He pushed a button for the first floor.
“Better hope the Y two-K bug don’t get you,” Marino said.
Talley smiled.
Outside the cafeteria, suits of armor and a rampant brass eagle guarded all who patronized it. Tables were crowded with several hundred men and women in business dress, all police who had come here from around the world to combat various organized criminal activities ranging from stolen credit cards and forgery in the U.S. to bank numbers involving cocaine trafficking in Africa. Talley and I selected roasted chicken and salad. Marino went after the barbecued ribs.
We settled into a corner.
“The secretary general usually doesn’t get directly involved like this,” Talley let us know. “Just so you get an idea of the importance.”
“I guess we’re supposed tó feel honored,” Marino said.
Talley cut off a bite of chicken and kept the fork in the same hand, European style.
“I don’t want us to be blinded by how much we want this unidentified body to be Thomas Chandonne;” Talley went on.
“Yeah, sure would be embarrassing if you took the black notice out of your fancy computer and then guess what? Turns out the son of a bitch ain’t dead and Loup-Garou’s just some local fruit loop who keeps on killing. No relationship between the two,” Marino said. “Maybe Interpol loses some of its membership fees, huh?”
“Captain Marino, this is not about membership fees,” Talley said with a dead-on stare. “I know you’ve worked many, many difficult cases in your career. You know how all-consuming they can be. We need to free up our people to work other crimes. We need to bring down the people shielding this dirtbag. We need to destroy the hell out of all of them.”
He pushed away his tray without finishing his food. He slid a pack of cigarettes out of the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
“That’s one thing nice about Europe,” he smiled. “Bad for your health but not antisocial.”
“Well, let me ask you this,” Marino kept going. “If it’s not about membership fees, then who pays for all this shit? Learjets, Concordes, ritzy hotels, not to mention Mercedes cabs?•.
“Many of the taxis over here are Mercedes.”
“We prefer beat-up Chevies and Fords back home,” Marino said sarcastically. “You know, buy American.”
“Interpol isn’t in the habit of supplying Learjets and luxury hotels,” Talley said.
“Then who did?”
“I guess you can ask Senator Lord all about that,” Talley replied. “But let me remind you of something. Organized crime is all about money, and most of this money comes from honest people, honest businesses and corporations who want to run these cartels out of business as badly as we do.”
Marino’s jaw muscles were flexing.
“I can only suggest that for a Fortune Five Hundred company to buy a couple of Concorde tickets isn’t much to ask if millions of dollars of electronic equipment or even guns and explosives are being diverted.”
“Then some Microsoft-company-type paid for all this?” Marino asked.
Talley’s patience was being tried. He didn’t answer him.
“I’m asking you. I want to know who paid for my ticket. I want to know who the hell went through my suitcase. Some Interpol agent?” Marino persisted.
“Interpol doesn’t have agents. It has liaisons from various law enforcement agencies. ATF, FBI, the postal service, police departments. and so on.”
“Yeah, right. Just like the CIA doesn’t snuff people.”
“For God’s sake, Marino,” I said.
“I want to know who fucking went through my suitcase,” Marino said as his face turned a deeper red. “That pisses me off more than anything has in a hell of a long time.”
“I can see that;” Talley replied. “Maybe you should complain to the Paris police. But my guess is, if they had anything to do with it, it was for your own good. In the event you might have brought a gun over here, for example?”
Marino didn’t say anything. He picked through what was left of his ribs.
“You didn’t;” I said to him in disbelief.
“If someone isn’t familiar with international travel, well, innocent mistakes can be made;” Talley added. “Especially American police who are used to carrying guns everywhere and perhaps don’t understand what serious trouble they could get into over here.”