Lincoln Center to the left, past the Julliard School.
‘Drop us off on 70,’ Archer told the driver. Katic turned to him as Archer saw the driver’s head nod.
‘Why?’ she asked. ‘The cinema is on 67.’
‘We’ll come in from the top. I want to see what we’re walking into.’
‘You don’t trust Siletti?’
He shook his head.
‘Tonight, I don’t trust anyone.’
They stopped on the corner of 70 and Broadway as requested and Katic paid the fare. The two of them stepped out, shutting the doors and the taxi sped off uptown, leaving them there alone.
The streets were relatively busy, not heaving, but there were quite a few pedestrians, headed to bars and the cinema or just outside enjoying the warm night air. Archer stepped up onto the sidewalk beside Katic and didn’t move. He stared down the street ahead, looking for anything unusual. It didn’t matter if Siletti was clean or dirty, he could still have called for back-up. Up ahead, he saw a big digital clock in red letters, mounted on a CNN building on the south side of Columbus Circle.
10:15 pm.
‘What do you think?’ he asked Katic.
She nodded.
‘Let’s go.’
They walked down slowly, side-by-side, checking for anything unusual. Any vans or people sitting in cars. Anyone nearby wearing an earpiece. Any sign of a trap or foul play.
‘Recognise any vehicles?’ Archer asked her.
She shook her head and turned to him.
‘Relax, Archer. We can trust Siletti. He’s one of the good guys.’
‘Even if he is, he might have called for back-up.’
‘That’s OK. We’ll go downtown and I can explain what the hell is going on.’
They crossed the street, twenty yards from the Loews cinema, ahead to their left. Archer looked up and saw the names and show-times of different movies scrolling across a digital black background in red lettering. All the summer blockbusters, still on show, the studios eager to squeeze every cent they could from the paying public before they pulled the movie reels from the cinemas and started packaging them into DVDs. The first door to the large dark foyer of the cinema appeared on their left. Archer quickly checked both ways up and down the street, then opened the door and letting Katic precede him, followed her inside.
Inside, it was dark and busy. There were people all over the place. A long queue had formed in front of the ticket desks, people waiting in line to purchase stubs for whatever movie they were seeing, whilst others were walking to the escalators near the two newcomers and stepping onto the metal steps, making their way upstairs and towards the concession stands and screens. The place felt like a disco or one of those laser tag places Archer had gone to as a kid, dark with occasional glowing lights piercing the gloom. Katic stepped into the north-west corner, Archer beside her. They were in a good spot, an exit either side of them, inconspicuous, not attracting any attention but with a good view of the place. Nevertheless Archer still felt on edge and uneasy. All of a sudden he was starting to regret handing his pistol to Katic.
He guessed who Siletti was the moment he saw him. He was a slim, wiry guy, tall, six two or three maybe. He was dressed in a suit that was a bit too big for him, with shirt and tie, and had a thin moustache over his upper lip and freshly slicked-back dark hair. Katic mentioned her team had been given the night off, so his attire seemed unusual, but maybe he had just dressed up before he left his place, anticipating a long night at Federal Plaza.
Archer’s suspicions that he was looking at an FBI agent were confirmed when he saw the man clock Katic across the room. He stepped through the line of people queuing for tickets, and made his way swiftly towards them. Concern was written all over his face. He glanced over at Archer in the darkness, and Archer saw his right hand was by his hip, close to a pistol that would be surely tucked under the suit jacket. Archer eased himself back a hair. If Siletti pulled it, Archer could probably grab the Sig from the back of Katic’s waistband before she reacted.
‘There you are,’ he said to Katic.
He glanced at Archer, hostile.
‘He’s on our side,’ Katic said, reading the look in his eyes. ‘Like I told you, he’s been working with Gerrard.’
‘No way,’ Siletti said, his hand still by his hip.
‘Yes way. Take your hand away from there.