A Woman Involved (25 page)

The boat swung into a tight turn. It heeled, the spray curling high. Then it went speeding back up the canal in the opposite direction.

The car slammed to a halt. It swung into a turn, then roared Off down the road again, chasing the speedboat.

The Dutchman opened the throttle and the boat’s bows came up higher. Ahead was an intersection of canals. The Dutchman swung the boat right, and it went speeding away into the darkness.

On the other side of the canal the car slammed to another halt. It started turning around again. But the speedboat had disappeared.

The speedboat turned into Blauwburgwal canal. A bridge swept, by overhead, and they burst out into the broad Singel canal. Elegant old Dutch houses flashed past. Trees, lampposts, parked cars. Then the Dutchman swung the boat up against the stone embankment. Morgan and Danziger scrambled up onto the narrow cobbled street. The boat surged away into the night.

They strode down the patchily lit canal street. Morgan glanced back. Nobody was to be seen. ‘Where is it?’

‘There.’

A large green lantern hung above an ornate door. Alongside were the words, in polished brass: ‘Yab Yum Men’s Club’. Danziger hurried up the steps and rammed a key in the door. Morgan hurried inside.

They were in a softly lit hall. To the left was an ornate desk. Beyond it, a marble staircase. The walls and ceiling were dark blue with elegant lamps and chandeliers. There was a man-size Thai statue in glittering gold, and in the corner sat a big beaming
Buddha. And all around were ferns and flowers. To the right a large door opened onto a bar. A tall woman of about forty, in a cocktail dress, emerged. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said to Danziger. She held out a hand to Morgan. ‘Xaviera,’ she said.

‘Good evening. Is Anna here yet? Makepeace?’

‘Not yet. Will you come into the bar to wait?’

‘I don’t want to be seen.’

‘You are safe here. I don’t know what this is about, and I don’t want to know. But here you must behave like an ordinary client. My ladies don’t talk. Discretion is our business, otherwise half the politicians of Amsterdam would be in trouble. There are no other customers at the moment, Saturday is a quiet night. Just act normally for ten minutes, then I’ll take you to your room and nobody will think anything about it.’ She turned into the bar.

It was large, ornate mahogany, carved pillars reaching up to the ceiling. There was a lounging area with soft lights and flowers. Another glittering Thai statue, another Buddha. Only three girls sat at the bar. One wore a
cheongsam
split up to her hip, with fishnet stockings and black high heels; the other wore a Victorian dress with a cut-away bodice showing magnificent breasts. The third wore only a scarlet corset, panties, stockings and high heels. They all smiled politely. Morgan went to an empty stool. Xaviera had gone behind the bar. ‘What will you have, sir?’

‘Beer, please.’

She snapped the cap off an Amstel and gently poured.

‘Mind if I drink on duty, sir?’ Danziger said.

Morgan shot him a look. ‘Go ahead.’ He lifted his glass, and swallowed and swallowed. He lowered the glass and closed his eyes. ‘Where’s goddam Makepeace?’

‘Probably arrested for speeding,’ Danziger smiled.

Morgan shot him another look. ‘How long are you on duty
for
?’

‘Until you dismiss me. I’m a hired gun.’ He smiled.

It was on the tip of Morgan’s tongue to say, ‘You’re dismissed’. ‘And you know what Makepeace has planned from here?’

‘He consulted me. I gave him my advice.’

‘And that was?’

Danziger smiled. ‘That I take overall charge of this operation, sir.’

Morgan snapped: ‘Any other advice?’

‘Oh, sure. But since Makepeace is my paymaster, I discuss it only with him.’ He added: ‘The client often gets too emotionally involved to be clear-headed.’

‘Jesus, Danziger –
I’m
your paymaster!’

‘Not entirely, sir. I’m doing this job for Makepeace at a reduced fee. Because when it’s over, Makepeace is going to do a little job for me.’

Morgan glared. ‘Makepeace doesn’t take contracts, does he?’

‘To kill? No. He’s too much of a schoolboy at heart for that yet. But he’ll learn.’

Jesus. ‘Did Spider take contracts?’

‘Not that I know of. And I usually know what contracts are on offer, and who takes them up.’

‘You don’t snap them all up yourself?’

‘Sometimes the pitch gets a bit crowded. I like plenty of elbow-room.’

Morgan held a finger out at him.

