As he approached the Peninsula Hotel, he began to look in the parked cars for Willy Tong. That had been the instructions. He found him sitting in a green Nissan Stanza parked in front of the Space Museum directly across from the hotel. Ned opened the passenger door and slid in on the front seat.

“You look smashing, mate,” Willy said. “The flowers for me?”

“I do look good, don’t I?” Ned said, pleased with his Harris tweed jacket, gabardine slacks, and brown loafers. He laid the flowers on the backseat. “What’s the lay of the land?”

“It’s been quiet since the uproar I caused,” Willy said. “I don’t know what could have happened. It was a perfect setup. The lobby was crowded just the way you told me was best. I was no more than two or three paces away from Williams when he whirled and attacked me!”

“Bad luck!” Ned said. “Was the woman there?”

“Of course,” Willy said. “She was standing right next to him. In another ten seconds I’d have shot both of them.”

“Maybe she recognized you from the boat,” Ned said. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. They still in the hotel?”

“Yes,” Willy said. “I’ve been here most of the night. I tried calling again and was immediately put through. They haven’t moved.”

“That’s nice,” Ned said. “What about the gun?”

“I got it,” Willy said. He leaned in front of Ned and snapped open the glove compartment. He took a handgun out and handed it buttfirst to Ned.

Ned whistled. “A Heckler and Koch!” he said. “My, my, this is first class. What about the silencer?”

Willy reached back into the glove compartment and handed Ned a small rectangular box. Ned opened the box and unwrapped the silencer.

“There’s something nice about using new equipment,” Ned said. “One thing about FCA. They go first class on everything.” Ned screwed the silencer into the pistol. It lengthened the barrel by a third. Then he snapped out the magazine and checked the shells. After making sure the chamber was empty, Ned cocked the gun and pulled the trigger. It had a nice, full-bodied click. “Perfect,” he said.

Replacing the clip and ramming it home, Ned cocked the pistol. It was ready for action.

Twisting in his seat, he eyed Willy. “This is not going to take long. I want you to pull the car over there in front of the hotel and have the engine running. Give me about five minutes before you come over, understand?”

“Righto,” Willy said eagerly.

“I’m off,” Ned said. He moved forward on the seat and slipped the gun into his belt at the small of his back. Reaching into the backseat, he lifted the bouquet. Then he got out of the car. Hesitating before he crossed the road, he leaned into the car through the open window.