Гарри Гаррисон - The QE2 Is Missing

“Not good enough/’ Joseph snapped. “If you are in this you are in it all the way.” He swung his pistol quickly to cover Leandro Diaz who stepped forward.

“More than good enough,” Diaz said. “You are here only because of us. Between us we uncovered this plot, brought you in and mind this chance to get the diamonds. If we can secure the diamonds and capture Marquez and Stroessner as planned, we will have succeeded in accomplishing everything that we set out to do. We won’t need arms shipments. That is asking too much. We can overthrow these people without resorting to more piracy. I will do what has to be done aboard this ship because it is the only way. We will capture this ship for a short period to take off these two criminals. We will not injure the QE2 or steal anything. I am a man of law, too. I will commit this crime to destroy the worst criminals in my country. That is enough. Taking them will stop the arms deal and remove their financing. Then we will have every opportunity to rise up and overthrow these oppressive regimes. I and my people will do this much — and no more.”

“More traitors!” Josep was snarling the words as he moved his gun back and forth between them. No one else moved. Hank was just as surprised as the rest of them when he found himself stepping forwards towards the waiting guns.

“I think we need a legal opinion here,” he said, as calmly as he could. “And I would like to speak on behalf of Josep and the Tupamaros. Will you listen?”

His words were followed by a stunned silence, broken only by the rapid whispering as one of the Tupamaros translated his words to the others whose English was not so good.

“We need no help,” Josep said. But the barrel of his gun was lowered and the tension was drained out of the situation for the moment.

“I’m not offering help. You said we must either be for you or against you. Well, I’m for you. We are on the same side. Now, if we can put the guns away for a moment we can settle the situation once and for all. This cannot happen again. We must stand together and not waste time bickering.” He turned to face Uzi and Diaz. “Do you understand this?”

Hank hoped the ploy had worked, hoped he had defused the situation at least for the moment. And at the same time wondered where he had got the nerve to turn his back on the guns. Particularly since he hadn’t the slightest idea where this was going. He had spoken on impulse, a trick he had learned in court, to make time for a witness to pull himself together or throw the other lawyer off his stride. And apparently the same technique worked here.

“We’ll listen to what you have to say,” Uzi said, stiffly. Hank had the feeling that Uzi knew just what he had done and was playing along with him. Diaz nodded agreement as well. Hank turned around again and tried not to show his relief when he saw that the guns had been lowered after all.

“I’m going back to basics. The Tupamaros were brought in with certain promises, Diaz — what were these?”

“We needed their help. We could not proceed with this kind of operation alone. We were to provide all of the intelligence, with the aid of your people, to find out just what was going on. We knew a large payment would be made and the general agreement was that we could cooperate to seize this payment and divide it equally. We would also attempt to capture those two swine. We would also aid in the capture of the Nazis.”

“That is all?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? No mention was made at any time of seizing the weapons shipment?”

“It was discussed, but no decision could be made until we had more information.”

“Josep — is this true?” Hank asked.

“Approximately.”

“All right then. Be specific, Diaz. Will your people help to capture the arms shipment?”

“I don’t know. We will just have to see what the plan is. But that is not important. Getting the diamonds is. We will cooperate in every way in that operation.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Yes.”

“I'll sum up then. My group will supply all the intelligence information in exchange for the war criminals. They will aid in this if they can — and will also do nothing to interfere with any action concerning the arms ship. Uzi, do you agree to these terms?”

“I do.”

“Then you, Diaz, will work to take the diamonds and the prisoners and will aid in any future operation against the arms ship if you are able?”

“Agreed.”

“There can be no turning back now. You will be bound by your word — or you will suffer the consequences.” Hank turned to Josep and spread his hands out. “There it is. You have won. They will do as you say and follow instructions. They will not interfere. My people have no interest in the arms shipment so they will neither help nor hinder in any way. The Paraguayans will do whatever they can to help when the time comes. So now we come back to the next step. Getting the diamonds. What is to be done next?”

Josep slid his gun back into his belt and turned and walked to the window. He stood, hands behind his back, looking out at the heaving seas, the heavy rain coursing down the glass. For almost a minute he stood this way, wrapped in thought. It was obvious that this situation was a novel one, for he was not used to having others on his side, separate groups who intended to cooperate with the Tupamaros. For many years every man’s hand and every gun had been turned against them. He had to struggle to assimilate these totally new factors. When he turned back to the others his mind was made up.

“We will all work together now to take the diamonds and make prisoners of the others. The division will be as agreed. Anyone who does not help in this will be killed instantly. As to the arms ship, the Tupamaros need no feeble aid or indifferent cooperation. We will do the operation ourselves. Do I hear any disagreement?” He waited a moment, then nodded. “Good. Now to the urgent business at hand. I put it to you that we should attack at once, waste no more time. We know the name and location of the arms ship, so no more intelligence is needed on that score. All of the people we wish to capture — and the diamonds — are in the next suite. I suggest we hit them now and hit them hard.”

The other Tupamaros murmured in agreement, but Uzi shook his head.

“Hear me, before you make any rash decisions. You are wrong on two counts. It will be easier to first take the diamonds, and then go after the men if the variou? groups are separated. That way we can concentrate ou strength on the operations one after another. Also — don’t relish attacking a group of armed and desperate men through a single floor. Do you agree?”

Josep thought deeply — then nodded. “You are correct. I appreciate your skills as a military planner. What do you suggest?”

“Patience. Then divide and conquer. Final arrangements for the arms deal are being made in there right now. They obviously want to finalize their deal while they are all together. Perfect for us, since we can listen to everything they have to say. As soon as the arms ship is turned over to the purchasers, Chvosta will be given the diamonds. And will leave the suite. That is when we hit him with everything we have, a concentrated effort just to get the stones. That way we only have to deal with him and the girl, possibly the Dutchman. The Germans will be out of it. Are we in agreement so far?”

Uzi waited until both Josep and Diaz had nodded agreement before he went on.

“We have the diamonds and we put them in a safe place under guard. Even if they discover what has happened and want to get them back they have no way of knowing which staterooms we occupy. Then, with our flank safely held, we pick them up one by one since they will have separated by that time. First Stroessner, the easiest since we can time our attack by listening to events in the suite. Plus the fact that we have an inside man there. With Stroessner in our hands, the Admiral is next. His physician, Dr. Llusera, won’t bother us, so it will be just the Admiral and his aide we have to deal with. The Nazis come next…. ”