'You're forgetting something.'
'What?'
'She didn't talk to the D.A.'s people.'
'So she's getting a reward from Tony?' asked Rick.
'No, I don't think it's that.'
'What?'
'If she gets caught again, he knows she'll be quiet. Or can be quiet.'
'That's not a good enough reason to want her to do it.'
'I know. I'm talking about factors. The other reason is that her system worked.'
'Somebody else could think of another system. You could think of a system, for God's sake.'
'I could, I suppose, but I wouldn't,' Paul said. 'It wouldn't be as good as hers, either. She has a gift for this kind of thing. I actually wish she had not had such a gift, because you exploited it, but it's true she has the ability. Anyway, you're forgetting about how Tony's mind works. He likes something, he stays with it. I heard he's got ten pairs of the same shoes, never wears anything else.'
'Those slip-on things, loafers, with a heel. Sort of a Cuban look.'
'Tony is not Cuban.'
'So he wants to stick with Christina?' Rick continued. 'That makes me think he's got some kind of thing coming up.'
'Possible.'
'You know what?'
'No.'
'Bullshit.'
'All I know is, he's sending stuff into JFK, not taking it out,' said Paul. 'They're all messed up over there. They're putting in a new terminal. Trucks everywhere.'
'He's not doing the air freight?'
'No.'
'What?' Rick had been out of the game too long.
'He's shipping stuff out, like I said.'
'So he's not setting up pickup points?'
'Nah.'
'What's he need Christina for, then?'
'When you do a big deal like this, the money goes into a numbered account.'
'So?'
Paul took a breath. 'The money gets put in by one party and another party takes it out. Simple. But there's one problem with that. You need a password or a key code number to take the money out. Both parties have to have it.'
'All right.'
'Tony is careful. You know he needs to get the key code number without being told it. And vice versa. The other guy, too. They don't want to meet or see each other. Nothing on paper.'
He understood now. Christina's old random number generator system could be applied to a new task. Originally the numbers corresponded to places and times. Now they were just numbers that became a sequence. 'But the problem is that both parties still need a piece of paper that tells them where to go at what time. How are you going to know to show up?'
'That's true,' Paul agreed. 'But it's one link farther away. It's not the number of the account, it's some other number. Plus, it's also destroyable.'
'I'm lost here.'
Paul adjusted the air-conditioner vent. 'Let's say we've got a system to make a long number, maybe a number with eight or nine digits. It's a system that can be used anytime. We have it ready. We don't need to make a new number yet. In fact, we don't want a new number yet. That's no good. You're sitting somewhere with the piece of paper and so am I. On that piece of paper are a bunch of numerals, each one corresponding to a time and a place. Next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.-something like that. So I call and say, 'Five.' You start with number five and maybe you do the next five places on the list. Whatever, you can change it around.'
'Then you start?' said Rick. 'You start getting the digits for the new number from each place?'
'Yeah, but you pick situations that change pretty often. Like every fifteen seconds. So that eighteen months from now, if the feds are investigating, they can't say that at 10:00 a.m. on October 5 the elevator was on the sixth floor, or whatever. You pick something that changes almost constantly, that's the key, almost constantly, and leaves no record.'
'Then you destroy the original piece of paper, since it was needed only once.'
'Right,' said Paul. 'Maybe you even had the two people memorize it and destroy it beforehand.'
'So that at this point, when the two people are done getting their number sequence, they each have the same number, but they have never met, never talked about the number, and do not have any piece of paper that came from the other party that tells them what the number was. In fact, if you went back to the same places again at the same time of day, you'd get a different number.'
Paul nodded.
'Tony thinks he's going to get Christina to do this?'
'Maybe.'
'She won't do it.'
'He just got her out of prison.'
'Somebody else could do this.'
'I agree,' Paul said. 'It's just what I heard.'
'She won't do it.'
'Yes, she will.'
'Why?'
'Because if she doesn't, then they will injure her friend.'
'Who?' asked Rick.
'You.'
'Me?' Rick laughed. 'They don't have me.'
'Of course they have you.'
'They don't know where I am now.'
'Are you sure?'
He thought about it. 'No.'
'They put you into play,' said Paul. 'Or Peck put you into play. Who does Peck work for?'
'Himself? Or at least not Tony.'
'Is Peck your friend? Your old pal? You know him?'
'No.'
'Fact, he never liked you.'
'But Peck told me the D.A.'s Office did this against his will. He was all pissed off about it. He said his work was being ruined.'
'You can forget that. Bunch of bird food.'
'He's pretending?'
'Yes, because he wants you to jump in.'
'Why?'
'I'll get to that,' Paul said. 'I got some stuff on that.'
'So you're saying that if I get involved he doesn't mind.'
'Peck comes to you, says she's getting out, so go do the right thing. Go be a hero. And you can't resist.'
He nodded. 'Okay, that's true.'
'They fucking put you into play, Rick. It's a game with a lot of different balls-some move fast, some slow, some you can barely even see. They tell you enough so that you got to go find Christina. They don't shove you together, they make it appear natural, they make you work a little for it. That gets you involved with her. Then they
