“Certainly.” The clerk gaped at Smernoff and then at Kordak and his automatic rifle. “What is all this?”
“She’s a V.I.P.,” Girland said smoothly. “The American Army is interested in her.”
Puzzled, the clerk gave him a form which Girland completed. Smernoff had moved to his side, his .45 now back in its holster, but Girland was aware of the automatic rifle.
In a few moments the party moved out of the lobby and down the ramp to the waiting Citroen ambulance.
Jack Kerman parked outside the hospital in a 3.8 Jaguar watched the sleeping woman being loaded into the ambulance. He saw Girland and a young nurse get into the ambulance, followed by a man in a Colonel’s uniform.
Aha! trouble, he thought and switched on the radar scanner. As the ambulance began to move down the drive, the scanner warmed up. Then as Kerman started the car’s engine, a steady bleep-bleep came from the screen and he relaxed. At least Girland had given the woman the radio pill, he thought. He waited until the ambulance had turned the corner and began racing towards the Pont de Neuilly, then he engaged gear and manoeuvred the car from its parking place.
Sadu had seen the ambulance drive away and thought nothing of it. He was sitting, tense, waiting for Jo-Jo to appear to tell him the woman was dead. He was very uneasy. Nothing he would have liked better than to have driven away and to have left Jo-Jo to find his own way back, but suppose Jo-Jo had been seen? Suppose...? He grimaced. Lighting yet another cigarette, he looked out into the rain at the lighted entrance of the hospital.
Jo-Jo had returned to the fifth floor. He knew he had failed and he was nervous. Yet-Sen had no patience with failures. This could be dangerous, Jo-Jo thought. His cunning mind was busy as he pressed the call button of the elevator. As he went down to the ground floor, he unscrewed the silencer from the gun and dropped it into his pocket. He shoved the gun down the waistband of his trousers. The cage of the elevator grounded and he darted out of it, moving like a swift black shadow, past the reception clerk and out into the rain. His movements were so fast the reception clerk, dozing at his desk, had only a blurred image of a man passing him and by the time he was sufficiently alert, Jo-Jo was scrambling into Sadu’s car.
“Get moving!”
Sadu started the engine and pulled out into the deserted boulevard. He began driving fast towards Place des Ternes.
“What happened?” he asked, his eyes watching the rain soaked road.
“The nurse lied,” Jo-Jo said. “I couldn’t find her. She wasn’t on the fifth floor.” He thought of the stretcher on which the sleeping woman had been wheeled into the elevator. This was something he would keep to himself. “The operation was badly planned. We must begin again tomorrow.”
Sadu cursed. He slammed on the brakes and pulled up by the kerb.
“Tomorrow? They told me she was to be dead by tomorrow! We’ll go back! You have got to find her!”
Jo-Jo scratched the back of his dirty neck.
“How? I can’t look in every room in the hospital. This is your funeral. Tell me where she is and I’ll do the job.”
Sadu became desperate. This was his first important assignment and unless he succeeded, his status with Yet-Sen and more important with Pearl would be worthless. Besides, remembering what Pearl had said, his own life could be in danger.
“We’ll go back,” he said, trying to steady his voice. “Somehow we will find her.”
Jo-Jo hesitated, then decided he had better tell the truth. There was now no point in going back.
“All right, don’t get so worked up. I messed it. They have taken her away. I saw them take her out on a stretcher.”
Sadu twisted around in his seat.
“Who took her away?” His voice was shrill.
“The Americans,” Jo-Jo said sullenly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Don’t shout! I didn’t want trouble.”
Cursing, Sadu slapped the thin, dirty face with the back of his hand.
“You stinking little rat! We could have followed the ambulance. I saw it go, but didn’t know she was inside!”
There was a moment of pause, than as Jo-Jo said nothing, Sadu started the car. He began driving at a reckless speed down the dark, rain swept road.
Jo-Jo wiped his bleeding nose on his sleeve. He resisted the urge to slam his knife into Sadu’s body. He said, “Where do you think you are going?”
“Shut up!” Sadu snarled.
Shrugging, Jo-Jo squirmed down in the bucket seat. This was his first failure. He was a little unnerved. His face smarted from the slap Sadu had given him. Well, that was something to be stored away. No one ever hit him without regretting it.
Driving so fast that even Jo-Jo’s teeth were set on edge, Sadu arrived at his shop on the Rue de Rivoli in ten minutes.
He unlocked the glass door, motioned Jo-Jo to go ahead, then entered the dark little shop. They went around the counter and entered the living room.
Pearl Kuo was sitting in an armchair, her small hands resting on her silken knees. She looked expectantly at Sadu as he came in.
“He couldn’t find her!” Sadu said, sweat glistening on his face. “Now, the Americans have taken her away. This filthy little rat let them walk out with her and we’ve lost her! What am I to do?”
Pearl rose to her feet, her eyes opening wide.
“Tell me what happened?” she said to Jo-Jo who glared sullenly at her.
He explained how the Nurse had lied and how he had lost time searching the fifth floor of the hospital.
Sadu was horrified that Pearl was quite unmoved when Jo-Jo casually told her he had murdered the nurse.
“How was I to know she was lying?” Jo-Jo concluded. “The operation was badly planned.”
“Yes.” Pearl turned to Sadu. “You must tell Yet-Sen that the Americans had moved the woman before you arrived at the hospital. Tell him you are trying to locate her, and you will know where she has been taken by tomorrow morning, and you will then complete your mission.”
“But how do I find out where she has been taken?” Sadu shouted, wiping his sweating face.
“That I will see to. Tell Yet-Sen I have a contact who will know where she is and I have gone to talk to him.”
Sadu stared at her suspiciously.
“Who is this contact?”
“This is something you need not know about, cheri. You must leave this to me.” She waved towards the telephone. “Call Yet-Sen. Is your car outside?”
“Yes... where are you going?”
She went into the bedroom, then came out, struggling into a white plastic mac.
“Where are you going?” Sadu repeated angrily.
“Please telephone Yet-Sen. I won’t be long,” and she was gone.
To say Girland was startled when he saw Malik standing by the Citroen ambulance would be an understatement, but he quickly recovered his poise.
“Well! If it isn’t my old Comrade Malik,” he said. “I’ve had happy thoughts all this time I left you for dead months ago.”
Malik eyed him over, his flat green eyes glittering.
“I don’t die that easily,” he said. “Get in, and shut up!”
Girland shrugged, glanced at Kordak who was covering him with the automatic rifle, then climbed into the ambulance.
“You too,” Malik said to Ginny.
As she moved to the ambulance, Girland leaned forward, offering her his hand, but she ignored him, getting into the ambulance and refusing his help.
Smernoff got in the driving seat and Kordak beside him. Malik joined Girland in the back of the ambulance. As soon as the double doors had slammed shut, the ambulance took off, racing towards the Pont de Neuilly with its flasher in action and its horn honking its warning.
Girland made himself comfortable. He said to Malik, “Don’t tell me you walked out of that hell hole. I really thought I had seen the last of you.”