Stone Barrington 27 - Doing Hard Time

am checking out of the hotel,” Majorov replied, and started throwing the contents of his closet into two suitcases.
    •   •   •
    The desk clerk looked up from his work to see Mr. Majorov striding through the lobby, followed closely by two large men pushing a luggage cart laden with bags. He picked up the phone and called the bell captain. “I think Mr. Majorov is going to want his car,” he said. “Right now.”
    As he hung up the phone, it rang while it was still in his hand. “Front desk.”
    “It’s Margie, the housekeeper. One of my maids on the fifteenth floor says there are two dead men in the hall outside 1530.”
    “She must be crazy,” the desk clerk said. “Check it out yourself, then call me back.” He hung up, then thought perhaps he should tell the manager about this.
    •   •   •
    “Airport,” Majorov said to the driver. The car moved away, and he turned toward Rackov. “Why did you shoot them?” he asked.
    “They were FBI,” Rackov said. “They showed badges.”
    “But what did they want?”
    “They wanted to come in the suite.”
    “They said nothing else?”
    “Nothing else.”
    Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the airport and were admitted to the ramp, where Majorov’s Gulfstream 450 awaited. The two pilots were walking around the aircraft, inspecting it.
    Majorov and the two bodyguards got out of the car, and the first thing they heard was approaching sirens. Majorov looked around him and found no one watching. He reached into his jacket and came out with the small Beretta Nano that he habitually carried. He pointed it at the two bodyguards and said, “Take out your weapons.” As they did, he shot both of them, then he ran around the car and shouted to one of the pilots, “Call the police!” Then he rapped on the window of the car. “Call Mr. Genaro at the hotel and tell him to send a lawyer to the police station.”
    He didn’t have long to wait for the police, because they were now driving onto the ramp, lights and sirens on. He set the Beretta on the tarmac and raised his hands.
    “Thank God you’re here!” he shouted, as two uniformed officers approached him.

Genaro answered the phone and listened for a moment. “Why does he need a lawyer?” he asked the driver.
    “I think because he shot the two bodyguards.”
    Genaro began blinking rapidly. “Where are you?”
    “At the airport.”
    Genaro hung up and found the hotel manager standing in his doorway. “What?”
    “I sent the two FBI agents up to 1530, and the housekeeper just called to say that they’re both dead, lying in the hallway.”
    “Two FBI agents are dead in my hotel? What the fuck?”
    “I have no idea. Mr. Majorov and his two bodyguards left the hotel right before I got the call. I don’t know where he was going.”
    “He was apparently going to the airport,” Genaro said. “Elsie!” he shouted at his secretary. “Get me the hotel’s lawyer—whatshisname, Greenbaum!”
    •   •   •
    Kerry Smith’s private line rang. “Deputy Director Smith.”
    “Sir, it’s Arch, in Las Vegas.”
    “Yes, Arch. How did the meet with Majorov go?”
    “Very badly, I’m afraid. Both my agents are dead, apparently shot by Majorov’s bodyguards.”
    “
What
? Say that again.”
    Arch repeated the information. “LVPD picked up Majorov at the airport. He had shot the two bodyguards, and he claims they shot the agents, then kidnapped him. They’re holding him at the main police station.”
    “That is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard!” Kerry said.
    “And ten minutes after they got him to the police station a lawyer for the New Desert Inn showed up, met privately with him, and is now demanding his release.”
    “Did Majorov mention why his own bodyguards would kidnap him?”
    “The lawyer told the police that some criminal element in Moscow had ordered him kidnapped and forcibly brought home.”
    “Jesus Christ!”
    “What do you want me to do, sir?”
    “There’s nothing you can do, since he’s in the hands of the local police.”
    “Killing two federal agents is a federal crime.”
    “Don’t you think I know that? Unless we have evidence that Majorov killed them himself or ordered them killed, then all he’s done is shoot the bodyguards. Are they dead?”
    “Yes, sir, they were both shot in the head.”
    “Get the ballistics report and find out if Majorov’s weapon—I assume he had a weapon—killed our two men. If it only killed the