Red Rabbit - Tom Clancy [237]
"A what?"
"A walkabout, just wandering around as tourists do," Trent explained. "To the zoo. The little girl was properly impressed by the animals, but most of all by a new red coat with a black collar they bought this morning. All in all, they seem rather a pleasant little family," the spook concluded.
"Nothing out of the ordinary?" Hudson asked.
"Not a thing, Andy, and if there is any coverage on them, I failed to see it. The only surprise of the day was in the morning when they walked right past the embassy here on the way to shopping. That was rather a tender moment, but it seems to have been entirely coincidental. Vaci Utca is the best shopping area for Easterners and Westerners. I expect the desk clerk told them to take the underground here."
"Pure vanilla, eh?" Jack asked, finishing his beer.
"So it would appear," Trent replied.
"Okay, when do we make our move?" the American asked next.
"Well, that Rozsa chap opens his concert series tomorrow night. Day after, then? We give Mrs. Rabbit a chance to hear her music. Can we get tickets for ourselves?" Hudson asked.
"Done," Trent answered. "Box six, right side of the theater, fine view of the entire building. Helps to be a diplomat, doesn't it?"
"The program is…?"
"J. S. Bach, the first three Brandenberg concerti, then some other opuses of his."
"Ought to be pleasant enough," Ryan observed.
"The local orchestras are actually quite good, Sir John."
"Andy, enough of that knighthood shit, okay? My name is Jack. John Patrick, to be precise, but I've gone by 'Jack' since I was three years old."
"It is an honor, you know."
"Fine, and I thanked Her Majesty for it, but we don't do that sort of thing where I live, okay?"
"Well, wearing a sword can be inconvenient when you try to sit down," Trent sympathized.
"And caring for the horse can be such a bother." Hudson had himself a good laugh. "Not to mention the expense of jousting."
"Okay, maybe I had that coming," Ryan admitted. "I just want to get the Rabbit the hell out of Dodge."
"Which we shall do, Jack," Hudson assured him. "And you will be there to see it."
* * *
"EVERYBODY'S IN BUDAPEST," Bostock reported. "The Rabbit and his family are staying in a no-tell motel called the Astoria."
"Isn't there a part of New York by that name?" the DCI asked.
"Queens," Greer confirmed. "What about the hotel?"
"Evidently, it suits our purposes," the Deputy DDO informed them. "Basil says the operation is nominal to this point. No surveillance on our subjects has been spotted. Everything looks entirely routine. I guess our cousins have a competent Station Chief in Budapest. The three bodies arrived there today. Just a matter of crossing the t's and dotting the i's."
"Confidence level?" the DDI asked.
"Oh, say, seventy-five percent, Admiral," Bostock estimated. "Maybe better."
"What about Ryan?" Greer asked next.
"No beefs from London on how he's doing. I guess your boy is handling himself."
"He's a good kid. He ought to."
"I wonder how unhappy he is," Judge Moore wondered.
The other two each had a smile and a head shake at that. Bostock spoke first. Like all DO people, he had his doubts about members of the far more numerous DI.
"Probably not as comfortable as he is at his desk with his comfy swivel chair."
"He'll do fine, gentlemen," Greer assured them, hoping he was right.
"I wonder what this fellow has for us…?" Moore breathed.
"We'll know in a week," Bostock assured them. He was always the optimist. And three out of four constituted betting odds, so long as your own ass wasn't on the line.
Judge Moore looked at his desk clock and added six hours. People would be asleep in Budapest now, and almost there in London. He remembered his own adventures in the field, mostly composed of waiting for people to show up for meets or filling out contact reports for the at-home bureaucrats