‘We’re listening,’ Redhead said. The scissors stopped their wandering, poised above Ben’s stomach.
‘Get Danny to forget about this imaginary jewel he’s asking for. Eliminate it as a condition. Let my brother and his friend go. I’ll pay you an extra half million.’
‘Wait a minute,’ Redhead said. He jabbed the speaker-phone’s mute button. ‘What do you think?’
Ben heard Gar let out a long breath. ‘I’ll take a half mil in cash over bullshit. But he still ait’ wired no money yet. So that could be a fucking lie, too.’
Redhead jabbed the button again. ‘How do you get us the extra money?’
‘Is Danny there?’
‘No,’ Redhead said.
‘I’ve got a half mil in a separate account.’ A pause. ‘But you get rid of Danny. You can have the money. But not him.’
‘We can’t access the accounts without him,’ Gar said.
‘That’s your problem. I’ll send it when he’s done and gone, you understand? And then the rest.’
‘Stoney, what the hell are you doing?’ Ben said. ‘Holy shit-’
‘I’m saving your ass,’ Stoney said. ‘Now just hush, Ben.’
‘And you just take our word we’ve gotten rid of him?’ Redhead said after a moment’s hesitation.
‘No. You bring him to me. At my dock at my house at Copano Flats. I’ll give you the money as cash when you turn over his body and my brother. His girlfriend, whatever. She’s a cop. Do whatever you think is best.’
‘Fuck,’ Gar said.
‘Stoney, for God’s sake!’ Ben screamed.
‘Shut up, Ben,’ Stoney said.
‘Leave Claudia alone. Don’t you dare fucking hurt her,’ Ben said in a low voice. ‘Please…’
‘You could have the place swarming with cops,’ Gar said.
‘But I won’t,’ Stoney said, ‘because I’ve just asked you to kill Danny for me. I have no reason to invite the cops to our meeting. Take the money and forget you ever heard of Danny, okay?’
‘We’ll call you back in five,’ Redhead said. ‘Be there.’ He clicked off the phone. ‘Interesting turn of events.’
‘She a cop?’ Gar grabbed Ben’s arms, brought him off the couch.
‘Fuck you,’ Ben said.
‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ Gar said.
‘This could be a delaying tactic. I don’t buy that about the computers being down,’ Redhead said.
‘But he wants Danny dead,’ Gar said. ‘And we get a half million as a bonus for what we’re gonna have to do anyway.’
‘Play it this way. Get rid of the woman. Don’t take the risk she’s a cop,’ Redhead said. His voice was cool and firm. ‘I’ll set up new overseas accounts for us. Then let Stoney hear Danny die. Strangle him, you’re strong enough. Make Stoney move the money then. Then we just see about whether or not he gets his brother back. Little brother might be mad about girlfriend getting offed and might talk to cops. Huh? You gonna talk, little brother?’
Ben made no answer.
‘I’ll take care of the girlfriend,’ Gar said. ‘Have a little fun first, though. I always wanted to fuck a cop.’
‘No, you’re not,’ Redhead said. His tone went peevish, hurt.
‘Don’t worry. You’re my favorite. Stay here. Just watch him.’
Ben heard Gar move heavily up the steps. ‘Claudia!’ Ben yelled. ‘Claudia, Christ, no!’
A gun barrel jabbed hard into his testicles. ‘One more word,’ Redhead said, ‘and I shoot them off.’
‘You-’ Ben started but he didn’t finish.
‘There, Christ, you happy?’ Stoney’s hands shook as he set down the phone.
‘Wasn’t so hard, now, was it?’ Alex sat on the corner of the desk. Pissed as hell when he got here, but then he’d calmed when Stoney explained. It made Stoney nervous.
‘My brother-’
‘We’ll worry about him later. First we got to make sure Danny can’t tell what all he knows. You see that now. He put two and two together, he can’t live to testify.’
‘You screwed up,’ Stoney said. ‘Goddamn it. You should have killed him.’
