would see the resemblance anywhere.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment. But I shook his hand and thanked him. I said, “This is my”—I paused for a moment, then finished—“friend, Bill Fiore.”
The priest said, “I’m Martin Zlatic, but everyone calls me Marty.” His accent was almost unnoticeable.
We chatted for a minute about some of the work my grandfather had done and his interest in history. I guess we went on too long because the FBI agent said, “I hate to break this up, but can we grab your grandfather’s envelope and get going?”
Marty said, “I’m so sorry. Yes, of course. Follow me, please.”
If my grandfather had called and tipped Marty off, he was one of the best actors I had ever met.
He took a moment to show us the altar, mentioning that his congregation stood during mass, which explained why there were no pews. I thought about some of the sermons I’d sat through in my childhood—that was a long time to stand.
I knew the clock was ticking. Whatever this priest had in store for me, I hoped he did it soon. Fiore was getting more impatient by the second and could call this whole thing off. I tried to signal Father Marty with a look, communicating that we were up against a deadline.
He led us past the altar into the back corridors. They felt like a maze. I noticed Marty subtly picking up his pace as Bill Fiore started to drift farther back from me. It was right then that I realized this priest wasn’t fooling around. He knew exactly what he was doing. And he was exactly the kind of friend I’d expect my grandfather to have.
We took one corner, then another, and I swear we were headed back to the altar, but instead we just kept walking.
I heard Fiore call out, “Hey, wait up.” He took a wrong turn and I heard some language that shouldn’t be used in a church. Then a more urgent, “Where’d you guys go?”
Suddenly and without warning, Father Marty pressed what looked like a solid wall and shoved me into an opening. I slipped inside just as I heard Fiore yell, “Bennett, you better not leave this church.” I thought I heard the FBI agent running as Marty followed me inside the dark, narrow corridor and set the panel back in place.
He said, “There’s no time to lose. Come with me.” He squeezed past me and nearly jogged down the remarkably constricted hallway.
We took a flight of stairs down. I had to hunch over to make it through the next hallway. Then we descended a long staircase that disappeared into the dark.
My heart was racing as I wondered what I could accomplish while trying to avoid the FBI. It seemed like it took a full minute, but it probably wasn’t nearly that long before Marty opened the last door. The sun hit me right in the face. I looked around and didn’t recognize anything.