Angel's Ransom (21 page)

‘What kind of things?’ Freddy asked.

‘Any kind. A broken bottle, a club, a
meathook
, a piece of jagged metal. When the time comes to fight Holtz, we
won’t be able to afford niceties. We’ll be trying to survive.’

The same pair of
agents
who had taken George from Neyrolle
’s
office in the evening brought him back in the
morning, a few minutes after the
sous-chef
’
s
return from
Geneva. The circles under Neyrolle
’s
eyes were more pro
nounced than usual, and the strain of a night without sleep
showed in his face. But his manner was as courteous as
ever when George, who had himself slept poorly, stood tight-lipped and hostile before him. The two agents waited near
the door.

‘
S
it down,’ Neyrolle said. ‘There is no need for us to be enemies.’

‘My friends don’t lock me in jail overnight,’ George answered stiffly. ‘Am I still under arrest?’

‘You have not been under arrest. You were temporarily isolated so you could not talk before I had an opportunity to
explain my plans for the rescue of the
Angel
. I apologize for
the inconvenience.’

George waited, stony-faced. Neyrolle said, ‘Perhaps you will listen while I tell you what I learned in Geneva, as a
preliminary to the explanati
on I owe you. As a newspaperman
, you will find it of interest.’

‘As a newspaperman, I’ll listen. I’ll also feel free to release whatever you tell me in my own discretion, and I’m
going to sue you for false imprisonment as soon as I get out
of here. If you want to talk with that understanding, go
ahead.’

‘I hope to be able to persuade you not to keep either promise.
The
sous-chef
felt in his pockets for cigarettes, found
none, and chewed a matchstick instead. ‘The plot against
Farr seems to be an elaborate one, carefully planned.
Roche
’s
credentials are absolutely bona fide. He goes by his
own name, carries the right passport, the right
carte
d’identit
é
,
everything. Not even a criminal record turned up, so far,
although I expect that we will find one. The only thing
against him at present is the misplaced dot of an “
i
” in the
signature of Farr
’s
check
, certain evidence of the criminality he continues to deny. I offered him immunity from
prosecution
if he would talk, but he seems to be certain that no one
will ever be able to testify against him. It is that certainty
that confirms me in the course of action I have decided to
follow.’

Neyrolle yawned, suddenly and uncontrollably.

‘Excuse me. It is not from ennui, I assure you. Roche
’s
confidence in his confederates indicates quite clearly, I think,
their ruthlessness. Either he returns to the rendezvous with
the ransom, or the captives aboard the
Angel
die. For that
reason it is wholly imperative that we permit no leak of
information which might warn the confederates, either by
radio or through the institution of an organized search for
the yacht, that the ransom is lost. This precludes calling
on Interpol, the American fleet, or any other organization
that could sweep the Mediterranean, and leaves us one
solitary weapon to use against the
Angel
’s
captors, the lure
of the ransom to bring them back to the rendezvous. Do
you still decline to cooperate in the kidnapping of Freddy
Farr?’

For all his anger and resentment, George could not deny the validity of the
sous-chef
’s
conclusions. He said, reluctantly,
‘I can see why you want the story bagged, yes. But you can’t
keep it bagged forever. Even if I don’t break it, it
’s
bound to
leak in time. And you don’t know how soon the rendezvous
is set to come off, if Roche won’t talk.’

‘That is true. On the other hand, the return tickets found in Roche
’s
pockets talk for him. The trip from here to
Geneva, by train to Nice and by plane from there, is a
matter of hours only. I myself went there and came back in a
single night, as you are aware.’

‘You think the rendezvous would be set for the earliest possible moment
?’

‘I would prefer to say, after a reasonable allowance of time for contingencies. Cashing a
check
for that much money is
not like taking a
mandat
to the post office. Tomorrow, the
next day, within the week certainly.’ The
sous-chef
sighed
heavily. ‘Waiting for it is not going to be easy. Those poor
devils, if only there were a way to let them know, without warning the vermin who hold them. How well do you know
Marian Ellis?’

George bristled all over again at the name. He said, ‘What
’s
the point of bringing her into it again?’

‘Because people who know each other intimately — as lovers, perhaps? - often have private codes of
communication
not recognized by others; nonsense words, particular
meanings, innuendos. If there were some way to transmit a
message which only she would understand
–’

‘I told you I knew her casually. I met her three or four weeks ago, and I’ve been out with her two or three times.
That
’s
all there is to it. You’re exploring a blind alley.’

‘One tests all possibilities,’ Neyrolle said.

‘What else have you done?’

‘I have asked all the Mediterranean countries to report the
Angel
if she is sighted in their waters, without giving
them cause to do anything else about it. But as long as she
remains cautiously at sea, out of sight and unreported, I
shall have more faith in my reasoning and the power of
the ransom to bring her back. When it does
–’
Neyrolle
looked thoughtfully at the palm of his hand, and curled
the fingers slowly into a fist, ‘ - I shall not need further
assistance.’

