Desmond Bagley - The Spoilers / Juggernaut

Follet’s hand came out sharply and cracked Raqi across the cheek, shocking him into silence. ‘Sorry about that, Javid; but you were becoming hysterical. Now, calm down and talk sense. Where did you get the dough?’

‘From the place I work,’ said Raqi, swallowing hard. ‘The chief clerk has a safe – and I have a key. He keeps money for out-of-hand expenses. I went back to the office and … and …’

‘Stole the money,’ said Tozier flatly.

Raqi nodded dejectedly. ‘He’ll know as soon as he opens the safe on Monday. He’ll know it’s …’

‘Take it easy, kid,’ said Follet. ‘You’re not in jail yet.’

That was an aspect that had not hit Raqi, and he stared at Follet with renewed horror. Follet said, ‘Maybe we can help you.’

‘Count me out,’ said Tozier uncompromisingly. ‘I’m not going to subsidise a freeloading kid who’s still wet behind the ears. If he can’t stand the heat, let him get out of the kitchen. He should never have come into this game, anyway. I told you that in the first place.’

Warren looked at Follet who just shrugged, and said, ‘I guess that’s so. You’ve gotta learn by your mistakes, kid. If we bail you out now, you’ll do it again some time else.’

‘Oh, no; I promise – I promise.’ Raqi spread his arms wide on the table, grovelling before Follet. ‘Help me – please help me – I promise …’

‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, stand up and be a man!’ barked Tozier. He stood up. ‘I can’t stand scenes like this. I’m getting out.’

‘Wait a minute,’ said Follet. ‘I think I’ve got something.’ He pointed his finger at Tozier. ‘Weren’t you telling me about a guy who wanted to get something from the company this kid works for? Something about some chemicals?’

Tozier thought for a moment, then nodded. ‘What about it?’

‘How much would he pay?’

‘How the hell do I know?’ said Tozier in a pained voice. ‘This chap was working an angle in which I wasn’t interested.’

‘You could always ask him. There’s a telephone there.’

‘Why should I? There’s nothing in it for me.’

‘For Pete’s sake, can’t you be human for once in your goddam life?’ asked Follet in an exasperated voice.

Warren’s voice was quiet but it cut through the room with authority. ‘Use the phone, Andy.’

‘Oh, all right.’ Tozier picked up his jacket. ‘I think I have the number here somewhere.’

Follet patted Raqi on the shoulder. ‘Bear up, Javid; we’ll get you out of this jam somehow.’ He sat next to him and began to talk to him quietly.

Tozier mumbled to someone on the telephone. At last he put it down and crossed the room with a paper in his hand. ‘This man wants to know who’s been ordering these chemicals – especially in quantity. He wants to know where they were despatched to. He also wants to know of any transactions concerning a man called …’ He peered at the paper. ‘… Speering. That’s it.’ He rubbed the side of his jaw. ‘I screwed him up to forty thousand but he wouldn’t go higher for the information.’

‘Why does he want it?’ asked Warren.

‘I reckon he’s in industrial espionage.’

Follet took the sheet of paper. ‘Who cares why he wants it so long as Javid can deliver?’ He gave the paper to Raqi. ‘Can you get that stuff?’

Raqi wiped his eyes and looked carefully. He nodded, and whispered, ‘I think so. All this is in the stock ledgers.’

‘But the guy will only go to forty thousand, damn him,’ said Follet. ‘For crying out loud, I’m game to help make up the difference.’

‘Count me out on that,’ said Tozier grimly. ‘I’ve done my bit.’

‘Nick?’

‘All right, Johnny; we’ll split it between us.’ Warren sorted out five thousand rials from the money on the table and passed it to Follet.

‘There, you see, Javid; we’ve got ten thousand here. All you have to do to get the other forty thousand is to go back to the office. You have the key?’

Raqi nodded, and allowed Follet to help him to his feet. ‘It will take time,’ he said.

‘Half an hour. That’s all it took to loot the safe this afternoon,’ said Tozier brutally.

Follet saw Raqi to the door and closed it gently. He turned, and said, ‘We’re nearly there. There’s just one thing more to be done.’

Warren sighed. ‘It can’t be any dirtier than what we’ve done already. What is it?’

‘You’re not concerned in it, so rest easy,’ said Follet. ‘Now, all we have to do is wait. I’m going to see Ben – I’ll be back in ten minutes.’

It seemed, to Warren, an eternity before Raqi returned. The minutes ticked by and he contemplated the sort of man he was becoming under the stress of this crazy adventure. Not only was he guilty of blackmailing Follet, but he had assisted in the corruption of a young man who had hitherto been blameless. It was all right for Follet to preach that you can’t cheat an honest man; the men who offer the thirty pieces of silver are just as guilty as he who accepts them.

Again there was the expected knock at the door and Follet went to open it. Raqi had pulled himself together a little and did not seem so woebegone; there was more colour in his cheeks and he did not droop as he had when he left.

Follet said, ‘Well, kid; did you get it?’

Raqi nodded. ‘I took it from the ledgers in English – I thought that would help.’

‘It surely would,’ said Follet, who had forgotten that problem. ‘Let me have it,’

Raqi gave him three sheets of paper which he passed to Tozier. ‘You’ll see it gets to the right place, Andy.’ Tozier nodded, and Follet gave Raqi a bundle of money. ‘There’s your fifty thousand, Javid. You’d better put it back in the safe real fast.’

Raqi was just putting the money into his pocket when the door burst open. A man stood there, his face concealed by a scarf, and holding an automatic pistol. ‘Stay still, everyone,’ he said indistinctly. ‘And you won’t get hurt.’

Warren looked on unbelievingly as the man took a step forward. He wondered who the devil this was and what he thought he was doing. The stranger wagged the gun sideways. ‘Over there,’ he said, and Raqi and Follet moved under the threat to join Warren at the other side of the room.

‘Not you,’ said the man, as Tozier began to obey. ‘You stay there.’ He stepped up to Tozier and plucked the papers from his hand. ‘That’s all I want.’

‘Like hell!’ said Tozier and lunged for him. There was a sharp crack and Tozier stopped as though he had hit a brick wall. A stupid expression appeared on his face and his knees buckled. Slowly, like a falling tree, he toppled, and as he dropped to the ground a gush of blood spurted from his mouth.

There was a bang as the door closed behind the visitor, and a faint reek of gunsmoke permeated the atmosphere.

Follet was the first to move. He darted over to Tozier and knelt down beside him. Then he looked up in wonder: ‘Good Christ – he’s dead!’

Warren crossed the room in two strides, his professional instincts aroused, but Follet straight-armed him. ‘Don’t touch him, Nick; don’t get any blood on you.’ There was something odd in Follet’s tone that made him stop.

Raqi was shaking like an aspen in a hurricane. A moaning sound came from his lips – not words, but the mere repetition of his vocalized gasps – as he stared in horror at the blood spattered on the cuff of his jacket. Follet took him by the arm and shook him. ‘Javid! Javid, stop that! Do you hear me?’

Raqi became more coherent. ‘I’m … I’m all … right.’

‘Listen carefully, then. There’s no need for you to be mixed up in this. I don’t know what the hell it’s all about, but you can get clear if you’re quick about it.’