‘Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Dan. Right now you’re working for
me. I’m
your paymaster. I’m not having any private deals between you and Makepeace cloud the question of who gives the orders around here.’ He glared at him: ‘Got that?’

Danziger looked him in the eye, with a twitch of a smile.

‘Yes, sir. Three bags full, sir.’

Morgan wanted to grab the little bastard by the shirtfront. Except the little bastard would have thrown him across the room. Morgan picked up his beer and drank it. He banged the glass down. ‘May I have another, please? And take it up to my room?’

‘Certainly.’ Xaviera snapped the cap off a bottle. ‘Alone?’ She added: ‘You’re paying enough.’

‘I’m afraid so.’

Danziger smiled: ‘Begging your pardon, sir, but a girl may make it look more authentic.’

‘Thanks for the advice, Danziger.’ He added grimly. ‘You better come up and check there’re no Comrades under the bed.’

They followed Xaviera. Danziger went ahead up the stairs. They stopped on the first floor. Xaviera opened a door.

The large window was draped in red velvet and the walls were in regency stripe. There was a triple bed. The room was richly carpeted and split-level. On the upper level was a large, circular, sunken bath. Danziger said:

‘Okay, no bogeymen, sir. I’ll check upstairs, and the fire escapes, then go back to the bar and watch the stairs.’

Xaviera went to the bath, turned on the taps. Steaming water gushed into the sunken tub. She threw in some suds, and bubbles frothed up. She smiled. ‘Anything else?’

‘No, thanks. You’ve been very kind.’

‘Mine is the kindest business in the world.’

All he wanted to do was collapse in that bath but he had to ask some questions. ‘How do you know Dougie Makepeace?’

‘Oh, I know Dougie. But in my business we don’t talk.’

‘Did you know Dan Danziger?’

‘Oh yes. What matters to me is what I
don’t
know. I don’t harbour criminals but I also don’t want to know my clients’ business any more than if I were selling him a shirt. But when Dougie asked me to look after you, I checked you out with the police. I have some very good friends there. You are not wanted by the Dutch police. That’s good enough for me.’

Morgan stared at her. The
police? Oh Jesus, Makepeace … 

‘And now I leave you to have your nice bath.’

She dropped the lock on the door as she left.

Morgan stood there. He wanted to bellow his fury with Makepeace to the skies.

He ripped off his clothes and slung them into the water.

He had just finished scrubbing himself when there was a knock on the door. ‘Who is it?’

‘Makepeace.’

He scrambled out of the bath and slung a towel around his waist. He flung open the door. ‘Where’s Anna?’

‘In the dungeon, having a bath.’ Makepeace strolled in, and waved his hand. ‘Ain’t this something?’

‘Makepeace,’ Morgan sighed furiously. ‘Why the
hell
aren’t you in Switzerland? And what the
hell
is Danziger doing here? And why the
hell
did you tell this woman my name? She checked with the police!’

‘I didn’t tell her your name on
purpose
,’ Makepeace whined, ‘it slipped out …’

‘ “It slipped out” …’ Morgan groaned furiously. ‘Jesus. Do you realize what you’ve done? You’ve undone all that hair-raising escape-driving we did from the airport! Because the Dutch police now know we’re holed up at the Yab Yum whore-house! And if the British ask them, the Dutch will tell them!’ He pointed at the street. ‘Carrington’s mob are probably out there right now! Waiting patiently to follow us to Zurich!’

Makepeace protested, ‘She didn’t ask the police
officially,
she only asked a
friend,
it’ll never go any further. Anyway,’ he muttered sulkily, ‘the Comrades don’t know.’

‘Unless
they
’ve, got a contact in the Dutch police! Which they doubtless have.’ He glared at him. ‘And what are we doing in the heart of Amsterdam? The reason why we came to Holland was to avoid the problem of getting out of Paris because you’ve got no contacts in France. So we come here and we’re
out
of Amsterdam, and you very efficiently shake off the people following us, and we’re in nice open country, and what do you do? – you bring us
into
Amsterdam! Now we may have to shake them off again!’

‘But Amsterdam’s the best place in the world to shake off a tail,’ Makepeace protested ‘– all these canals and one-way streets! …  And they may have followed us to the airfield! And besides, as Danziger says, why fly from an airfield, which you can be followed to, when you can fly out by
sea
plane which can land on water anywhere –’

‘
Danziger?
…  So Danziger countermanded me! And what the
fuck
is Danziger doing on this job anyway?’

‘But you told me to get more men. And I thought about it –’

‘A difficult process!’

