Bloody Passage - Jack Higgins [77]
As we turned again toward the entrance to the horseshoe bay, the radio crackled and a voice said, "Come in, Palmyra! Come in!" It wasn't Stavrou's.
I picked up the hand mike and flipped the switch. "This is Palmyra."
"Is that you, Mr. Langley?" I recognized the voice then. It was Gatano.
I said, "Langley is dead."
There was a startled exclamation and then Stavrou's voice broke in. "Grant, is that you? What happened?"
"Langley bought it on the way out at Ras Kanai. So did Nino and Angelo Carter."
There was a long pause before he spoke again, his voice harsh and remote. "And my stepson?"
"He's not too good. He was in a bad enough way when we picked him up, then he stopped a bullet. Hasn't been able to say anything that made much sense."
We passed in through the entrance to the bay. The Cessna was still moored to its buoys. He said, "Put Simone on. I want to talk to her."
I looked up at the high terrace. "I don't see my sister, Stavrou."
"You will," he said. "As soon as I see my stepson."
I went below and got Simone and told her what he wanted on the way back. She picked up the mike and said, "Dimitri?"
"What about Justin?"
"Killed," she said. "So were Nino and Angelo, but Dimitri--your son. He's very ill. He needs to get to a hospital as soon as possible."
"I'll take care of that," he said. "First let me see him on deck."
I went below to get Wyatt. He was very pale now, the skin stretched tightly on his face like wrinkled parchment. He wore an old reefer jacket over his prison pajamas.
"How's it going?" he said.
I told him on the way up the companionway and when we went on deck, Barzini came out of the wheelhouse with a folding canvas chair so that he could sit down.
I went back to the radio and picked up the mike. "Satisfied, Stavrou?"
There was a lengthy pause and then he said, "Perfectly."
"And my sister?"
"Look up, sir."
I focussed the binoculars and she jumped into view up there on the top terrace at the iron railings. She was smiling and fondling the Doberman's ears and Frau Kubel was standing close by in the same black bombazine dress.
I picked up the mike, "All right, what now?"
"I'll send the Landrover down. You can all come up and we'll make the exchange. I'll have some really excellent champagne waiting for you. You're a man after my own heart, Major Grant, but then, I had complete confidence in you from the beginning."
I put the mike down and turned to Barzini. "All right, Aldo, take her in and let's get ready."
By the time the Landrover reached the jetty we were ready and waiting, Barzini and I standing on either side of Wyatt, who sat in the canvas chair. We each had an Uzi slung from our right shoulder and I had a Smith and Wesson sticking out of my hip pocket.
The moment the Landrover braked to a halt, Bonetti and Moro jumped out covering us with Sterling sub-machine guns. Gatano got from behind the wheel and came forward.
"What is this?" I demanded.
"No guns!" he said. "Mr. Stavrou's orders."
He took the Uzis and the Smith and Wesson from my pocket and put them in the cab. Which left me with the Stechkin stuck into my belt at the small of my back under my shirt. Barzini had a revolver in the same place and even Simone had a Beretta automatic tucked into the waistband of her slacks under her sweater.
With Moro and Bonetti helping, we manhandled Wyatt into the back of the Landrover still sitting in the canvas chair. He looked really terrible now, his eyes bright and feverish. Once on the brief journey up to the villa I saw him put a hand inside his coat and when he took it out there was blood on the fingers.
We drove in through the entrance to the courtyard and received our first surprise, for Stavrou was standing at the bottom of the steps leading up to the garden, leaning on his canes.
As I got out I looked up and saw Hannah