A Devil Is Waiting - Jack Higgins [90]
“He’s what?” She was not pleased, and it showed. “I think you’d better explain what you’re talking about, or Talbot Place will be needing a new estate manager.”
Kelly was helping himself to another whiskey. “You wouldn’t want to know what lover boy got us all into.”
She was furiously angry now. “Tell me what all this is about, damn you.”
“Why not?” He held his glass high. “To Owen Rashid, the Real IRA, and Ali Selim and Al Qaeda, may they all rot in hell. I was in over my head, I was so stupid, but I can’t go to prison again. I’d rather die.”
So he took a deep breath, tried to pull himself together, and told her everything.
Five minutes was all it took and her life changed totally. She sat there, looking at him gravely and rather sadly.
“So you’ve told me the truth, Jack? They’ve flown off with the young woman and are on their way to Rubat right now?”
“Absolutely, Jean, you’ve hit the nail right on the head.”
“If you’ll excuse me for a minute, I’ve just got something to do. Have another drink if you want.”
She walked out, crossed the hall into the study. There was no way she could leave Sara Gideon to her fate. How strange then that the man she needed to do the right thing now was the man she had threatened to have killed. She had put Sean Dillon’s mobile number into her phone from the card he’d given her at the luncheon, called him now, and he answered at once.
“Who is this?”
“Jean Talbot. I believe you might still be in the vicinity of Shepherd Market?”
“How the hell did you know that?”
“I think you should know that Henri Legrande and Owen Rashid have kidnapped and drugged your friend Sara Gideon and are en route to Rubat with her, acting under the orders of Ali Selim. Jack Kelly’s at my house now, drunk out of his wits, and has confessed everything to me.”
Kelly appeared in the doorway of her study in time to hear, and pulled a Colt .38 semi-automatic from his pocket and aimed at her, hand shaking.
“Stop that,” he bellowed.
“You can go to hell,” she replied.
He fired, bouncing her back against the wall. He stood there staring at her, shocked at what he had done. There was the roar of the Mini Cooper arriving outside, and Holley, first out, came through the front door, already ajar, and flung himself down, firing blindly. Kelly appeared from the study, gun raised, and it was Sean Dillon who shot him twice in the heart.
He stepped across Kelly as Holley picked himself up. Jean Talbot was trying to stand, blood seeping from her sleeve and soaking her blouse.
“Oh, dear,” she said, as he raised her, then eased her into a chair. “I’m stuck with having to thank you for saving my life instead of making plans to end yours.”
“I’ll expect you learn to live with it,” he said, as Holley came in with some kitchen towels. “Good man, Daniel. I’ll see to Jean, you call Roper, tell him what’s happened and what she said about Sara. Also, a disposal team will be needed for Kelly. We’ll leave the front door unlocked.”
“A disposal team?” Jean inquired, as Dillon padded a towel and slipped it inside her blouse.
“We have our own funeral people. They’ll clean the place up, take the body away and deal with it.”
“And what happens to me?”
“We’re going to take you to Rosedene, our own private hospital.”
“How kind.” She smiled, but winced. “It’s beginning to hurt.”
“Don’t worry, they’re the best in London for gunshot wounds. They also do a great cup of tea.”
“That’s comforting,” she told him and fainted. He caught her, held her close, and called Holley, who had been in the hall, talking to Roper, then trying to contact Sara.
Holley’s face was hard and set. Dillon said, “You look like the devil himself, Daniel.”
“I feel like him. Roper said we must get Talbot to Rosedene as soon as possible. Professor Bellamy’s been notified and is on his way over from Guy’s Hospital to receive her. I’ve been trying to reach Sara on her Codex. Only got her recorded message. Roper has sent Tony Doyle straight round to Highfield Court to do a proper search.”
“Bring Talbot,