On a night like this, there was little trade for the gambling ships and only two of the taxi-boats were at their stations.
Harry took shelter under the coverway to the turnstiles. The time was ten twenty-five. He lit a cigarette, aware of his tension and the steady thumping of his heart.
At twenty minutes to eleven, a mustard-coloured Cadillac, as big as a battleship, slid to a standstill outside the pier entrance, and he guessed this was Delaney's car. He limped across to it, seeing the dim outline of two men in the front and one at the back.
The non-driver in the front got out of the car: a tall, slouching figure that Harry recognized from Glorie's description to be the man who had followed her.
“You Green?” the man asked sharply.
“That's right.”
“Okay, get in the back. We'll drive around while you talk to the boss.”
He opened the rear door and Harry got into the car and sank down on to the heavily upholstered cushions. Ben Delaney, smoking a cigar, turned his head to look at him. The street lights were not bright enough for either of the men to see each other well, but Harry recognized Delaney by his trim moustache and by the way he held his head.
“Green?”
“Yes. You Mr. Delaney?”
“Who else do you imagine I'd be?” Ben snapped. “Drive slowly,” he went on to the man at the wheel. “Keep going until I tell you to stop, and keep off the main streets.” He turned slightly in his seat so he could look towards Harry who sat in the darkness looking towards him. “What's your proposition?” he demanded. “Snap it up. I have other things to do besides driving around in the rain.”
“In four days' time,” Harry said, speaking rapidly, “the Californian Air Transport Corporation are carrying a consignment of industrial diamonds worth three million dollars to San Francisco. I know which plane they will travel on and how to get hold of them. I want to sell the idea to you. This job can be handled by three men and a fourth with a car. I would be one of the men and I'd expect you to supply the other three. I would want fifty thousand dollars to do the job and no other share in the take. That's the proposition.”
Delaney was staggered. He hadn't expected such a blunt proposal. Fifty thousand bucks! This guy wasn't afraid to open his mouth.
“You don't imagine I'd be crazy enough to handle a set-up like that, do you?” he said. “Those rocks will be as hot as hell.”
“That's not my concern,” Harry said. “My job is to get the diamonds. What happens to them afterwards isn't my business. If you don't want them, say so. I can always go elsewhere. My time's just as valuable to me as yours is to you.”
Taggart, the tall, slouching man, half turned in his seat and looked at Harry. Although it was too dark to see his face, Harry could feel the threat there.
But Delaney didn't mind that kind of talk. He preferred it.
“Have you seen the diamonds?”
“No. There's nothing special about them. They are industrial diamonds: as good as cash. It just means holding them for a time, then releasing them slowly. If their distribution is handled properly there shouldn't be any risk.”
Delaney knew that was true. He had plenty of markets for industrial diamonds, and he wouldn’t have to hold on to them for long. If these diamonds were really worth what this guy said they were, he could get two million for them, even two and a half million.
But who was this guy, he wondered. He didn't like dealing with strangers. Although Glorie had introduced him, and he felt he could trust Glorie, he wondered about him. His mind shifted to the yacht he wanted. If this job came off, here would be the means to put the order in hand. They had promised delivery in twelve months. He felt a little tingle of excitement. Maybe it didn't matter who the guy was so long as he delivered.
“How are you going to get them?” he asked. “Hijack the van before it reaches the airfield?”
“Not a chance. They'll send them in an armoured car with a motorcycle escort. We'll never get near them. No. I'm going to hijack the plane.”
Ben stiffened. He saw by the way Taggart straightened in his seat that he wasn't the only one who was startled.
“Hijack the plane? How do you do that, for God's sake?”
“It won’t be difficult. That's why this job's a cinch. I have three seats booked on the plane that's to carry the diamonds. There will be about fifteen other passengers so your two men and myself won’t attract attention until it is too late. We take off after dark. The flight takes two hours. As soon as we have cleared the airfield, I'll go on to the flight deck, get the radio operator away from the radio, get the rest of the crew into the cabin for your two guys to look after. I'll handle the plane and land it in the desert. I want a fast car to be waiting to pick us up. I'll deliver the diamonds to wherever you want them to be delivered, and that will be that.”
Ben sat back, his shrewd, cunning mind busy. As a plan, this was bold and ingenious. It could succeed, but everything depended on Green. If he lost his nerve, if he made one mistake, it would flop.
“Can you handle the plane?” he asked.
“Of course,” Harry said impatiently. “I flew every kind of kite during the war.”
“You'll have to bring it down in the dark. Thought of that?”
“Look, you don't have to worry about my end. I know my job. I'll get the kite down all right. With any luck there'll be a moon, but if there isn't, I'll still bring her down. Do you want to handle the stuff or don't you?”
Ben found he had let his cigar go out: something he rarely did.
He threw the cigar out of the window.
“What do you want out of this again?”
“You take the diamonds, pay your men and give me fifty thousand for the job.”
“It's too much. I may have to keep the diamonds a couple of years before I get rid of them. I'll give you ten.”
“It's fifty thousand or nothing. I'm taking the risk: you aren't. The police will have a description of me. I'll be on the run: you won’t. Your cut from this should be around two million with no risk. If you don't think fifty grand is a fair figure, then tell your driver to stop the car and I'll get the hell out of here.”
“Thirty?” Ben suggested, bargaining for the sake of bargaining. “I'll give you thirty, but not a nickel more.”
Harry felt a surge of triumph run through him. He knew he had Ben on the hook now.
“Do I tell your driver to stop or do you?”
Ben allowed himself a thin smile in the darkness.
“Okay — fifty then: in cash when you deliver the diamonds.”
“No. I want two certified cheques for twenty-five grand given to me on the afternoon before the take-off. I've got to be convinced the money is safe before I get into the plane or I don't do the job.”
Taggart could contain himself no longer.
“Do you want me to tap this punk, boss?” he growled, half turning round.
“Shut up!” Ben snarled. “Keep out of this!” He looked towards Harry. “You'll get the cash when the diamonds are delivered and not before!”
“No! Why should I trust you?” Harry's big hands turned into fists. “What's there to stop one of your thugs shooting me in the back when you've got the diamonds? The money's got to be in my bank before I do the job or I don't do it!”
“I could persuade you to do it,” Ben said, his voice suddenly vicious. “I don't take orders from punks like you.”
“Go ahead and persuade me.” Harry felt sweat on his face, but he was determined to have his way. “Persuade me to bring the kite down in the dark and see how you get on. I don't threaten easily, Delaney, and I'm hard to persuade.”
The driver slammed on his brakes, pulling to the kerb, while Taggart swung around, a gun in his hand. He was about to reach over and take a swipe at Harry when Ben said violently, “Hold it! Who told you to stop? Drive on! And keep out of it, Taggart!”