Silk sipped his Scotch.
‘Did I say anything about Marvin being released?’
Frost stared at the cold, ruthless face, and he felt a cold shiver run up his spine.
‘This is a twenty million dollar take,’ Silk went on softly. ‘You don’t have to worry about Marvin.’ His scarred face was like a stone mask. ‘I’ll take care of him. Marvin will never be found, and the heat will always remain on him. Get the photo?’
Frost felt his heart lurch a beat. So this was not only going to be a twenty million dollar snatch, it was also going to be a murder rap. He had done a lot of shady things in the past, but he had stopped short of murder. Then his mind switched to the prospects of owning five million dollars. Marvin meant nothing to him. Five million!
‘So, okay,’ he said, ‘I don’t have to worry about Marvin.’ He found his mouth was so dry, he took a drink. ‘And Gina?’
‘No problem there,’ Silk said, easing himself back in his chair. ‘She gets returned. She’s been doped. She will know nothing. She’ll be under sedation until she arrives back home. No problem.’
‘Where are you going to keep her until the ransom is paid?’
‘That’s taken care of,’ Silk said. ‘Again no problem.’
‘But where? I want to know,’ Frost persisted.
Silk stared at him. His one eye suddenly went dull, but his glass eye caught the sun coming through the big window, and the glass eye glittered.
‘First things first,’ he said. ‘How are you reacting? From what I’ve spelled out, do you think we can snatch the girl?’
Frost turned the glass of Scotch around and around in his sweating fingers while he thought. Goble began to chew on a lobster tail. Umney, leaning back in his chair, stretched his muscular arms and yawned. Silk, motionless, continued to stare at Frost.
After a long pause, Frost said, ‘Given the breaks, yes. But there are complications. The dogs are a problem. I have a hundred yards walk from my cabin to the guardroom to fix the neutralisers. The dogs could nail me before I reached the guardroom. I also have a problem doping the drinks.’
Silk’s lips moved into a smiling grimace.
‘Those, of course, are the reasons why you earn five million dollars. I picked on you, because you’re smart.’ He sipped his drink, then putting down the glass, he went on, ‘I now ask you, are you in or out?’
Again Frost thought of Marvin. Murder! Then he again thought of owning five million dollars.
He finished his drink, then set down the empty glass.
‘We haven’t talked about the ransom yet,’ he said. ‘To me, that’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Convince me I can get five million and spend it in safety, and then I’ll tell you if I’m in or out.’
Silk studied him for a long moment, then he waved his hands towards Umney and Goble.
‘Okay boys, grab some fresh air,’ he said.
Umney got to his feet and moved to the door. Goble grabbed two canapés and followed Umney from the room.
Silk sipped his drink, lit a cigarette, then looked directly at Frost.
‘So we’re on our own,’ he said. ‘This is strictly between you and me. I am doing this job, with or without your help. You ask about the ransom. As you say, this is the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Before I even began to make plans to snatch this girl, I solved that question. What is the use of getting twenty million dollars if you can’t spend it? I’ve now got it so fixed we can spend it, and that includes you. If I tell you how I have fixed it, you will have reached the point of no return, as Ross and Mitch have already reached the point of no return. If they lose their nerve and back out, they know I will kill them,’ Silk smiled. ‘I earn my living killing people. Ross and Mitch know that, so you had better know it too. Before I tell you how I have fixed the ransom, I want you to think about what I have told you so far. Now, it is your turn to convince me I’ve picked the right inside man. I will want to know how you will handle the dogs: how you will dope Marvin, Amando and the girl, and how you will neutralise the fence. When you have convinced me you can do all this, and when you have told me you will work with me, then I’ll tell you how I’ve fixed the ransom, and I assure you, I have fixed it.’
Frost hesitated, then shrugged.
‘Well, okay, so I exercise my brain,’ and he pushed back his chair.
‘You do that,’ Silk said. ‘Let’s get the record straight. If you haven’t the brains nor the guts to work with me, you are no good to me, nor to yourself. I am guaranteeing you five million, and I don’t give five million away to a pea-brain. So, Saturday morning you come here and convince me you can handle the dogs, neutralise the fence and dope the drinks. You’ll have to convince me, and I need convincing. So, okay, you convince me. Then you tell me if you opt in or out. If you opt in, you will have passed the point of no return. Then I will tell you how I’ve fixed the ransom, and I guarantee I have fixed it. But if you haven’t the nerve and you opt out, you will leave Paradise City and you will keep your trap shut.’ He tapped the table with his finger. ‘Make no mistake about this: I’m going ahead with this job. I will have to find another guard. It’ll mean waiting, but I’ve waited already. But suppose you think you can pick up some money by going to the cops and talking? Okay, so you go to the cops, and you tell them I’m getting set to snatch the girl.’ Silk stubbed out his cigarette. ‘If you do that, there will be no snatch, but I’ll be in the clear. You have no proof that I am planning the snatch. It’ll be your word against mine. The cops have nothing on me. So I tell them you are crazy in the head, but knowing the cops here, they’ll put a tab on me, so, no snatch, and I’ll lose five million bucks.’ He leaned forward, his one eye glaring at Frost. ‘If you talk to the cops, you won’t live long. There’s no hole anywhere deep enough for you to hide in. Be sure, I’ll come after you. Be very sure of that, and I’ll kill you.’
Frost spent the remaining two hours before he took over from Marvin, in his cabin, smoking and thinking.
Although he thought of what life would mean to him when he had five million dollars to spend, his main thinking was about Silk. During the short time he had been a detective, he had run into a number of dangerous thugs.
He had also run into a few Mafia hit-men, but none of them compared with Silk. Frost knew Silk was a professional in the top echelon bracket, and he was deadly dangerous. I will guarantee I have fixed the ransom. This, coming from a man of Silk’s calibre, meant, somehow, he had solved the ransom problem, and that meant that if Frost opted in, he would have five million dollars to spend. He was almost sure that if he opted out, he would never leave Paradise City alive. Silk would never take the risk that he (Frost) might talk. Frost moved uneasily. He would meet with an accident. He was sure of that. So... he nodded to himself, he would opt in.
Now, he had problems to solve: how to dope Marvin, Amando and Gina. This was the priority problem. The second problem was how to neutralise the dogs. This also presented difficulties. The neutralising of the fence was easy once Marvin was doped and the dogs out of the way.
Frost realised he would have to collect a lot of information before he could begin to solve these problems. He looked at his strap watch. The time was 19.45: time to go to the guardroom and have dinner with Marvin.
Leaving his cabin, he looked along the narrow path that led past the villa, and to the guardroom. Soon after 21.00, Marvin would release the dogs, and they would be on the prowl. When he had doped Marvin, Frost thought, he would have to leave his cabin around 02.00, walk along this path to the guardroom to neutralise the fence. The walk was roughly sixty yards. One or all the dogs could nail him before he reached the guardroom. He looked upwards. Could he reach the guardroom by climbing a tree, swinging himself on to the villa’s roof and down to the guardroom? He dismissed this thought immediately. He was no Tarzan, and anyway, there were no over-lapping trees. A problem!