The Light of the Day - Eric Ambler [45]
On the whole, though, I would have made narcotics the first choice. Not that I didn’t see Harper as a con man, or in the role of blackmailer (I knew all too well that he could play that), but the cost and extent of the preparatory work suggested that big profits were expected. Unless the supply of gullible millionaires had suddenly increased in the Istanbul area, it seemed more likely that the expectation was based on the promise of a successful narcotics operation.
It seemed to me so obviously the right answer that I began to think again about the grenades and pistols. Supposing they did fit into the narcotics picture after all; but in a subsidiary sort of way. Supposing they had no direct relationship with Harper, but had been carried for someone outside the villa group—someone Turkish with political intentions of the kind in which Tufan was interested. The narcotics picture had to include a supplier of illicit raw opium. Almost certainly that supplier would be Turkish. Why shouldn’t the price for his illicit opium have included a small shipment of illicit arms? No reason at all. Or the delivery of the arms might merely have been one of those little gestures of goodwill with which businessmen sometimes like to sweeten their contractual relationships. “I’m bringing a car in anyway. Why not let me take care of that other little matter for you? Just give me a letter to your man in Athens.”
There was only one thing that I could see that was not quite right about it—the time factor. The villa had been taken on a short lease. The car had been imported on a tourist carnet. I didn’t know how long it took to set up a laboratory and process enough heroin to make a killing in the dope market; but, on the face of it, two months seemed a bit short. I decided in the end that, for safety, they might well want to avoid remaining for too long in any one place and intended to keep the laboratory on the move.
I think I knew, secretly, that it wasn’t a highly convincing explanation; but, at that moment, it was the best that I could think of, and until a better one occurred to me I was prepared to be uncritical. I liked my arms-for-opium theory. At least it held out a promise of release. When Tufan realized that, as far as the arms were concerned, Harper was only an intermediary, his interest must shift from the villa group to someone somewhere else. My usefulness would be at an end. Harper would accept my resignation with a shrug, return my letter, and pay me off. Tufan’s delighted Director would help me over my papers. A few hours later I would be back in Athens, safe and sound.
I remembered that I hadn’t yet written to Nicki. Before I went to bed, I bought a postcard from the concierge and wrote a few lines. Still on Lincoln job. Money good. Should last a few more days. Home mid-week latest. Be good. Love, Papa.
I didn’t put the villa address, because that would have made her curious. I didn’t want to have to answer a lot of questions when I got back. Even when I’ve had a good time, I don’t like having to talk about it. Good or bad, what’s over’s done with. Anyway, there was no point really in giving an address. I knew she wouldn’t write back to me.
The following morning I went out early, bought a dozen packets of cigarettes, and then looked for a shop which sold tools. If I were to make sure that the stuff had been removed from the car doors, I would have to look inside at least one of them. The only trouble was that the screws which fastened the leather panels had Phillips heads. If I tried to use an ordinary screwdriver on them, there would be a risk of making marks or possibly scratching the leather.
I could not find a tool shop, so, in the end, I went to the garage off Taxim Square, where they knew me, and persuaded the mechanic there to sell me a Phillips. Then I went back to the hotel, paid my bill, and took a taxi to the ferry pier. There was no sign of the Peugeot following.
A ferryboat came in almost immediately and I knew that I was going to be early at Sariyer. In fact, I was