Chapter 5 fourth quarter

The call came at 9 o'clock.Decker had told McKittrick that the call wasn't connected to his hotel, when in fact, it was.It was a payphone in the lobby of a hotel on the other side of the street from his hotel.Decker could read the newspaper while waiting for the call without drawing attention. Every half hour starting at 8 o'clock, Decker strolled over to the phone, waited five minutes, and then returned to his comfortable chair. He was standing by the phone when it rang at nine o'clock.He picked up the phone, "Hello?" "Is that Baldwin?" He recognized McKittrick's unremarkable New England accent.

"Is it Edward?" "Arranged at 11 o'clock tonight." "Where?" McKittrick told him. Hearing the location, Decker frowned. "Goodbye." He hung up the phone anxiously and left the hotel.Although he had told McKittrick that he didn't suffer from jet lag, in fact he was suffering from it, so he really didn't want to work at night.Also, he was busy for the rest of the afternoon.He was ostensibly working for a multinational real estate consultancy.In order to cover his actions, he rushed to this company to report for duty in the afternoon.His contact person in the company keeps a package addressed to him, which is only the size of a hardcover novel.Back in the hotel room, Decker opened the package, took out a Walther Model 380 semi-automatic pistol, tried it out, and made sure it worked.He could have chosen a more lethal weapon, but he would have preferred the tiny Walther pistol.The gun was only a little bigger than his palm, and after being holstered it could be tucked into the waistband of his jeans, and he wore a sports jacket over it, so as long as it was not buttoned, it would not be noticeable at all.Still, Decker was in a quandary.