I closed the phone just as we got to the hotel.
“Jonah,” Ryan said.
“What?”
“Before we meet Frank and Victor, you might want to wipe your eyes.”
We settled in a corner where two small sofas faced each other across a round glass coffee table. We passed the camera to them, allowing them to scroll through the images without comment from us. When Frank got to one frame, he elbowed Victor, who looked in closer and grinned.
“The smoker?” I asked.
“Yeah. Too bad we didn’t get a sniper’s gun too,” Frank said. “Could drop that guy with no more sound than a twig snapping.”
“A silenced pistol up close will do it,” Ryan said.
“If we can get close. Do you know how the team arrives?” Frank asked. “How many different cars? How many different times the gate will open?”
“That’s in Stayner’s notes.” I flipped through the sheets he had filled out. “Right here. The anesthesiologist will arrive first, around eight-thirty, because his set-up takes the longest. Then the operating nurse and scrub nurse usually arrive together in one car, about nine. The assistant surgeon comes in his own car because he lives in Newton, also around nine-thirty. Dr. Stayner himself, not much before ten. He likes the patient out when he arrives so there’s no danger of him being recognized by someone in his social circle.”
“Four possible opportunities to slip in,” Ryan said. “One man each time they open the gate out front.”
“Five,” I said. “The McConnells are coming too.”
“So we jog in behind the cars?” Victor said. “Get done up in blackface and blend into the night?”
“We might be able to slip through the hoarding somewhere,” Ryan said. “Pick our spots based on the camera placements we’ve seen.”
“The other possibility,” I said, “is we get a man into the trunk of Stayner’s car. He can slip out first chance he gets.”
“Why Stayner’s?” Frank asked.
“Because he’ll be the last one in. Everyone else will be impatient to go.”
“Then what?”
“Here’s what I’ve been thinking. One of us dresses up like one of the surgical team. The gown, the mask, all of it. Then we pull a switch and our guy gets in with a gun. Leads the attack from the inside.”
“Pull a switch how?”
“I’m still working on that.”
“Okay,” Frank said. “Five opportunities to get in. And hopefully one to get out.”
“Six,” Ryan said.
“How’s that?” I asked.
“We didn’t count the donor. The guy they can’t start the party without.”
“His name is George Riklitis,” Stayner said over the phone. “Aged forty-seven, five-foot-nine, one hundred and eighty pounds. A day labourer, according to his file, something to do with patios. Excellent health except for chronic back pain, which is immaterial to his suitability as a donor but explains the need for money. I’m told he has brought more children into the world than he can presently afford and jumped at Daggett’s offer.”
“Who’s met him so far?”
“Carol-Ann made the initial contact. I’m not sure who presented the actual offer. Once he accepted it, he reported to one of the hospital affiliates outside the city for further testing.”
“But Daggett would have seen him face to face.”
“Probably.”
“When is Riklitis supposed to arrive?”
“Around a quarter to nine. Before the McConnells, at any rate. We don’t want them meeting at that point. It could overwhelm one of the parties emotionally. He’ll settle in, the nurses will prep him and put him under just as I arrive,” Stayner said.
“Would he have an overnight bag?”
“Yes. They go straight from Halladay’s to the recovery facility so we tell them to bring a few days’ worth of things.”
“Do Daggett’s men ever search these bags or frisk a donor?”
“No. Why?”
“Because Mr. Riklitis will be bringing a gun in.”
“He what? Has he agreed to this?”
“No,” I said. “But neither have you and you’re bringing one too.”
Stayner sputtered, spat and swore at the idea of bringing a gun in with his gear, but I told him there was no point in arguing. No one was asking him to fire it. He just had to bring it in and stash it in a location to be determined. I kept at him until he acquiesced.
Then it was time to go to work on Frank.
“Admit it,” I said. “You look more like a Riklitis than any of us do.”
“You’re still fucking nuts.”
“You’re the closest to his age and size.”
“I don’t care if I’m his identical twin, go fuck yourself. I’m not doing it.”
“Don’t make me say this,” Victor said.
“I’ll kill you if you agree with him,” Frank said. “Flat out kill you.”
“Okay.”
“Okay what? You agree?”
“I agree having a guy inside from the start gives us an edge.”
“And?”
“And it might be easier for you to go in that way than, you know, slipping through the hoarding or running in behind a car.”
“What are you saying, Victor? You saying I put on weight?”
“You don’t exactly slip anymore, Frank. It’s more like you barge.”
“All right, now I’m back to killing you.”
Brothers.
“Just give it some thought,” I said. “If you could get in there with a gun, find Jenn and give us the word, it could all be over in a minute.”
“Yeah, it won’t be you they’re shaving.”
“Stayner would tell the team members at the right time. If necessary, they can stall. Fake an anesthesiology breakdown. We’d make sure you never went under. And Stayner will have a second gun in his gear as backup, in case you have to ditch the one you have.”
“Daggett knows Riklitis. He’ll know I’m not the guy.”
“That’s if he shows up,” I said. I knew in my heart he’d be there for Jenn’s surgery but getting Frank to buy into this was hard enough as it was.
“He’ll be there,” Frank said. “And didn’t Stayner say the donor goes under before he gets there? That throws off the whole trunk scenario.”
“We’ll get him to come in early. Time everything to go off around nine-thirty. I can get Stayner to tell the others to come early too.” My own excitement was starting to build as I began thinking this might actually work.
“Didn’t you tell the congressman you’d wait until after the surgery?” Frank asked me. His protests were getting weaker; I had him.
“I said we might, if it gave us the advantage. But we can’t wait. This is our shot and we have to take it. What do you say, Frank?”
“Can I bring the pump gun in?”
“Only if you can fit it under a gown,” Victor said.
We took the Charger to a nearby mall and split up in search of what we needed: plain black track suits, balaclavas, thin gloves, gym bags, black shoe polish, a crowbar. Prepaid cellphones from Circuit City. When we were
