A Devil Is Waiting - Jack Higgins [30]
“If you would allow me, mam’selle.” He eased the top open effortlessly.
She pushed a glass over. “You must have a strong hand. Have a large one on the house. I’ll find a stopper for it.”
“Why, thank you.” He poured and toasted her.
Harry Salter called, “Over here, Dora, you’ve got to meet this lady.” He was back with Sara again now. “You’ll have something to eat, I hope? Dora’s hot pot is out of this world.”
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to miss that,” Sara told him, and shook hands with Dora as she came round the bar to meet her.
“I’ve heard all about you, love,” said Dora, “getting a medal for bravery and everything. Marvelous what a real woman can do when she puts her mind to it. Shows the bleeding men the way for a change.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Sara said.
“Well, I do. Here, come and have a look at my kitchen.”
Sara smiled helplessly at Holley and went off with her, and Harry said, “Sit down, my old son. What an amazing girl she is, and how many Taliban did she knock out with that machine gun?”
“A lot,” Holley said.
“The newspapers will really go to town with it. A great story.”
“I don’t think they’ll be allowed to tell it,” Holley said. “A question of security.”
“Have you told her that?”
“That’s Ferguson’s job, not mine.”
“What’s this meeting about on Thursday? Roper left a message saying we had to report in.”
“Something to do with the President flying in Friday morning.”
“Is it right he’s only here for twenty-four hours?”
“A whistle-stop tour. Paris, Berlin, Brussels. Harry Miller’s coordinated all the security. Maybe he’s got jobs for us.”
“We’ll see,” Harry Salter said, and at that moment the two women returned, Dora pushing a trolley.
“Right, sit round the tables, the lot of you, and let’s get started.”
Henri, apparently absorbed in an Evening Standard he’d found at the end of the bar, put it down, finished his Pernod, and went out and rejoined Kelly in the Citroën.
“So what’s the story?”
Henri told him everything. “It would be interesting to know what’s being said at the meeting on Thursday.”
“Well, there’s not much you can do about that,” Kelly said.
“Perhaps not, but it might be amusing to cause a little mischief right now.”
“Like what?”
“Watch and learn.” He reached across, opened the glove compartment, and took out a flashlight and a pair of vicious-looking steel wire cutters. “That should do the trick. You stay here.”
He walked down to the Alfa, ducked until he was out of sight. Kelly couldn’t even get a hint of what he was doing, afraid that someone might emerge from the pub entrance at any moment. Luck was certainly on Henri’s side, for as he reappeared and started to walk back, the door opened to a burst of laughter, and three men emerged. They got into a car and drove away.
As Henri joined him, Kelly said, “By God, that was close. What were you up to?”
Henri replaced the flashlight and the wire cutters where he had found them, took out a duster, and wiped his hands.
“What’s that smell?” Kelly asked.
“Hydraulic braking fluid. I sliced the main tube. I’m afraid the next time friend Holley drives his car and tries to brake, he’ll get a nasty surprise.”
“You bastard,” Kelly said. “Are we going to stay to watch?”
“We don’t need to be here. The accident will occur whether we are or not. But it might be amusing. Let’s give it half an hour.”
Which they did, and quite a few people left during that period. In fact, forty-five minutes had elapsed when Henri said, “To hell with it, we’ll go.”
At that moment, Sara and Holley appeared, followed by the Salters, with Baxter and Hall standing in the entrance. There was a short exchange, laughter, then Sara and Holley got in the Alfa. The engine fired, and the Alfa moved forward, turning in a wide circle to point toward the exit road. Suddenly, the engine note deepened, and the Alfa swerved violently toward the edge of the wharf, bouncing sideways into a bollard, which was the only thing that saved it from going over into the Thames.
Holley scrambled out, turned, and reached