‘What are you going to do if she comes in at night? There
’s
nothing to prevent her from standing offshore without lights
and sending a launch to the beach. You can’t expect her to
sail right into the
harbor
.’

‘I do not. But it would simplify my problem rather than otherwise if she were to launch a small boat, because the
coastline of the Principality is small enough to permit a
watch on all possible landing points. A launch that brought
the gang into our hands would be well received. Even if my
reasoning is faulty, and they return not to leave the yacht
but to pick up the money and take it elsewhere, a boat that
came to meet Roche would permit us to board the yacht in
his place.’

‘If Holtz is as clever as he sounds, he wouldn’t risk a boat without a signal of some kind from Roche.’

‘I agree. For that reason, I have a fast patrol boat standing by in the
harbor
, with the best of my Brigade Maritime on twenty-four alert. I hope -
I
earnestly hope - that I shall
not have to use it.’

‘Why?’

‘Because it would bring the trap out into the open. And once Holtz learns that a trap, rather than the ransom, waits
for him
–’

Neyrolle broke off, shaking his head unhappily. ‘I cannot forget Roche
’s
confidence that no one will testify against
him. He knows Holtz. That is the reason why I must ask for
your word of
honor
not to reveal the story prematurely
before I can permit you to go. Do I have it?’

‘You do. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m not going to sue you for false arrest when this is all over.’

‘That is your prerogative, monsieur. Good day.’

He nodded to the two
agents
standing in front of the door. They stepped aside to let George pass.

Afterwards Neyrolle took a memorandum headed
‘S
aunders, George’ from a desk drawer and studied it
thoughtfully. The
dossier
was still sketchy, but the Paris
police had responded promptly to his request for coopera
tio
n. Among other odd scraps of information, they had been
able to report that George Saunders had been arrested and
released without charge after a street scuffle outside the
cabaret La Nouvelle Aphr
odite. The scuffle had been pro
voked when a dancer employed by the cabaret, Marian
Ellis, was accosted while in Saunders
’s
company. The incident had taken place almost a year before.

‘And why does a man lie when the truth would reveal only his own gallantry?’ Neyrolle asked aloud. In the performance
of his duties, he recognized no such thing as an
inconsequentiality
.

The heavy wrench bumped the back of Blake
’s
leg as he climbed the pilot-house ladder. He knew that it could make
no visible bulge in the loose ducks he wore, but he was unable
to check a twitch of nerves when he took the wheel from
Jules. From that moment his back was turned to the sailor,

and the most casual physical contact could betray the secret. The very fact of the wrench in his possession was
enough to invite punishment.

He had no thought in mind of an immediate attack with the weapon. An opportunity, risky though it was, presented
itself when Jules took time to chart the change of course he
had made during the night, necessarily turning his attention
to the dividers and parallel ruler with which he worked.
The gun in his belt was Blake
’s
goal, but its possession
was not enough unless he could stand with it between
Holtz and the other captives. Holtz would not hesitate
to kill any hostage within his reach at the first sign of
danger to himself, so an initial attack on Jules would have
to succeed at a time when Blake knew the positions of
everyone aboard, and could cut Holtz off from the other
prisoners.

That time was difficult to foresee. Jules did not relieve the wheel at regular intervals. There was no hope of planning
ahead for a safe grouping at a moment when he was certain
to come to the pilot-house. There was no moment at all at
which he was certain to come to the pilot-house, unless such
a moment could be created.

Blake considered the possibilities while Jules worked at the chart table. Once the
sailor looked up at the chrono
meter over his head. It gave Blake an idea.

He said, ‘We need a time signal.’

Jules grunted, still busy at his calculations.

‘The chronometer hasn’t been checked since we left port.’

‘If you’re worrying about my dead reckoning, it
’s
close enough. You can check it with the direction finder.’ Jules
made final marks on the chart. ‘The whole wide
Mediterranean
is around you, Captain. Nothing to get fidgety
about.’

‘I’d still like a time check.’

‘This time tomorrow you can have one. Nobody will be stopping you.’

‘I’d prefer to have one this noon. The radio in the salon will pick up a signal. You could count off seconds, bringing
it up here.’

Jules laid down his pencil and came without hurry to drop his hand on the point of Blake
’s
shoulder, tightening his
strong fingers in a crushing grip that was like a slowly closing
vice. Blake took it without a murmur, although the grinding
pressure made him clamp his teeth to keep from wincing
before the grip relaxed.

‘That
’s
just so you’ll remember who gives orders and who takes them for a while yet,’
Jules growled. ‘Don’t crowd
anything
ahead of time. Do your job. You’ll have your ship back
tomorrow, he’ll have his booze, and she’ll be out of this.
Everybody will be happy.’