Passage by Night - Jack Higgins [56]
She turned without waiting for an answer and went back into the room. He stayed there for a moment and stared into the darkness, considering the enormity of the thing she contemplated. When he finally went in, she was sitting down again.
He moved around the desk and faced her. 'You'll never get away with it, Maria. No one could get through the kind of security net those two will have around them.'
'With careful planning, anything is possible.' She opened a drawer, took out a chart and spread it on the desk. 'Here is Nassau and fifteen miles away is Lyford Cay where Rusk and Home are to meet. At two o'clock tomorrow afternoon, they're going for a short cruise in a diesel yacht. At three, they anchor beside a red buoy specially positioned in the channel and watch an exhibition of water skiing. There is nothing we don't know about their movements.'
'And you think they'll let you get close enough to try anything?' Manning said.
'We don't even need to be here,' she replied patiently. 'At dawn tomorrow, I'm going skin diving off Lyford Cay.'
'At dawn?' he said, frowning, 'I don't understand.'
'You will, Harry, I assure you. It'll be in all the papers.' She pressed a buzzer on the desk and immediately, the door opened and Vargas entered. 'I've finished with Senor Manning. You can put him with the others.'
Manning took a step towards her. 'Maria, for God's sake, listen to me.'
But he wasting his time. The man on the terrace moved in and Maria pulled a sheet of paper forward and picked up a pen. Manning turned abruptly, brushed past Vargas and went into the other room.
Viner was sitting on the edge of the desk smoking a cigarette. He smiled faintly. 'Life's just full of surprises isn't it, Harry?'
Manning ignored him and helped himself to a cigarette from a pack on the desk. 'She's crazy. You all are if you think you can get away with this.'
Viner gave him a light. 'I think you may be surprised, Harry. It's really a very good plan.'
'It'll need to be.'
The man with the machine-pistol poked him with the barrel and he moved out through the door, Viner at his shoulder. They crossed the hall and descended a flight of stairs at the back of the house.
There was a large, whitewashed wine cellar at the bottom, brightly lit by a naked electric bulb. Viner's two men, Paco and Charlie, squatted on the floor and played cards, their submachine guns propped against the wall.
Paco jumped to his feet and took a bunch of keys from his pocket. 'Where shall I put him?'
'With his friends, by all means.' Viner said pleasantly. 'You'll find them all there, Harry, except for your girlfriend. She's got a cellar all to herself. Maria is surprisingly puritanical about such things.'
They moved past several doors, heavily barred with iron, a small grille set in each. Manning caught a brief glimpse of Anna's white face and then they paused at the next door. When it was opened, there was a confused impression of faces and then he was pushed inside and the door clanged shut.
He ignored the rush of questions and peered through the grille, watching Viner walk away. Suddenly, he laughed harshly and turned to face them.
'For God's sake, what is it, Harry?' Morrison demanded.
'One of life's little ironies,' Manning said. 'It's just occurred to me that two great men are going to die because a drunken peasant raped a little girl seventeen long years ago.'
19
The Stern Sea Chase
It was bitterly cold and Manning sat against the wall and smoked one of Morrison's cigarettes. Seth and Papa Melos both appeared to be dozing and Orlov stood at the grille and peered outside. Morrison paced restlessly up and down.
After a while, he crouched beside Manning. 'If I don't get out of here soon, I'll go crazy.'
'That kind of talk won't get us anywhere. What time is it?'
Morrison peered at the luminous dial of his watch. 'Two a.m.'
'They'll be leaving soon,' Manning said. 'Have to if they want to be off Lyford Cay by dawn. It's a three-hour run.'
'What are they going to do when they get