Robert replaced the receiver. No time for a trace. He saw a blue Fiat pull up outside the bar. Pier was at the wheel.
“Move over,” Robert said. “I’ll drive.”
Pier made room for him as he slid in behind the wheel.
“Are we on our way to Venice?” Pier asked.
“Uh huh. We have a couple of stops to make first.” It was time to spread some more chaff around. He turned onto Viale Rossini. Ahead was the Rossini Travel Service. Robert pulled over to the kerb. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Pier watched him walk into the travel agency. I could just drive away, she.thought, and keep the money, and he would never find me. But the damn car is rented in my name. Cacchio!
Inside the agency, Robert walked up to the woman behind the counter.
“Good day. May I help you?”
“Yes. I’m Commander Robert Bellamy. I’m going to do a bit of travelling,” Robert told her. “I’d like to make some reservations.”
She smiled. “That’s what we are here for, signore. Where are you planning to go?”
“I’d like a first-class airline ticket to Beijing, one way.”
She made a note. “And when would you like to leave?”
“This Friday.”
“Very good.” She pressed some keys on the computer. “There’s an Air China flight leaving at seven forty p.m. Friday night.”
“That will do nicely.”
She pressed some more keys. “There we are. Your reservation is confirmed. Will that be cash or …?”
“Oh, I’m not through yet. I want to reserve a train ticket to Budapest.”
“And when would that be, Commander?”
“Next Monday.”
“And in what name?”
“The same.”
She looked at him strangely. “You are flying to Beijing on Friday and …”
“I’m not finished,” Robert said pleasantly. “I want a one-way airline ticket to Miami, Florida, on Sunday.”
Now she was openly staring at him. “Signore, if this is some kind of a …”
Robert pulled out his ONI credit card and handed it to her. “Just charge the tickets to this card.”
She studied it a moment. “Excuse me.” She went into the back office and came out a few minutes later. “That will be perfectly all right. We will be happy to make the arrangements. Do you wish all the reservations under one name?”
“Yes. Commander Robert Bellamy.”
“Very good.”
Robert watched as she pressed more buttons on the computer. A minute later, three tickets appeared. She tore them off the printer.
“Please put the tickets in separate envelopes,” Robert said.
“Of course. Would you like me to send them to …?”
“I’ll take them with me.”
“Si, signore.”
Robert signed the credit card slip and she handed him his receipt.
“There you are. Have a nice trip … trips … er …”
Robert grinned. “Thanks.” A minute later he was behind the wheel of the car.
“Are we going now?” Pier asked.
“We have just a few more stops to make,” Robert said.
Pier watched him carefully scan the street again before pulling out.
“I want you to do something for me,” Robert told her.
Now it’s coming, Pier thought. He’s going to ask me to do something terrible. “What is it?” she asked.
They had stopped in front of the Hotel Victoria. Robert handed Pier one of the envelopes. “I want you to go to the desk and reserve a suite in the name of Commander Robert Bellamy. Tell them you’re his secretary and that he’ll be arriving in an hour, but that you want to go up to the suite and approve it. When you get inside, leave this envelope on a table in the room.”
She looked at him, puzzled. “That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
The man made no sense at all. “Bene.” She wished she knew what the crazy American was up to. And who is Commander Robert Bellamy? Pier got out of the car and walked into the lobby of the hotel. She was a bit nervous. In the course of practising her profession, she had been thrown out of a few first-class hotels. But the clerk behind the desk greeted her politely. “May I help you, signora?”
“I am the secretary to Commander Robert Bellamy. I wish to reserve a suite for him. He will be here in an hour.”
The clerk consulted the room chart. “We do happen to have one very nice suite available.”
“May I see it, please?” Pier asked.
“Certainly. I’ll have someone show it to you.”
An assistant manager escorted Pier upstairs. They walked into the living room of the suite and Pier looked around. “Will this be satisfactory, signora?”
Pier had not the faintest idea. “Yes, this will be fine.” She removed the envelope from her purse and laid it on a coffee table. “I will leave this here for the Commander,” she said.
“Bene.”
Curiosity got the better of Pier. She opened the envelope. Inside was a one-way plane ticket to Beijing in the name of Robert Bellamy. Pier put the ticket back in the envelope, left it on the table and went downstairs.
The blue Fiat was parked in front of the hotel.
“Any problem?” Robert asked.
“No.”
“We have just two more stops to make, and then we’re on our way,” Robert said cheerfully.
The next stop was the Hotel Valadier. Robert handed Pier another envelope. “I want you to reserve a suite here in the name of Commander Robert Bellamy. Tell them he’ll be checking in within an hour. Then …”
“I leave the envelope upstairs.”
“Right.”
