“That’s why you dozed on the sofa,” I finished for her. “You wanted to be ready the moment he called.”
She nodded. She was telling the truth, all she knew, and this was my golden opportunity to find Karminian.
I needed her cooperation. I didn’t want her trying to give me the slip when she went to meet him so I decided to level with her, telling her as much as I knew.
I began with the two Karminians and their activities as espionage informants and when I’d finished she was pale and shaken, her eyes deep and round.
“I would never have believed it,” she said quietly. “And you aren’t an artist at all, then. I was right in suspecting that, Glen.”
“Oh, I’ve been called an artist in my work.” I grinned. “And you can stop calling me Glen. It’s Nick — Nick Carter.”
“Nick,” she said, turning it over in her mind, savoring it aloud. “Yes, it fits you better,” she said finally. “It fits that sense of urgency and danger I first felt about you.”
Marina leaned forward and I had to hold back from scooping those two beautiful breasts up in my hands.
“Poor Anton,” she said sadly.
“Which Karminian has contacted you?” I asked. “Did you hear any voice difference?”
“Why, it had to be my Anton,” she replied. “I doubt the other one knew I existed, and only my Anton knew the little things between us he mentioned. Promise me he won’t be hurt, Nick. I feel terrible enough about going back on my word to him.”
“My people won’t hurt him,” I answered. “The Russians have other methods but they’re out of the picture now. The Rifs will certainly kill him. They might torture him to find out exactly how much he knows, first. And you shouldn’t feel horrible about having told me. You’re doing him a hell of a favor. You’re saving his neck.”
She put her head against my shoulder. It would have been so easy to take her in my arms and make love to her but I didn’t. That was not something I wanted to have stopped in the middle by a phone call. Not with Marina.
As it was, we didn’t have to wait long. When the phone jangled, Marina’s eyes flew to mine and her lips tightened.
“Answer it,” I said firmly. “Be yourself. Loosen up.”
She swallowed hard, picked up the phone and I watched her as she spoke to him, her eyes riveted on me all the while.
“Yes, yes, Anton,” she said. “I’m ready. Yes... I know the place. In your name. I understand. All right. I’ll be there with it. Yes, Anton. Au ’voir.”
She put down the phone and I was beside her at once.
“Let’s go,” I said, puffing her to her feet.
She slipped on her dress and I rushed her out the door.
“What’s the plan?” I said brusquely. “Let’s have it.”
“The key to the locker is at the Hotel Mahraba in an envelope in his name,” she said. “He told the desk clerk I would be picking it up. The locker is at the Main Post Office at the Place des Nations Unies.”
“So far so good,” I commented as we got into the Mercedes. “After you get the money where do you go?”
She looked at me, hesitated a moment, and then answered. “To the Marcel Cerdan Stadium. It is not in use today, and I’m to go to section fourteen, aisle B and wait there.”
The Marcel Cerdan Stadium, I repeated to myself. I’d passed it once. It was modem, huge, typical of its kind, named after the French middleweight champion killed in an air crash some years ago. I wondered grimly if he’d been hiding in the stadium all along. He could mingle with the crowds when it was in use and hide away when it closed.
It was vast enough to avoid the cleaning brigades and the night watchman. He could probably pilfer food from concession stands too. An ingenious spot to pick, but then I’d already learned the Karminian twins had a long record of ingenious schemes.
“After you get the money from the locker, you’ll take a taxi to the stadium,” I told Marina. “Go through with everything just as you’ve been instructed by him.”
I wondered about reaching the stadium unseen. Such places usually had large, wide-open spaces around them. That was a problem I’d have to meet when I got there. I shot Marina another glance and saw her watching me apprehensively.
“What’s the matter?” I asked sharply.
“I... I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing,” she answered. “Suddenly you frighten me. You’re so different, so predatory, like a leopard that’s suddenly scented a kill.”
She shuddered and I didn’t try to smooth it over.
“Occupational conditioning,” I said. “It’s too late to change your mind now, Marina.”
I glanced at her again and saw she was still looking apprehensive and unhappy. I decided that the unhappy facts of life might straighten her out, just in case she got any last minute ideas.
“I’m going to be there, Marina,” I said. “If you go through with things, I’ll be able to grab him and get him to safety. But I can’t let him get away. If you try to help him escape I’ll shoot him.”
I omitted the fact that I didn’t have a gun with me.
“You would, wouldn’t you?” she said, shock lacing her words.
“You can count on it, baby,” I said. I braked to a halt outside the Mahraba Hotel. “Get the key,” I ordered. “And let’s keep moving.”
She got out, giving me a hurt, shocked look but I knew she’d play it straight now. In minutes she was back with an envelope which she opened as I wheeled the car toward the complex of buildings known as United Nations Plaza.
Once again I drew up and waited outside as she hurried into the building. This time she reappeared carrying a small satchel, not unlike an airlines bag. She unzipped it in the car and I didn’t bother to count the neatly wrapped packages of bills. There was a lot of money in the bag, perhaps ten or fifteen thousand dollars, I guessed. She zipped the bag up again and I pulled to the curb behind a taxi stand.
“Take one of those cabs and follow through with the plan,” I said. “Don’t look for me, don’t think about me. I’ll show up at the right time.”
I watched as she walked to the nearest of the taxis and climbed in, the long, lovely line of her leg disappearing into the rear of the old cab.
She hadn’t said a thing, and I could feel the nervous tension in her but I was confident she’d stick with it.
I followed the cab for a while, and, as we neared the stadium, I swung down a side street and gunned the limousine in a roaring race to the stadium. I pulled over a block from it and went the rest of the way on foot.
As I’d feared, the area around the place was open space.
Karminian would no doubt be watching, perhaps from high up in the seats, with a falcon’s view covering every part of the outside of the oval. He’d be certain to see me approaching.
A sound behind me made me whirl and I saw a man with a small cart of fruits coming down the street, a gaily colored parasol covering his little two-wheeled cart.
I waited till he passed abreast of me, then quickly moved behind him. I applied just enough pressure, carefully, slowly, and he sank to the ground unconscious.
It was risky business. The least little bit too much and he’d be dead. I put him against the building after I checked his heart. He was breathing normally, and he’d wake within five minutes.
I took the cart and started pushing it out into the open space surrounding the stadium. Beneath the bright parasol, I was only a pair of legs, slowly pushing a little fruit cart.
I passed the door marked Cinq and went on close to the concrete stadium wall. I was beyond the line of vision of anyone watching from inside. I passed another door and paused to push against it. It was locked and steel ribbed. I went on past two more locked doors until I came to a small, narrow doorway. This one was wood and I halted the little cart to push against it. It was locked but the wood yielded.