Wyatt was watching Anna Reid. Her face was irritated now, but for a moment there’d been something like panic there. He heard her say, ‘What’s with all this macho stuff? Do you want the whole world to see? If they use a security service, are you going to shoot it out with them? God!’ she said, shaking her head. She looked at Wyatt. ‘What about you? Have you been watching too many films?’
Her green eyes were challenging and complicated and unimpressed, and he wondered what exactly was eating her. ‘Only re-runs of Get Smart,’ he said. ‘Yeah, I agree, a street snatch is out. What we do is hit your office Friday afternoon when you’re at work.’
More irritation. ‘That’s idiotic’
‘Not if we’re quick and look legitimate from the outside.’
Hobba was looking interested. He turned to Anna. ‘What kind of safe is it?’
She shrugged. ‘Just a safe.’
‘It’s a little Chubb,’ Wyatt said.
That made her sit up. She put her head on one side, concentrating on his face. ‘The waiting room,’ she said, nodding slowly. ‘This afternoon.’
Wyatt held her stare. ‘We’ll tie everyone up,’ he said. ‘If you’re one of the victims, you won’t be suspected.’
‘What about clients? What if I have to go out? I need to know roughly when you’ll do it.’
Wyatt waited. Finally he said, ‘All right. Cancel your late afternoon clients. If Finn has a client with him, too bad. We’ll hit at four-fifteen. Will you all be there?’
She nodded. ‘Finn goes out for coffee at three-thirty, but he only stays away ten minutes.’
‘Four-fifteen?’ Pedersen said. ‘Are you mad?’
Wyatt turned to him. ‘Later. Okay?’
‘Well, Jesus.’
Anna was smiling, going over the idea in her mind. ‘Finn will think he’s been hit by someone he does business with. I like it.’ The smile faded. ‘But what about my share? There I am, tied up, while you lot disappear.’
Hobba and Pedersen seemed to grow alert at that. Wyatt looked at them warningly. He turned to the woman again. ‘You’re the finger,’ he said. ‘You can put all three of us away. We won’t rip you off. I’ll pay you myself on Saturday.’
She gave him another complicated look. He saw the motion in her throat as she swallowed. ‘How will you get in and out without attracting attention?’
When Wyatt didn’t reply she frowned and looked round at the others. Finally Hobba answered her. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘it’s best if you don’t know. That helps protect you, and you’ll behave more convincingly when the time comes.’
‘Oh great. Shall I scream when the time comes?’
Wyatt handed her a pen and a scrap of paper. ‘Give me your address and phone number.’
‘Why do I get the feeling this is no longer my job?’ she said.
They ignored her, watching her write. Then Wyatt pocketed the note and crossed to the door and stood there, facing her, his hand on the door knob. She got up and walked towards him, half amused, half angry.
‘Don’t try to contact us,’ he said, ‘and we won’t contact you, unless there’s a hitch. If all goes well I’ll let you know on Saturday where to find me.’
Her eyes were half closed. ‘Won’t you be here?’
She waited. When Wyatt didn’t reply, she gestured irritably and left the room.
Twelve
When she was gone Hobba raised an eyebrow and said, ‘So, Wyatt, what do you reckon?’
‘About what?’
‘About what?’ Hobba threw up his arms. ‘Her. Anna. I like your chances there, pal.’
Wyatt watched Hobba coldly. He refused to be drawn, had no time for it, couldn’t understand how anyone lacked focus when they had a job on. Finally Hobba gave a self-conscious shrug and said, ‘Okay, how do you see the job?’
‘We’ll use a van, something that won’t look out of place. We drive up, go in as tradesmen, lock the doors, disarm the phones, crack the safe. Max, Chubbs are easy, right?’
‘Some of them,’ Pedersen said. He’d been playing with the zip on his japara. ‘A van,’ he said, ‘some sort of disguise. Going to cost a fair bit. Guns too?’
‘Yes,’ Wyatt said. ‘But no shooting.’
