Chapter 50

Chapter 50—Preparing for

the fourth meeting

4:59 p.m., Thursday, December 29

Just as he had promised Allison, James arranged to pick up Jerry for the fourth meeting. James had it planned to arrive at the cottage at least half an hour early, so that he could air it out. But Jerry kept him waiting for over fifteen minutes. So, it started to look to James like time might be a little tight. After the first five minutes, James texted Jerry to find out where he was. Jerry apologized, and told him he would be fifteen or twenty minutes late. Rather than take the chance of arousing the interest of the police, James opted to drive around the block, and return to the pickup spot about the time Jerry said he would be there.
As he pulled up, Jerry came trotting across the sidewalk toward him. James marveled at how relaxed and jovial Jerry appeared.
“My God,” James thought, “if he only knew all the trouble he was causing us, and just how close he was to attracting Jack’s wrath. If he only knew the half of it.”
“Hi, Jerry,” James said with a very friendly smile. Under some circumstances, he might have resented being made to wait—especially given the gravity of the meeting they were about to attend together. But he knew that any negativity expressed on his face would only serve to alienate his friend. And tonight, he wanted to draw out the best in all of them.
“Hey, James,” Jerry said, “I am so sorry to keep you waiting. I do appreciate your picking me up, and all.”
“Not a problem,” James responded. And he meant it—he did not consider it anything but the reasonable thing to do.
“I’m really doing much better,” Jerry said. “For a while there I started thinking I might have to resort to reading lips. But I’m back to where I was before the infection. In fact, the way they have this thing set up this time, I can actually hear better now than I have since I lost my hearing.” Jerry paused for a few seconds, and then continued. “But don’t bother to sing to me—I still can’t appreciate music. It just sounds like noise. But I can’t complain, at least I can hear and understand what people say.”
“Not to worry, Jerry, I don’t sing unless I’m in the shower, or tipping a pint. And Allison’s not going to let that happen tonight.”
“That’s the one thing that’s been lacking,” Jerry said. “When Bob was in charge, at least we could toss down a few beers. I suppose I can appreciate Al’s position on that, but I think I would like it better with a drink in my hand. Might even lighten up Reg a bit. … On second thought, I don’t think anything would lighten him up. He is one intense dude.”
“Too bad you missed the last meeting,” James said, trying to prepare his friend a bit. “If you think Reg is a little heavy handed, you should have met his friend, Handler.”
“No thanks,” Jerry quickly replied. “I’ve heard enough about him to want to keep my distance. Steve gave me a call.”
“Oh yeah, what did he have to say about it?”
“He didn’t say much—nothing about the meeting. He just said that this Handler guy made him very nervous.”
“That’s probably a good thing,” James replied. “Handler is an imposing personality. A person would do well to stay on his good side.”
“Or better yet,” Jerry interrupted, “stay totally away. I really don’t have a problem with him. I have a job to do, and I’m gonna do it. Come hell or high water—I’m just gonna do my job. I think that’s all he’s looking for. He’s good for his end, and he expects the rest of us to carry our weight. That’s fine with me.”
“I hope you’re right about that,” James replied.
“Hey, let me tell you why I was late,” Jerry said. “I ran into the most interesting old friend on my way to meet you—very strange. I hadn’t seen him for years, and there he was, standing in the middle of Grand Central Terminal. I almost walked by him at first, then I recognized him. It was strange. … You know the guy, too. He’s a spook. Mossad. I think he must have been on an assignment. He seemed a little uncomfortable talking to me, but I could not miss him. You know how I am with faces.”
“Who did you run into?” James asked, more than a little interested.
“Griffin. You remember him, don’t you? I’m sure that was not his real name, but he was friendly with Bob, back in the day.”
“Yeah, sure,” James responded. “… Doesn’t that have a strange feel to it, Jerry? Running into Griffin like that?”
“Not at the time,” Jerry said, “but when I stopped to think about it now, it does make me feel a little uneasy. …What was his role, anyway? What do you remember about him?”
“I don’t think he’s that dangerous,” James said, “I’ve not seen him since we left. I doubt that I would have picked him out. How did you spot him?”
“You’re gonna get a kick outta this,” Jerry said, a little embarrassed.
“Give me a try, I’m sure he wasn’t wearing a name tag.”
“When I walked by him, I accidently dropped part of my paper,” Jerry explained. “It actually hit this guy’s foot. How embarrassing. When I reached down to pick it up, I took a close look at the shoes he was wearing. I recognized them at once—two thousand dollar Italian Stefano Bemer shoes. In my whole life, I have seen only one person who wore those shoes, and that was Griffin.
So, as I stood up, I took a close look at this guy. He was wearing shades, and had a newspaper stuck in front of his face. But he answered when I said his name. And, like I said, he was definitely taken aback a bit. I suppose I might have blown his cover. I don’t know. What do you think? Could I have been his target?”
“No, I don’t think so,” James answered. Even though he tried to placate Jerry’s anxiety, James was troubled about that encounter.
“What are the chances?” James said to himself, “that Griffin would be staking out the Terminal, at that particular time. And that he would run into Jerry.”
James was too savvy to even consider the possibility of coincidence. Griffin was there because he knew Jerry would be passing through Grand Central at that time, James was thinking. There is ample reason to be concerned.