The October List Part 13

'Never a problem to see you, Pete.'

The men pumped hands vigorously. Both right wrists, coincidentally, were encircled by gold bracelets. One tasteful, one not.

'Well, sit down,' said Peter Karpankov, gesturing toward a chair across from the ornate but well-worn antique table he used for a desk, deep mahogany. 'Have a seat. Do you want a drink? You want some whisky? Is that your drink? You want something else?'

'Naw, but thanks.' Hal Dixon, body a bit stocky, suit a bit rumpled, but s.h.i.+rt pressed, even now at this hour of the evening.

They were on the top, the third floor, of the ancient building on Tenth Avenue that housed Karpankov's company.

The Russian poured some vodka and sipped it warm. He lifted his eyebrow. 'You sure?'

'Naw, really, Pete. I mean, you're right, yeah, I like whisky but nothing for me. The wife smells it on my breath I go home and it's all h.e.l.l to pay. I can have a drink with her but not a drink before her. You know how it is.'

'Ah, women, women, women ...' The lean man chuckled. He looked so much like Vladimir Putin that Dixon had wondered if he was somehow related to the Russian president. He had no accent but sometimes you imagined he did.

There was a rumble from the corner and Karpankov's large dog whose breed Dixon didn't recognize stretched and looked over the visitor slowly. Not exactly hostile, not exactly friendly. He flopped back down on his cus.h.i.+on and sighed. The thing had to weigh 150 pounds. The dog's brown eyes settled on Dixon and would not let go. Black and gray fur maybe naturally spiky, maybe rising, as in hackles.

As in just before the attack.

'He's a good boy,' Karpankov said affectionately.

'Big,' Dixon said.

'Things're going good for you, I hear.' Karpankov looked impressed. 'The new shopping mall project.'

'Sure,' Dixon said. And kept his eyes locked with the Russian's. 'We're making money hand over fist, even though I have no idea what the f.u.c.k that expression means.'

Karpankov blinked. Then laughed. 'Ha, that's true. I never thought about it. "Hand over fist." What's that mean? People are careless, what they say. Cliches, lazy speaking. Makes you sick, sometimes.'

'Sick.'

The view from Karpankov's office was of the Hudson River. Now, at night, the water was just a strip of black. What ebbed and flowed were lights, yellow, red, green, white, easing north and easing south.

Karpankov disconnected and then turned to Dixon, who regarded the man's eyes for as long as he could.

Those are some very weird pupils, he thought, looking away. Not fifty shades of gray. Two.

The Russian said, 'I'm thinking it's about time we should talk about that project in Newark. You and me.'

A joyous drumbeat tickled Dixon's gut. He said enthusiastically, 'That's going to be a ball buster, Pete. Eight figures, easy. Mid eight figures.' Then to himself: Calm the f.u.c.k down. You're talking like a tween gus.h.i.+ng about Bieber.

'Eight, yeah, we're figuring.'

'You'll clean up with it,' Dixon said.

This was a joke because part of the project involved leases to a large dry-cleaning outfit. Dixon had been dying to partic.i.p.ate.

Karpankov didn't seem to get the play on words, though.

Dixon kept his face still you had to when dealing with people like Karpankov but his pleasure was growing by the second. He'd been hoping for a year that Karpankov would bring him in on some project, any project. But Newark? Jesus. That was Boardwalk. That was Park Place.

'But I need a favor, Hal.'

For a piece of Newark, he'd definitely help Karpankov out. Whatever the task. He sat forward, frowning with pleasant antic.i.p.ation.

'Anything.'

But details of the carrot, or stick, were delayed.

Karpankov's phone rang and he said a polite, 'Excuse me.'

'Go right ahead.' Dixon looked at the dog; the dog looked back. Dixon was the first to disengage.

He lifted one shoulder then the other, adjusting his gray suit jacket. It was tight and the cloth was thin wool, too thin for the day's chill. He'd realized this as soon as he'd left the house but didn't want to go back for his overcoat. The wife. His s.h.i.+rt was a pastel shade of blue that some people probably thought was too gaudy. Dixon didn't care. He wore bright s.h.i.+rts; they were his trademark. Yesterday pink, today blue. Tomorrow he'd wear yellow. The canary yellow. It was his favorite. And he always wore it on Sunday.

The Russian ended his call. Then, as always happened in discussions between men, Dixon knew, the mood changed, unmistakably, and it was time for serious horse trading. Karpankov put his fingers together, like he'd buried the pleasantries and tepeed dirt over their grave. 'Now, I'm aware of something.'

'Okay.'

Karpankov often said that. He was aware of something.

'Have you ever heard of the October List?'

'Not familiar. Nope. What is it?'

'I'm not exactly sure. But I do know this: It's a list of names of some people who're powerful. And dangerous. About thirty, maybe a few more. I've heard some of 'em I might've done business with in the past.'

'October List. Why's it called that?'

A shrug. 'n.o.body I've talked to knows. A mystery. It could mean all h.e.l.l's going to break loose in October.'

'Next month.'

'Next month. Or maybe it's that something big happened last October and there're plans in place as a result. Now, Hal, I want that list. I need the list. But I can't have my people do it 'cause I may have a connection. Those people I've worked with. You don't have any connection.'

