They started the moment the rugged and aggressive spire of Afyonkarahisar came into view. The wintry air of this 3,000-foot-high plateau was clear as crystal today and the 750-foot fortress stood out like a finger of a God about to goose the Heavens. It was a clear command for me to do likewise.
"Where can I find Musef and Torgut?" I yelled at the taxi driver. They were the two wrestlers Heller had messed up.
Driving madly into the outskirts, he yelled back, "Ain't seen 'em since they got out of the hospital. I don't think anybody else has, either."
"You find them!" I commanded. "And right now!"
A local cab ahead was discharging a passenger and a goat into a mud hut. Ahmed screeched our Citroen to a halt. He had a rapid interchange with the local hacker.
Shortly we were diving down an alley. We emerged in a backstreet slum.
Ahmed crossed a litter-strewn yard and knocked at a rickety door. After some time, it opened a tiny crack. The taxi driver came back to the cab. "They're in there. They don't want to see anybody."
I stuffed a handful of lira in my pocket and got out.
"Lock the cab so nobody can get at this money and go kick the door in. I'll be right behind you."
Reassured by the way I was gripping the shotgun, Ahmed did as he was told. He prudently stepped aside.
I yelled into the room. "I've come to give you a job!"
Rapid whisperings came out of the interior, for all the world like rats running around.
Then somebody called, "We don't believe you but come in, anyway."
I entered. The room was dark and dirty, more like a hole in the mud than living quarters.
Musef and Torgut stood at the far side of the room. They were certainly shadows of their former selves. They must have lost a hundred pounds apiece and their yellow skin sagged on them, kind of grayish. They were dressed in rags, had probably sold their clothes. Here were two bully boys come on hard times. Just what I wanted.
"How are you?" I said.
Musef said to Torgut, "He asks us how we are. Is he blind, you think?"
Torgut said, "Well, tell him. He's holding the shotgun."
Musef said, "Since that cursed DEA man fouled us, nobody will hire us to beat people up anymore. The (bleepard) ruined our reputations."
Torgut said, "And all with his lousy tricks when we wasn't looking."
They were talking about Heller. They still believed my story that he worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration. My heart warmed to them.
"I have continuous employment for you," I said. "I am going to hire you to make the staff jump at the villa. They're sloppy and incompetent. They serve cold kahve and warm melons. They don't bow and kiss my feet."
"You want us to kill 'em?" said Musef.
"What I want you to do is to make very certain that every time I crook so much as my little finger, they jump like they were shot and go tearing around giving service and bow three times when they see me and kiss my feet when they leave."
"We can use lead pipes on them?" said Torgut.
"Whips," I said. "And fists when called for. You relieve each other and one is always on duty outside my door. You go armed at all times and if anybody tries to get in that I don't want to see, you shoot him."
The way they hated Heller, he would sure never get in!
"You feed us?" said Musef.
"All you want to eat," I said. After all, that was a base expense and not out of my pocket. "I will even pay you something from time to time."
"Allah be praised!" they both said in chorus.
"One more thing," I said. "If anything happens to me or my money, my friend, the most powerful banker in Turkey, has orders to spare no expense to run you down and have you shot."
"Allah forbid!" they both chorused.
"So long as the villa staff pleases me and so long as both me and my money are safe," I said, "you have a cushy job." I threw the handful of lira down on the floor. "Get yourselves some clothes and report for work at my villa, forthwith."
Oh, did they dive for that lira! And once they had it, they stayed on their knees and bowed.
I made a benign sign over their heads and left.
Oh, but there were going to be some changes made!
"Drive on, drive on!" I told the driver and we went rocketing through the town, down the road past the Afyonkarahisar spire, toward the mountains and to the villa.
We pulled into the yard. The gatekeeper wasn't even there. Ha, little did they know what was about to hit them. But my target was not staff.
The BMW was present so I knew Utanc would be home. I pounded on her door. "It's me!" I yelled. "I have news for you." I knew that would make her open up.
It did.
The two little boys were sitting on the floor doing a coloring book. I said, "I have just had a conference with my banker. He advises me that if credit cards continue to be used, my financial picture will be ruined. So if you place just one more order on credit cards, even for a pack of cigarettes," I gestured with the shotgun at the two little boys, "I will shoot them."
She stared at me. She saw the conquering resolution in my glare. She said, "You would, too, you (bleepard)."
"You can bet I would," I said. "If you want money you can come to me for it and you can come crawling on your knees. You understand that?"
She slammed the door. But I knew she understood it. She'd come around and she'd be crawling on her knees for it, too.
That was handled.
I paid Ahmed two hundred hundred-lira notes for his day's work. Twenty thousand lira was more money then he had seen in a month. He saluted with the two fistfuls of money, very surprised and pleased. But actually, he was the only friend I had on this planet who had been true-blue all along. I mustn't stint where he was concerned, even if this bale was getting lighter.
I had one more stop today. I put my money securely in a safe-I barely could get it in-and, putting on my control star and picking up the final sack, I went down the tunnel.
Gods, but were the Antimancos surprised to see me! When I walked into their crew quarters, they all jumped up.
"When we got back," said Stabb with frowning brow, shoving his pointed head at me, "we found the hangar crew had made that platform hollow and the Blixo crew put something in it! I knew it wasn't the right weight."
"And what did they tell you they put in it?" I asked.
"They didn't know," said Captain Stabb, "but you do."
"Compressed Scotch," I said. "They filled it full of compressed Scotch. I was going to use it for bribes. But I have bad news."
"I bet you do," said Stabb. "We been betting that you did the job and grabbed the loot for yourself."
"Actually," I said, "the gold vaults are two miles deep in the earth, way beyond the range of the line-jumper. I almost got caught. I had to use a blastick and a police slash gun and I fired both barrels of my shotgun. You can see how dirty it is. But I fought my way clear and got back."
"Hey, that took a lot of cold nerve," said an engineer.
"It certainly did," I said. "And before you falsely accuse me of welshing on my own gang, look at this. Once I found the gold vaults were beyond us, I grabbed what I could and ran."
I handed them the heavy sack of junk stones.
They spilled some of it on the table and stared at it. And I will say this, it sure glittered in the glowlights.
"Look at this!" said a pilot, holding up a big paste emerald.
"Look at these!" said an engineer, pouring a handful of synthetic diamonds and flawed glass rubies from palm to palm.
"They're all yours," I said, grandly. "Divide them up amongst you any way you wish. In appreciation of your loyal support and to compensate for no gold, you can keep every one."