Donald Westlake - The Hot Rock

"Oh, would he?" Kelp smiled with half his mouth. "That's gonna be tough on the Major," he said.

"Not necessarily," said Prosker. "You recall the Major's passion for dossiers."

Kelp frowned. "Papers in folders," he said. "So what?"

"A lot depends," Prosker said, "on who opens those folders and reads those papers. The Manhattan DA, for instance, would find the dossiers on you five fascinating reading. It would solve five rather spectacular crimes of recent vintage, for one thing, as well as giving him some broad hints about other unsolved crimes in the past."

Kelp squinted at Prosker. "The Major's going to fink on us?"

"Only if you cause trouble," Prosker said. He sat back and spread his hands. "After all," he said, "you all made out rather well, considering how ineptly you handled the assignment."

"Ineptly!"

"It took you five tries to do the job right," Prosker reminded him. He held up a hand to forestall Kelp's sputtering objections, saying, "No one's criticizing. All's well that ends well, as the Bard once put it, and you and your friends did finally deliver. But you certainly weren't the models of efficiency and professionalism the Major thought he was hiring."

"He intended this doublecross from the beginning," Kelp said angrily.

"I have no opinion on that," Prosker said. "Please put the emerald on this desk now."

"You don't think I was crazy enough to bring it with me, do you?"

"Yes, I do," Prosker said, unruffled. "The question is, are you crazy enough to force those gentlemen behind you to force you to give it up. Are you?"

Kelp thought it over, angrily and bitterly, and decided he wasn't. There was no point bringing unnecessary lumps on oneself. One merely conceded the round, consoling oneself with the thought that the fight wasn't over. Kelp reached into his pocket, took out the black plush box, and put it on the desk.

"Very good," Prosker said, smiling at the box. He reached out both hands, opened the box, smiled at its contents. He shut the box and looked past Kelp at the three silent enforcers. "One of you should take this to the Major," he said.

The ebony man came forward, the light reflecting from his glasses, and took the box. Kelp watched him walk out of the room.

Prosker said, "Now," and Kelp turned his head to look at him again. "Now," Prosker repeated, "here is what is going to happen. Shortly, I am going to leave here and turn myself over to the police. I have a cock-and-bull story worked out about how I was kidnaped by a group that had the mistaken impression I knew where a former client's booty was hidden. It took them several days to accept their mistake, and then they let me go. I didn't recognize any of them, and I don't expect to see any of their pictures in the rogues' gallery. Neither the Major nor I, you see, are interested in causing you people any unnecessary difficulty. We hope you'll bear that in mind and not force us to harsher steps."

"Get on with it," Kelp said. "What else?"

"Nothing else," Prosker said. "You have been paid all you will be paid. The Major and I have taken it upon ourselves to cover you for your crimes in regard to the emerald. If you now go on about your own business, all five of you, that can be the end of it, but if any of you cause any trouble for either the Major or myself we are in a position to make life very, very difficult for all of you."

"The Major can go back to Talabwo," Kelp pointed out. "But you'll still be around here."

"As a matter of fact, I won't," Prosker said, smiling amiably. "Talabwo has an opening for a legal adviser in reference to their new constitution. A well-paying job, actually, with a subsidy from the United States Government. It should take about five years to get the new constitution ready for ratification. I'm looking forward to the change of scenery."

"I'd like to suggest a change of scenery for you," Kelp said.

"Undoubtedly," agreed Prosker. He glanced at his watch. "I hate to rush you," he said, "but I am a bit pressed for time. Do you have any questions?"

"None you'd like to answer," Kelp said. He got to his feet. "See you around, Prosker," he said.

"I doubt it," Prosker said. "Those two gentlemen will see you to the door."

They did, keeping Kelp in the middle, and closed the door firmly behind him once he was outside.

Murch's car was just around the corner. Kelp ran around and slid into the front seat. Murch said, "Everything okay?"

"Everything stinks," Kelp said quickly. "Pull up to where you can see around the corner."

Murch acted at once, starting the engine and pulling the car forward as he said, "What's the problem?"

"Doublecross. I have to make a phone call. If anybody comes out of that embassy before I get back, run him down."

"Right," said Murch, and Kelp jumped out of the car again.

Rollo walked into the back room and said, "The other bourbon's on the phone. He wants to talk to you."

"I knew it," Greenwood said. "Something had to go wrong."

"Maybe not," Dortmunder said, but his face showed he didn't believe it. He got up and followed Rollo out to the bar and hurried down to the phone booth. He slid in, shut the door, picked up the receiver, and said, "Yeah?"

"Cross," Kelp's voice said. "Come over quick."

"Done," Dortmunder said and hung up. He left the booth and hurried toward the back room, calling to Rollo on the way by, "We'll be back soon."

"Sure," Rollo said. "Any time."

Dortmunder opened the back room door, stuck his head in, and said, "Come on."

"This is really irritating," Chefwick said. He banged his glass of Diet-Rite Cola on the table and followed Dortmunder and Greenwood out of the bar.

They got a cab right away, but it took forever to get through the park. Anyway, it seemed forever. Still, forever ended, and so did the cab ride, with Dortmunder and the others piling out at the corner half a block from the Talabwo embassy. Murch came trotting over as the cab went away, and Dortmunder said, "What's going on?"

"Doublecross," Murch said. "Prosker and the Major are in it together."

"We should have buried him in the woods," Greenwood said. "I knew it at the time, I was just too softhearted."

"Shut up," Dortmunder told him. He said to Murch, "Where's Kelp?"

"Followed them," Murch said. "About five minutes ago, the Major and Prosker and three others came out and took a cab. They had luggage. Kelp's after them in another cab."

"Damn," Dortmunder said. "It took too long to get through the park."

"Are we supposed to wait here for Kelp," Greenwood asked, "or what?"

Murch pointed at a glass-sided phone booth on the opposite corner. "He took that phone number," he said. "He'll call us when he gets the chance."

"Good thinking," Dortmunder said. "All right. Murch, you stay with the phone booth. Chefwick, you and me are going into the embassy. Greenwood, you got your gun on you?"

"Sure."

"Pass it over."

They stood close together briefly, and Greenwood passed over his Terrier. Dortmunder tucked it away in his jacket pocket and said to Greenwood, "You stay outside and watch. Come on."

Murch went back to the phone booth, and Dortmunder and Chefwick and Greenwood hurried up the block to the embassy. Greenwood stopped and leaned against the ornamental iron railing and casually lit a cigarette while Dortmunder and Chefwick went up the stone stoop, Chefwick taking several small slender tools from his pockets as they went.

It was nearly four o'clock on a Friday afternoon, and Fifth Avenue was full of traffic; cabs and buses and. occasional private cars and here and there a black limousine all crept southward, a sluggish stream heading down Fifth Avenue with the park on its right and the impressive old stone buildings on its left. The sidewalks were busy too, with nannies walking baby carriages and elevator operators walking dachshunds and colored nurses walking bent old men. Dortmunder and Chefwick kept their backs to it all, shielding Chefwick's busy hands as he went through the door like a car with Platformate going through a paper hoop. The door ponged open, and Dortmunder and Chefwick stepped quickly inside, Dortmunder drawing the revolver while Chefwick shut the door again.