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It was a handso leather suitcase, pale brown, pleasantly battered, very English, with lots of nice straps and clasps on it It looked ready for a weekend in the country

“So we’re looking for Bertie Wooster,” Quentin said

Nobody laughed

“We’re pretty sure it’s on the eastern seaboard” Athe eastern states with possible sites pinpointed and annotated “We’re also pretty sure that the people who have it don’t knohat they have As far as we know they haven’t been able to open it”

“Why don’t you just buy it off them?” Plum said “If they don’t knohat it is You obviously have plenty of money”

“We tried,” Lionel said “They don’t knohat they have, but they’re pretty sure they have soive it up till they’ve figured out what They acquired it as part of a cache of artifacts from a dealer, e presume they killed Unfortunately our attempts to purchase it from them have only confirmed their estimate of its value”

“Wait,” Stoppard said “They killed him?”

“Her And yes”

Stoppard’s eyes ide He looked

“One thing you don’t have to worry about with these guys is your conscience,” Lionel said “They’re assholes, raphs appeared, side by side, aand in their early thirties, evidently taken froe lens “They’rearound with the civilians They get off on it; it’s all a big game to them”

Quentin frowned He’d heard about icians who did that: competed with each other to move the stock market, throw elections, start wars, choose popes Thechessboard to them Supposedly the whole electoral debacle of 2000 wasto settle a bet

“How are we going to find them?” he asked

“Don’t worry about it”

“I still don’t understand why you want this thing,” Plum said

“You don’t have to,” the bird said “We are not paying you to understand”

“Well, no I guess not It all seeh”

Betsy cackled

“Sketchy! I love that You’re talking to a bird in an airport Marriott”

Betsy had a point Quentin badly wanted to get Plu this and what she knew about it and if she was all right He orried about her, and what’s more he needed an ally, and she was the likeliest candidate Betsy picked up the phone and began whispering confidingly to room service

“You’re sure we don’t need more people,” he said “What about a psychic? A healer?”

“I am sure”

“When do you expect this all to happen?” Pushkar asked “How soon?” Of them all he looked the least like a ician at all Maybe it was cae; he certainly seemed to be the most comfortable with the whole situation

“We don’t know,” Lionel said

“Yes, but weeks? Months? I must notifyring

“I a in Newark Airport Marriott for months” Betsy broke off her phone conversation “FYI Or weeks Or one week singular The only natural fibers in my room are the hairs in the bathtub”

“We’ll tell you as soon as we know”

“So to recap,” Quentin said “Two bad people—known killers who are, with respect, much scarier than we are—have a suitcase somewhere on the eastern seaboard, precise location unknown, contents unknown, under an incorporate bond And we are going to take it away from them”

“We have the numbers,” the bird said “And the element of surprise”

“If this works I for one will be very surprised,” Pushkar said cheerfully “Is there so us?”

“What about that incorporate bond?” Plu impossible and all”

“We will have to do the iicians and not accountants I mentioned resources earlier We will discuss each of your needs individually”

The rated Quentin stood up They could talk about his needs later, whatever they were For now he needed soinning of his new life of cri soft brushed his ear and prickled his shoulder, and he had to resist the instinctive urge to slap at it It was the bird

“Christ!” he said “Don’t do that”

Maybe you got used to it Julia had

“Do you knohy I asked you here?” it whispered, putting its beak right up against his ear

“I could uess”

“It is not for your skill at ”

“That wasn’t going to be uess”

The bird flew off again, back to Lionel’s shoulder, which Quentin now noticed orn and stained with use

—

Plureed to meet him in the hotel bar

The lights were too bright, and there were too many TVs, but it was a bar, and that was another place, like bookstores, where Quentin felt at home Drinks were a lot like books, really: it didn’t matter where you were, the contents of a vodka tonic were always more or less the same, and you could count on them to take you away to soeeable The other patrons appeared to be business travelers and tourists who’d been stranded by canceled flights; looking around Quentin was pretty sure there was not one single person in the bar as actually there by choice

It was no time for half in martini, dry, with a twist

“I thought you were a wine person,” Plum said She’d ordered mineral water

“Lately I’ve had to up ht you were a wine person”

“I’ht now I’d better try to keep my wits about me”

They watched TV for a reen pitch looked cool and inviting; it was almost a shaer to go first, so he did

“So how’d they get to you?”

“A letter,” she said “When I got back toto figure out how they did that So far it’s theabout this whole operation”

“Are you really sure you want to be here?”