Оливер Блик - Protocol for a Kidnapping

“They’re full of frozen shit,” I said. “Some of it’s just beginning to thaw.”

“What’re you doing here, Tavro?” Killingsworth said, his big voice booming the question out.

Tavro looked at me and I took a handful of snow and rubbed it on my bare feet. “He’s with me, Killingsworth,” I said. I looked up at him. He hadn’t changed much in thirteen years. His hair was gray now and he wore it the way he always had, so that a thick lock of it fell down across his forehead. He was still handsome except for his blue eyes that were just a little pale and maybe just a little stupid, but then I was prejudiced. It was a big, wide face with a lot of chin and right now the big face looked puzzled and uncertain and I decided it was time to set him straight.

“Near Sarajevo,” he said. “They forced my car off the road. It was a new car.”

“Then what?”

“They brought me here and made me chop wood. There were two of them, an Italian and another one, a Croat, I think. They threatened to kill me.”

“Didn’t they tell you anything?”

“They told me I was being held for ransom, but they wouldn’t tell me how much or how long I’d have to wait. They didn’t tell me anything. I kept asking about my car, but they wouldn’t even tell me about that.”

“Your car’s okay,” I said. “The ransom was a million dollars. The government paid it. The kidnappers also demanded the release of Anton Pernik from house arrest and his safe conduct to the border. Gordana was to have gone with Pernik but he died. Tavro took his place. The kidnappers didn’t seem to care who came along. Anyway, I was tapped by the State Department to act as go-between in the deal. Mr. Wisdom and Mr. Knight came along to help out. You know Miss Tonzi here. She works for the CIA. I’m not sure why she’s along.”

“You don’t make any sense, St. Ives,” Killingsworth said.

“You’re not tied to a chair anymore, are you?”

“No.”

“Be grateful.” I turned back to the fireplace. “Anybody bring any booze?” I said.

“It just so happens that I have a pint of fair bourbon,” Wisdom said, handing it over to me.

“You’re a treasure, you are,” I said and took a long gulp.

“What now?” Arrie said.

“Now?”

“Yes.”

I looked at my watch. It was nearly three o’clock. “I’m not planning on walking down any mountain tonight, are you?”

“No.”

“Then we’ll just sprawl around the fireplace and sing songs till it gets light.”

“And then?”

I shrugged. “Then you, Killingsworth, Wisdom and Knight can start back for Sarajevo.”

“What about Tavro?”

“He and Gordana go with me.”

“Where?” she asked.

I grinned at her. “I still don’t know.”

I looked up and saw that Killingsworth was now talking to Gordana, his big face worked up into an expression of sadness. She was nodding, as if only half listening to what he had to say. Then she shook her head sharply and moved away. Killingsworth looked around as if bewildered, but then I remembered that he’d often looked that way. He saw me and came over to where I sat

“I have to talk you privately,” he said. “It’s important.”

I sighed and rose. We went over to the rough wooden table. Killingsworth sat down and hunched over it in what he may have hoped was a conspiratorial manner. “This man Tavro,” he said.

“What about him?”

“He’s dangerous.”

“So?”

“He approached me with information. He wanted me to help him get out of the country.”

“Did you?”

“No.”

“But you took the information.”

Killingsworth looked around. “You have no idea how vital it is, St. Ives.”

“Hot stuff, huh?”

“It could well determine the future leaders of this country.”

“What’ve you done with it?” I said.

“That’s confidential, of course.”

“But it’s the real thing?”

“There’s no doubt about it,” he said.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Can you get him out of the country?”

“Maybe.”

“I can’t be involved, of course.”

“Of course.”

“But I did more or less promise him.”

“In exchange for the information?” I said.

“That’s right.”

“Well, I can try,” I said and started to rise. He used his right hand to pull me back down. “There’s one other thing.”

“What?”

“I’ve had a lot of time to think during the past week.”

“Uh-huh.”

“We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“A half hour ago you couldn’t remember my name.”

“A man sometimes does foolish things.”

“Such as?”

“This girl, Gordana Panić. We were, well, close and I made some promises, some foolish ones, I’m afraid, but now that I’ve had a chance to think it all through it would be far better if this entire affair didn’t involve her. Am I making myself clear?”

“Perfectly,” I said. “You want to give her the brush.”

Killingsworth frowned. “There’s my family to think of.”

“What about her?”

He ignored the question. “And as ambassador I should avoid any hint of scandal that could damage our relations with Belgrade.”

“You want me to fix things, right?”

“Could you?”

“Why should I?”

Maybe I wanted him to crawl a little. Or maybe it was because I thought I’d owed him something for thirteen years and now was my chance to pay it all back with compound interest. His face fell. Crumpled would be better. He was no longer Ambassador Amfred Killingsworth, millionaire publisher. He was only a fifty-year-old man who’d just about wrecked things because of a twenty-two-year-old girl and now he was trying to scramble back, trying to salvage it all, trying to make it as it had been before he fell in love too late in life. And that was probably what hurt most of all, that he couldn’t fall in love at fifty with someone who was twenty-two because he didn’t have the stomach for the sacrifices that it called for.

“Oh, hell, Killingsworth. I’ll see what I can do.”

His face brightened. It not only brightened, it shone. “You mean it?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll remember it, Phil. We’ve had a few differences, but that’s all water under the bridge. Wait till you see my report on how you’ve handled this. I’ll see that you get full credit.” He was babbling now, not saying anything really and I only half listened. Then he said, “Who brought you in?”

“Hamilton Coors,” I said. “You know him?”

“Of course I know him. Damned fine man. He’s a personal friend of mine, the best I’ve got in the Department.”

I nodded. It was all that I felt like doing. “Coors speaks well of you, too,” I said.

I was dozing by the fireplace about an hour later when I got my first night visitor. It was Tavro. I glanced about and the rest of them were sprawled out or huddled up near the warmth of the flames.

“I must speak with you,” Tavro said in his whispering rasp.

“Go ahead.”

He looked around, his sad fish face covered with a black and white stubble that made him look mean all the way through. “When will Killingsworth get back to Belgrade?”

“Tomorrow, I think.”

“He has information, papers, documents that are mine.”

“I thought you gave them to him.”

Tavro frowned. “It was a foolish mistake. I must have them back.”

“I don’t think there’s much chance.”

“Then I must leave immediately.” He started to rise. I caught his arm and pulled him back down.

“You don’t have a chance,” I said. “We’ll try it tomorrow with the girl. You can be her grandfather.”