Two-Dollar Bill

'I've got another one,' Stone said, holding it up.

'Where's our equipment?' Lance asked his man.

'Van, outside.'

'Get me the rifle and some loaded magazines.'

'Yes, sir.' The man left.

'What are we doing?' Stone asked.

'We're waiting for instructions,' Lance replied.

'Instructions?'

'From Billy Bob.'

The man came back with a large case and a box of magazines.

'Let's wait in the chopper,' Lance said.

'Where are you going with my chopper?' the pilot asked.

'Wherever your client tells you to. You're still flying it.'

'Who are you people?'

Lance shoved an ID wallet under his nose. 'Read it carefully,' he said.

'Okay, I got it.'

'The man you call Stanford is an enemy of your country. We have to deal with him. You're the only person who can get us to him.'

'All right,' the man said. 'Let's go.'

Stone's cell phone vibrated. 'Yes?'

'It's Dino. Tell Lance I got to the police commissioner, and he's given the order to close Times Square.'

Stone relayed the information to Lance.

'Thank God for that,' Lance said.

'Where are you, Dino?' Stone asked. Stone turned on the speakerphone.

'I'm in a subway entrance in the street below the building. There's a SWAT team ready to take that roof.'

'Don't do it, Dino,' Lance said. 'If you try, Billy Bob is going to start lobbing grenades into Times Square, and you don't want that. Are you in touch with the commissioner?'

'He's on his way here, now; I can reach him by phone.'

'Good. Tell him to keep police and television helicopters away from that building, too.'

'Okay, but what are you going to do?'

'I'll let you know in a few minutes.'

'Okay, Dino?' Stone asked.

'Yeah, I'll wait for word.'

Stone hung up. 'Why don't we get this chopper started and get over there?'

'Because we have to wait to be asked. If we show up without an invitation he'll regard us as hostile and start shooting.'

'And why do you think we'll be invited?'

'How else is he going to get out of there?' Lance asked.

54

STONE SAT IN the left copilot's seat of the helicopter and looked back at Lance, who had contrived a harness and some straps to keep him in the back of the helicopter. He was checking over a heavy rifle with a telescopic sight. The pilot sat nervously in the right front seat, waiting for instructions.

Suddenly, the radio in Stone's hand came to life.

'Chopper One, this is Stanford.'

Stone handed the radio to the pilot.

'Stanford, Chopper One,' the pilot said.

'What's your location?'

'East Side Heliport.'

'Are you refueled?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Here are your instructions: Take off and fly down the river to Forty-second Street, then up Eighth Avenue to Forty-third, then down Forty-third to the Briggs Building. Do you know it?'

'Yes, sir, there's a heliport on top.'

'Right. Set down there, and I'll get aboard with a passenger.'

'What's our destination from there, sir?'

'I'll tell you when I'm aboard.'

'Yes, sir, I'm on my way; starting engine now.'

'See you shortly.'

The pilot looked back at Lance.

'Let's go,' Lance said. He was practicing opening the sliding passenger door on the pilot's side of the helicopter. 'When you set down, I want this door pointing at Stanford,' Lance said. 'I don't care what the wind sock says, this door has to face him. Got it?'

'Yes, sir.' The pilot started through his checklist and a moment later, they were lifting off the heliport.

Stone put on a headset so that he could talk with Lance and the pilot over the noise of the engine. The pilot plugged Billy Bob's handheld radio into a socket on his headset, so they could all hear it over the intercom.

The helicopter rose and turned toward the East River, gaining altitude rapidly. At a thousand feet the pilot headed down the river, and when he was abreast of Forty-second Street he turned right and followed it west across Manhattan. Stone had flown in helicopters before, but never in the cockpit, and he watched as the pilot maneuvered the chopper. For controls there was a stick and two rudder pedals, as on a conventional airplane, then there was a lever Stone knew was called the 'collective,' which, apparently, had something to do with the propeller on the tail cone. Stone's understanding was that it kept the chopper from spinning with the big rotors.

Stone looked back at Lance, who was on his feet, the big rifle slung over a shoulder, looking ready. 'Lance?' he said.

'Yes?'

'You will remember that Billy Bob is handcuffed to Peter, won't you?'

Lance did not reply.

'Lance?'

'Shut up, and be ready to follow me out of the helicopter,' Lance said.

'Any other instructions?' Stone asked.

'Yes, don't let Billy Bob shoot either one of us.'

'Pilot,' Lance said. 'I want you to land very slowly, more slowly than you're accustomed to, understand?'

'Yes, sir,' the pilot replied.

They were passing Times Square. Stone craned his neck and saw that the NYPD had emptied it of traffic, that the only vehicles in the streets were black-and-white cars. He was amazed to see how quickly this had happened, but he knew the department had a procedure for clearing Times Square, as part of its response to terrorist threats.

'Eighth Avenue,' the pilot called out.

'Slow down,' Lance said. 'I want him to have plenty of time to see you coming.'

The pilot eased back the throttle, and the nose of the chopper came up to allow it to maintain altitude.

'You see the building?' Lance asked.

'Yes, sir,' the pilot replied. 'I'm aiming for the big H on the roof. Wind's from the north, less than ten knots, according to the wind sock on the roof.'

'Remember, land with the right side of the aircraft pointing at Stanford, regardless of where the wind is.'

'Yes, sir.'

Stone heard a magazine driven home and the rifle having its action worked.