Blackie remained slumped behind the steering wheel, but his mind alerted. This was the kind of money he was hoping to lay his hands on.
“I could get you out for half that sum, Mr. Jaffe,” he said, “if this wasn’t a capital charge, but unfortunately it is. I’m afraid it would cost a lot more than that.”
“How much more?” Jaffe asked who expected to haggle with Blackie.
“Twenty thousand would be closer to the mark.”
“I haven’t got it, but maybe I could borrow a little more from a friend. Twelve thousand would be the best I could manage.”
“For me, twelve thousand would be satisfactory, but I would have to ask my brother to help and he would have to be considered.”
“That’s up to you. You must make your own arrangements with him.”
Blackie shook his head sadly.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Jaffe. For twelve thousand I would be prepared to risk my business, but not for less. My brother would want five thousand. Without him, it would be impossible to get you out of the country.”
“But with him, you could?”
Blackie hedged.
“It is something I would have to think about and discuss with my brother.”
Jaffe pretended to think for some moments, then he said, “I will pay your brother four thousand: a total of sixteen thousand and that’s final.”
“Seventeen thousand,” Blackie said, sure now that he would get it and wondering how much Charlie, his brother, would take.
Jaffe was deliberately bargaining for the next move in the haggle.
“Well, okay,” He said, with a gesture of defeat. “Seventeen thousand, but Nhan comes with me for free.”
This surprised Blackie.
“You want the girl?”
“Yeah. Is it a deal?”
Blackie hesitated.
“She could complicate things, Mr. Jaffe.”
“Is it a deal?”
Blackie shrugged.
“It’s a deal, but I can’t promise anything. For seventeen thousand American dollars I will do my best for you, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
“You won’t get the money until I reach Hong Kong,” Jaffe pointed out. “I haven’t got it here. So if you don’t get me out, you won’t get the money.”
Blackie had expected that.
“There will be some preliminary expenses. I shall need some money now. Frankly, I don’t intend to advance any money myself for such a risky proposition. Unless you can supply me with a thousand American dollars immediately to take care of incidental expenses and my brother’s air passage, then I very much regret I can’t consider helping you.”
“But if I gave you this sum,” Jaffe pointed out, “And you can’t find a way to get me out, I will be the loser.”
“That is to be regretted,” Blackie said, “but we should be realistic. If we can’t get you out, you won’t need the money -you won’t ever need any money. Have you thought of that?”
Jaffe moved uneasily. He had thought of that.
“I haven’t got a thousand American dollars, but I have got a couple of diamonds here. I bought them in Hong Kong some years ago. I was going to have them made up as a ring for a girl I once knew. They are worth at least a thousand.”
Blackie looked surprised.
“I would prefer cash.”
Jaffe took out the screw of paper and handed it to Blackie. “I haven’t got cash. You can sell these anywhere.”
Blackie turned on the dashboard light and leaning forward, he carefully undid the paper and examined the diamonds. He didn’t know a great deal about precious stones, but he could see these were good diamonds: whether or not they would be worth a thousand American dollars, only Charlie could tell him.
This was a tense moment for Jaffe. He could tell nothing from Blackie’s bland, fat face. Had he believed the story about the diamonds? He seemed to have. Was he going to accept them?
Blackie looked up.
“Very well, Mr. Jaffe. I will return now and I will send a cable to my brother. Nothing can be done until I have talked to him.”
“How long will that take?”
“I suggest we meet here at this time on Wednesday. By then I shall know if we can help you or not.”
“I’ll be here.”
Jaffe got out of the car.
“I’m relying on you,” he said and extended his hand through the open window.
“I will do my best,” Blackie said and shook hands.
He watched Jaffe disappear into the darkness, then he again leaned forward to the light to examine the diamonds, a thoughtful expression clouding his face.
2
During the past twelve hours there had been ceaseless activity in the search for the missing Jaffe.
While Jaffe was cycling to his rendezvous with Blackie Lee, a meeting was breaking up at Security Police Headquarters. Colonel On-dinh-Khuc and Inspector Ngoc-Linh sat on one side of the table and Lieutenant Harry Hambley of the U.S. Military Police on the other.
The meeting had lasted an hour and the three men were no nearer to finding Jaffe than they had been when they had sat down.
In a long, wordy speech, the Colonel had explained what steps had been taken to find the missing American. Over five hundred troops were still combing the countryside. Six suspected Viet Minh sympathizers had been arrested and questioned, but without results. Notices had been printed offering a substantial reward for the return of the American. These had been nailed to trees at the known places where bandits often entered Vietnam. An offer of a large reward to anyone who had any kind of information concerning the kidnapping would appear in the press tomorrow.
Lieutenant Hambley had listened with undisguised impatience. This young man caused the Colonel slight uneasiness. He was a little disconcerted that the Lieutenant returned his stare with one as hard and as unflinching as his own.
Finally, the Colonel paused and Hambley took the opportunity to make a speech which disconcerted the Colonel still further.
“We don’t know for certain,” Hambley said, “that Jaffe has been kidnapped. It seems to me there is something mysterious and sinister going on. I’ll tell you why. We know Jaffe told Sam Wade he wanted to borrow his car to go to the airport with a girl, but the car was found miles from the airport and there was no girl, instead there was Jaffe’s house-boy, and he was dead. Jaffe had a.45 revolver. It’s missing; so is his passport. Before he disappeared, he drew all his money from the bank. Why did he do that? I wanted to talk to Haum’s girl-friend, but as soon as your people had talked to her, she gets killed by a mysterious hit-and-run driver. I wanted to talk to Dong Ham, the cook, but he’s completely disappeared. See what I mean? It’s all mysterious and sinister.”
The Colonel pushed back his chair. He said all these points raised by the Lieutenant would have his attention. Further inquiries would be made. A report would be submitted. The American Ambassador could rest
