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.Leonard shook his head."Tony told me to stay with you," he said, "and help out any way you needed, and let him know what was going on.""And if we got something going on we don't want him to hear about?""Be depending again," Leonard said."Sometimes not letting him know might in the long run be helping out the best way you could.""That what it might be depending on," Leonard said.Hawk looked at me.I looked back.He shrugged.I nodded."Well, we deal with it when it comes up," Hawk said.Leonard was a hard case."If you can," he said."Oh, hell, Leonard," Hawk said." 'Course we can."47"IT'S GOING TOgo down today," Leonard told us in the parking lot of a donut shop on Route 1A."Tony say he like you in it, but if that don't work for you, stay the fuck out the way.""It work for us," Hawk said."Gray Man working in City Hall?" Leonard said."Yes.""Might tell him not to," Leonard said."When does it start?" I said."You'll know," Leonard said and got out of Hawk's car and walked to his own.Vinnie sat in the backseat, listening to his iPod.There was no way to tell if he'd even known Leonard was there."Tony going right for it," Hawk said."Seems so," I said."Going right after Boots," Hawk said."We want that?" I said.Hawk shook his head."Gotta get the trust-fund money first," Hawk said."And Boots be all we got for that."I drank some coffee." 'Less we can find somebody else to endow the kid's future," I said."Vinnie?" Hawk said.I looked at Vinnie, leaning his head against the leather upholstery in the backseat of Hawk's Jaguar.His eyes were closed as he listened to the music."I see your point," I said."So, we gotta rescue him.""Is that a bitch?" Hawk said."It is," I said.Hawk smiled and did a flawless Stan Laurel."A fine mess I've got us into this time, Ollie.""Well," I said, "unless Leonard had a hidden agenda when he warned us about getting the Gray Man out of harm's way, we can assume it'll start at City Hall.""Agreed," Hawk said."So there should be a lot of diversionary activity.""Should," Hawk said."Which might work for us," I said."Always see the glass half full, don't you," Hawk said."A cockeyed optimist," I said."We engineered this sucker," Hawk said."We can't just warn Boots ahead of time.We blow the whole deal.""Hoist on our own petard," I said.From the backseat, holding his earphones away from his ears, Vinnie said, "You know a petard is a land mine?"Hawk and I looked at each other."I did know that," I said.Vinnie shrugged slightly and put the earphones back in his ears."Hard to plan anything," Hawk said, "till we know what Tony going to do.""We know he's starting at City Hall," I said."Let's call the Gray Man.""Okay," Hawk said."You in, Vinnie?"Vinnie opened his eyes for a moment."Sure," he said and closed his eyes.48THE GRAY MANmet us in the parking lot of a bait-and-tackle shop near the marina on Ocean Way, a few blocks east of City Hall.He got into the backseat of Hawk's car with Vinnie.Neither one paid any attention to the other."Tony Marcus gonna try for Boots," Hawk said."Where?" the Gray Man said."Probably City Hall.""When?""Don't know," Hawk said."Soon.""Are you participating?" the Gray Man said."We gonna get Boots out," Hawk said."Out?"" 'Fore he dies," Hawk said, "Boots gonna give me money for Luther Gillespie's kid.""Ah," the Gray Man said."Yes.You want it all.""Un-huh.""Do you need me to shoot, or can I help you better by remaining covert.""Need you to get us in to Boots, or Boots out to us," Hawk said.The Gray Man nodded."Without revealing myself," the Gray Man said."Exactly," Hawk said.The Gray Man looked past Hawk at the boats in the marina slip.It wasn't much of a marina, and the few boats seemed to be mostly perches for herring gulls."Do we know the timing," the Gray Man said."No," Hawk said."Boots got a private exit?"The Gray Man nodded.He continued to look out past the shabby marina at the dirty harbor.From here you couldn't see the open ocean.You would have thought Vinnie was asleep in the backseat beside the Gray Man, except that his head bobbed very gently in time to the music only he could hear.Probably emblematic of us all, bopping to the tunes only we could listen to.I smiled to myself.Crime buster/ philosopher."When the shooting starts, you think he'll use it?" I said."Boots don't scare easy," Hawk said."He doesn't," I said."But he's not stupid.""We need not decide," the Gray Man said."I'll show you the route.You wait outside.When the shooting starts, I'll urge him.If he comes out, you take him.If he doesn't come out, you come in.""You staying?" I said."Yes.""You're more useful to us alive.""I have been alive a long time," the Gray Man said."And I have heard bullets fly quite often.""Okay," Hawk said."Tell us about the entrance.""Have you writing materials?"Hawk nodded.He took a pad and a ballpoint pen from the glove compartment and handed them back to the Gray Man, who drew silently for a few moments."This is the main entrance," he said."Here?" I said."Where it says MAIN ENTRANCE, with an arrow?"The Gray Man didn't smile."Yes," he said."Around here, down along the side of the building on Broad Street, an alley cuts through between the old City Hall and the addition they built about ten years ago.""Connected by an enclosed bridge at, what, the second floor?" I said."Yes.""If he needed to, the mayor would walk across that bridge from his office and go down fire stairs in the new section that leads to a fire door in the cellar, which leads to a fire door that opens on the alley.But if you go down another flight to the basement level, there's a passageway that connects with the parking garage across Broad Street.""Where are the garage exits?" Hawk said."One opposite the alley," the Gray Man said."On Broad Street.One on the opposite side that empties out onto Exchange Street.""Which is a main drag," Hawk said."On Exchange Street," the Gray Man said, "you are off and running.West on Franklin, north on Essex, south on Federal.""Broad Street would just take you back into the thick of the firefight," Hawk said, looking at the map the Gray Man was sketching."If there was a firefight, and if they surrounded the building.""Only a fool," the Gray Man said, "would fail to surround the building.""Tony isn't a fool," Hawk said."No," I said, "he isn't.""Though occasionally," the Gray Man said, "I wonder about you two.""So do we all," I said."You haven't shared this information about the tunnel with Tony, have you?""No.""Don't," Hawk said.The Gray Man smiled gently and without warmth."I wouldn't think of it," he said
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