He grinned down at Faith and savoured the renewed silence at the other end of the line.
'You're a bit of a dark horse, aren't you, David!' Stocker took his punishment like a man in the end. 'But no one can grumble if you deliver the goods, I suppose. I take it you'll need some help to conjure up the treasure?'
'I can lay that on–I take it I've still special priority?'
Stocker reassured him with a better grace than he expected. It could be that he'd made another important enemy in the last five dummy4
minutes. But the hell with it–he'd been kicked around enough.
He put down the receiver and turned to Faith.
''Sock it to 'em',' she murmured. 'You certainly socked it to him, whoever he was! Was that the effect of a good night's sleep–or me?'
He swung his bare legs out of bed.
'Come on, now,' persisted Faith. 'One minute you were on the ropes, and the next minute you were beating the daylights out of him! And–my God–you talked as though you could just about put your finger on my father's loot! Do you really know where it is?'
'My dear Faith, I haven't the faintest notion where it is, and I don't know where to begin to look. But I do know one thing now, and that is that I've been humbugged.'
'Humbugged?'
Audley pulled on his trousers and sat on the unoccupied bed.
'There are a lot of things I've missed because I've been too busy hunting your father's treasure and sleeping with his daughter. Now I think I was meant to miss them.'
'Such as?'
'Such as how we learnt so quickly that Panin was still interested in your father.'
'Couldn't that be just a piece of luck?'
'We've never been lucky before with Panin. Every bit of information on him has been out of date by the time it reached us.
But ever since your father's Dakota turned up we've been fed with information about him.'
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'Maybe someone was efficient.'
'That's just it! But it's Panin who is the efficient one.'
'So what does that prove, David? I'm sorry to be a devil's advocate, but Panin wants his treasure and he doesn't trust you. You've known that all along.'
'All along I've been stupid–I know
'But the treasure does exist?'
'I'm damn certain it exists–that's the one thing we have established.
And I'm sure Panin knows it, too. But I don't think it really matters to him any more. What matters is that I should be kept busy looking, with the minimum chance of success.'
'But, David, for heaven's sake–why?'
Audley recalled Jake Shapiro's reference to 'that goddamned Byzantine set-up', and shook his head sadly.
'That's where I'm stuck. It could be so many things. If it wasn't for what happened to Morrison–and what happened to us–I'd think the whole thing was a cover for something quite different. But all I know is that it doesn't smell right.'
'Well, what are you going to do? You practically promised to find the treasure!'
dummy4
Audley brightened. If there was no comfort in the long-term prospects, there was short-term enjoyment to DC had from mischief-making.
He rubbed his hands. 'Everyone's been pushing me about. Now I'm going to do the pushing. And the only way I can think of doing that is—'
'Is to make them think you're just about to do the impossible.'
Faith sat up sharply in bed.
'Just so. And I'd like to see Panin's face when poor old Stocker gives him the good news at London Airport. If I'm right he'll be down here like lightning.'
'But what will that achieve, David?'
'I shall enjoy it, for one thing. And it may baffle Panin somewhat.
He's not infallible, after all. In fact he's already lost us for a whole day, thanks to the incompetence of his agents–he doesn't know what we've been up to, and that may put him off a bit. Come to that, it may be the reason why he's arriving today instead of tomorrow.'
'So that was what the phone call was about! We're staying here to meet him?'
