A Devil Is Waiting - Jack Higgins [17]
“Leo,” the man gasped. “Don’t hurt me.”
“The NYPD would just love to catch you with one of these. You’d be in a cell in Rikers tonight and, what’s worse, the showers in the morning. So I suggest you pick your friend up by the scruff of the neck and get out of here while I’m in a good mood.”
“Anything you say, anything.” Leo was terrified and reached down to his friend, hauling him up.
Holley said to Sara, “I get the impression you know who I am.”
“Let’s say I’ve seen you on screen.”
“Do you still need the restroom?”
“No, I think that can wait. I could do with a drink, but I’d prefer to go to the hotel bar for it and catch my breath.”
“The bar it is, then.” He offered her his arm, and, behind them, Leo managed to get his friend on his feet, and they lurched away.
They sat at a corner table and waited until a waiter brought a martini cocktail for her and a large vodka for him. She picked up her glass.
“You don’t take prisoners, do you?” she asked.
“I could never see the point. The way you handled that guy with the derringer, though, suggests you could have managed quite well on your own.”
“I have a black belt in aikido. Giles Roper warned me about you, you know.”
“So you’re familiar with my wicked past?”
“And Holland Park,” she said. “And what goes on there. I’ve been given full access. I must say he’s very thorough.”
“He’s that, all right.”
“That horrible man.” She sipped her martini. “He was afraid for his life. You frightened the hell out of him.”
“I meant to, he deserved it.” He took his vodka down in a quick swallow, Russian style, and she watched him gravely, waiting for more. “Look, I was involved in a terrible incident years ago that makes it impossible for me to stand by and do nothing when I see a woman in trouble.”
“Being familiar with your file, I understand why.”
“Well, there you are, then,” Holley said. “Anything else you’d like to know?”
“I saw you watching me dancing with Colonel Grant, but you looked startled for some reason.”
He shrugged. “Just astonished at finding the best-looking woman I’d seen in a uniform for years.”
She smiled. “Why, Daniel, you certainly know how to please a lady.”
“No, I don’t. I’ve never had much time for relationships, not in my line of work. Here today and possibly gone forever tomorrow, if you follow me. What about you?”
“If you’ve immersed yourself in my career, you’ll know that the past ten years have been one bloody war after another. There was a chap I got close to in Bosnia who was killed by a Serb sniper. Then there was a major in Iraq who went the same way, courtesy of the Taliban.”
“What about Afghanistan?”
“With my Pashtu and Iranian, I traveled the country a lot.” She smiled bleakly. “Death seemed to follow me around.”
“Well, he must have thought he’d got you in his clutches at last on the road to Abusan.” He smiled. “If somebody did decide to make a movie, they couldn’t do better than let you play yourself.”
“You should be my agent, Daniel.”
“That’s the second time you’ve called me by my first name. That’s got to mean something.” He looked beyond her and saw Ferguson, Miller, and Dillon entering the bar, Colonel Josef Lermov with them. “Look who’s here.”
The Russian, instead of his uniform, was wearing an old tweed country suit, blue shirt, and brown woolen tie. He advanced on Holley and hugged him.
“I must say you’re looking wonderful, Daniel.” He looked down at Sara. “And this can only be the remarkable Captain Sara Gideon.” He reached for her hand and kissed it. “A great honor and privilege, one soldier to another.”
“Coming from the author of Total War, Colonel Lermov,