‘Our paths didn’t cross in New Orleans,’ Alex said. ‘Is that my fault?’
‘But my brother…’ Stoney’s voice faded.
‘Hey, man, you could have done what they said. Sent the money flying along the cables. You didn’t. Don’t lay this on me.’ Alex stood, looked out over the bay. ‘They ought to be here soon, assuming they call back and all’s well.’
Stoney leaned over and vomited into a wastebasket.
‘That’s nasty. Yuck.’ Alex handed Stoney a tissue. ‘Now. Problem number two. The emerald that’s in the storage unit’s a fucking fake, Stoney. Can you explain that to me?’
*
‘So we gonna kill them,’ Danny whispered.
‘No killing anybody,’ Claudia said. ‘Not if we don’t have to.’
‘If you’re gonna chicken out if push comes to shove, I need to know right now.’
She raised one eyebrow. ‘Don’t worry about me.’
‘Fine, then. I got a plan.’
‘Let’s hear it,’ she said. He had loosened the rope on her wrists a little and her hands prickled with returning sensation.
‘I got chloroform on the boat, thought we might need it to subdue Stoney,’ he said. ‘When one of ‘em comes back over here, you distract him, mouth off to him, and I slap ’im with the chloroform cloth.’
‘Maybe something simpler,’ Claudia said. ‘Maybe you putting your gun at the back of his head and making him drop his gun.’
‘What if he don’t surrender? What if he shoots you or me?’
‘He’s not likely to do that with a gun at the base of his skull. And if you’re behind him he can’t shoot you.’
‘He might shoot you,’ Danny said.
‘Then you need to press that gun hard against him so he knows you mean business.’
‘If I shoot one, the other will hear.’
‘You got a fire extinguisher here in the galley?’ she asked. Danny nodded toward the cabinet under the sink. ‘You put the gun on him, get him to freeze, I’ll belt him in the head with the extinguisher. Knock him out.’
‘That means you got to be untied.’
‘Yes.’
Danny chewed his lip. Now that she could see his face clearly, study it, she didn’t like the flat shine in his eyes. Not clever but cagey.
‘You begged me to trust you, you got to trust me,’ Claudia said. ‘I can’t be much help to you tied up.’
‘You punched me,’ he said. ‘You’re the toughest little cookie in the jar. You might try to take the gun from me.’
‘Well, I won’t,’ Claudia said. ‘You can trust me. It’s your call.’
He put his gun down and loosened the ropes from around her hands. She kept her hands very still. ‘If I take the ropes off all the way he’ll notice.’
‘I’ll tuck my hands under the table.’
‘What about your blindfold?’ he asked. ‘He’ll be suspicious if it’s off you.’
‘Leave it off,’ she said. ‘If we lose, he’ll kill me anyway.’
Danny took his Sig and got up from the galley booth.
‘Do you have any other guns?’ Claudia asked.
‘No,’ Danny said. ‘I’m for gun control, actually.’
‘Then give me the gun.’
‘You’ll shoot me,’ Danny said.
Yes, I will, she decided then. But later and in the leg. ‘This is ridiculous. I’m not going to shoot you.’
He still seemed to think, working the inside of his cheek.
She played a cautious card. ‘Yes, you’re just like your hero, Laffite. Heart of a warrior. You can’t make the simplest decision.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘You don’t understand. I’m this close… after what all I’ve lost… I can’t lose the Devil’s Eye. Or the journal. It’s what I’ve lived for, honey.’
His stare and his sad confession made her queasy. ‘You gonna trust me or Gar and the redhead more?’
‘I got a plan. You get down in the stateroom, lay down on the bed like you’re sleeping. He comes down there to check on you, he’s got to go down those narrow stairs. I put the gun behind his ear then, make him drop his.’
‘In a stateroom there’s not much cover,’ she said. ‘You’re nice and safe behind him and I’m not.’
‘It’s just a variant on your original idea.’ He sounded peeved.