Sidney Sheldon - Windmills Of The Gods

The following evening Harry Lantz returned to the Pilar at eleven o’clock and took a place at the bar, watching the room gradually fill up. As midnight approached, he found himself getting more and more nervous. If she doesn’t show up, he thought, I can kiss the fifty grand good-bye.

He wondered what she looked like. She had to be a stunner. He was authorized to offer her boyfriend, Angel, a cool two million dollars to assassinate someone, so Angel was probably up to his ears in millions. He would be able to afford a beautiful young mistress.

The door opened, and Lantz looked up expectantly. A woman was walking in alone. She was middle-aged and unattractive, with a fat, bloated body and huge, pendulous breasts that swayed as she walked. Her face was pockmarked, and she had dyed blond hair. A hooker down on her luck, Lantz decided.

The woman looked around the bar with vacant, listless eyes, then pushed her way over to Harry. “Wanna buy me a drink?”

She had a heavy Spanish accent.

She looks like a fat cow, Lantz thought..And she’s drunk. “Get lost, sister.”

“Esteban, the bartender. He say you are lookin’ for me, no?”

“He must have made a mistake. I’m looking for Neusa Muez.”

“Si. Yo soy Neusa Mudez.”

But the wrong one, Harry thought. “Are you Angel’s friend?”

She smiled drunkenly. “Si.”

Harry Lantz recovered swiffly. “Well, well.” He forced a smile. “Can we go to a corner table and talk?”

They fought their way across the smoky bar, and when they were seated, Harry Lantz said, “I’d like to talk about-”’ “You buy me a rum, s(? A double.”

Lantz nodded. “Sure.” When the waiter left, Lantz said, “I want to meet with Angel. I have a little present for him.”

She studied him. “St? What kin’a present?”

“Two million dollars.”

Their drinks arrived. She downed hers in one gulp. “Wha’ for you wanna give Angel two million dollars?”

“That’s something I’ll have to discuss with him in person.”

“Thais not possible. Angel, he don’ talk to nobody.”

“Lady, for two million dollars-“

Neusa Mufiez struggled to her feet. “I tol’ you, he don’ talk to nobody. Ad16s.”

“Hey! Wait a minute! Don’t go.”

She looked down at him with bleary eyes. “What you wan’?”

“sit down,” Lantz said slowly, “and I’ll tell you what I want.”

She sat down heavily. “I need a rum, huh?”

Harry Lantz was baffled. What kind of man is this Angel? he wondered. His mistress is not only the ugliest broad in all of South America, but she’s a lush.

Lantz did not like dealing with drunks. On the other hand, he hated the thought of losing his fifty-thousand-dollar commission. He summoned the waiter and ordered the drink, then smiled and said reasonably, e Neusa, if I can’t talk to Angel, how can I do business with him?”

“Ess simple. You tell me what you wan’. I tell Angel. If he say sf, I tell you s(. If he say no, I tell you no.”

Lantz distrusted using her as a go-between, but he had no choice. “You’ve heard of Marin Groza?”

“No.”

He patted her fat hand. “Angel will know who Groza is. You just say Marin Groza. He’ll know. The people who sent me want him blown away. Killed.”

“Oh. I’ll ass’ Angel. Wha’ you say the man’s name is?”

He wanted to shake her. “Groza. Marin Groza.

“Yeah. My baby’s outa town. I’ll call him tonight an’ meet you here tomorrow. Kin I have ‘nother rum?”

Neusa Muez was turning out to be a nightmare. How could a man who was supposed to be as smart as Angel get hooked up with such a rum dummy?

THE following night Harry Lantz was seated at the same table in the Pilar, intermittently chewing peanuts and his fingernails. At two a.m. he saw Neusa Muez stumble through the door and make her way over to him.

“Hi,” she mumbled, and slumped into a chair.

“Neusa, did you remember to talk to Angel?”

She looked at him vacantly. “Angel? Si. Kin I have a drink, huh?”

He ordered a double rum for her and a double Scotch for himself. He needed it desperately. “What did Angel say, Neusa?”

,Angel? Oh, he say yeah. Ess okay.”

Harry Lantz felt a surge of relief. “That’s wonderful!” He no longer cared about his messenger-boy mission. He had thought of a better idea.

Lantz prided himself on being a pro. He was too smart to walk into a deal like this without first checking it ou.t. Before leaving the States, he had cautiously asked around about Angel, and what had impressed him most was that the Israelis had put a price of a million dollars on his head. This drunken floozy was going to lead him to Angel. He was going to collect that one million dollars.

He watched her slop down her drink, spilling some of it on her already soiled blouse. “What else did Angel say?”

“Angel say he wanna know’ who your people are.”

Lantz gave her a winning smile. “You tell him That’s confidential, Neusa. I can’t give him that information.”

She shrugged. “Then Angel say to tell you to get lost.”

Harry Lantz’s mind started working at top speed. “Neusa, I’ll telephone the people I’m working for, and if they give me permission, I’ll give you a name. Okay?”

She nodded, indifferent.

“You tell Angel I’ll have an answer for him by tomorrow. Is there someplace I can reach you?”

guess so.”

He was making progress. “Where?”

“Here.”

He made the call collect from a telephone booth so it could not be traced. It had taken him one hour to get through.

“No,” the Controller said. “I told you, no r -mmes.

“Yes, sir. But there’s a problem. Neusa Mufiez, Angel’s mistress, says he’s willing to make a deal, but he won’t move without knowing who he’s dealing with.”

“What is this woman like?”

“She’s a fat, ugly moron, sir.”

“It’s much too dangerous for my name to be used.”

Harry Lantz could feel the deal slipping away from him. “Yes, sir,” he said earnestly. “The only thing is, sir, Angel’s reputation is based on his being able to keep his mouth shut. If he ever started talking, he wouldn’t last five minutes in his business.”

There was a long silence. “Very well. You may give Angel my name. But he is never to divulge it and never to contact me directly. He’ll work only through you.”

Harry Lantz could have danced. “Yes, sir. I’ll tell him. Thank you, sir.” He hung up, a big grin on his face. He was going to collect the fifty thousand. And then the milliondollar reward.

WHEN Harry Lantz met Neusa Muez late that evening, he immediately ordered a double rum for her and said happily, “Everything’s set. I got permission.”

She looked at him indifferently. “Yeah?”

He told her the name of his employer. It was a household word.

She shrugged. “Never hearda him.”

“Neusa, the people I work for want this done as quickly as possible. Marin Groza is hiding out in a villa in Neuilly, and-“

“Where?”

“It’s a suburb of Paris,” he said patiently. “Angel will know.”

“I need ‘nother drink.”

An hour later Neusa was still drinking, and this time Harry Lantz was encouraging her. When she’s drunk enough, he thought, she’s going to lead me straight to her boyfriend. The rest will be easy. “When is Angel coming back to town?” he asked.

She focused her watery eyes on him. “Nex’ week.”

Harry Lantz took her hand and stroked it. “Why don’t you and I go back to your place?” he asked softly.

“Okay.”

He was in.

NEUSA MUez lived in a shabby two-room apartment that was as messy and unkempt as its tenant. When they walked through the door, Neusa made straight for the little bar in the corner.