Chapter 13: A Word with Anton

"I'm fine," Lee said to the man behind the desk. "I'd just like this paper." He dug in his pocket for change and handed it over to the man. The man's name tag said, Adrian Dalca. It was a Romanian name, as if Lee needed any further confirmation.

"Thank you, sir," the man said.

"I'm waiting for some friends," Lee said, thinking quickly. "You wouldn't happen to have seen them, would you? They drive a gray car, kind of old."

"It doesn't sound familiar, sir But, then, I don't often see the cars that arrive. Perhaps the valet knows." Adrian's smile was calm, his voice cool.

Lee decided to take a gamble. "They should have been here by now. My friend, Anton, told me that they were going to be here."

The smile froze on Adrian's face. "Anton?"

"Anton Petrescu."

"I don't know him, sir."

"I never said you did." Lee locked eyes with Adrian. Adrian immediately looked down at the computer in front of him.

"Is there anything else you need, sir?" Adrian asked quietly.

"Not at the moment," Lee said. "But if my friends arrive, please let me know." Somehow, Lee doubted that the men would be back today.

He retreated to a lobby chair with his newspaper, but he didn't read it. The chair had a good view of both the front door and the front desk. He passed the time while he waited for Amanda and Francine by watching Adrian.

The man was obviously shaken by the name Petrescu. He had been prepared to deny the presence of the other two men, but he hadn't expected Lee to mention Anton. That meant that he knew Anton, or at least, knew of him, and he was nervous about that. That probably meant that Anton knew him, and Lee determined that he was going to have a chat with Anton as soon as possible.

As to what the men's business was at the hotel, they would apparently have inside help with it.

When Amanda and Francine arrived, Lee gestured to them to head to the other side of the lobby, near the small gift shop. He wanted to talk with them out of sight of the desk clerk. He didn't want the guy to know that Amanda and Francine had any connection to him.

After he explained the situation to both of them, he asked, "Francine, can you stay here and keep an eye on the desk clerk? I want to know who else he talks to and if those guys show up again."

"What do they look like?" Francine asked.

Lee described them for her.

"Alright," Francine said. "I'll phone Billy. I'll see if I can find out what else is going on at this hotel, too. If these people want to talk to someone who works here, there has to be a reason."

"What are we going to do?" Amanda asked.

"We need to talk to Anton. I'm sure he knows who these people are. I want some answers from him."

As far as Anton was concerned, there was nothing to talk about.

"I told you," Anton insisted, "I don't know these men. I thought I knew the man at the airport, but I was wrong."

They were sitting in a small office at the Pentagon. After Billy called the Pentagon and spoke to the head of Anton's new project, Dr. Crandall, they were allowed to use an unoccupied to office to speak to Anton privately. Dr. Crandall, a middle-aged man with graying temples, was with them, mainly to ensure that Anton didn't discuss any details of the project with outsiders. However, he was also concerned about Lee's reports of the suspicious men.

"If these men pose a threat to you or the project," Dr. Crandall cautioned Anton, "you should say so. These people are here to help ensure your safety."

"I am not under threat," Anton insisted. He spoke with perfect confidence.

"Sir, these men were at your daughter's school today," Lee said. "As a family man, aren't you concerned?"

Anton hesitated, and then said, "Why should I be concerned? If they want to see my daughter's school, it doesn't mean that they were there to see her."

"I overheard them buying sleeping pills to give to a girl Antonia's age," Lee said. "Doesn't that strike you as suspicious?"

"You could have been mistaken," Anton said. "They wouldn't drug my daughter."

"How do you know that unless you know them?" Lee countered.

"I don't! I mean, I don't know them. Neither does my daughter. So, they have nothing to do with us."

"I don't believe you!" Lee said. "Are you just going to ignore this?"

"Lee . . ." Amanda cautioned gently.

But, if Amanda thought that he was pushing Anton a little too much, Lee certainly didn't. The man was a father, and he had responsibilities!

