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Rapp rubbed his eyes. “I would prefer to kill him.”
“I know that’s your default switch for every problem, but sometimes it’s a little more complicated than that.”
“I know. We avoid all the publicity and we now own the chairman of one of the most powerful committees in town.”
They drove in silence for a few blocks, and then Kennedy said, “We have one problem.”
Rapp was staring at his iPhone, checking emails. “We have lots of problems.”
“What do you want to do with Gould?”
“I didn’t think my opinion mattered.”
“Don’t get all sensitive on me. It doesn’t suit you well. You know your opinion matters.”
Rapp thought about it for a second and said, “You know what . . . I’m tired and I don’t give a shit what you do with him as long as you keep him away from me.”
“If we let him go, do you think he’ll quit?”
“No,” Rapp answered without hesitation. “He won’t quit until he’s crippled or dead.”
Kennedy had to be careful with this next part. Rapp was likely to come unglued. She cleared her throat and said, “What if we put him on retainer?” She watched as Rapp slowly turned his head toward her, waiting for the explosion.
Rapp’s jaw was locked in a grimace and then it slowly started to relax. “I’d say we give him a trial run. He screws up, he’s dead. He finishes the job, we’ll sit down and talk.”
“That was unexpected.” Kennedy didn’t bother hiding her surprise.
“And I know who we’re going to send him after.”
Rapp thought about all of the tight security around the man and how difficult it would be to kill Obrecht. Just maybe, Rapp would get lucky and Obrecht would put Gould out of his misery and save Rapp from the guilt of doing it himself.
“Who?” Kennedy asked, a bit nervous.
“I think our newest Swiss banker would be a nice place to start.”
“Herr Obrecht?”
“Exactly.”