Free New York One by Tony Schumacher Page A

head slightly and looked down at the Mickey Mouse baseball cap on the table and then back at Crace,
    "I felt like an asshole wearing it, I had to take it off."
    The man reached under the table and then produced an iPad from somewhere Crace couldn't see, he wondered if the iPad had been taped to the bottom of the table as he noticed some marks on the back of the case as the man held it towards himself so that Crace couldn't see the screen.
    Crace took the few moments to study the man sitting opposite him; he guessed the guy was about forty something, white, slim, maybe worked outside judging by the way his skin was weathered. The guy was wearing an old black leather suit jacket that looked maybe a size too big for him, it looked kind of cool on the guy and Crace liked it. He wondered if it was really old, or maybe one of those jackets that cost thousands to make them look like they cost fifty bucks. He decided to ask the guy after they'd finished their meeting.
    The guy finished what he was doing with the iPad and then placed it down on the table between them. On the screen Crace could see about ten white squares on a black background. The man touched one of the squares and it zoomed in to show that there was writing on it, Crace leant forward and read the caption,
    " Put the cap on."
    Crace looked up from the screen at the man,
    "What? Are you speaking to me through the iPad?"
    The man tapped the screen again,
    " Yes."
    "Why? That's crazy, nobody can hear us."
    Another tap
    "The restaurant may be bugged, you may be wired or we might be being filmed."
    Crace looked around the restaurant nervously and then back at the man,
    "I followed all of your instructions, to the letter. Nobody knows we are here I promise."
    "Put the cap on."
    Crace picked up the cap and pulled it on; this time he didn't care he looked a dick. He didn't care because he was too scared to care.
    Another swipe,
    "Hands."
    Crace placed his hands back down on the table in front of him palms down and stared at the man while he played basket ball with his Adams apple. The man stared back and Crace was about to speak again when the waitress suddenly leant in and poured some coffee, Crace nearly screamed.
    "Fresh coffee, you order now?"
    "No, not yet, in a minute I promise."
    "Hey, that iPad, they nice things, my boy want one for Christmas, too expensive for waitress though, not make enough tip."
    The man opposite smiled at her and placed his hand over the top of the cup she had put down for him and shook his head slightly. She smiled back, glad that this new guy wasn't as much of an asshole as the one who had been here for an hour and turned away saying,
    "I be back soon take order."
    Crace looked at his coffee but didn't pick it up, the email he'd received setting up the meeting had expressly told him to keep his hands palms down on the table at all times, it was the same one that had told him the locker number where he had found the bag with the dumb clothes he was wearing, the clothes and the hat. That fucking hat.
    "I feel dumb in this hat, I look like a redneck." The man tilted his head again and Crace suddenly realised he might just have insulted him, he fought to take control of that bouncing Adams apple and made an attempt at swallowing it and an apology, "I'm sorry, not that there is anything wrong with being a redneck, it's just it isn't my style, you know?"
    The man tapped the screen,
    "I needed you to stand out in the crowd."
    "You followed me?"
    "Yes."
    "All the way over?"
    "Yes."
    "You know where I live?"
    "Yes."
    "Jesus."
    They stared at each other across the table for a moment, and Crace puffed out his cheeks and nodded to his coffee,
    "Can I take a drink?"
    The man nodded and Crace picked up the mug, careful to keep his other hand down on the table top. The coffee warmed his throat and cooled his nerves so that when he put the mug back down he felt a little bit more in control.
    "Have you got the answer to every question I am going to ask