They hovered for another couple of minutes.
“Something’s wrong,” the pilot said.
SHARPE HAD BYPASSED the tunnel entrance, just in case he was being watched, then turned downtown on Ninth Avenue. Just a few more blocks, he told himself. He joined the West Side Highway at Thirty-ninth Street and headed downtown. Nearly there. He left the highway at the West Side Heliport and parked the car next to it. He could see the chopper on the ground with Larsen standing next to it. The rotor was already turning, and Hildy and Larsen’s “wife” would be inside.
Sharpe had nothing in the car he needed to take with him. He hated to abandon such a nice car, but the lease was up in a couple of months, so what the hell? He jogged toward the waiting helicopter.
Larsen was holding the door for him, and he jumped in and gave Hildy a big kiss. The chopper rose, rotated a hundred and eighty degrees and began to fly north along the Hudson VFR corridor.
Larsen was pointing down. “What’s that on top of your car?” he asked.
Sharpe looked down and saw the egg splatter on the car’s roof. “I don’t know,” he said. “Vandals, I guess.”
“HE’S NOT coming out of this tunnel,” the pilot said, “because he didn’t go into it.”
“You’re right,” Stone said. “We’ve been had.” Then he looked across the river and saw a helicopter take off from the West Side Heliport. “Uh-oh,” he said, pointing. “Head over there.”
The pilot turned the machine and started toward the Hudson. “There’s one that just took off,” he said, pointing at a helicopter making its way north.
“I want to see the parking lot,” Stone said, then he pointed. “There’s the Mercedes with the egg on top.”
“The chopper going north is the only one I see in the air,” the pilot said.
“Follow it,” Stone said. “He’s headed for Westchester Airport.”
The pilot made the turn north. “Well,” he said, “I hope it’s the right helicopter.”
“So do I,” Stone said.
“IS THE AIRPLANE going to be waiting?” Sharpe asked Larsen.
“It’s already there,” Larsen replied. “I’ll call him when we’re five minutes out and tell him to start the engines.”
“Man, oh, man,” Larsen said. “This is really happening.”
“What’s happening?” Hildy asked. “We’re just going to the Bahamas, right?”
“You’ll see when we get there,” Sharpe said.
DINO TAPPED Stone on the shoulder and spoke through his headset from the rear seat. “What the fuck is happening?”
Stone turned toward the rear seats. “They took a helicopter from the West Side Heliport,” Stone replied, “and they’re headed for Westchester. Just enjoy the view of the Hudson.”
Mitzi spoke up. “Should I call Brian?”
“I guess you’d better,” Stone said. “Tell him to alert the team at Westchester that Sharpe and Larsen are headed there in a helicopter and to arrest them on sight.”
“Will do,” Mimi said.
Stone turned back and looked north. “I don’t see the chopper,” he said.
“I was just about to mention that,” the pilot replied. “I don’t see him, either. He was there; then I looked at my chart for a couple of seconds and when I looked up, he was gone.”
“I heard that,” Dino said. “Now what?”
58
STONE WAS ANXIOUSLY LOOKING UP and down both shores of the Hudson River. The George Washington Bridge was coming up and the pilot climbed another hundred feet to clear it.