Stone Barrington 06-11

breath.
    “I hadn’t expected you, Dino, but you’re welcome. I ought to be able to gain some sort of advantage by having a cop as my guest for a short while.”
    “Thanks for coming,” Stone whispered to Dino.
    “My pleasure,” Dino replied.
    “Now you boys settle down back there,” Billy Bob said. “While your friends are chasing my rented chopper around Long Island, you and I have other fish to fry.”
    “Where’s Arrington?” Stone asked.
    “I didn’t expect you to keep your end of the bargain, Stone, so I didn’t keep mine. You’ll see her later, though.”
    Stone tried to relax and count the car’s turns, figure out where it was going. After five minutes of left and right and U-turns, he gave up.

50
    STONE COULDN’T LOOK at his watch, but he estimated they’d been traveling for nearly an hour when he heard the rattle of a metal garage door opening. The Navigator reversed, and the door came down again.
    “Get ’em out,” Billy Bob said to somebody. The rear door of the truck opened, the blind was rolled back and Stone and Dino were hustled out of the vehicle.
    “Set ’em down in the corner,” Billy Bob said.
    Stone and Dino were pushed into a corner of the garage, which was lit only by daylight coming through small, high windows in the door. A moment later, the garage door opened again, and the Navigator drove out. Stone figured there was still a guard inside with them.
    “Excuse me,” he said to the wall, “do you think you could cuff us a different way? This is very uncomfortable.”
    There was no response.
    Stone managed to turn toward the door and looked around the garage. “We’re alone,” Stone said.
    “Now what?”
    “I’m not sure,” Stone said. “Since our hands are locked behind us, I can’t get to the Keltec.”

    “And, even if you could, there’s nobody to shoot.”
    From somewhere outside the garage came a faint woman’s voice. “Get me out of here!” she said, and there was a banging noise.
    “Is that Arrington?” Dino asked.
    “I’ve never heard her voice under these conditions,” Stone said, “but my best guess is yes.” He yelled as loud as he could. “Arrington?”
    “Stone?” she shouted back.
    “Where are you?”
    “How the hell should I know?” she screamed. “It’s dark.”
    “Just hang on. I’ll try and find you.”
    “I’d help, but they’ve got me handcuffed,” she yelled back.
    “You, too?”
    “You mean you’re handcuffed?”
    “Yes, but I’m working on it.”
    Dino spoke up. “I don’t want to interrupt, but I’d like to know how you’re working on it.”
    “Good news,” Stone said. “I have a handcuff key.”
    “Why?” Dino asked.
    “I’ve been carrying one in my wallet since I was on the force, just for times like this.”
    “Well, that’s just wonderful,” Dino said. “Now could you unlock these cuffs?”
    “There’s a small problem,” Stone said.
    “What problem?”
    “My wallet is in my left front pocket.”
    “Nobody carries his wallet in his left front pocket.”
    “I do. It’s very small and just has credit cards and my driver’s license, that sort of stuff, in it.”
    “Can you reach your left front pocket?”
    “Well, no. That’s the problem. Do you think you can reach it?”
    “Let’s find out,” Dino said. “Sit still, and move your hands to your left.”

    Stone moved his hands to his left, while Dino worked his way as far as he could to Stone’s side.
    “I can’t reach,” Dino said. “I’m a good eight inches short, too. What now?”
    Stone thought about that. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “I’m armed, and I can’t reach the gun, and I have a handcuff key, and I can’t reach that, either.”
    “You don’t have to explain the situation to me,” Dino said. “I get it.”
    “All right, you think of something.”
    “I’m thinking.”
    They both sat quietly, their backs against each other, and thought.
    “I’ve got it,” Dino said.
    “Tell me.”
    “What we have to do is hang you up by your feet, and then your wallet will fall out of your pocket.”
    “Swell, Dino; how are we going to hang me up by my feet?”
    “Jesus, do I have to think of everything ? It’s your turn to figure out something.”
    “Let’s see if we can get to our feet,” Stone said. “Press your back against mine, and let’s work our feet back until we’re upright.”
    “Worth a try,” Dino said.
    They pushed against each other and began taking tiny steps backward.