The Exchange: After The Firm

Though the wretched Jakl phone was wedged deep in the bottom of Abby’s sizable shoulder bag, which itself was stuffed under her chair, they still spoke softly. The question was, Where? Not if, or when, or how, but where? They had to find a safe place to run and hide with the boys. Her parents’ home in Kentucky, her childhood home, was a possibility, but would be too obvious. Abby’s boss, the publisher of Epicurean, had a cottage on Martha’s Vineyard. But then, virtually everyone they knew in the city had a getaway either in the Hamptons or upstate or somewhere in New England, and the list of options grew longer as they talked. It was easy to think of possible places; the difficulty would be in the asking.

Mitch doubted she would be able to leave the city. They had no idea when Noura might call again and Abby would be expected to drop everything for a meeting. Mitch was more than ready to flee with the boys and forget the office.

The head of River Latin School was Giles Gatterson, a veteran of the city’s pressurized private school business. Mitch served on the Legal & Policy Committee and knew Giles well. He would call him later in the day and explain that they were in an unusual situation that was not covered by any of the rules. For safety reasons, they were taking the boys away for a few days, perhaps even a week. He would be as vague as possible and would not tell Giles the boys were being watched, followed, or threatened. No need to alarm anyone else at the school. He might be more forthcoming later, but not now.

For the $57,000 a year they paid in tuition per child, the school could damned well bend a little. The boys’ assignments would be monitored in person by their parents and online by their teachers.

It was time to make a move. The only question was — Where?

In the restaurant, lunch was ignored. Up in the suite, it was never considered. Cory, Jack, and Darian sat around a small coffee table and walked through various scenarios. For the sake of argument, Darian broached the subject of notifying the FBI and CIA. Crueggal had close contacts with each and he was certain the information would be protected. He did not advocate any contact, but thought it appropriate to at least air it out. The obvious reason to say no was that Giovanna Sandroni was not an American. Jack believed strongly that neither agency would want to get involved, given the unstable relationship with Libya and the likelihood of a bad outcome. The CIA had blown enough operations in recent history to want to stay in its box. Darian agreed. During his long career in intelligence, he’d seen the CIA mishandle many crises, many of which it had created in the first place. He had no confidence in the agency’s ability to either keep its nose out of it or to protect Giovanna if and when it got involved.

Jack decided there would be no contact with the U.S. authorities until later, if necessary. And he warned Darian and Cory there would be no action taken without the approval of the firm and Mitch McDeere.

They discussed Luca and whether he should be informed. It was a tough call because he was, after all, her father, as well as their esteemed partner. Any parent would certainly want to be involved in such delicate discussions. But Luca was ill and fragile and not at the top of his game. And, the kidnappers had chosen not to approach the family. Luca was a wealthy man by any measure, but he didn’t have millions to toss around. Scully, being the greatest firm in the world, certainly did, or at least projected the aura of enormous wealth. Its lawsuits around the world sought billions in damages from big corporations and governments. Surely it could pay any ransom if money was the objective.

There was no playbook, no rules. Darian had worked through several kidnappings in his career, but each was radically different. Most had ended successfully.

They decided to wait twenty-four hours and discuss Luca again.

Less than forty minutes after Abby and Mitch left for lunch, they returned to the suite and found that nothing had changed. Jack held a sheet of paper with notes scribbled all over it and said, “We have some ideas for the next twenty-four hours.”

Mitch said, “Let’s hear it.”

“Okay, pick up the boys from school today as usual and we’ll be close by.” He nodded at Cory, who said, “We’ll have guys on the ground, Mitch. Do you ever meet them after school?”

“Rarely.”

“Abby?”

“All the time.”

“Good. You get them today at three-fifteen and walk them home by the same route.”

“I’ll be at home,” Mitch said.

“Get them packed for a long weekend, a very long one. Tomorrow is Friday and they’re leaving town with you, Mitch. Abby, it’s advisable for you not to leave the city at this time. It’s the phone. You gotta stay close.”

Abby didn’t flinch but asked, “So you want them in school tomorrow?”

“Yes. We think they’ll be safe.”