"Your family, your child, is in danger! Don't you care?" Lee snapped.

Anton's face reddened. "I think you had better leave. I have work to do here. You still want me to work for you, don't you, Dr. Crandall?"

Dr. Crandall was studying Anton. "Yes," he said. "But, if there is any threat against your daughter, I want you to tell me. We want to protect her as well as you, but we can't unless you let us."

"There is no threat," Anton said stiffly, "and I can protect my family myself. Good day, gentlemen."

He got up and walked out of the room. No one tried to stop him.

"He's hiding something!" Lee insisted to Amanda and Dr. Crandall. "I don't know why he's shielding these men, but he is."

"I don't like the sound of this," Dr. Crandall said. "We need Dr. Petrescu for this project, but if the man is compromised-"

"We don't know that yet," Amanda said. "We're not sure who these men are or what their intentions are. We're just trying to learn more about them."

"But, you seriously believe they may be a threat to Dr. Petrescu and his family?"

"Yes," Lee said before Amanda could say anything.

"You've been maintaining a watch on their home, haven't you? Is there any sign that these people know where he lives?"

"Not yet," Lee admitted.

"Is there any reason to believe that Dr. Petrescu might be a security risk?"

"No," Amanda said.

Dr. Crandall looked at Lee. Lee let it stand at that. Although he thought that Anton was hiding something, he didn't have the impression that he was working with these two men for any nefarious purpose. If he was, they wouldn't be stalking his daughter.

Dr. Crandall sighed. "Alright. Keep an eye on him and let me know if there are any new developments."

As they drove back to Amanda's neighborhood, Lee said, "If Anton keeps his mouth shut, there isn't much we can do, but I just know that those men are a threat. I don't know why he's protecting them!"

Amanda said, "Lee, I know that the part about the sleeping pills was strange, but you can't prove that they were for Antonia."

"And then they show up at her school, watching the kids?" Lee said. "No, that's way too much coincidence."

"I'm supposed to go shopping with Doina this afternoon," Amanda said. "Maybe I'll learn something from her. If Anton knows who these people are, maybe she does, too."

"That's a good idea," Lee said. "Even if Anton doesn't care about his daughter, she will."

"I'm sure he cares," Amanda said.

"Well, he doesn't act like it!"

"Lee, are you thinking about the risk to the boys?"

Truth be told, he wasn't. Not quite.

"If there was any threat to the boys, you can bet I wouldn't be pussy-footing around about it," Lee said.

That was true, but deep down, he was thinking about a little girl with brown eyes. Like Amanda's. Like Antonia's. If he and Amanda had a daughter, would she look anything like Antonia? He'd never seen pictures of Amanda as a child. It was something to ask Dotty about.

"I know you would. I'm a little worried now about the boys being friends with Antonia, but, well, I still think that girl could use some friends. We're going to have to keep watching her."

"I think so, too," Lee said.

"The boys could be at risk, being close to her. If something were to happen-"

"It won't," Lee promised. "We'll have agency personal watching the school and her house. We won't let anything happen."

"What I'm try to say is, I think the boys should be warned."

Lee could see the sense in it, but he said, "How can we? We can't tell them about Antonia's father . . . or about us."

"But, we could still tell them that there are suspicious people around, couldn't we? Tell them to be careful of strangers? To stay together? To watch out for suspects in a gray car?"

Lee thought about it. "We'll talk to them after school. We could say that a couple of guys in a gray car have been harassing students, especially girls. They're old enough that they should understand about strangers. And, we can tell them to call us immediately if they see anyone suspicious."

"I guess that would be good enough," Amanda said. "Lee, I don't know what Billy is arranging for us and our careers, but whatever it is, I want the boys to know after we're married . . . again. Antonia is just one risk. There will be others."

"We'll have to tell them something," Lee agreed. "But, we're going to have to wait to see what happens before we're going to know what to tell them."