“Are you checking out, sir?”
“No, just going out for the afternoon, and I can’t carry them very well.”
“Do you want me to call you a cab?”
“No, it takes me a while to do things. Leave them with the valet and tell him I’ll be down.”
Teddy gave the bellboy five minutes to clear the lobby so the desk clerk wouldn’t think he was checking out, took one last look around the suite, and went out the door. He was getting better on the crutches. He motored through the lobby and went out front where his bags were waiting with the head valet.
Teddy slipped him a fifty and said, “Thanks for watching my bags. I’ll be needing a cab.”
“Yes, sir. Where will you be wanting to go?”
“Several places. I’ll negotiate with the driver.”
“Yes, sir.” He waved over a cab.
The cabbie loaded Teddy’s bags and helped Teddy in. “Where to?”
“We’ll be making a couple of stops.”
“I have to put down a destination.”
“The New Desert Inn and Casino.”
“That’s here.”
“That’s where we’ll end up. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours.” Teddy handed him a couple of hundred-dollar bills. “If it does, you’ll be well compensated.”
“Sounds good.” The driver picked up his car phone. “Where to first?”
“Must you call it in?”
“That’s procedure.”
“Here’s the deal,” Teddy said. “My wife has detectives on my tail. They’re watching cabs and car services, so there’s no reason to be specific. You’ve got a tourist on a sightseeing trip. Whatever your company wants to charge me is fine, but this is between us.” Teddy slapped two more hundred-dollar bills in the cabbie’s hand.
“Works for me,” the cabbie said. “What unspecified location would you like to sightsee first?”
“Let’s swing by the airport.”
The cabbie took him out to the airport. Teddy called the pilot he’d left his plane with on the way. Then he dug into his luggage, selected a few essentials like bandages and adhesive tape and a left shoe, and slipped them into a shoulder bag.
The pilot met them at the gate. Teddy got out and leaned against the cab.
“You need a ride to the hangar?” the pilot said.
“No, I need you to take these bags and put them on my plane. I need to have the plane ready to go on a moment’s notice.”
“When?”
“This afternoon or tonight.”
“I go home at seven.”
“Not tonight you don’t.” Teddy slipped the pilot two hundred dollars. “You stay here so you can pick up more of these.”
The pilot smiled. “Yes, I do.”
“Where to now?” the cabbie said as they drove off.
“You know the Golden Grill?”
“Sure.”
“We’re going somewhere near it.”
“Near it?”
“Just drive by. I’ll tell you where to stop.”
They drove back to the main strip. Teddy kept his head down passing the New Desert Inn and Casino. It was silly to think anyone might see him, but just that sort of long shot had ruined more than one agent’s mission when he was with the CIA.
“Here we are,” the cabbie said. “It’s up ahead on the left.”
“Go on by and make a U-turn at the next corner, or go around the block—whatever you need to do to get back to that corner going the other way.”
The cabbie checked traffic and had no problem pulling a U-turn.
“Okay,” Teddy said. “Drive down the street and stop two driveways down from the restaurant.”
Two driveways down from the Golden Grill was an all-night diner.
“Pull in there.”
The driver pulled in the driveway and parked.
“Perfect,” Teddy said. “You’re going to be here for a while. You got something to read?”
“I got a paperback thriller.”
“Well, don’t believe a word of it. That type of stuff never happens. I probably won’t be back until after six, but don’t count on it. Go in, get yourself a sandwich to go, and eat it in the car. That way you’re a customer and they can’t bitch about you taking up the spot. If you need something else, get it, but get it to go and get it fast. I may have to leave in a hurry.”
“But probably not till after six?”
“That’s how it is.” Teddy handed him two more hundreds. “We good?”
“We’re good.”
Teddy pulled up his pant leg and took off his cast.
The cabbie’s mouth fell open.
“And you’re not reporting this,” Teddy said, and slapped another two hundred bucks in his hand.
Teddy took a pair of surgical gloves out of the bag and slipped them on. Out of sight of the driver, he took his gun out of his shoulder holster and replaced it with the gun that killed Ace Vargas, checking to be sure it was fully loaded.
When he was all set, he pulled the shoe out of the bag and slipped it on his bare foot. He left the cast, the crutches, and the bag of medical supplies on the floor of the backseat, got out, and hobbled behind the diner.
97
The stairs up from the basement of the Golden Grill had metal cellar doors that slanted from the ground a few feet up the back wall of the restaurant. They were locked, of course, but Teddy wasn’t going in. Instead, he scrambled up the incline. He pulled himself up and peered through the window.
It was just as he figured when he scouted it out. He had a clear view of the private dining room. He could see every seat at the table.
And he couldn’t be seen himself. The back of the Golden Grill was fenced off from its neighbors. It was a pain in the ass to get through, but Teddy had solved tougher problems, broken leg or not. It took him fewer than five minutes to break the bottom off enough slats to squirm through.
It was almost harder pulling himself up the slanted cellar door. He hadn’t climbed with only one leg before. It was doable, but it wasn’t fun. He got in position and checked his watch.
He was early—it was only a quarter to five—but he wouldn’t be going down and up again. He was there for the duration.