“I want to leave India on the fifth.”
“Will Paris be cold?”
“I want a car to meet me in Lisbon.”
He felt a desperate desire to get on a plane and run away. He suddenly realized how exhausted he was, physically and emotionally. Don Vinton seemed to have an army at his disposal, but Judd was alone. What chance did he have against him?
“Can I help you?”
Judd turned. A tall, cadaverous-looking man stood behind the counter. “I’m Friendly,” he said. He waited for Judd to appreciate the joke. Judd smiled dutifully. “Charles Friendly. What can I do for you?”
“I’m Dr. Stevens. I’m trying to locate a patient of mine. She’s booked on a flight leaving for Europe tomorrow.”
“The name?”
“Blake. Anne Blake.” He hesitated. “Possibly it’s under Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Blake.”
“What city is she flying to?”
“I—I’m not sure.”
“Are they booked on one of our morning or afternoon flights?”
“I’m not even certain if it’s with your airline,” Judd said.
The friendliness dropped out of Mr. Friendly’s eyes.
“Then I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
Judd felt a sudden feeling of panic. “It’s really urgent. I must find her before she goes.”
“Doctor, Pan-American has one or more flights leaving every day for Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Lisbon, London, Munich, Paris, Rome, Shannon, Stuttgart, and Vienna. So have most of the other international airlines. You’ll have to contact each one individually. And I doubt if they can help you unless you can give them the destination and time of departure.” The expression on Mr. Friendly’s face was one of impatience. “If you’ll excuse me…” He turned to walk away.
“Wait!” said Judd. How could he explain that this might be his last chance to stay alive? His last link to finding out who was attempting to kill him.
Friendly was regarding him with barely concealed annoyance. “Yes?”
Judd forced a smile on his face, hating himself for it. “Don’t you have some kind of central computing system,” he asked, “where you can get passengers’ names by…?”
“Only if you know the flight number,” Mr. Friendly said. He turned and was gone.
Judd stood there at the counter, feeling sick. Check and checkmate. He was defeated. There was nowhere else to move.
A group of Italian priests bustled in, dressed in long, flapping black robes and wide black hats, looking like something out of the Middle Ages. They were weighed down with cheap cardboard suitcases, boxes and gift baskets of fruit. They were speaking loudly in Italian and obviously teasing the youngest member of their group, a boy who looked no more than eighteen or nineteen. They were probably returning home to Rome after a vacation, thought Judd, as he listened to their babbling. Rome…where Anne would be… Anne again.
The priests were moving toward the counter.
“E molto bene di ritornare a casa.”
“Si, d’accordo.”
“Signore, per piacere, guardatemi.”
“Tutto va bene?”
“Si, ma—”
“Dio mio, dove sono i miei biglietti?”
“Cretino, hai perduto i biglietti.”
“Ah, eccoli.”
The priests handed their airline tickets to the youngest priest, who moved bashfully toward the girl at the counter. Judd looked toward the exit. A large man in a gray overcoat was lounging in the doorway.
The young priest was talking to the girl behind the counter. “Dieci. Dieci.”
The girl stared at him blankly. The priest summoned up his knowledge of English and said very carefully, “Ten. Billetta. Teeket.” He pushed the tickets toward her.
The girl smiled happily and began to process the tickets. The priests burst into delighted cries of approval at their companion’s linguistic abilities and clapped him on the back.
There was no point in staying here any longer. Sooner or later he would have to face whatever was out there. Judd slowly turned and started to move past the group of priests.
“Guardate che ha fatto il Don Vinton.”
Judd stopped, the blood suddenly rushing to his face. He turned to the tubby little priest who had spoken and took his arm. “Excuse me,” he said. His voice was hoarse and unsteady. “Did you say ‘Don Vinton?’”
The priest looked up at him blankly, then patted him on the arm and started to move away.