Sad Wind From the Sea - Jack Higgins [10]
The girl tried to smile but only succeeded in looking sick. Hagen took the gun from her and slipped it into his pocket. 'You need a drink,' he said and, taking her by the arm, he hurried her from the building.
He took her to a little bar he knew nearby and they sat in the privacy of a booth cut off from the noisy world by a bead curtain. He lit a cigarette and put it into her mouth. She inhaled two or three times and seemed to be a little better. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen.' She shuddered.
The drinks came at that moment and Hagen pushed hers across. 'Drink up,' he said. 'It'll do you good. I'm not exactly soft myself but it's one of the worst things I've ever seen.'
She smiled tightly. 'You seem to have done nothing but rush me into quiet bars while I cry,' she said. He smiled and gripped her hand tightly. 'What am I going to do?' she moaned.
'Do you still want to go after that gold?' he demanded. She nodded. 'Then that's settled. Now, the best thing for you this afternoon would be to go back to your hotel and lie down.' She started to protest. 'No buts,' Hagen added. 'I'm in command. Anyway, I've got a lot to arrange and you'd only be in the way.'
They left the bar and he hailed a taxi. When he paid it off at the hotel he was left almost penniless. He was going to leave her at the entrance but she begged him to come up for just a moment. The lift took them to the third floor. Her room was at the end of the corridor and she gave him the key. When he opened the door the room was a shambles. Clothing and personal effects were strewn about the place and most of the drawers had been taken out completely. 'But why?' she said. 'What did they expect to find?'
Hagen pushed his hat back from his forehead. 'The directions for finding the launch, angel. They were hoping you might be stupid enough to leave them lying around.'
'The fools,' she exploded. 'What do they take me for? I know the position by heart.'
Hagen said in a satisfied tone: 'One thing it proves. Tewak didn't talk.' Suddenly Rose began to curse in the same fluent manner in which she had blasted the Russian clerk. 'Heh, hold on,' Hagen said.
'Oh, damn them!' she said. 'I'm beginning to get annoyed.'
'No tears?' he said.
'They're all used up.'
He grinned and took off his jacket. 'Let's get started packing your things.'
'Why the hurry?' she said in surprise.
'You can't stay here. I think I'd better take you to visit a friend of mine.'
She shrugged her shoulders and started to pack the things in her cases as he handed them to her. Within twenty minutes they were leaving the room preceded by a couple of boys carrying the luggage. The Russian was scrupulously polite and remote when making out the bill. As they turned away from the desk Hagen suddenly shouted, 'Here, boy!' and tossed a coin which the man instinctively caught. He stood glaring after them in fury and several people laughed. Hagen decided that the coin had been worth it.
As the taxi headed up into the residential part of Macao on the hill, Rose said curiously, 'What is this friend of yours like?'
Hagen said casually, 'All right, I think you'll like her.'
'Oh, a woman.' There was a faint edge to her words. 'An old friend?'
He laughed. 'Yes, in both senses of the phrase.' He patted her hand. 'Don't worry. She's very well known. All the best people go to her house. All the best men do, anyway.'
It took several moments for the implication of his words to sink in. Rose gasped. 'You don't mean she keeps ...'