‘I got a gun,’ Hobba said. ‘Wyatt, you got guns.’
Wyatt shook his head. ‘I’ve never used my own on a job and I’m not going to start now. We get new ones.’
Wyatt waited, watching him. Hobba liked to play devil’s advocate. It was how they ironed out the wrinkles. ‘Where from?’ Hobba said. ‘They put Payne away last week for shipping M16s to Fiji, and I wouldn’t want to be caught with something that fell off the back of a truck in the saloon bar of the Kings Head.’
‘Max, what have you heard? Who else is supplying?’
Pedersen tugged back and forth on his zip again, thinking. Eventually he said, ‘There’s this guy near Burnley Station. Somebody Flood.’
Wyatt nodded. He knew of Flood.
Hobba got to his feet and stretched, getting the kinks out of his massive back. He lit a cigarette and began to circle the small area between the bed and the door to the corridor. ‘What with?’ he said. ‘I haven’t got any spare cash. Max here hasn’t.’
Wyatt had withdrawn his final cache that afternoon. It would do for the guns and incidentals and his hotel bill, but that was about it. He said, ‘I’ll take care of the guns.’
Hobba looked at him shrewdly but said nothing. Pedersen removed his japara at last. The fawn shirt under it blended with his sandy colouring, making his features even less distinct. He folded the japara over his knee and said, ‘Okay, you buy the guns. But where do we get the cash for a van and the other stuff? I mean, this is pretty central to the whole deal.’
‘We bankroll it,’ Wyatt said. ‘Pull a couple of small jobs.’
Hobba sat down again, his bulk disturbing the surface of the bed. ‘Ivan Younger is good for any of the stuff we need.’
Wyatt grinned. ‘Yeah, well that’s a long story.’ He told them about Sugarfoot and Ivan and the dead housekeeper.
‘Was that you?’ Pedersen said, amazed. He looked troubled, as if Wyatt had come down in the world. ‘Ivan Younger’s someone you buy from. He’s not someone you work for.’
Hobba began to wheeze like an accordion. He was laughing. ‘You got out of it lucky. Young Sugar is going to find himself in a shallow grave one day.’
We could go on like this all night, Wyatt thought. He said, ‘So we can’t use the Youngers. Who else is there?’
He knew the answers to most of these questions, but the scene changed quickly, so it was important to double check. Hobba said, ‘Eddie Loman.’
‘Eddie Loman’s good,’ Wyatt said. ‘You go and see him in the morning and order a van.’
‘He won’t come through unless we pay him up front.’
‘The way to deal with the Eddie Lomans of this world is let them see some cash, say a thousand. He’ll come through then.’
‘A thousand? I bloody haven’t got a thousand.’
Silently Wyatt pulled out his wallet and counted out one thousand dollars. ‘Give him this. I’ll see about the guns. Meanwhile, I want a stake-out on the target over the next few days. Max, you’ll take the first shift tomorrow.’
Pedersen nodded. He seemed pleased to be working again.
Hobba was still looking for hitches. ‘We can’t use our cars for the stake-out. We’ll have to use rentals. That means fake ID.’
Wyatt opened his wallet. ‘This is my passport photo. You get yours taken tonight, use one of those machines, and ask Loman to fix us up with ID. As for the bankroll, there’s one scam I know of, but it won’t bring in enough cash. We need a second scam.’
A slow, wide smile formed on Hobba’s face. ‘Ivan Younger runs a couple of call-girls over in Fitzroy. How would you like to get back the five thousand he owes you?’
Thirteen
Later, when he was alone, Wyatt heard the knock, two soft, confident raps. He opened the door and Anna Reid was there, her low voice saying, ‘I waited in the lobby. I saw them leave.’
She regarded him calmly, her hands resting in the deep pockets of her jacket. Wyatt stared at her, then stepped back wordlessly to let her in.
At the centre of the room she removed the jacket and looked for somewhere to put it. She didn’t speak. No explanations or justifications, no ‘Are you surprised?’ or the other openings he expected.