Brett Halliday - Six Seconds to Kill

“Apparently Crowther’s got some kind of tie-in with Caldera. What if he was shot or kidnapped in Miami by Ruiz sympathizers? That’s always happening to American ambassadors, but I don’t think it’s ever been done in Florida. Crowther would be a very big fish if they could get him. What kind of political sense would it make?”

She had her fingers to her lips. “It’s such a startling idea! I doubt if-” She stopped to arrange her thoughts. “I don’t say they don’t believe in terrorism, because to a limited extent I suppose they do, depending on whether they expect it to be effective. God knows I’m not an expert either. But who would do the actual-I could name a few people who consider themselves followers of Ruiz, but they’re individuals. If there’s any organized group it’s very far underground.”

The phone rang and Shayne picked it up. It was Tim Rourke, who wanted to know how Shayne was getting along with his Latin Americans.

“All I’ve picked up so far is a mild concussion,” Shayne said. “Where are you, at home?”

Rourke said he was in a bar on Miami Avenue with a girl from the paper, but he was available if needed. Shayne told him to stay where he was.

“Tim, do you know anything about a man named Lorenzo Vega?”

“It rings a very faint bell,” Rourke said after a moment. “A couple of years ago? A little paper army? I think so. He was supposed to be drawing Washington money. That was one of the big cons in those days.”

“Anything else?”

“You’re lucky to get that much. This is a small fish.”

“That’s interesting.”

“Is it? Then you’re easily interested, man.”

When Shayne said nothing Rourke went on, “I see. This is one of those occasions when you want me to go on talking, for obscure reasons of your own. I just heard a couple of dirty limericks. I’ll recite them for you.”

When he finished the limericks, he asked, “Will that be enough? I have an extensive repertoire, as all my friends know.”

“That’s great, Tim, thanks. He may not be much of a problem after all.”

“Glad to be of service, my friend, and I do expect an explanation before Monday morning.”

Shayne put the phone down thoughtfully. He drank the cognac he had just poured and stood up. He waited for the dizziness that comes from a shift of altitude, and when it didn’t hit him he concluded that he was ready to return to action.

“This time I’m going alone, Adele.”

“I can’t argue about that, can I?” she said ruefully. “I could try to track down this Ruiz story. My roommate in college got very Red afterward. I think she’d know.”

“I’ll be in touch with your uncle.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “And be careful.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She pressed herself against him. “Mike, dear, do you think-this will ever happen to us again?”

“The odds are against it.”

“Do you have to be so realistic?”

Vega’s office was well out on 8th Street. Shayne would pass Adele’s house on the way, and she asked him to drop her. As he was about to stoop to get into the Buick, a quick spasm of pain crossed his face. He saved himself from falling by grabbing the door. Adele looked out anxiously.

“Mike, won’t you see a doctor? Get in this side and I’ll drive you.”

“I’m OK.”

He rested a moment at the wheel before driving off. He seemed to be handling the car with his usual skill. Adele said nothing more, and waited till the last possible moment, after he had made the turn onto 8th Street, before taking a.38 automatic out of her bag.

She took off the safety and went all the way over against the opposite door. She pointed the gun at him with both hands.

“Take the next right, Mike. All right?”

Shayne glanced down. “You won’t shoot me, Adele.”

“After that nice sex I certainly don’t want to. Turn right and I won’t.”

He continued nearly to the end of the block, then pulled over into a parking space, cut the motor and swung around to face her.

“This would be a good place to do it. Naturally I hope you’ll decide against it. Your uncle knows you’re with me. The desk clerk at the hotel saw us go out together.”

“Mike, please. Don’t make me.”

“You’re new at this. You can use some advice. There’s plenty of traffic noise. Hold the gun low and pick your moment. Wipe off the fingerprints and drop it on the floor. After you get out, don’t run.”

“Mike, look at me.”

They exchanged a long look. Shayne said slowly, “I actually think you mean it.”

“But God, I’d hate to do it.”

“Does it have to be fatal, or would you settle for putting me in the hospital? Just above the knee would be a good place.”

The gun-barrel trembled, but she kept her voice steady. “Mike, I just can’t allow you to-This is very, very serious. Start the motor and do exactly what I tell you because I’m wound up so tight-”

Shayne raised his eyebrows humorously and snapped on the ignition. “You’ve convinced me.”

“Drive west to 17th. Then turn left. And don’t ask any questions because I’m not going to tell you a thing. Don’t talk at all.”

“Can I talk to myself?”

“No! It makes me nervous. You don’t want that.”

He made the turns as she called them, and before long he was slowing in front of a ramshackle house on 15th Court. A blue panel truck was parked in the driveway, surely the same truck that had almost decoyed him into a chase in which he would have lost a wheel.

“Pull in behind the truck,” Adele told him, with a movement of the.38.

Shayne accelerated. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t think you’re really up to it. A pretty girl like you.”

“Mike, stop!” Her voice climbed. “This minute!”

He grinned at her. “This is my business, baby. Do you really think there are any bullets in that gun?”

“I can’t let you bluff me,” she said tensely.

She pushed the gun forward against his knee and pulled the trigger. The hammer clicked down on nothing. It clicked twice more. The blood drained out of her face.

With a sidewise swipe, he picked the gun out of her hand and tossed it into the back seat.

“You’re horrible!” she said. “You’re a horrible person!”

“That’s one of the things they say about me. It’s part of the image.”

He continued across Flagler and made another turn. She put her face in her hands.

“What are you going to do with me?”

“Not much, baby. In some ways you’ve been helpful.”

“I botched it. I botched it.”

Shayne pulled in against the curb and cut the motor. “A couple of things you did very well. The loose wheels-that wasn’t bad at all. If you could get me aboard the Mozambique, all you’d have to do was tie me up overnight and I’d miss the excitement tomorrow. But why should I trust you when I’ve never seen you before today? If that wheel had shaken off, we both would have been racked up. Then you had the old lady stop us. She was great. There was only one small thing wrong with the timing. The kid should have moved the minute I got in the car. Instead of that, he waited till you got in with me.”

She said bitterly, “We didn’t expect you to notice a little thing like that. You’re a monster. I’d like to know when you took the bullets out of the gun.”

“When do you think?”

“Do you mean when we were-”

She came at him angrily and struck him twice with her purse before he could take it away from her.

“You-you-she sputtered.

“Calm down, Adele. That sex wasn’t my idea. You practically raped me. No real harm was done. Your bag was on the floor. You shouldn’t close your eyes when you make love. It isn’t hard to unload an automatic with one hand.”