I told him I wanted to help him figure out a good plan because I didn’t want him to go up against you people and lose. I wanted my woman back too much for that. That made sense to him, so he listened to me.
I said his best bet would be to come here. I said they shouldn’t come before you got here because they’d have to break in, and that would leave marks you people would see. But I was pretty sure you planned to do some drinking when you got back here, and in any case none of you would be alert you’d be feeling the after-effects of the tension of doing the thing out on Long Island so the thing for them to do was get here after you’d been here maybe an hour. I told them the front door would be easy to get through, and none of you would hear them because you’d be four floors up.
He thought that should work out, and he told me to go back to my hotel room and wait. Maybe they’d try my idea, maybe not, but one way or the other they’d go for the diamonds tonight, and once they got them they’d give me a call and tell me where to meet them. Then I would go to the place they said, and they’d tell me where to find my woman.
I don’t know if she’s alive or not. I think there’s a chance she is, because they know they don’t have anything to be afraid of from her. But I do know they plan to try to kill me. That’s the only reason to have me meet them after they get the diamonds. If they were going to tell me where she was and let it go at that they could do it over the phone.
That’s why I told them the story I did. And after I left Marten I went to the hotel in case he had anybody following me, and then I got out again and went to his place on Riverside Drive, an address I got from Hoskins a while ago. I wanted to know for sure what Marten would do. I thought Marten was sure he had me mousetrapped, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
I went to his place and I saw the other two get there. What I would do if I was Marten at that point, I’d come stake out the museum and wait for you people to show up. Just to be sure Parker wasn’t setting me up for something. And if that’s what they’d done, I would have had to try to take them alone some way. It would have been early enough, before you people were here.
But Marten must be sure of himself. Or sure of me. Anyway, he stayed there, all three of them stayed there. I waited around as late as I could, wanting to be sure they weren’t going anywhere, and then I came over here. I wanted to get here before you left, but I didn’t want to butt in till your caper was over, so I waited up by the corner for about fifteen minutes. Then the shooting started and I saw something was wrong, so I came on down.
The reason I came was, I figured you people had gotten me into this situation, you could work with me to get me out of it again. I figured we’d let Marten and the other two break in here, then we’d grab them. You people are good at asking questions; you could ask them where my woman is. After that you could do whatever you wanted with them. Put them down in the basement with the Kasempas. Anything you want.
I didn’t figure on the mess Hoskins made. I was counting on Gonor, and we could have used Manado. But the situation’s still the same. They’re coming here at five o’clock, ten minutes from now. I want you to help me.
4
There was a little silence, and then Major Indindu said without expression, “I see.” Standing there in the middle of the room, the saucer held on the palm of his left hand, he finished the last bit of coffee in his cup and said, “Bara, if you would be so kind another cup?”
Formutesca obviously didn’t want to leave the room. He looked at Parker, then at the Major, and reluctantly said, “Of course, sir.” He took the cup and saucer and left the room.
The Major said, “Ten minutes, you say. That doesn’t leave us much time.”
“Enough,” Parker said.
“Perhaps. There are a few things I would like to say.”
“Go ahead.”
“I believe how can I best phrase this? I believe you have made some false assumptions.”
“Such as?”
The Major looked troubled. “We have to be realists, Mr Parker,” he said. “And realistically, we owe you nothing. You were hired to perform a specific task for us. You did so, very well, and you received full payment. We have no more call on you, and you have no more call on us.”
“All right,” Parker said. “You better take Manado with you.”
Surprised, the Major said, “I beg your pardon?”
“They’re coming here. In seven minutes. I have to make a try for them; I don’t have any choice, and this is the place where I’m doing it. They’re going to want the diamonds, so if I lose out to them they’ll look around. If they find Manado they may want to wake him up and ask him some questions. So you better take him along.”
“Just a moment,” the Major said. “You go too fast.”
“We have seven minutes. And they could get here early.”
“Yes, I understand that. But you didn’t take my meaning. I didn’t mean you wouldn’t be helped.” The Major stopped, looking confused. It was clear he was used to a world in which more words did less, where the sentences were long and full and didn’t move very far forward. Having to say the whole thing at once was turning out to be difficult.
Parker prompted him. “What did you mean?”
“I simply meant” The Major made vague hand motions, then gathered himself together and said, “What I meant was that you have no callon our services. Only young Formutesca is left to help you, and since you have no call on us I could not orderhim to work with you. But if he is willing to, I certainly would not stand in his way. The morality of the situation, it seems to me, is clearly on the side of”
“What about you?”
The Major stopped his speech and said, “Me? I don’t understand.”
“You can stay, too,” Parker told him. “That ‘major’ on your name means you’re a military man, doesn’t it?”
The Major shook his head in astonishment. “Me? That’s out of the question!”
“Why?”
“Mr Parker, if all goes well I will be the next president of Dhaba. I cannot afford to risk myself in a gun battle here; it would be pointless and ridiculous.”
Formutesca had come in with the fresh coffee while the Major was speaking.
Parker said, “In other words, you’re too valuable.”
Formutesca, holding the cup out, said, “Sir?” He was looking slightly confused.
“Thank you.” The Major took the cup, then looked levelly at Parker. “If you want to phrase it that way, yes. I am too valuable. I believe Formutesca here will agree with me on that.”
Formutesca, looking at the two of them, said, “Too valuable for what?”
The Major said, “Mr Parker wants us to stay here and help him against the three that are coming here. I told him if you wanted to stay it would be your own choice, I couldn’t order you to do it. He wanted me to stay as well, and I told him I could not afford to risk myself in such a way. I believe that I am too valuable.” He turned to Parker. “To Dhaba, Mr Parker. Not to myself, to Dhaba.”
“Of course, sir,” said Formutesca. Turning to Parker he said, “The Major is the only hope we have, Mr Parker. If anything happens to him, there won’t be anyone to stop Goma. Colonel Lubudi can’t last long, not now, and if the Major isn’t there to step in and take his place, General Goma will walk right in and take over the country.”
Parker said, “A General. A Colonel. A Major.”
With a thin smile, the Major said, “Do you mean we’re all alike, Mr Parker?”