Final justice - W.E.B. Griffin [224]
"Why him?"
"Casimir said the Frogs can't stall much longer--he looked into it, I suppose--and they're going to extradite the slimy sonofabitch."
"I agree with the Bull," Matt said. "If they send Festung back, it'd be national news. That'd sell a lot of books. And you are just the guy to write it."
"Yeah, well, anyway they threw a lot of money at me-- which I don't have to give back, by the way, even if I don't write the book, or they don't like it--and I'm going to France to have a look at him."
"Hence the worldwide telephone?"
"Yeah. My mother goes bananas in the nursing home unless I call her once a day. I think it's nine dollars a minute or something when you use it, but what the hell."
"The more I think about this, it's a great idea," Matt said.
"Come with me," O'Hara said.
"What?"
"Come with me. What else have you got to do?"
"Wow!" Matt said. "That came out of left field."
"You've been there, right? You even speak a little Frog?"
"Very little," Matt said. "Ouvrez la porte de mon oncle. That means 'open the door of my uncle,' if you're taking notes."
"That's more than I speak. Come on, Matt. Everything on me, of course."
Matt didn't reply.
"I already know all I have to know about the sonofabitch, so all I have to do is take a quick look at this farmhouse, maybe get a couple of pictures of it, him and his wife, then we can go to Paris, or wherever, drink a lot of wine, and cherchez la femme."
"Mick, if I didn't think this was be nice to poor, loony Matt time, I actually think I'd go with you."
"I want you to go because I don't want to go by myself, okay?" O'Hara said.
Jesus, he means that. Mr. Front Page himself, the battling brawler of the city room, is afraid to leave Philadelphia by himself.
What the hell, why not? What else have I got to do?
"What the hell, Mick, why not?" Matt said.
Mickey took out the cellular, pushed one button, and then put the instrument to his ear.
"What happened to the Zero Zero One routine?" Matt asked.
"The Bull's got one of these, too. They store a hundred numbers of other people with one of them," Mickey explained, then held up his hand to cut Matt off.
"Antoinette, this is Michael. Would it be possible for me to speak with Casimir, please?"
It took several minutes for Mr. Bolinski to get on the line. He explained he was floating around the pool.
"Matt says he'll go, Casimir," O'Hara said. "Set it up."
Bolinski said something Matt couldn't hear.
"You got a passport? Is tomorrow night too soon for you?" Mickey asked.
"Yes and no," Matt said.
"That's fine with Matt, Casimir. Set it up."
Bolinski said something else Matt couldn't hear.
"He's fine. He was exhausted, is all."
Mickey broke the connection after Bolinski said something else.
"The Bull says he's glad to hear you're okay."
"That's nice of him."
Mickey pushed another button on his worldwide telephone and put it to his ear.
"Hi, Mom!" he began. "How you doing?"
He spoke with his mother for five minutes, then handed the cellular to Matt.
"You want to call your mom?"
"Not particularly."
"She's your mother, for Christ's sake. Call her."
Matt called his mother and told her that he was fine, thank you, and that he was going to Paris tomorrow night with Mickey O'Hara.
[TWO]
When Air France Flight 2110 deposited them at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris the second morning later, French customs showed great interest in Mr. O'Hara's brand-new luggage--a last-minute purchase after Matt suggested that if they were going to be gone a couple of weeks Mickey would need more space than his zipper bag with the Philadelphia 76ers logotype would provide--and went through it suspiciously before gesturing they could pass.
Outside Customs, a man in a chauffeur's cap was waiting for them, holding a sign lettered "M. O'Hara."
He drove them, in a new Mercedes, to the George V Hotel, where they were installed in a two-bedroom, two-bath, sitting