The Partner Read Online Free PDF Page B

recognized as Hamilton Jaynes, Deputy Director, FBI. The number-two man at the Bureau, who just happened to live four blocks over and belong to the same golf club, though the two had never met.
    He allowed them into his spacious den. Stiff introductions were made. They sat while Mrs. Stephano wandered down in her bathrobe, then scurried back up at the sight of a room full of men in dark suits.
    Jaynes did all the talking for the FBI. “We’re working nonstop on this Lanigan discovery. Our intelligence informs us that he’s in your custody. Can you confirm or deny?”
    “No.” Stephano was as cool as ice.
    “I’m holding a warrant for your arrest.”
    The ice melted a bit. Stephano glanced at another stone-faced agent. “On what charges?”
    “Harboring a federal fugitive. Interference. You name it, we’ll include it. What difference does it make? I’m not interested in convicting you. All I want is to haul your ass off to jail, then later we’ll get the rest of your firm, then we’ll lock up your clients. Take about twenty-four hours to round up everybody. We’ll get the indictments later, depending on whether or not we get Lanigan. You get the picture?”
    “Yeah. I think so.”
    “Where’s Lanigan?”
    “Brazil.”
    “I want him. And now.”
    Stephano blinked a couple of times, and things fell into place. Under the circumstances, handing over Lanigan was not a bad move. The feds had ways ofmaking him talk. Faced with life in prison, Patrick just might snap his fingers and make the money appear. There would be enormous pressure from all angles to produce it.
    Later, Stephano would again ponder the incredible question of how anyone in the world knew he had captured Lanigan.
    “All right, here’s the deal,” Stephano said. “Give me forty-eight hours, I’ll give you Lanigan. And you burn my warrant and drop the threats of future prosecution.”
    “It’s a deal.”
    There was a moment of silence as both sides savored the victory. Jaynes said, “I need to know where to pick him up.”
    “Send a plane to Asunción.”
    “Paraguay? What happened to Brazil?”
    “He has friends in Brazil.”
    “Whatever.” Jaynes whispered to an associate, who then left the house. “Is he in one piece?” he asked Stephano.
    “Yeah.”
    “He’d better be. One bruise on his body, and I’ll hound you to hell.”
    “I need to make a phone call.”
    Jaynes actually managed a grin. He scanned the walls and said, “It’s your house.”
    “Are my lines tapped?”
    “No.”
    “You swear?”
    “I said no.”
    “Excuse me.” Stephano stepped into the kitchen, then to a utility room where he kept a hidden cellphone. He walked onto the rear patio where he stood in the wet grass by a gaslight. He called Guy.
    The screaming had stopped for the moment when the Brazilian guarding the van heard the phone ringing. It rested on its power unit in the front seat of the van, its antenna shooting fifteen feet beyond the roof. He answered it in English, then ran to get an American.
    Guy rushed from the cabin and grabbed it.
    “Is he talking?” Stephano asked.
    “A little. He broke about an hour ago.”
    “What do you know?”
    “The money still exists. He doesn’t know where. It’s controlled by a woman in Rio, a lawyer.”
    “Do you have her name?”
    “Yes. We’re making calls now. Osmar has people in Rio.”
    “Can you get any more out of him?”
    “I don’t think so. He’s half-dead, Jack.”
    “Stop whatever you’re doing. Is the doctor there?”
    “Sure.”
    “Get the boy treated and spruced up. Drive him toward Asunción as soon as possible.”
    “But why—”
    “Don’t ask questions. There’s no time for it. The feds are all over us. Just do as I say, and make sure he’s not hurt.”
    “Not hurt? I’ve been trying to kill him for five hours.”
    “Just do as I say. Put him back together. Drug him.Start toward Asunción. Call me every hour, on the hour.”
    “Whatever.”
    “And find the