” Years ago, he and Susan had stayed at the Royal Danieli, but he had been back since, and it had become sadly run-down, and the beds were impossible. The only thing that remained of the hotel’s former elegance was Luciano, at the reception desk.
“It will cost you a thousand dollars a day.” She was ready to settle for five hundred.
“It’s a deal.” Robert said. He counted out two thousand dollars. “We’ll start with this.”
Pier hesitated. She had a premonition that something was wrong. But the start of the movie she had been promised a bit part in had been delayed, and she needed the money. “Very well,” she said.
“Let’s go.”
Downstairs, Pier watched him scan the street carefully before stepping out to hail a taxi. He’s a target for somebody, Pier thought. I’m getting out of here.
“Look,” Pier said, “I’m not sure I should go to Venice with you. I …”
“We’re going to have a great time,” Robert told her.
Directly across the street he saw a jewellery store. He took Pier’s hand. “Come on. I’m going to get you something pretty.”
“But …”
He led her across the street to the jewellery store.
The clerk behind the counter said, “Buon giorno, signore. Can I help you?”
“Yes,” Robert said. “We’re looking for something lovely for the lady.” He turned to Pier. “Do you like emeralds?”
“I … yes.”
Robert said to the clerk, “Do you have an emerald bracelet?”
“Si, signore. I have a beautiful emerald bracelet.” He walked over to a case and took out a bracelet. “This is our finest. It is fifteen thousand dollars.”
Robert looked at Pier. “Do you like it?”
She was speechless. She nodded.
“We’ll take it,” Robert said. He handed the clerk his ONI credit card.
“One moment, please.” The clerk disappeared into the back room. When he returned, he said, “Shall I wrap it for you, or …?”
“No. My friend will wear it.” Robert put the bracelet on Pier’s wrist. She was staring at it, stunned.
Robert said, “That will look pretty in Venice, won’t it?”
Pier smiled up at him. “Very.”
When they were out on the street, Pier said, “I … I don’t know how to thank you.”
“I just want you to have a good time,” Robert told her. “Do you have a car?”
“No. I used to have an old one, but it was stolen.”
“Do you still have your driver’s licence?”
She was watching him, puzzled. “Yes, but without a car, what good is a driver’s licence?”
“You’ll see. Let’s get out of here.”
He hailed a taxi. “Via Po, please.”
She sat in the taxi, studying him. Why was he so anxious for her company? He had not even touched her. Could he be …?
“Qui!” Robert called to the driver. They were a hundred yards away from Maggiore’s Car Rental Agency.
“We’re getting out here,” Robert told Pier. He paid the driver and waited until the taxi was out of sight. He handed Pier a large bundle of bank notes. “I want you to rent a car for us. Ask for a Fiat or an Alfa Romeo. Tell them we’ll want it for four or five days. This money will cover the deposit. Rent it in your name. I’ll wait for you in the bar across the street.”
Less than eight blocks away, two detectives were questioning the hapless driver of a red truck with French licence plates.
“Vous me faites chier. I have no idea how the fuck that card got in the back of my truck,” the driver screamed. “Some crazy Italian probably put it in there.”
The two detectives looked at each other. One of them said, “I’ll phone it in.”
Francesco Cesar sat at his desk, thinking about the latest development. Earlier, the assignment had seemed so simple. “You won’t have any trouble finding him. When the time comes, we will activate the homing device, and it will lead you right to him.” Someone had obviously underestimated Commander Bellamy.
Colonel Frank Johnson was seated in General Milliard’s office, his huge frame filling the chair.
“We have half the agents in Europe looking for him,” General Milliard said. “So far, they’ve had no luck.”
“It’s going to take more than luck,” Colonel Johnson said. “Bellamy’s good.”
“We know he’s in Rome. The sonofabitch just charged a bracelet for fifteen thousand dollars. We have him bottled up. There’s no way he can get out of Italy. We know the name he’s using on his passport – Arthur Butterfield.”
