“Go ahead. Admit it,” Luke said. “It was going to be tough to get away from those guys. I saved your ass.”
He cut the engine and they eased past the Danish royal residence, then the pier at Nyhavn, swinging starboard into a placid canal. He docked just beyond the Christiansborg Palace near a spate of outdoor cafés where loud patrons were eating, drinking, smoking. The crowded square fifty yards away was Højbro Plads. Home.
The engine quit and he turned, swinging a right uppercut that slammed into Luke’s jaw, dropping the agent to the deck. The youngster shook off the blow and sprang to his feet, ready for a fight.
“First off,” Malone said. “Don’t call me Pappy. Second, I don’t like your cocksure attitude, it can get people killed. Third, who were those men trying to kill us? And, finally”—he pointed at Kirk—“who the hell is he snitching on?”
He caught the look in the younger man’s eyes, which said, I so want to jostle with you.
But there was something else.
Restraint.
Not a single one of his questions had been answered. He was being played and didn’t like it. “Is there really a man missing?”
“Damn right. And this guy can show us the way.”
“Give me your phone.”
“How do you know I have one?”
“It’s in your back pocket. I saw it. Magellan Billet issue. One hundred percent waterproof, which they weren’t in my day.”
Luke found the unit and unlocked it.
“Call Stephanie.”
The number was entered.
He gripped the phone and said, “Take Kirk and wait over by that café. I need to speak with her in private.”
“I’m not real keen on takin’ orders from retired guys.”
“Call it repayment for fishing you out of the water. Now go.”
He waited for an answer to his call and watched as Luke and Kirk hopped from the boat. He wasn’t an idiot. He realized that his ex-boss had schooled this upstart on how to handle him. Probably told him to push, but not push him away. Otherwise a hotshot like Luke Daniels would have been all over him. But that would have been okay. He hadn’t had a good fight in a while.
“How long did it take before you punched him?” Stephanie asked after the fifth ring.
“I actually waited a little longer than I should have. And I just killed two bad guys.”
He told her what had happened.
“Cotton, I get it. You don’t have a dog in this fight. But I really do have a missing man, who has a wife and three kids. I need to find him.”
She knew what would work on him.
He spotted Kirk and Luke fifty yards away. He should have waited until they were inside his bookshop to make the call, but he was anxious to know the situation so he kept his voice low, turning back toward the canal away from the cafés.
“Barry Kirk knows things,” she said in his ear. “I need him debriefed, then help me out here. You and Luke go find my agent.”
“Is this frat boy you sent any good?”
“Actually, he never went to college. But if he had, I assure you he wouldn’t have been in any fraternity. Not the type.”
He figured Luke was maybe twenty-seven, twenty-eight, probably ex-military, as Stephanie liked to draw from their ranks. But his lack of respect and reckless moves seemed contrary to any form of institutionalized discipline.
And he wasn’t a lawyer.
But he knew Stephanie had been gradually relaxing that rule for her agents.
“I imagine he’s a handful,” he said into the phone.
“To say the least. But he’s good. Which is why I tolerate his … overconfidence. Kind of like someone else who once worked for me.”
“Those men were right there,” he said to her. “On the water. Ready for us. That means either they were lucky, Johnny-on-the-spot, or somebody knew you called me. Did your missing man know where Kirk was headed?”
“No. We told Kirk to head to Sweden.”
He knew she was asking herself the same question.
How did those men know to be there?
“I assume you’re only going to tell me what you think I need to know.”
“You know the drill. This isn’t your operation. Just see about my man, then you’re done.”
“I’ll handle it.”
He ended the call, hopped onto shore, and walked toward Luke, saying, “You got yourself a partner for the night.”
“Do you have a pad and pen I could borrow so I can take notes on what I learn?”
“You always such a smart-ass?”
“You always so warm and friendly?”
“Somebody’s got to see to it the kids don’t get hurt.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Pappy. I can take care of myself.”