Десмонд Бэгли - Bahama Crisis

You will cause your son-in-law, Thomas Mangan, to travel to Houston. How you do this is your concern. We will know when he has arrived. Our price for your daughter’s safety and, possibly, her life is the person of Thomas Mangan delivered to us intact and unhurt. Your daughter will then be returned in fair exchange. You will be notified as to the manner of this transaction upon the arrival of Mr Mangan in Texas.

It goes without saying that the police should not be informed of these arrangements nor should any of those steps be taken which might seem obvious in such a dramatic situation as this.

You will understand my motives in not signing this communication.’

‘For Christ’s sake!’ said Billy. He looked at me with a baffled expression. ‘Who’d...’ He stopped and shook his head in wonder.

‘I don’t know.’ What I did know was the reason for Jack Cunningham’s peremptory summons to Houston.

‘You must be quite a guy,’ said Frank, his tone belying his words. He looked around the table. ‘Any hoodlum knows a Cunningham woman is worth hard cash money. How much? Quarter of a million dollars? Half a million? A million? Christ, we’d pay five million if we had to. Course, any hoodlum with sense would know he wouldn’t live long enough to spend it, no matter which way the ball bounced. But this guy would rather have Mangan than the dough.’ He eyed me challengingly. ‘So what the hell makes you so valuable?’

‘Cut it out,’ said Billy.

Billy One said pointedly, ‘We want to make friends and influence people.’

‘Yeah,’ said Billy. ‘Tom hasn’t said much yet. He hasn’t said he wants any part of this.’

‘He’s not a man if he runs out,’ said Frank hotly.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Billy in a detached voice. ‘How much would you do for a wife who’s run out on you?’

For some reason that seemed to hit Frank where it hurt. He flushed and was about to say something, but thought better of it and sat back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the table. From which I gathered that Frank had marital troubles of his own.

There was a long silence. Jack Cunningham sat at the head of the table, looking along its length with dead eyes; Billy pulled the letter closer and read it again; Frank fidgeted while Billy One studied him with watchful eyes. The rest, the family underlings, said nothing.

Billy One sat upright, apparently satisfied that Frank had shot his bolt, at least temporarily. ‘Okay, Tom.’ His voice was neutral but not unfriendly. ‘Frank has a point, you know. What makes you so valuable that someone would kidnap a Cunningham to get you?’

That was a good question and I did not have an answer. ‘I don’t know,’ I said flatly. ‘You know who I am and what I do. Jack had me thoroughly investigated, didn’t he? Twice. Once before the merger and again before the wedding. You don’t think I can’t recognize private detectives when they’re floating around my hotels?’

Billy One smiled slightly. ‘You checked out fine,’ he said. ‘Both times.’

‘It wasn’t necessary,’ I said. ‘All you had to do was to come to me and ask. My life is a pretty open book. But I thought that if that’s the way you operate, then that’s the way you operate, and there was nothing I could do about it. Which isn’t to say I liked it.’

‘We didn’t give a damn if you liked it or not,’ said Frank.

Jack said, ‘That will be enough, Frank.’

‘Jack was dead against the marriage,’ said Billy One. ‘He had his reasons. Frank was, too; but Billy was for it — he thought you were a right guy. Me, I had no druthers either way. As it turned out, what we all thought didn’t matter a damn because Debbie got her own way, as always.’

He reached out and poured a measure of whisky into a glass. ‘Now, we’ve gotten two things here, both separate — I think. Debbie left you, and she’s been kidnapped. Can you think of any connection?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘As you know, I’ve had my hands full lately — you’ve read the reports — and perhaps I couldn’t, or didn’t, give Debbie enough of my time. That’s what she thought, anyway, so she quit. But I don’t know why she should be kidnapped with me as ransom. That fits nowhere.’

‘Has anything out of the ordinary happened lately?’

‘Yes,’ said Billy. ‘Tell him about Kayles.’

So I told the story of me and Kayles. When I had finished Frank said, ‘And this guy is still loose?’

‘Yes — so far.’

‘That’s it, then,’ he said. ‘There’s your answer.’

‘What would Kayles want with me?’ I demanded, and prodded at the ransom demand on the table. ‘I’ve met and talked with Kayles — he wouldn’t and couldn’t write a thing like this. It’s way above his head — he’s not that much educated.’

Billy One said, ‘And where does that leave us? What makes you so goddamn valuable, Tom?’

‘I have no idea,’ I said tiredly. ‘And does it matter? The point at issue here is what to do about Debbie.’

‘Mangan, I’d say you lose wives awful easy,’ said Frank nastily.

‘That does it,’ said Billy, and hit Frank before I could get my own hands on him. It was a backhander across the jaw which caught Frank by surprise. He went over backwards and his chair went with him, and he sprawled on the floor with Billy standing over him. He looked up, rubbing his jaw, and Billy said, Cousin Frank, I’ve always been able to whip your ass, and if you don’t stay off Tom’s back I’m ready to do it again right now.’

Billy One glanced at Jack who was silent. He said, ‘That was uncalled for, Frank. Now, you’ll stand up and apologize to Tom or you leave this room right now, and maybe you won’t be back — ever. Understand? Help him up, Billy.’

Billy hoisted Frank to his feet. Frank rubbed his mouth and looked at the blood on the back of his hand. ‘I guess I’m sorry,’ he mumbled, then looked at me directly. ‘But what are you going to do about my sister?’

‘I’m going to make the exchange.’ I looked at the expression on his face, and then at Billy One. ‘Did you have any doubt I would?’

A suppressed chuckle came from Billy. ‘You’re damn right they had doubts.’

Billy One exhaled a long sigh. ‘Maybe I misjudged you, Tom,’ he said quietly.

‘Well, now we can plan,’ said Billy. He sat down and picked up the letter. ‘Frank was talking about hoodlums, but Tom’s right; this wasn’t written by any illiterate jerk. But he used a typewriter — they can be traced.’

‘Typewriters are cheap,’ said Frank as he picked up his chair. ‘That one is probably at the bottom of Galveston Bay by now.’ He sat down. ‘And what’s to plan? This guy is doing the planning. We can’t do a goddamn thing until we get instructions on how we do the deal.’

‘You’re wrong,’ said Billy. ‘What’s the use of having a security section in the Corporation if we don’t use it? Those guys know all about bugs.’

Billy One lifted a shaggy eyebrow. ‘So?’

‘So we bug Tom. A transmitter in the heel of a shoe, maybe. In a ballpoint pen or sewn into his pants. We bug him until he’s crawling.’

‘And then?’

‘Then we...’

Billy One had a sudden thought. He held up his hand and looked about the table. ‘Hold it! There are too many damn people in here. Let’s do some pruning. Tom stays, of course — and Billy. Jack stays, too, if he wants.’ He peered at the far end of the table. ‘Jim, you stay. The rest of you clear out.’

There was a general murmur of disapproval but no one objected overtly except Frank. ‘What the hell!’ he said tightly. ‘We’re talking about my sister. I’m staying.’

Billy One scowled at him. ‘Okay. But quit riding Tom; we’re talking about his wife and that’s a closer relationship.’ He turned to Jack. ‘It’s after four in the morning and you look beat. You sure you want to stay? You’ve been grinding at this all night.’