Colonel Johnson shook his head. “If I know Bellamy, you haven’t a clue about what name he’s using. The only thing you can count on is that Bellamy won’t do what you count on him to do. We’re after a man who’s as good as the best in the business. Maybe better. If there’s any place to run, Bellamy will run there. If there’s any place to hide, he’ll hide there. I think our best bet is to bring him out in the open, smoke him out. Right now, he’s controlling all the moves. We have to take the initiative away from him.”
“You mean, go public? Give it to the press?”
“Exactly.”
General Milliard pursed his lips. “That’s going to be touchy. We can’t afford to expose ourselves.”
“We won’t have to. We’ll put out a release that he’s wanted on a drug-smuggling charge. That way we can get Interpol and all the police departments in Europe involved without tipping our hand.”
General Milliard thought about it for a moment. “I like it.”
“Good. I’m leaving for Rome,” Colonel Johnson said, “I’m going to take charge of the hunt myself.”
When Colonel Frank Johnson returned to his office, he was in a thoughtful mood. He was playing a dangerous game. There was no question about it. He had to find Commander Bellamy.
Robert listened to the phone ring again and again. It was six a.m. in Washington. I’m always waking the old man up, Robert thought.
The Admiral answered on the sixth ring. “Hello …”
“Admiral, I …”
“Robert! What …?”
“Don’t say anything. Your phone is probably bugged. I’m going to make this fast. I just wanted to tell you not to believe anything they’re saying about me. I’d like you to try to find out what’s going on. I may need your help later.”
“Of course. Anything I can do, Robert.”
“I know.”
“I’ll call you later.”
Robert replaced the receiver. No time for a trace. He saw a blue Fiat pull up outside the bar. Pier was at the wheel.
“Move over,” Robert said. “I’ll drive.”
Pier made room for him as he slid in behind the wheel.
“Are we on our way to Venice?” Pier asked.
“Uh huh. We have a couple of stops to make first.” It was time to spread some more chaff around. He turned onto Viale Rossini.
Ahead was the Rossini Travel Service. Robert pulled over to the kerb. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Pier watched him walk into the travel agency. I could just drive away, she.thought, and keep the money, and he would never find me. But the damn car is rented in my name. Cacchio!
Inside the agency, Robert walked up to the woman behind the counter.
“Good day. May I help you?”
“Yes. I’m Commander Robert Bellamy. I’m going to do a bit of travelling,” Robert told her. “I’d like to make some reservations.”
She smiled. “That’s what we are here for, signore. Where are you planning to go?”
“I’d like a first-class airline ticket to Beijing, one way.”
She made a note. “And when would you like to leave?”
“This Friday.”
“Very good.” She pressed some keys on the computer. “There’s an Air China flight leaving at seven forty p.m. Friday night.”
“That will do nicely.”
She pressed some more keys. “There we are. Your reservation is confirmed. Will that be cash or …?”
“Oh, I’m not through yet. I want to reserve a train ticket to Budapest.”
“And when would that be, Commander?”
“Next Monday.”
“And in what name?”
“The same.”
She looked at him strangely. “You are flying to Beijing on Friday and …”
“I’m not finished,” Robert said pleasantly. “I want a one-way airline ticket to Miami, Florida, on Sunday.”
Now she was openly staring at him. “Signore, if this is some kind of a …”
Robert pulled out his ONI credit card and handed it to her. “Just charge the tickets to this card.”
She studied it a moment. “Excuse me.” She went into the back office and came out a few minutes later. “That will be perfectly all right. We will be happy to make the arrangements. Do you wish all the reservations under one name?”
“Yes. Commander Robert Bellamy.”
“Very good.”
Robert watched as she pressed more buttons on the computer. A minute later, three tickets appeared. She tore them off the printer.
“Please put the tickets in separate envelopes,” Robert said.
“Of course. Would you like me to send them to …?”
