Grinning, the negro came forward, the two wolf-hounds at his heels.
'Come on, bud,' he said.
Chapter IX
THE DEAL
Soon after nine o'clock, Felix pushed open Lorelli's bedroom door and entered the small, blue and grey decorated room.
But for the fact the room had no windows and was artificially lighted, no one would have guessed it was thirty feet below ground.
Lorelli had slept late, and was now sitting before her dressing table, brushing her hair. She wore a pale-green silk wrap and her
small, well-shaped feet were in feathered mules. She swung around as Felix came in.
'What's been happening?' she asked, and he was quick to note the anxious note in her voice.
'Plenty,' he said and pulling up a chair he sat astride it, resting his arms on its back. 'This American we've caught turns out to be Don Micklem. In case you've never heard of him, he's worth two million pounds sterling - not dollars. The old man's pretty pleased we've got him and he's putting the bite on him for half a million dollars.'
Lorelli put her hairbrush on the dressing table.
'Is that something to get excited about?' she asked. 'If he's worth all that money, why stop at a mere five hundred thousand dollars?'
'This is only the first instalment. It wouldn't be possible to get a bigger sum out of him without currency trouble.
Micklem imagines he is going to go free when he pays up. Between you and me, he isn't going to leave here until there's no more two million, and when he does leave, he'll go feet first with a wreath in his hands.'
Lorelli flinched. She got up and walked over to the clothes closet. Slipping off her wrap, she took from the closet a black silk frock. She made a ring of the frock and slid it over her head.
Felix eyed her compact, beautifully proportioned body.
'Doesn't Micklem guess?' Lorelli asked as she smoothed the dress over her hips. She moved back to the dressing table and opening a drawer crammed with costume jewellery, she picked out a string of black and red wooden beads.
'That's what foxes me,' Felix said. 'From the look of the guy, he should be full of fight, but he isn't. Maybe the old man has thrown a scare into him. He is doing exactly what he has been told to do. He's written a letter to his New York bank, authorizing them to pay the money into his bank in Rome. The old man thought he would kick, but he hasn't. You have the job of delivering the letter to Micklem's secretary. She has to take it to New York.'
Lorelli stiffened.
'I have to take it?'
'Yes,' Felix said, looking at her. 'There's nothing to it...'
'Why can't you take it, or Willie or Carlos?' Lorelli said, her voice rising.
'Don't ask me,' Felix said sharply. 'The old man said you were to take it.'
'Why do I always get picked on for the dirty jobs?'
'What's dirty about this one?'
'Suppose they hand me over to the police? Look what happened in London. I was nearly caught.'
'Oh, skip it!' Felix said impatiently. 'This is dead easy. The police won't be there, and Micklem's staff won't dare touch you so long as we have him where we want him.'
'I don't want to do it, Felix,' she said. 'I don't see why I should do it. I want to keep out of it.'
'You don't know it, Lorelli,' he said, looking at her intently, 'but you are in trouble. This is the wrong time to say what you will or what you won't do. You're to take the letter to the Trioni villa in an hour from now. That's an order.'
Lorelli turned white.
'What do you mean - trouble?'
'Alsconi isn't as sure of you as he was. He says in an emergency you have a habit of losing your nerve. I told him you'd be all right and I'd be responsible for you. He wasn't convinced. He's sending you with the letter to test your nerve.'
Lorelli-sat down abruptly on the edge of the bed.
'There's nothing to the job,' Felix went on quietly. 'As a test it's nothing. You've got to pull yourself together. Alsconi is watching you. You don't want me to tell you what that means.'
She didn't say anything.
'Here's the letter,' Felix said. He took an envelope from his wallet and put it on the dressing table. 'You know where the Trioni villa is ?'
'Yes,' Lorelli said.
'When you get there ask for Marian Rigby. Tell her Micklem is safe and well, and he is no longer in Siena. She is to fly to New York on the first available plane, and she is to deliver the letter to Micklem's bank. If there is a query as to why Micklem wants such a sum, she is to say he is going to build a villa out here. Tell her that if she tells the
