“What’s your plan?” Stone asked.
“What Vito said,” Holly replied.
“I mean after we’ve taken him. What are you going to do with him?”
“I haven’t given it much thought,” she said, taking the Sig Pro from her purse and pumping a round into the chamber.
“It’s time you did,” Stone said. “In a few minutes you’re going to have a dangerous criminal on your hands, and you’d better figure out how you’re going to handle him.”
“I’m going to take him home,” she said.
“How?”
“Airlines?”
“Think about how much trouble Trini could make on an airplane with a couple of hundred civilians watching. Then you’ve got to get him to Orchid Beach.”
“We’ll get a flight to Palm Beach, and I’ll have a squad car meet us.”
“I’ve got a better idea.”
“What?”
“I know a guy out at Teterboro who can produce a jet charter on demand—something light, like a Lear or a CitationJet.”
“What’s it going to cost?”
“A guess? Eight, ten thousand.”
“I can spring for that. My department’s got a discretionary fund for emergency expenditures.”
“That’s our best bet. We bundle Trini into Dino’s car, drive him to Teterboro where the jet’s waiting with the engines running. Two and a half, three hours and you’re home.”
“You coming?”
“Once he’s on board, you won’t need me,” Stone said.
“Oh, I need you,” she said, leering at him.
“I thought we satisfied that need last night.”
“Only temporarily.”
“We’ll work on that.”
“Vito!” Dino yelled suddenly, “gimme a price on a whole Genoa salami!”
“Trini’s in the store,” Stone whispered. “Here we go.”
58
STONE PEEPED AROUND the shelves and saw Trini walking toward the counter, with a large semiautomatic pistol stuck in his belt in the small of his back. Stone motioned to Holly, and they fell in behind him.
Dino was waiting for him with half a smile on his face. “Buon giorno,” he said.
“Yeah, yeah, where’s Vito?” Trini responded.
Dino reached behind him, produced a weapon, and stuck it in Trini’s face.