'No.'
'Except I could. He said a million, I said four hundred thousand. I said fuck you, that's all there is, and he bought it. Suppose I said—'
The phone rang. Kenan talked a few minutes, making notes on a scratch pad. 'I'm not coming alone,' he said at one point. 'I got my brother here, he's coming with me. No arguments.' He listened some more and was about to say something else when the phone clicked in his ear.
'We gotta roll,' he said. 'They want the money in two Hefty bags.
That's easy enough. Why two, I wonder? Maybe they don't know what four hundred large is, how much space it takes up.'
'Maybe the doctor told them no heavy lifting.'
'Maybe. We're supposed to go to the corner ofOcean Avenue andFarragut Road .'
'That's in Flatbush, isn't it?'
'I think so.'
'Sure,Farragut Road , that's a couple of blocks fromBrooklynCollege . What's there?'
'A phone booth.' When they had the money divided up and packed in a pair of garbage bags, Kenan handed Peter a gun, a 9-mm automatic. 'Take it,' he insisted. 'We don't want to walk into this unarmed.'
'We don't want to walk into it at all. What good's a gun gonna do me?'
'I don't know. Take it anyway.'
On the way out the door Peter grabbed his brother's arm. 'You forgot to set the alarm,' he said.
'So? They got Francey and we're carrying the money. What's left to steal?'
'You got the alarm, you might as well set it. It can't be any less useful than the goddamn guns.'
'Yeah, you're right,' he said, and ducked into the house. When he emerged he said, 'State-of-the-art security system. You can't break into my house, can't tap my phones, can't bug the premises. All you can do is snatch my wife and make me run around the city with trash bags full of hundred-dollar bills.'
'What's the best way, babe? I was thinkingBay Ridge Parkway and thenKings Highway to Ocean.'
'Yeah, I guess. There's a dozen ways you could go, but that's as good as any. You want to drive, Petey?'
'You want me to?'
'Yeah, why don't you? I'd probably rear-end a cop car, the way I am now. Or run over a nun.'
THEY were supposed to be at theFarragut Road pay phone at eight-thirty. They got there three minutes early, according to Peter's watch. He stayed in the car while Kenan went over to the phone and stood there waiting for it to ring. Earlier, Peter had wedged the gun under his belt in the small of his back. He'd been conscious of the pressure of it while he was driving, and now he took it out and held it in his lap.
The phone rang and Kenan answered it. Eight-thirty, Peter's watch said. Were they doing this by the clock or were they eyeballing the whole operation, somebody sitting in a window in one of the buildings across the street, watching it all happen?
Kenan trotted back to the car, leaned against it. 'Veterans Avenue,' he said.
'Never heard of it.'
'It's somewhere between Flatlands andMillBasin , that area. He gave me directions, Farragut to Flatbush and Flatbush to Avenue N and that runs you right intoVeterans Avenue .'
'And then what happens?'
'Another pay phone at the corner of Veterans andEast Sixty-sixth Street .'
'Why the running around, do you have any idea?'
'Make us crazy. Make sure we don't have a backup. I don't know, Petey. Maybe they're just trying to break our balls.'
'It's working.' Kenan went around to the passenger side, got in.
Peter said, 'Farragut to Flatbush, Flatbush to N. That'd be a right on Flatbush and then I guess a left turn on N?'
'Right. I mean yes, right on Flatbush and left on N.'
'How much time have we got?'
'They didn't say. I don't think they said a time. They said to hurry.'
'I guess we won't stop for coffee.'
'No,' Kenan said. 'I guess not.'
* * *
THE drill was the same at the corner of Veterans and Sixty-sixth.
Peter waited in the car. Kenan went to the phone, and it rang almost immediately.
The kidnapper said, 'Very good. That didn't take long.'
'Now what?'
