him off the ground so that they were face-to-face.
“You are making a big mistake, friend.”
For the first time, Enrique showed fear. He was a big man and not used to being physically dominated.
Henry looked at Peja and nodded toward the window behind the mayor’s desk. “Open it.”
Peja looked at him, confused.
“Open the goddamn window.”
Peja scurried across the room to open the window. The translator kept translating, but fear was in his eyes. Rinus squinted, concentrating on what was happening while he listened. The other Poles watched with anticipation.
When Peja had the window open, Henry carried Enrique over and shoved his upper body through to the outside. They were on the fifth floor, sixty feet to the sidewalk below. Henry grabbed Enrique’s ankles, then extended his arms out the window so that Enrique dangled upside down with Henry taking his entire weight. Henry held him there for several seconds until an odd whimpering sound drifted up to him.
Rinus and several of the more senior Poles were crowding around the window to get a better view.
“Again,” Henry said with exaggerated calm, “I need you to have the workers back at the factory tomorrow morning. Is that something you can guarantee me?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Poole held Carla’s hand as they walked. It was rare for them to be out together like this. At one time this had been commonplace, but their work now made it nearly impossible, and they had settled into a hidden relationship, seeing each other almost exclusively within the confines of their flat. While something about that was both exciting and cozy, it was also nice to be together away from that confined space every once in a while. The mood was, of course, spoiled by Carla’s anxiety.
“Why are you smiling?” Carla asked.
Poole shrugged. “I like walking with you. It’s a break from what I’ve been doing.”
“Good God,” she said, exasperated. “Enrique is being dragged into the mayor’s office and you’re enjoying the walk?”
Poole shrugged, still smiling. “I guess so.” He didn’t know Enrique and was, to be honest, not sure that he wasn’t jealous of the time that Carla spent with him. But there was more than that. Poole knew that he could not fulfill something in Carla. He was not able to match her ideological certainty or zeal, and he wondered if Enrique could. He was concerned about what could happen to Enrique, but it had more to do with Carla’s happiness than Enrique’s well-being.
She gave him a hard look but squeezed his hand, the kind of mixed message that she often gave and that Poole had long ago decided not to try to figure out. They were a block south of City Hall.
“What’s your plan?”
Poole knew that her instinct was to go straight up to the fifth floor and have a go at getting into the office. He also knew that she understood that this plan was not likely to work, that if they did somehow manage to get past all the security and into the mayor’s office, it would probably do more harm than good.
“I think we wait and watch and make sure he comes out sometime soon. What time is it?”
Ten thirty.
They waited five minutes. Poole tried a couple of amiable tracks of conversation, but Carla was having none of it.
She gasped. Poole followed her eyes and saw Enrique dangling from a top-floor window. It was nearly surreal. Enrique hung motionless from two arms that protruded from the window.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.”
Poole worried that Carla was going to hyperventilate. He slid behind her and cupped her shoulders gently in his large hands.
“He’s going to drop him! He’s going to kill him!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Five stories above, Red Henry was enjoying himself.
“Is that something you can guarantee?” he repeated, looking past Enrique’s dangling body to the street below. It was a hell of a drop.
Enrique gasped something unintelligible. Henry jerked his hands a little and Enrique screamed, “Yes. Yes. I guarantee. Yes.”
Henry looked over his shoulder and winked at Rinus, who was smiling with one side of his mouth. Henry stepped back and pulled Enrique roughly back into the room. He was weeping and shaking, and when he got to his feet, a large wet stain showed he had lost control of his bladder.
“You may leave now,” Henry said. “Thank you for your assistance in this matter.”
Enrique staggered toward the door. The two ASU officers took his arms, showing no sympathy for the man’s state. The door was ajar and Enrique was halfway through when