Bloody Passage - Jack Higgins [71]
"I know, don't tell me. I certainly chose one hell of a public way of doing it. Face on the front page of every newspaper in the world. Show trial in Tripoli." He shook his head. "It's kind of funny when you look at it. When he finally found me I was as far off as ever."
There was a heavy silence as we all sat there thinking about it. Finally, I said, "If you made it to that twenty-fifth birthday of yours, what would you do?"
"Well, I'll tell you," he said. "That money was screwed out of people. Prostitution, drugs, protection --you name it and he had a finger in it, no matter how rotten. It seems to me that it would be kind of appropriate if it went back to people in some way. I know several relief organizations who could do one hell of a lot with five million dollars."
Simone's breath hissed between her teeth sharply. Barzini said with a kind of awe in his voice, "How much did you say?"
"Give or take a few bucks."
There was another long silence. Simone looked at me, I turned away, stood up and lit a cigarette. "Oliver?" she said.
"You're going to hand me over anyway, aren't you, Mr. Grant?" Wyatt's face was calm and one corner of his mouth lifted in a slight, ironic smile.
I turned, my back to the door. "What else can I do? He has my sister."
Simone plucked at my sleeve and I turned on her savagely. "The purpose of the exercise wasn't to take sides, it was to save Hannah. You know that as well as I do."
"You're living in a fool's paradise, Mr. Grant," Wyatt said. "You won't get your sister back. He never intended it All he wants is me--dead. Do you know what a truly evil man is?"
Barzini said, "I think maybe it's time we put Langley under wrappers."
"A good point," I said. "Any further discussion can come later."
"Who's Langley?" Wyatt asked me.
"Let's say he plays for the other team." I took the Stechkin from him and stuck it in my belt. "Sorry to be an Indian giver, but I've an idea I'm going to be needing this. You stay with him, Simone."
I opened the door and went out, followed by Barzini. The saloon was deserted and Barzini called, "Heh, Nino, where are you?"
"In here," Angelo replied from the forrard cabin.
The door was slightly ajar. I pushed it open and found Nino on the floor, hands lashed together, mouth taped, eyes blazing. Angelo slipped from behind the door and rammed the muzzle of an Uzi sub-machine gun under my chin.
"One move out of you, buster, and I'll blow the top of your head off."
He took the Stechkin from my belt and stuck it into his hip pocket then got a handful of hair and twisted me round, still keeping the muzzle of the Uzi tight under my chin.
Aldo had the Smith and Wesson in his hand. Angelo said, "Put it on the table slowly or he gets it. I'll only tell you once."
"I'd do as he says if I were you." Langley spoke from the companionway. He stepped in holding a revolver and plucked the Smith and Wesson from Barzini's hand. "That aft cabin ventilator's as good as a voice pipe, old stick," he told me. "You're slipping, aren't you, or perhaps you never really had it in the first place?"
"Bastard!" Barzini said to Angelo and spat on the floor.
"Oh, I don't know," Langley said. "He has his points. Hates my guts, but he does like the money in large amounts. Thirty thousand dollars, for example, as opposed to the twenty you were offering."
"Nothing personal," Angelo said. "I mean, I think you're a great guy, major, and all that, but like I said when we first met, I never did have much in common with officers."
Simone opened the door of the aft cabin and stepped into the saloon. She showed no kind of surprise at the situation. Her face was perfectly calm.
Langley said, "Ah, there you are, sweetie. How's our friend?"
"Not too good," she said, "but he'll survive."
"Do you really think so?" Langley chuckled. "All right, let's have him out of his bunk."
"You bloody lying bitch," I said.
She looked me over calmly, almost casually, a hand on one hip, no emotion in her eyes at all, then turned and went into the cabin.
"Put not thy trust in women, old stick." Langley sighed heavily.