“I’ll take them with me.”
“Si, signore.”
Robert signed the credit card slip and she handed him his receipt.
“There you are. Have a nice trip … trips … er …”
Robert grinned. “Thanks.” A minute later he was behind the wheel of the car.
“Are we going now?” Pier asked.
“We have just a few more stops to make,” Robert said.
Pier watched him carefully scan the street again before pulling out.
“I want you to do something for me,” Robert told her.
Now it’s coming, Pier thought. He’s going to ask me to do something terrible. “What is it?” she asked.
They had stopped in front of the Hotel Victoria. Robert handed Pier one of the envelopes. “I want you to go to the desk and reserve a suite in the name of Commander Robert Bellamy. Tell them you’re his secretary and that he’ll be arriving in an hour, but that you want to go up to the suite and approve it. When you get inside, leave this envelope on a table in the room.”
She looked at him, puzzled. “That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
The man made no sense at all. “Bene.” She wished she knew what the crazy American was up to. And who is Commander Robert Bellamy? Pier got out of the car and walked into the lobby of the hotel. She was a bit nervous. In the course of practising her profession, she had been thrown out of a few first-class hotels. But the clerk behind the desk greeted her politely. “May I help you, signora?”
“I am the secretary to Commander Robert Bellamy. I wish to reserve a suite for him. He will be here in an hour.”
The clerk consulted the room chart. “We do happen to have one very nice suite available.”
“May I see it, please?” Pier asked.
“Certainly. I’ll have someone show it to you.”
An assistant manager escorted Pier upstairs. They walked into the living room of the suite and Pier looked around. “Will this be satisfactory, signora?”
Pier had not the faintest idea. “Yes, this will be fine.” She removed the envelope from her purse and laid it on a coffee table. “I will leave this here for the Commander,” she said.
“Bene.”
Curiosity got the better of Pier. She opened the envelope. Inside was a one-way plane ticket to Beijing in the name of Robert Bellamy. Pier put the ticket back in the envelope, left it on the table and went downstairs.
The blue Fiat was parked in front of the hotel.
“Any problem?” Robert asked.
“No.”
“We have just two more stops to make, and then we’re on our way,” Robert said cheerfully.
The next stop was the Hotel Valadier. Robert handed Pier another envelope. “I want you to reserve a suite here in the name of Commander Robert Bellamy. Tell them he’ll be checking in within an hour. Then …”
“I leave the envelope upstairs.”
“Right.”
This time Pier walked into the hotel with more confidence. Just act like a lady, she thought. You’ve got to have dignity. That’s the fucking secret.
There was a suite available in the hotel.
“I would like to look at it,” Pier said.
“Of course, signora.”
An assistant manager escorted Pier upstairs. “This is one of our nicest suites.” It was beautiful.
Pier said haughtily, “I suppose it might do. The Commander is very particular, you know.” She took the second envelope out of her purse, opened it, and glanced inside. It contained a train ticket to Budapest in the name of Commander Robert Bellamy. Pier stared at it, confused. What kind of game is this? She left the ticket by the bed stand.
When Pier returned to the car, Robert asked, “How did it go?”
“Fine.”
“Last stop.”
This time it was the Hotel Leonardo da Vinci. Robert handed Pier the third envelope. “I would like you to …”
“I know.”
Inside the hotel, a clerk said, “Yes, indeed, signora, we have a lovely suite. When did you say the Commander will be arriving?”
“In an hour. I would like to examine the suite to see if it is satisfactory.”
“Of course, signora.”
The suite was more lavish than the other two Pier had looked at. The assistant manager showed her the huge bedroom with a large canopied bed in the centre. What a waste, Pier thought. In one night, I could make a fortune here. She took out the third envelope and looked inside. It contained an airplane ticket to Miami, Florida. Pier left the envelope on the bed.
The assistant manager escorted Pier back to the living room. “We have colour TV,” he said.