couple of days, if anyone's looking for me. I'm hoping to clear my head. Sarah's in charge,' I said, locking up behind me.
The Jacob Javits Federal Offices were just a few blocks south of our building, in the middle of Foley Square. A modern high-rise mix of granite and glass, it was home to a host of government agencies, and I had made frequent visits there for conferences, most of them with the FBI on cases involving joint investigations.
Security had always been tight at Federal Plaza. I readied my photo ID and headed for the queue that allowed government employees access. I was reclaiming my folder and cell phone from the metal detector when I looked up and saw a familiar face across the lobby. I was sure it was the man Paige Vallis had known as Harry Strait.
I grabbed my things and hurried across the tiled floors, slick from the water-soaked shoes that had traipsed through the corridors all morning. Dozens of people crisscrossed my path, coming into the building for work or appointments, leaving the area to go to lunch or run errands.
I didn't want to break into a run as long as I had Strait in my sights. I knew there were enough armed men around to pull me aside and see what my problem was if I looked hysterical or unstrung.
He seemed to be alone, heading for an exit on Duane Street, a narrow one-way road that cut across Broadway and ended in Foley Square, at the foot of the federal courthouse. He went out the door and stood at the top of the steps, looking about before trotting down to the sidewalk.
Strait's brief pause allowed me to get within twenty feet of him. My eyes swept the crowd for a sign of any other friendly face to help me try to corner and identify the guy. I was running a bit late for the meeting, and I hoped that Mike or Mercer would also be late.
I flashed my badge at a uniformed guard standing near the door. 'You work here?'
'Yes, ma'am, I do.'
'I've got to catch up with my old boss,' I said, handing him my folder. 'Could you hold on to this for me?'
He didn't know how to respond, but looked at the logo stamped on the label with the words:OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY-HOMICIDE.
He took it from me and called after me, 'I get relieved at two o'clock.'
I turned and gave him a thumbs-up and continued on out the door. Strait was walking west now and I started after him. When I closed within five feet, I yelled out his name.
'Harry?'
There was no response to my tentative call.
'Harry Strait,' I said, in a louder voice.
Without breaking his stride, the man turned his head and looked directly at me. He said nothing but veered left into the street, past the African burial ground, and quickened his pace. Cars were stopped at the traffic light and I cut between them, keeping him in my sights.
Now he began to run, and I ran behind him, watching as the distance grew between us. He pushed people on the sidewalk out of his way, but was gone before they could express their annoyance at him. It was I at whom they hurled insults when I passed them. 'Where the hell do you think you're going in such a hurry?' 'Why don't you slow it down, lady?'
When he reached Broadway, he had the light in his favor and crossed with it. I couldn't make it in time, cars honking at me madly as I ventured too far into the roadway, waiting for traffic to let up. Then I got snarled in the line waiting outside McDonald's. I was sure I could see the top of Strait's head making for Church Street.
Another sharp turn and I followed him around the corner from Duane Street into the alleyway of Thimble Place. I was completely winded now, going too slowly to catch him. I had been a long-distance speed swimmer in high school, but had never sprinted well enough to make this effort worthwhile.
I caught my breath after I made the turn from Thimble onto Thomas Street. A black sedan pulled out of a parking space and stopped at an angle. I took a deep breath and rushed toward the car, as Strait-or whoever he really was-pulled at the door handle with his left hand. I heard him yell, 'Unlock it, dammit!' at the driver.
I rushed toward him and he turned to face me, pointing a gun at me with his right hand. 'Back up and get the hell out of here,' he screamed.
He got into the passenger seat and the car sped off toward Broadway. I could have sworn Peter Robelon was driving.
30
'Of course he has a gun,' Mike said. 'He's an agent.'
He, Mercer, and I were in the reception area of the Secret Service offices. 'How the hell do you know he's an agent?' I asked. 'We don't have a clue who he is. He pulled a gun on me a couple of hours ago and you're defending him already?'
'Yo, blondie. You saw him right here in this building, at high noon, where security's tighter than the inseam on your slacks. I assume he's legit. Maybe old Harry had a son. Maybe he's a junior-Little Mister Agent Strait the Second. He must have had some way to get in and out of this building without causing a stink. I truly doubt he pulled a gun on you. He must have had it drawn for a good reason.'
'And I'm telling you that I was that very reason.'
'Fine. So we made a report. You got a partial plate, and there'll be a make on the car by the end of the day. You're chasing the guy down the street like a banshee. Maybe he thought he had to defend himself.'
'How do we figure out who he is? There must be photo IDs of everyone who works here in Federal Plaza.'
'You weren't even able to describe him with any detail when the agents came to your office the other day. What are you gonna do now? Sit here and look at thousands of pictures of buzz-cut pasty-faced white men and hope for a match?'
'Yeah, I could do that. I didn't have any trouble picking him out of the crowd today.'
It was going on two o'clock. My delay had taken us into the lunch hour, and the agent who had agreed to meet us had stepped away to keep another appointment.
A trim woman, younger than I, came through reception and directly over to the three of us. 'Alvino. Lori Alvino. Sorry about your problem today. You ever get your man?' she asked, greeting me with a handshake.
'She never does, for very long. Don't you start worrying about that, too. I'm Mike Chapman. This is Mercer Wallace, and that's Alex Cooper.'
She guided us into her suite, a good bit larger than most of the agent cubicles I had visited over the years, suggesting the importance of her position.
'You must have some juice, Lori,' Mike said. 'Big digs, glass partition, nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge.'
'I show them the money,' she said, grinning back at him. 'That's why the feds love me. I'm the agent in charge of recovering all assets related to the National Mint, here and abroad. My boss says you need everything I can give you on the coin collection of King Farouk, is that right?'
'Yes, ma'am.'
Alvino established what we knew of the story from Bernard Stark and picked it up from there. 'The U.S. government worked with Farouk's people on a regular basis back then. We're talking 1944 and thereabouts, during World War Two. He had already become the king then-just twenty-four years old and richer than Croesus.'
'Had he started collecting coins by that time?'
'Absolutely. He had dealers all over the States. They tripped over themselves whenever they had something unusual to unload, trying to get it under the royal nose. The more expensive, the better.'
'How did they get the coins to Egypt? Did you just ship things as valuable and as small as that?'
'No way. Farouk used his royal legation to make purchases, which were sent to him regularly by diplomatic pouch. Just about every week. And his staff knew all the rules, believe me.'
'What rules?'
'After FDR's Gold Reserve Act became law, it was illegal to export gold, unless the Treasury specifically issued you a license.'
'Even a single piece of gold?' I asked. 'A single coin?'
