Bloody Passage - Jack Higgins [27]
Angelo grinned. "You've got to be joking. What do I have to do? Kill somebody?"
"Very probably."
There was a longish silence. Angelo stopped smiling, glanced at Langley and me and back to Barzini. "This is for real?"
"Of course."
Angelo said rapidly in Italian, "Who are these guys? What goes on?"
"A waste of time," Barzini replied. "They both speak Italian."
"Look, we're not asking you to rob a bank," I put in. "Just help get someone out of a Libyan prison."
Angelo jumped up and made a cutting gesture with one hand. He nodded towards Barzini. "Him I trust, you two I don't know. Outside."
I responded to Barzini's slight nod by opening the door and leading the way out. Langley was annoyed and showed it. "If I had my way ..."
"Which you don't," I said. "So your opinion's of no interest."
He walked away angrily and I leaned against the wall beside the door and waited, listening to the murmur of voices inside. I don't think it even occurred to me that Angelo would say no, and not just because of my faith in Barzini's powers of persuasion. The boy was ripe for change, it was as simple as that. Like me, he'd been in the Hole for too long. It was unlikely that he'd turn down any kind of a chance to break out.
The door opened suddenly and Barzini said, "Come in."
Angelo was standing by the dressing table and he was still not wearing the wig. There was a moment's silence and then he raised his glass. "I must be crazy, but here's to crime."
An enormous feeling of relief surged through me, but before I could say anything Barzini glanced at his watch. "We'll have to be moving if we're to get to the other side of Misilmeri on time." He turned to Angelo, "Meet us at my place in the Via San Marco when you've done your second show."
"Nothing doing," Angelo told him. "I've got a date with a very willing lady."
"She'll have to wait."
"But can I, that's the point?"
Langley said, "I suppose it all depends what you're trying to prove."
Angelo looked him over and the eyes beneath the fringed lashes were cold. "I don't have to prove a thing, friend. What's your story?" Langley took a step toward him and Barzini grabbed him by the arm, opened the door and shoved him outside. "Around midnight then," he said to Angelo. "We'll expect you."
He closed the door and I turned to Langley, who was standing against the wall, hands thrust deep into his pockets, feet apart. I said, "You're along for the ride, that's all, so keep your mouth shut. Open it again like that and I'll close it for you personally."
And once again he did the unexpected thing by smiling sweetly. "Why, thanks, old stick, I'll try and remember that. I really will."
He turned and walked out and we followed.
We left the yellow Alfa Romeo parked conspicuously outside the funeral premises on the Via San Marco and left by the rear entrance. Barzini led us briskly through a maze of narrow streets and we finally emerged at the back of the central station where Langley's chauffeur was waiting in the Mercedes. We got in quickly and he drove away.
"Do you think that's enough?" I said.
"That yellow Alfa of mine is one of the best known cars in Palermo. Someone could be watching. They all know my relationship to Nino. Not that the Mafia would try anything with me personally, you understand. They know better. But they want the boy." He shrugged, apparently quite unconcerned. "We'll have to see."
It was still raining and there wasn't much traffic on the Agrigento road. Just the occasional group of peasants coming into Palermo early to secure a good pitch for tomorrow's market. Old women in long skirts and shawls, baskets on their heads, strange, medieval figures, walking behind heavily laden donkeys. Nothing changed, it seemed, and I felt unaccountably depressed.
The streets of Misilmeri were clear, but the wineshop seemed to be doing a good enough trade, people sitting inside out of the rain. There had been lights behind us for some time and Barzini leaned forward and told the driver to slow. A cattle truck pulled out to pass us and moved on into the night.
"Good!" He