“To Apocalypse averted,” said Babylon. He held up his glass in a toast.

“And new business ventures,” said Bayliss.

“Always that.”

Gisele smiled. While she concentrated on clouding the room, she was giving special attention to Babylon. There wasn’t any liquor in his drinks, so she was loosening him up a little herself. Not too much. A couple of Scotches’ worth. Just want him friendly and happy. Not stupid and horny.

She sipped her drink slowly and fantasized about cutting through the crap and beating Babylon on the head with a bottle of grenadine until he just gave them the damned box. Coop better be on the job, she thought. I don’t want to spend the whole night entertaining this bloated Scrooge McDuck.

Her phone rang. She excused herself and glanced at the number, quickly pressing the button to send the call to voice mail. The moment she did, Very Important People jumped into action doing Very Important Things.

Two floors below Týden Divu, Salzman sat in the mook bar and watched his call go to voice mail. That was the signal. He dialed another number and it only rang once before someone picked it up.

“Babylon’s distraction is in place. Are you ready?” he said.

“No,” said Coop.

“Let me ask that another way. Are you prepared to keep your part of our bargain?”

“As much as I’ll ever be.”

“You have your team with you? Including what’s-his-name?”

“Yes. Morty is here.”

“What about Phil Spectre? Safely ensconced in your noggin, is he?”

“Yeah. He’s already whining to get out of my head. He doesn’t like the idea of playing earthworm,” Coop said.

“Tell him to shut up and do his job.”

“That’s pretty much every conversation I’ve ever had with him.”

Salzman cleared his throat. “Once again, I have to remind you that the DOPS makes no guarantees for your safety. If you or the team gets caught or killed, it’s on you.”

“I never thought it would be any other way,” Coop said.

“Are you comfortable in the crawler?”

“I’m not so wild about being an earthworm, either. But I’ve been worse places for smaller payoffs.”

“Good luck,” said Salzman. “Don’t disappoint me.”

“Actually, you’re somewhere near the bottom of the top hundred things I’m worried about right now.”

“Call me the moment you’re clear.”

“You just make sure you take care of Giselle and Bayliss.”

“They’re doing fine. Just bring me the box.”

“And I’ll get you a Kewpie doll for your collection.”

Salzman turned off the phone and put it back in his pocket. He sipped his martini and thought about the things he’d do to Coop if he failed. No jail for that boy. There were more interesting and surgical things he could arrange for a fuckup that big.