Jake wanted to cancel the rest of his appointments. He doubted he could concentrate after his meeting with Ben. He also felt a twinge of guilt that he wasn’t going straight to the hospital, but he wasn’t going to leave Benicio hanging. He looked at his watch. Screw it, I’m going to get out of here. He called his only remaining patient of the day, rescheduled, then grabbed his jacket. He’d stop by the hospital before meeting Benicio at Dal. The hospital was on the way to Dal anyway.
He went down the stairs and pushed into the stone lobby of the building. There wasn’t usually much foot traffic, but he noticed a couple of rough, unkempt-looking guys heading across the lobby toward him. The larger man was pale and sickly looking, with a ragged eye patch. The slightly smaller, thinner man had a lopsided grin over dry lips.
“Hey,” the larger one said. “You know where Jake Tunnel’s office is?”
He was tempted to tell them it was upstairs and keep going. Having these guys banging on his door didn’t excite him. “I’m Dr. Tunnel.”
“Oh, good. We need a few minutes of your time.”
“Who are you?” Jake asked.
The bigger man ignored the question. “Let’s go to your office where we can talk in private.”
“We can talk here. How can I help you?”
“We represent the Vatican and need to ask you a few questions about a fugitive you may have had contact with — Benicio Valori.”
“Who’d you say you were?” Jake asked.
“I’m Maury and this is Jeremy.”
“And what’s your relationship to the Vatican?”
“I think we should ask the questions. Have you been contacted by Benicio Valori?”
“I doubt that’s any of your business.”
“Come on now,” Jeremy urged. “Just be straight with us and we’ll be out of your hair. Benicio is confused and we’re here to help get things straightened out. We wanna help Benicio, even if he doesn’t realize it.”
“Yeah, I can see that. You two look like the helping types.”
“Don’t be a smart-assed prick,” Jeremy said, sneering.
“Language,” Jake said, faking offense. “What would the Vatican say?”
Maury looked at his brother and motioned for him to back off. “We’d really appreciate your assistance, Dr. Tunnel.”
“I’ve got nothing to say. My son is in the hospital and that’s where I’m headed,” Jake announced and moved toward the door. The men shifted to physically block his way.
Maury leaned in close. He whispered, “Don’t fuck with us,” and slapped a card against Jake’s chest. “If you hear from Valori or find out anything about where he’s at — call us. If we find out you knew something and didn’t tell us we’ll come back. You don’t want us to come back.”
Jake took the card and backed away. Maury stared at him for another second, then a glimmer of a smirk crossed his lips. He and Jeremy turned and left.
Jake looked at the card for a moment and then ripped it in half. There was a garbage container nearby, and he dropped the ripped paper in it. Ben, what have you gotten yourself into? Things had changed. He wanted — no, needed — to know more about this Voynich book. He’d go straight to Dal and get started.