Chapters (49)
- Title Page
- Acknowledgements
- ONE - THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW SEPTEMBER 24, 1999
- TWO - SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA OCTOBER 6, 1999
- THREE - CAUCASUS REGION NEAR THE CASPIAN SEA, RUSSIA, OCTOBER 10, 1999
- FOUR - THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 26, 1999
- FIVE - KALININGRAD, RUSSIA OCTOBER 26, 1999
- SIX - KHABAROVSK TERRITORY NEAR THE RUSSIA-CHINA BORDER OCTOBER 27, 1999
- SEVEN - KALININGRAD, RUSSIA NOVEMBER 2, 1999
- EIGHT - WASHINGTON, D.C. NOVEMBER 5, 1999
- NINE - KALININGRAD REGION NOVEMBER 16, 1999
- TEN - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 1999
- ELEVEN - NEW YORK CITY DECEMBER 23, 1999
- TWELVE - NEW YORK CITY DECEMBER 28, 1999
- THIRTEEN - VARIOUS LOCALES DECEMBER 31, 1999
- FOURTEEN - SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 31, 1999
- FIFTEEN - NEW YORK CITY DECEMBER 31, 1999
- SIXTEEN - SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 31, 1999
- SEVENTEEN - NEW YORK CITY JANUARY 1, 2000
- EIGHTEEN - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK JANUARY 1, 2000
- NINETEEN - NEW YORK CITY AND SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA JANUARY 1, 2000
- TWENTY - WASHINGTON, D.C. JANUARY 2, 2000 FROM THE
- TWENTY-ONE - NEW YORK CITY JANUARY 3, 2000 CALVARY CEMETERY, QUEENS
- TWENTY-TWO - MOSCOW JANUARY 6, 2000
- TWENTY-THREE - WASHINGTON, D.C. JANUARY 6, 2000
- TWENTY-FOUR - SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA JANUARY 7, 2000
- TWENTY-FIVE - SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK CITY JANUARY 8, 2000
- TWENTY-SIX - NEW YORK CITY JANUARY 16, 2000
- TWENTY-SEVEN - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK JANUARY 16, 2000
- TWENTY-EIGHT - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK JANUARY 16, 2000
- TWENTY-NINE - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK JANUARY 16, 2000
- THIRTY - NEW YORK CITY JANUARY 20, 2000
- THIRTY-ONE - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK JANUARY 26, 2000
- THIRTY-TWO - WASHINGTON, D.C. JANUARY 26, 2000
- THIRTY-THREE - WASHINGTON, D.C. JANUARY 28, 2000
- THIRTY-FOUR - NEW YORK CITY JANUARY 29, 2000
- THIRTY-FIVE - KALININGRAD, RUSSIA JANUARY 30, 2000
- THIRTY-SIX - THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW FEBRUARY 1, 2000
- THIRTY-SEVEN - ANKARA, TURKEY FEBRUARY 7, 2000
- THIRTY-EIGHT - CAPPADOCIA, SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY FEBRUARY 9, 2000
- THIRTY-NINE - KALININGRAD REGION FEBRUARY 9, 2000
- FORTY - KALININGRAD REGION FEBRUARY 10, 2000
- FORTY-ONE - NEW YORK CITY FEBRUARY 9, 2000
- FORTY-TWO - KALININGRAD REGION FEBRUARY 10
- FORTY-THREE - SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA FEBRUARY 10, 2000
- FORTY-FOUR - MOSCOW FEBRUARY 11, 2000
- FORTY-FIVE - MOSCOW FEBRUARY 12, 2000
- FORTY-SIX - DAGOMYS BLACK SEA COAST, RUSSIA FEBRUARY 12, 2000
- FORTY-SEVEN - NEW YORK CITY KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FEBRUARY 17, 2000
Boch waited until he was out of earshot and turned back to Lenny.
“So,” he said. “Talk.”
“Friend of mine in Customs tells me an outfit called Mercury Distribution has a lot of merchandise come in at this yard. Received a shipment from Russia maybe a month, month and half back.”
He paused. Boch made an indeterminate sound, gestured for him to continue.
“I need the skinny on Mercury,” Lenny said. “It legit, or what?”
Boch looked at him. “Why you asking?”
“Because my boss asked me to ask,” Lenny said.
A moment passed.
Boch kept looking at him.
“They been saying on the news it might be Russkies did that number in Times Square,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“And now you come in with your questions about Mercury.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Boch said.
“Me neither, but I swear I don’t know any more than I’m telling you,” Lenny said. “I’m doing this on faith, Boch.”
There was another silence. Boch meshed his knuckles on his lap, glanced down at them, cracked them.
“Mercury’s run by a hood name of Nick Roma,” he said, finally. “Don’t let the handle fool you, he’s no goombah. Can call himself anything he wants, still stinks like fucking borscht to me.”
Lenny nodded. “What kind of stuff he import?”
“Ain’t my lookout,” Boch said. “I got to stay healthy for the wife’s sake, you know?”
Lenny nodded again, rose from the couch, moved toward the entryway, turned to face Boccigualupo. Though he was still inside, he could feel the cold seeping back into him as he moved farther from the emission of the heater.
“I owe you one,” he said. “And FYI, the answer to that question on the game show was ‘Richard Burton.’ ”
“Thanks, I’ll make sure Joe finds out,” Boch said. He chewed his upper lip. “And you tell your boss to be careful, Len. These are dangerous people he’s messing with.”
Lenny took a step closer to the door, then paused half in and half out of it. On the dock, the seagull had won its competition with the tag team of pigeons and was triumphantly shaking the pizza crust in its beak. The sky seemed a little grayer than it did before.
“I’ll tell him,” he said.
Gordian buzzed Nimec in his office at three P.M.
“Good news,” he said. “I just heard from our man Reisenberg.”
Nimec’s fingers tightened around the receiver.
“He’s got the material?”
“Scads of it. Or so he says,” Gordian said. “You want me to have him FedEx it to us?”