“You mean offering a reward for Casselli’s arrest and conviction?”

“Sure. I’m sure Marcel would pick up half of it, so if you offered, say, five million and a passport for Casselli’s head, you might get a nibble from somebody who knows a lot, maybe even land a fish.”

“I’ll do that first thing tomorrow.”

“By the way, where are you going to get the passport?”

“Can you ask Bertelli to back us up on that?”

“Sure. I think he’ll help.”

Stone paid the bill, and they walked home. No sooner had they entered the house, when his cell phone rang, from a blocked number. “Hello?”

“It’s Holly. How are you?” Holly Barker was an old and good friend and sometime lover who had formerly run the CIA New York station and now was national security adviser to the president.

“Okay, I guess.”

“How’s Paris?”

“How’d you know I’m in Paris?”

“I saw your video with Casselli at Lipp, and I loved it!”

“Video! I thought it was only audio.”

“Nope, and with three cameras, too. They cut it like a movie: a two-shot, then close-ups of both of you when you spoke.”

“Oh, shit, Rick threw a SanDisk into my fireplace when he was here, and I thought that was it.”

“Never trust anything a spy does.”

“Never again. Please tell me this hasn’t reached the president.”

“It hasn’t from me, but I’m sure by morning somebody in the Agency e-mail loop will have forwarded it to her. You might devote some time, though, to hoping it doesn’t get leaked to some reporter.”

Stone sighed. “I’m in very deep shit here. I ignored Rick’s instructions and got the bit in my teeth. I’m never going to live this down.”

“You will, if it helps you get Casselli. What are you doing about that?”

“Looking for ideas.”

“You might ask President Kate to call the Italian prime minister and ask him to exert some downward pressure on Casselli through not just the DIA but all the other Italian police departments, of which there are many.”

“I can’t ask Kate to do that.”

“You want me to ask her? I’m happy to do it. The worst she can say is no, and she might not say that.”

“No, I’m too embarrassed at having used her as leverage, especially when I didn’t have it.”

“Whatever you say. I gotta run now. Call me if I can help in any way.”

“Thanks, Holly, I really appreciate that, and if I get an idea, I’ll call.” They said goodbye and hung up.

“That was Holly,” he said to Dino. “Turns out my audio had video attached.”

“Sheesh!” Dino said, laughing. “You just get in deeper and deeper, don’t you?”

“Tell me about it.”

Stone’s phone rang again. “Hello?”