Jack Higgins: A Devil is vaiting

For a moment, Murphy seemed unable to speak, and Holley said,

Are you trying to tell us you don t know?

Murphy seemed to swallow hard. No. I know who it is. We do a lot of this kind of work, putting deals together for small African countries, people from the Eastern European bloc. None of the players are big fish. Lots of small agencies put things our way, stuff the big arms dealers won t touch.

So cut to the chase, Dillon told him.

I got a call from one of them. He said an Irish party was in town looking for assistance.

And he turned up here?

That s right. Ulster accent, just like you. A quiet sort of man, around sixty-five, strong-looking, good face, graying hair. Used to being in charge, I d say.

Dillon said, What was his name?

I can only tell you what he called himself. Michael Flynn. Had a handling agent in Marseilles. The money was all paid into a holding company who provided the Amity with false papers, paid half a dozen thugs off the waterfront to crew it. Nothing you could trace, I promise you. My end came from Marseilles by bank draft. It all came to nothing. I never heard from Flynn again, but from what I saw in the newspaper accounts, the Royal Navy only came on the Amity by chance. A bit unfortunate, that.

Holley turned to Dillon. Okay?

It ll have to be, won t it?

You mean I m in the clear? Murphy asked.

So it would appear, Dillon told him. Just try to cultivate a different class of friend in the future. That bastard Ivan was doing you no good at all.

That s bloody marvelous. Murphy hammered a fist on the desk and came round it. You kept your word, Mr. Dillon, and I m not used to that, so I ll tell you something else.

Dillon smiled beautifully and turned to Holley. See, Daniel, Patrick wants to unburden himself. Isn t that nice?

But even he couldn t have expected what came next.

I was holding out on you on one thing. I actually did find out who Flynn really was. He wasn t particularly nice to me, so I ll tell you.

Dillon wasn t smiling now. And how did you find that out?

He called round to see me one evening and discovered his mobile hadn t charged up properly. He was upset about it, because he had a fixed time to call somebody in Northern Ireland. He was agitated, so it was obviously important. He asked if he could use my landline.

Dillon shook his head. And you listened in on an extension.

Murphy nodded. He said it was Jack Kelly from New York, confirming that Operation Amity is a go. Arriving on the night of the eighth, landfall north beach at Dundrum Bay, close to St. John s Point.

That s County Down, Dillon said. Anything else?

I put the phone down. I didn t want to get caught. I had the number checked on my phone bill and found it was to a call box in Belfast on the Falls Road.

Holley said, Whoever they are, they re being very careful. That would have been untraceable. He paused. Could Jack Kelly be who I think it is? It s a common enough name in Ireland, God knows.

You mean the Jack Kelly we ran up against, working for our old friend Jean Talbot?

I know it doesn t seem likely, Holley began, and Dillon cut in.

The same Jack Kelly who became an IRA volunteer at eighteen, was involved for over thirty years in the Troubles, and served on the Army Council?

And never too happy about the peace process, Holley said. So if it is him… I wonder what he s up to.

That s for Ferguson and Roper to decide.

Strange, us having a foot in both camps, Holley said. How do you think that happened?

Daniel, me boy, if I was of a religious turn of mind, I d say God must have a purpose in mind for us, but for the life of me, I can t imagine what it would be.

Well, I m damned if I can, Holley said.

Although I should imagine that the general will pay Kelly a call sooner rather than later.

Dillon turned to Murphy. Happy, are you, Patrick, now that you ve come clean? I mean, as you did turn out to have lied, you must have thought I might take it the wrong way?

Of course not, Mr. Dillon, Murphy said, but there was a gathering alarm on his face.

Don t worry, Dillon carried on. You ve done us a good turn. Although it would help the situation, restore mutual trust, you might say, if you produced my friend s Colt. 25. It doesn t seem to be on the spring clip, which I can see quite clearly inside the rain hat on the desk there.

Murphy managed to look astonished. But that s nonsense, he said, and then moved with lightning speed behind Holley, grabbed him by the collar, and produced the Colt.

I don t want trouble, I just want out, but if I have to, I ll kill your friend. So just drop that Walther into the sewage, and then we ll walk to the door and I ll get into my car and vanish. Otherwise, your friend s a dead man.

Now, we can t have that, can we? Here we go, a perfectly good Walther down the toilet, in a manner of speaking. Dillon dropped it in.

Murphy pushed Holley toward the entrance, the Colt against his skull, and as Dillon trailed them, cried, Stay back or I ll drop him.

Holley said to Murphy, Hey, take it easy. Just be careful, all right? I hope you re familiar with the Colt. 25. If you don t have the plus button on, those hollow-point cartridges ll blow up in your face.

They were just reaching the door. Murphy loosened his grip, a look of panic on his face, and fumbled at the weapon. Holley kicked out at him, caught him off guard, then ran away and ducked behind one of the old vans. Murphy fired after him reflexively and then, seeing that the Colt worked perfectly well, he realized he d been had. He turned and ran out through the heavy rain into the courtyard.

Dillon had a replica of Holley s Colt in a holder on his right ankle. He drew it now, ran to the entrance and fired at Murphy, who was trying to open the door of a green Lincoln. Murphy fired back wildly, then turned, ran across the road and up the stone steps leading to the walkway, the East River lapping below it. At the top, he hesitated, unsure of which way to go, turned, and found Dillon closing in, Holley behind.

No way out, Patrick. So have you told me the truth or not?

Damn you, Murphy called, half blinded by the heavy rain, and tried to take aim.

Dillon shot him twice in the heart, twisting him around, his third shot driving him over the low rail into the river. He reached the rail in time to see Murphy surface once, then roll over and disappear in the fast-running current.

Holley moved up to join him. What was all that about? Sometimes you play games too much, Sean.

Sure, and all I wanted was to make sure he was telling the truth. He d lied at first isn t that a fact?

So is the name really Jack Kelly?

We ll see, but for now, it s time for the joys of the Plaza and our first meeting with the intriguing Captain Sara Gideon.

Definitely something to look forward to, Holley said, and followed him down the steps.

At the same time they were driving away in their delivery truck, Patrick Murphy, choking and gasping, was swept under a pier two hundred yards away downstream. He drifted through the pilings, banged into stone steps with a railing, hauled himself out, and paused at the top, where there was a roofed shelter with a bench.

He sat down, shivering with cold, pulled off his soaking jacket, then his shirt. The bulletproof vest he d been wearing was the best on the market, even against hollow points. He ripped open the Velcro tabs, tossed the rest down into the river with his shirt, struggled back into his jacket, and walked through the rain to the warehouse.

He expected Dillon and Holley to be long gone and went straight inside and up to his office. He peeled off his jacket, pulled on an old sweater that was hanging behind the door, then lifted the carpet in the corner, revealing a floor safe, opened it, and removed a linen bag containing his mad money, twenty grand in large bills. He got a valise from the cupboard, put the money into it, and sat there thinking about the situation.