Solo - Jack Higgins [54]
'Wouldn't say, but he told me to give you this.' Arnold handed him a wad of twenty-pound notes with a Midland Bank wrapper still around them. 'Five hundred.'
Jago held them to his nose. 'God, how I love the smell of this stuff. Okay, Arnold, wheel him in. Let's see what his game is.'
Morgan wore a polo-neck sweater and hadn't bothered to unbutton his military trenchcoat. Jago poured himself a Scotch and looked him over.
'Mr. Morgan,' Arnold said and stood by the door.
'Colonel, actually.'
Jago made a face. 'So what am I supposed to do, curtsy?' He picked up the five hundred pounds. 'I'm a busy man and all this buys you is limited conversation. Speak your piece or move on.'
'It's quite simple,' Morgan said. 'The Cohen shooting last week. The gun used was a Mauser 7.63 mm, Model 1932 with the SS bulbous silencer, a weapon of some rarity these days. Your organization supplied two of them to the IRA last year.'
'Who says so?' Arnold put in.
Morgan kept his eyes on Jago. 'A man called Brendan Tully. I was with him in Ulster yesterday.'
'Now look here,' Arnold began, but his brother stilled him with a hand.
'You're not the law, so what's your angle?'
'The man who shot Cohen ran my daughter down while making his escape. Killed her. I'd like to find him.'
'I get it now,' Jago said. 'You think the Mauser he used might have come from the same source as the others?'
'It would seem reasonable.' Morgan took a second packet of banknotes from his pocket and tossed it on the table. 'Another five hundred there, Mr Jago, so you see, I'm prepared to pay for the information.'
'It'll cost you,' Jago said.
'How much?'
'Another grand.'
'All right - when?'
'I don't deal with that end of things myself. I'll need to talk to the guy who does. I should know by tonight, if there is anything to know. I own a club in Chelsea, the Flamingo on Cheyne Walk. I'll see you there around nine.'
'All right.'
Morgan turned to the door and Jago said, 'And Colonel Morgan. Don't forget the other thousand.'
'Of course not, Mr Jago. I keep my word.'
'Delighted to hear it.'
'See that you do.'
Jago said softly, 'Is that a threat, Colonel?'
'Yes, come to think of it, I suppose it is,' Morgan told him and went out.
There was silence. Jago said, 'You know something, Arnold? That's the first time anyone's given me the hard word in years and we can't have that, now can we? Bad for business. I'm going to take a personal interest in Colonel Morgan. Very personal. Make sure there's a couple of good lads laid on for tonight. Dustbin men.'
'Yes, Harvey.'
Arnold turned to go out and Jago added, 'Another thing, from now on, we stop selling hardware to those Micks across there. They're all puddled, I've told you before. Stick to the Arabs in future.'
Back at the flat, Morgan put the coffee percolator on and then telephoned Security Factors Ltd. Jock Kelso sounded relieved to hear his voice.
'You're back then. Thank God for that. Did you see O'Hagan?'
'Briefly,' Morgan said. 'I'm afraid he's dead, Jock. Car bomb. I was lucky not to go with him.'
There was a heavy silence, then Kelso said, 'Did you find out what you wanted to know?'
'Oh, yes, that's why I'm ringing. What can you tell me about the Jago brothers?'
Kelso said, 'Probably the most important gangsters in London. Even the Mafia walk cautiously around those two. Arnold, the skinny one, is the brains. His elder brother, Harvey, is no fool either. Used to be a prizefighter.'
'A nasty piece of work. I've met him.'
'And that's an understatement. Last year an Italian gambler called Pacelli tried to palm loaded dice at one of Jago's gaming clubs. You know what Jago did? Cut off the top joint of each finger on Pacelli's right hand with garden shears. Are you trying to tell me he's the source of the Mausers?'
'That's the way it looks. I'm seeing him tonight. A place called the Flamingo in Cheyne Walk. Is it respectable?'
'Strictly top people.'
'Which means he'll behave himself. Tell me, Jock, how does he make his money?'
'Gaming clubs, protection, high-class whorehouses.'
'And that's