Because I'm smaller f.u.c.king potatoes, Dixon thought. But that didn't bother him. He nodded eagerly, like a dog. Well, a normal dog, not the big f.u.c.ker in the corner.

The Russian continued, 'Now, here's the thing. I heard from Henry you know Henry, my facilitator?'

'Right. I know Henry. Good man.'

'He is, yes. He heard that there's a woman lives in the city has the list or knows where it is. You get the list from her, then you and me, we'll go half and half on the Newark project.'

'Fifty percent?' Dixon blurted. 'That's very generous, Pete.'

The man waved off the grat.i.tude. 'This woman's name is Gabriela McKenzie. She was the office manager of the p.r.i.c.k who kept the list he's skipped town.'

'You have her address?'

'Upper West Side but she's not there.' Karpankov tepeed his fingers. He leaned forward. 'She and some guy she's with're keeping low, but my sources say they're in the city somewhere. His name's Reardon. My people'll tell me they'll find out their location tonight or tomorrow and let me know.' His voice lowered further, and he put his hands flat on the table. 'Hal, I heard you were the go-to man when it came to life in the streets, you know what I mean? Life in the trenches.'

'I try,' Dixon said modestly. 'I know my way around.'

Karpankov cleared his throat. His eyes slid away to a model car on his desk, one of the six Fords. An Edsel. 'And you'd do whatever you need to, to get the list? You have no problem with that, do you? Even with this person being a woman. And innocent.'

'Not a problem at all.' Dixon meant this, though he didn't add he already found the task a turn-on.

'She's going to be skittish.'

'Girls get that way. Especially depending on the time of month.'

Karpankov smiled. 'I mean, she'll be cautious. I'm not the only one who wants the list. There're some other people after it.'

'Sure, you get me her location, and I'll take care of it.' Dixon frowned as he considered the job. 'So she knows people are looking for her?'

'That's right.'

'You know one thing I've done works pretty good especially with the ladies? I tell 'em I'm like a deacon in a church. It gets their guard down. I even carry a Bible around with me.' He fished the little black book out of his breast pocket.

'Smart, Hal.'

The man beamed. 'That'll let me get up close. Then I pull out my piece and get her into my car. Take her to one of the construction sites, and go to work on her. She'll tell me where the list is. And after? We're pouring concrete Monday at the shopping center. They'll never find the body.'

'Good.'

'And the guy with her? He connected?'

'No, just some businessman she's sleeping with, I think. I don't care about him. But ...' A third tepee.

'I'll take care of him too. Probably better just to shoot him.'

An approving nod from the Russian. 'I'll call you as soon as my people find her.'

The men rose and shook hands again, even more energetically this time, and the gold links clinked dully. Seeing Dixon grip his master's hand so fervently, the dog stood. Dixon released and stepped back immediately.

'It's okay,' Karpankov said. 'He likes you.'

Yeah, Dixon thought, for a main course. He smiled at the dog, who was content to stand and stare.

In five minutes Hal Dixon was outside on the cool, windswept street, tugging his light suit around him. He was relaxing now that he was away from organized crime overlord Peter Karpankov and G.o.dzilla. He began down the street with a jaunty bounce, wondering who he could sell the October List to once he made his own copy.

CHAPTER.

19.

8:30 p.m., Sat.u.r.day

1 hour, 30 minutes earlier

'Horrible,' Gabriela whispered, her teeth set close.

She was quivering. Eyes closed, breathing heavily. 'How could he do that?' In the back of the taxi she leaned into Daniel and he put his arm around her shoulders. She wiped her eyes. 'How could somebody do something so despicable?' Looking at the CVS pharmacy plastic bag at their feet, Gabriela eased closer yet and he tightened his grip. He was strong. The nice suits he wore, the thick yet draping cloth, largely concealed his physique, but one touch of his arm left no doubt he was in good shape.

She thought again about meeting him Friday, yesterday.

And what had transpired.

Felt a low pop within her, at the memory of Daniel, so very close, wiping the moisture from her forehead then, with the same handkerchief, from his.

Was it just twenty-four hours ago? It seemed ages.

The ping again, lower, warmer, pulsing. But she pushed the thought away. Now was hardly the time.

Sarah ...

A half hour earlier their taxi had stopped at his loft in TriBeCa, and he'd picked up a gym bag containing toiletries and a change of clothing. They were now on the way to her apartment so she could do the same and, most important, collect the file folders.

She told him, 'The doc.u.ments might not have anything helpful but they're all we've got to save Sarah's life. I'm grasping at straws at this point.'

Now it was Daniel's gaze that settled on the plastic bag, crumpled like a tiny pale body. Despite what they'd been through, he had remained the epitome of calm until, in that disgusting alley, he'd seen what tumbled from the sack. He'd jerked back, a more violent reaction than hers.

He'd hissed, 'Jesus ...'

The shock was gone but in its place was a surfeit of anger and, perhaps, resolve.

'Why did you want to keep it?' she asked.

When they'd been in the alley Gabriela had flung the bag away fast, as if it were coated in acid. But Daniel, using his elegant silk handkerchief, had collected the sack, along with its contents.