'I didn't stop to count -- but from first to last I must have seen twenty-five. Some of those I might have bumped into more than once, of course, but I'd say that's a fair reckoning.' I stretched my hand and laid it against the coolness of the water jug. 'I can make a fair guess at what they'll do next.'
'And what's your guess?'
'Isn't it obvious? They're going to hi-jack us. Gatt wants the stuff we've brought up from the cenote and any other trinkets we may have found. It's still here, isn't it?'
Fallon nodded. 'I should have sent it out before.' He stood up and looked out of the window. 'What puzzles me is how you -- and Gatt -- can be certain of this.'
I was too tired to yell at him but I made an effort. 'Damn it, I've been bringing the stuff out of the water, haven't I?'
He turned. 'But Gatt doesn't know that. How can he know, unless someone told him? We haven't broadcast it.'
I thought about that, then said softly, 'I was in the forest for nearly a week after the sabotage and Gatt still hasn't made a move. He's out there and he's ready, so what's holding him up?'
'Uncertainty, perhaps,' suggested Fallon. 'He can't really know that we've found anything valuable -- valuable to him, that is.'
'True. But all he has to do is to walk in here and find a million and a half dollars that's here for the taking.'
'More than that,' said Fallon. 'Paul made a big find in the Temple of Yum Chac. He wasn't supposed to start excavating, but he did, and he stumbled across a cache of temple implements. They're priceless, Jemmy; nothing like this has been found before.'
'Nothing is priceless to Gatt,' I said. 'What would it be worth to him?'
'As a museum collection you couldn't put a price on it. But if Gatt split it up and sold the pieces separately, then maybe he could pick up another million and a half.'
I looked at Fallon sourly. 'And you had the nerve to tell me there wouldn't be any gold in Uaxuanoc. We know Gatt can recognize the value, and we know he can dispose of it through Gerryson. So what do we do! Just hand it to him when he comes calling with his goons?'
'In all fairness I think we'd better talk it over with the others,' said Fallon. 'Do you feel up to it?'
'I'm all right,' I said, and swung my legs out of bed.
It was a gloomy and depressing conference, I told my story and, after a few minutes of unbelieving incomprehension, I managed to ram it down their throats that we were in trouble. Fallon didn't need convincing, of course, but Paul Halstead was as contrary a bastard as ever. 'This whole thing sounds very unlikely,' he said in his damned superior way.
I bristled. 'Are you calling me a liar?'
Fallon put his hand on my arm warningly. Halstead said, 'No, but I think you're exaggerating -- and using your imagination.'
I said, Take a walk out into the forest. If you run into a bullet it won't harm you if it's imaginary.'
'I certainly think you could have done more to help poor Rider,' he said.
I leaned over the table to grab him but he pulled back sharply. 'That's enough!' barked Fallon. 'Paul, if you haven't anything constructive to say, keep your mouth shut.'
Katherine Halstead unexpectedly attacked her husband for the first time. 'Yes -- shut up, Paul,' she said curtly. 'You make me sick.' He looked at her in bewildered astonishment. 'You're not taking Wheale's side again?' he said in a hurt voice.
There are no sides -- there never have been,' she said in an icy voice. 'If anyone uses his imagination, it's not Jemmy.' She looked across at me. 'I'm sorry, Jemmy.'
I won't have you apologizing for me,' he blazed.
'I'm not,' she said in a voice that would cut a diamond. 'I'm apologizing to Jemmy on my own behalf -- for not listening to him earlier. Now just shut up as Professor Fallon says.'
Halstead was so surprised at this attack from an unexpected quarter that he remained silent and somewhat thoughtful. I looked across at Rudetsky. 'What do you think?'
'I believe you,' he said. 'We had some trouble with those goddamn chicleros back at Camp One. They're a murderous lot of bastards, and I'm not surprised they took a shot at you.' He squared his big shoulders and addressed himself to Fallon. 'But this guy, Gatt, is something else again. We didn't know about him.'
'It wasn't necessary for you to know,' said Fallon colourlessly, Rudetsky's face took on a stubbornness. 'I reckon it was, Mr. Fallon. If Gatt has organized the chicleros it means big trouble. Getting shot at wasn't in the contract. I don't like it -- and neither do Smitty and Fowler here.' The other two men nodded seriously.
I said, 'What are you trying to do, Rudetsky? Start a trade union? It's a bit late for that, Whether or not Mr. Fallon misled you is beside the point. In any case I don't think he did it deliberately. The point at issue now is what do we do about Gatt?' .
Fallon said wearily, There's only one thing we can do. Let him have what he wants.'
Smith and Fowler nodded vigorously, and Rudetsky said, That's what I mink too.' Katherine Halstead's lips tightened, while Halstead twisted his head and looked about the table with watchful eyes.
'Is that a fact?' I said. 'We just give Gatt three million dollars, pat him on the head and hope hell go away. A fat chance of that happening.'
Rudetsky leaned forward. 'What do you mean by that?'
