through the revolving door of the office building he owned, Daniel raced up to the fourth floor, for once preferring not to wait for the elevator. Breathing heavily, he opened the plate-glass door with his firm’s name emblazoned in gold lettering and dashed to his mahogany-paneled office, calling over his shoulder to his wide-eyed secretary, “Get Rocky on the phone and bring me an ice-cold soda.”
His chair, a deep burgundy Morris and a gift from Jerry Vanderbilt, welcomed him with a resounding, comforting swoosh, like a well-worn slipper. He drained the Coca-Cola when it was brought to him and set the green bottle to dancing on his desk. Then he bellowed to Irene, his secretary, to bring him two more from the small compact kitchen. He was working on the second bottle when Irene buzzed him. “Mr. Rockefeller is on the line, Mr. Bishop.”
Daniel gagged on a mouthful of soda, the fizz bubbling in his nose. He cleared his throat before reaching for the phone. “Daniel here, Rocky.”
The voice on the other end was low and filled with subdued excitement. “We did it! Don’t ask any questions, but if you can be at Dulles Airport at five-thirty, we have a Red Cross plane that will take you in. Actually, it’s one of Jerry’s planes, his grandfather’s. Vintage, to say the least, but in tiptop shape. It will set down at Heathrow in London, and the Red Cross insignia will see you through. My daddy called F.D.R. and got clearance.”
Daniel had put all his faith in his friends, and they had come through again. He couldn’t speak.
“Say something, you son of a bitch!” Rocky urged with a hearty laugh. “A small show of excitement will do.”
“I…I honestly didn’t think you’d be able to…” Daniel sat up and tried to pull his thoughts together. “Listen, Rocky, I have to talk to you. Where the hell are you?”
“You called me and you don’t know where I am?…Some lawyer you are. I’m at Dulles. Your secretary called my office, and they told her where to reach me. Jerry’s here now seeing to the outfitting of the plane. You know, goodies and that sort of thing. Oh, and don’t worry about clothes, we’ve got that covered, too.”
Rocky paused to temper his natural exuberance with the gravity generally reserved for his courtroom monologues. “We want to help, Daniel, and if you need us to go with you—and Jerry is hoping you do, you should see him scrambling around this plane—we can say good-bye to jurisprudence at the drop of a hat. Whatever you need, you know it’s yours.”
Daniel’s eyes misted. “There are a couple of things I’ve got to handle first. I shouldn’t be too long. We’ll talk when I get there, okay?”
“You bet.” The exuberance was back. Daniel smiled and shook his head. Rocky and Jerry were doing for him what he was trying to do for Mickey. Friends…that said it all. Somehow he’d find a way to thank these two men, but for now he’d have to push ahead.
Richard Rockefeller, Rocky to his intimate friends, was a tall, imposing man with crisp golden-brown hair that curled about his ears and forehead. Shrewd gray-green eyes gazed benevolently from beneath thick, fringed lashes that women would have killed for. A chiseled jaw, complete with cleft, and strong, even white teeth completed the saintly look Rocky strived for. He had worked on “the look” for years to get it just right. But Daniel knew Rocky’s boyish, innocent look was a facade. His friend was the toughest, meanest, nastiest courtroom lawyer on the East Coast, and proud of the fact that he’d never lost a case. Oh, he’d settled out of court at the eleventh hour, but he’d never let any arbitration be construed as an admission of guilt on the part of his client. Daniel knew that if he was ever in legal trouble, Rocky would be the man he’d turn to.
As he hurried across the busy airfield, Daniel tried to hide his smile when he caught his first glimpse of Rocky. His friend was standing just outside the plane’s open hatch dressed in what he called clam diggers and deck shoes, absorbed in arguing about something to one of the crew. When Rocky turned to him and Daniel saw the noticeable hole gaping near the armpit of his friend’s stretched-out T-shirt, he lost the battle. Grinning openly, he climbed the steps to join Rocky and slapped him on the back as they shook hands.
“Where’s Jerry?” Daniel yelled over the noise of the hubbub surrounding the plane.
Rocky cocked a thumb over his shoulder toward the inside of the waiting plane. “Believe it or not, he’s outfitting a bed for you back there—complete with satin quilt,” he joked. “It’s a long flight.” Daniel couldn’t help thinking Rocky was the one who really wanted to get on that plane with him.
“Come on, I have a bottle of the best waiting for us inside,” Rocky said with a wink, “and I think we’re all in need of a stiff drink.”
Daniel held back. “Rock, I don’t know how I can…”
The two friends looked into each other’s eyes as the wind began to whip across the tarmac. “What?” said Rocky, grinning. “Thank me? Forget it. If it wasn’t for you, I’d never have gotten through law school, and I don’t mean just your tutoring. You’re a damn good friend, Daniel, and I hope you consider me one. Hey, Jerry,” he bellowed, sauntering off, “Crusader Bishop is here.”
Daniel followed him into the cool, damp belly of the plane, his eyes quickly adjusting to the dimness. When they found Jerry, the men shook hands all around again, vigorously thumping one another on the back the way they’d done in college. With smirks and self-conscious grins, the three of them hunkered down together, hands jammed into their pockets. The display of emotion and friendship was over, now it was time for business.
Jerry was the shortest of the three, but what he lacked in height he made up in pure, hard muscle. He had bright, inquisitive eyes and curly red hair that stood out like a fire bush around his ears. Daniel always thought he looked like a precocious squirrel. But he was a good buddy, the kind of guy you wanted on your side no matter what. Well, they were on his side now and hadn’t asked why.
“Okay, fella, let’s hear it,” Rocky said, uncorking a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. He offered it to Jerry, who took a swig and then passed it on to Daniel. Daniel took a good pull, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and passed it on to Rocky.
Thirty minutes later two pairs of eyes stared back at Daniel in wonder. “This has the makings of an Academy Award film,” Jerry said quietly, trying to wring one last drop from the now-empty bottle. “Daniel, this could be…hell, it’s…” Jerry turned to Rocky. “I think we should go along, Rock. This turkey could get caught by the Germans and he’d try and talk his way out of it.” He sounded worried, which surprised Daniel. When he replied, Rocky sounded just as worried.
“So you’re intending to pull off something much bigger than a reconnaissance tour to size up the situation,” Rocky said flatly. He took in and let out a great breath before continuing. “You could get stuck there, Daniel. Just because we get you in doesn’t mean you’re going to get out.”
Daniel placed a hand on each of his friends’ shoulders. “I know. And that’s why you two are staying here. If there’s one thing you two are good at, it’s covering your asses. Now I need you to cover mine. I’m simply out of town on business, emergency business. Check with my secretary, she’ll be expecting you. Return whatever calls look like trouble. Especially from Reuben. I wouldn’t put it past him to fly East if he gets an urge to. I think I rattled him last night. He’ll be able to get through on the phone to the island now, and Rajean will have him call the office. Reuben has this…this sixth sense when it comes to me, and he’ll act on it. He’s not to know, and neither is my secretary.”
“Daniel, what if something goes wrong?” asked Rocky.
