Passage by Night - Jack Higgins [65]
'I should think so,' she said.
He grinned at Manning. 'Reminds me of my mother. If she'd lived. God rest her, they'd have been around the same age.'
He ducked under her arm into the corridor and she followed him, closing the door behind her.
She came back later and brought Manning something to eat. As she arranged the tray across his knees, he noticed some flowers in a vase at the window and asked who had brought them.
She smiled. 'They were left by Miss Melos. She's brought fresh ones each day.'
After she'd taken the tray away, he lay staring out at the morning sunshine, thinking about Anna. His senses seemed sharper, more acute than he had ever known them. He could smell the perfume of the flowers and was filled with an aching longing for her.
The door clicked quietly open and he turned eagerly. Sergei Orlov was standing there. He wore a well-cut, darkbrown suit in tropical worsted, and sunglasses.
'Mr Smith, I presume?' Manning said.
The Russian grinned, took off his glasses and sat on the edge of the bed. 'Morrison will be up in a few minutes. He's talking to the doctor. How do you feel?'
'As if I shouldn't be here,' Manning said. 'They tell me you went down after me. Just for the record, what happened?'
'I finished off my man and followed you. I didn't like the way you were bleeding.'
'All the way down?'
The Russian nodded. 'I've been that deep before and it hasn't affected me particularly. In this case, we had to come up too quickly. That's what caused the trouble.'
'And Maria?'
'She took her own way out. She was still going down when I reached you.'
Manning pushed the thought away from him and asked for a cigarette. The Russian gave him one and they sat there smoking in silence.
'What happens now?' Manning said after a while.
'To me?' Orlov smiled. 'A most interesting situation. Officially, I'm quite dead. This opens up a fascinating range of possibilities.'
'Such as staying on this side of the fence?'
The Russian grinned. 'Why beat about the bush? To tell you the truth, I'm flying to Washington with Morrison in the morning. We've really only been hanging on to see if you'd pull through. He seems to think they might find something for me to do.'
'I'm sure they will,' Manning said dryly.
The door opened and Morrison entered. He sat on the other side of the bed and smiled. 'What in hell were you trying to do? Frighten us?'
They shook hands and Manning said, 'Papa Melos was here a little while ago. He told me about the boat. I'd like to thank you.'
'He deserved it.'
'I hear you're having company on the trip back.'
'You mean Smith here?' Morrison grinned. 'He finally came to his senses.' He hesitated for a moment and carried on. 'In a way, I'm here in sort of official capacity to thank you.'
'No need,' Manning said. 'I went into this thing in the first place for personal reasons. You know that.'
'Naturally, the whole business stays a secret. I must say the authorities here have handled things superbly in that way. Under the circumstances, my government expresses a very real regret that you can't be thanked publicly for what you've done. However, there are other ways. I've been asked to tell you that we intend to compensate you fully for the loss of your salvage business in Havana.'
Manning could think of nothing to say and Morrison nodded to Orlov and stood up. 'You look pretty tired, Harry. Try to get some more sleep. We'll see you again before we leave.'
After they had gone, he lay staring out of the window. So now he could start afresh. Now he could have not only the boat, but enough money to go into the salvage business again. The thought cheered him immensely and he threw back the bedclothes and swung his feet to the floor. When he walked across to the wardrobe, he felt as if he were floating.
His best tan gabardine suit was on a hanger and there was clean linen and a pair of shoes, obviously brought in by Anna or Seth against the day he would be leaving.
The pajama jacket he was wearing was light blue and he left it on in place