‘– and I thought: What would have happened in New York if Carrington’s boys hadn’t been there to back us up against the Comrades? So I concluded that we needed the best professionals –’

‘You know I don’t trust Danziger! There’re plenty of other SAS guys!’

‘Because he’s the
best.
And you gave me discretion, that’s why we chose Amsterdam.’

Morgan took a deep breath.

‘As soon as we leave Amsterdam, I want him off the job.’

‘He’s already gone,’ Makepeace said ‘– and Clark and Still-goes.’

‘Gone
already
?’

‘I mean,’ Makepeace said earnestly, ‘they’ve gone to Switzerland. To set things up for us.’

Morgan stared at him. ‘
That was your job!
’

‘But I haven’t had
time,
’ Makepeace pleaded.

‘
So Danziger knows everything?
’

‘
No,
’ Makepeace sighed ‘– even
I
don’t know everything. All I know is we’re going to a bank somewhere in Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich. All his instructions are, to have a car waiting for you, hidden in the forest where we land, and to check out the entire area of downtown Zurich and work out several escape routes from Bahnhofstrasse. And
that’s
why a seaplane is so good, because there’re lakes all around Zurich!’ He ended: ‘All he knows is that he’s to ride shotgun when we leave the bank.’

‘Jesus, Makepeace! …  Danziger would take a contract on his own
mother
.’

‘Bullshit,’ Makepeace said ‘– he’s got his reputation to maintain. He’d never get another job if he double-crossed a client.’

‘If he double-crossed
this
client –’ Morgan slapped his chest – ‘he wouldn’t
need
another job! You know what the Russians would pay for the information that we’re going to a bank in Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich? And the Brits! Get onto the telephone! Phone Schipol airport and tell them to come back!’

Makepeace said: ‘They haven’t gone to Schipol airport – in case the Comrades are still watching it. You think we’re stupid? They’re driving to Brussels airport.’

‘Yes, I think you’re stupid! Phone Brussels airport!’

Makepeace said, very sensibly: ‘But what’s the point, Jack? Danziger already knows about Zurich, even if we do fire him. If he’s going to double-cross us, he can do it whether we recall him or not! But he’s not going to double-cross us. And we’re lucky to have him.’

Morgan sat down on the bed, and held his head. ‘Oh, sure, he might have been out of town assassinating some politician …’ He shook his head in his hands. ‘Oh, Makepeace. Why didn’t you stay in Special Boats?’

Makepeace stood there sulkily. Morgan held a finger out.

‘Danziger told me he’s doing this job cheap because you’re going to do a job cheap for him. Just remember that
I’m
employing you, not Danziger! Your loyalty is to
me

‘Of course,’ Makepeace muttered.

Morgan gave an angry sigh. ‘Did you sell those diamonds?’

Makepeace pulled out a plastic bag. He threw it on the bed. Twenty-four thousand dollars. What’s left of it. I paid myself only my upfront money but I paid Danziger and the boys for three days. It’s all written down.’ He complained: ‘I could have got more on the black market, but you wanted an official receipt.’

‘All right,’ he sighed. ‘So we’re flying out of Holland by seaplane. Is the pilot to be trusted?’

‘Of course, he wants another job after this one.’

‘And what’s he costing me?’

‘Five hundred bucks an hour flying time, fifty bucks an hour standing still. About fifteen thousand dollars.’ He added: ‘That’ll clean out that plastic bag.’

Morgan turned to the handgrip. He found the cloth bag, and pulled out more diamonds. ‘Is the black market open on Sundays?’

‘Sure.’

Morgan looked in the plastic bag. He examined the receipts, Makepeace’s accounting, and counted the money. ‘And how do we get out of this whore-house without the Comrades and Brits following us, now that the Dutch police have kindly told them where we are?’ He held up a hand. ‘No, let me guess. The dungeon of this whore-house is connected to a tunnel, which leads to the sewers of Amsterdam, which open into the sea –’

‘
Right
,’ Makepeace said belligerently. Then said sulkily: ‘You get to the plane by speedboat. Through the canals.’

‘They’ll be wise to that one now! They’ll have both ends of the canal covered by their own boats!’

Makepeace said, wearily: ‘Cars come to fetch the girls at the end of their shift. You leave with them. The car drops you off on
another
canal, where your boat’s waiting. The Comrades can’t be covering
every
canal in Amsterdam. You’ll shake them off easy.’