he ducked around the trunk of the Mercedes and yanked open the passenger-side rear door, and slipped inside, laying the muzzle of the big pistol in the side of the spotter’s face.
Weiss was reaching for something on the console beside him, but McGarvey jammed the pistol harder.
“Do exactly as I say or you die now.”
Weiss stopped short.
“If you were reaching for a pistol, pick it up by the barrel and hand it back to me.”
For just a beat Weiss hesitated, but then he slowly handed a standard U.S. military-issue Beretta 92F 9mm autoloader over the seat.
McGarvey pocketed the weapon. “I assume that you work for Admin, and it was you who brought Kangas and Mustapha over to take me down on Sandberger’s orders.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Weiss said.
“If you know who I am, you’ll know what I’ve gone through, and you’ll have to guess that I don’t give a shit who I take out,” McGarvey said, his voice reasonable.
“Okay.”
“Was the IED at Arlington planted on Admin’s orders?”
“I don’t know,” Weiss said, but McGarvey slammed the muzzle of his Glock hard against the man’s cheek, opening a two-inch gash, which immediately began to bleed. “Christ!”
“Tell me what you do know,” McGarvey said.
“You can beat on me all you want, you bastard, but I don’t know,” Weiss said. “If it was a Admin operation it could only have been authorized by Mr. Sandberger or Mr. Remington. No one else in the company has the power to make that kind of a decision.”
McGarvey glanced over at the armed guards sitting just inside the blast barriers, but they hadn’t moved from their folding chairs. “Why were Kangas and Mustapha brought over here?”
“To kill you.”
“On Sandberger’s orders?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” McGarvey asked.
“Mr. Sandberger thought that it was likely you were coming here to assassinate him.”
“And why do you suppose I’d want to do something like that? What do you think I have against your boss?”
“Because you think he ordered the assassination of your son-in-law. And maybe had something to do with the Arlington thing.”
“You’re learning,” McGarvey said. “And you know goddamned well that your boss ordered the hits on my son-in-law and the newspaper reporter because they were getting too close to the Friday Club. And the IED at Arlington was meant for me, but a mistake was made.”
Weiss said nothing.
“Call Sandberger and tell him that you spotted me leaving in a cab, but that you have no idea where I was going.”
Sandberger was still in the booth when Weiss called the second time. Since then the bar had filled up, and he’d switched from martinis to Bud Lite. Four of his people were outside watching the driveway, and Alphonse and Hanson were nursing their Cokes across the barroom near the door.
“He just left in a cab.”
“Which way is he headed?”
“I didn’t see.”
“Aren’t you following him, for Christ’s sake?” Sandberger demanded, his voice rising.
“It happened too fast. By the time I realized it was McGarvey in the back of the cab, it was out on the street and for some reason the stupid bastards at the barrier wanted to check my ID.”
Suddenly nothing was making sense to Sandberger, and he had a strong premonition that wherever Weiss actually was at this moment, McGarvey was there with a pistol to his head. Weiss was too good to have been taken like that, but he was also smart enough to give some sort of a clue if he got any opening. “Who was the lead man on the barrier? Was it Johnny Karp?”
Weiss had no reason to know the names of the contractors guarding the hotel entrance. They operated out of a small and not very well known company headquartered in Los Angeles.
“Johnny left around four, I don’t know who the hell this guy was,” Weiss said.
That was it, McGarvey was with him. “Okay, I want you to get back here as fast as you can. I think McGarvey’s probably going to back off for now, but I want to talk to you.” He motioned Alphonse and Hanson over.
“I think you’re right. He might even be trying to catch up with Tim and Ronni.”
“I’ll be in my suite,” Sandberger said. “Come right up.”
“Yes, sir,” Weiss said and the connection was broken.
Alphonse and Hanson slid in the booth across the table from him. “I just got off the phone with Harry. I think McGarvey got the drop on him and they’re on their way over. Alert our people outside—Harry’s driving a dark blue Mercedes C class—I want them