Strictly For Cash (26 page)

"What do you want?" Della demanded. "Can't you knock?"

Louis's fat face looked startled. "I thought Mr. Ricca was alone."

"Well, he isn't. What do you want?"

I went cold. I knew what he wanted. He had come to ask if I had managed to get the safe open.

"You talk to them," I said to him. "I'm clearing out. That fat boy's your new boss."

I shoved past him, jerked open the door as Della cried, "Wait!" But I didn't wait. In three or four seconds she would know I'd beaten her to the punch. I had to get out and get out fast.

I jumped into the elevator and rode to the ground floor. Moving fast, I crossed the lobby, pelted down the steps and vaulted into the waiting Buick.

I shot away from the casino steps and down the carriageway like a bat out of hell. Half-way down I lowered the windshield until it was lying flat. I crouched down in the seat. By the time I saw the gates ahead of me I was driving at sixty miles a hour.

The two guards were there. The green-eyed one had his gun in his hand. They had heard me coming, and probably she had phoned I was to be stopped, but I wasn't stopping.

Those gates looked big and impressive, but they had two weaknesses. They opened outwards and they were held shut only by a single bolt. Moving at this speed I didn't reckon they would hold me, and they didn't.

The guards jumped clear as I swept down on them. I held the steering-wheel as tightly as I could and lowered my head. The solid steel bumpers smashed into the gates, and they flew open. The car rocked and swerved, but I straightened it, shoving my foot down hard on the accelerator. I heard the bang of a gun, but I didn't care. I was through those gates and on to the highway. I went on feeding petrol into the cylinders: the speedometer needle flickered up to eighty. They would have to move to catch me!

A couple of miles down the road I came to the bends: the climbing switchback that led across the dunes to the Miami Highway. I had to cut speed, but that didn't worry me. They would take a few minutes to get after me, and they couldn't go faster on this road than I could.

Well, I had beaten her! I wanted to sing and yell. I had outsmarted her in spite of her smartness. I'd got the money and I was out, and before she could get things moving I'd be safely hidden in Cuba. I was riding higher than a kite!

After driving for fifty miles or so, I turned off the highway and got on to the secondary road. The Buick was an obvious car to spot, and I was less likely to be noticed on the secondary road than on the highway. Before long I would have to get petrol.

I was running low.

As I drove I remembered Ginny was staying with a girl friend in Miami, and I knew her telephone number. I decided I'd stop at the next filling-station and call her. I'd get her to charter a plane this night, and if I could persuade her to go with me to Cuba, and I thought I could. I'd be sitting on top of the world!

About a couple of miles farther on I spotted a filling-station and I pulled in.

An old guy with a goatee beard came waddling out of the shabby little office.

"Fill her up," I said. "Have you a phone here?"

"Right in there, mister."

I suddenly remembered I had only three one-hundred-dollar bills on me. I bent down and flicked them out of my shoe.

"I got nothing smaller than a C. Can you give me change?"

"Sure. You go right ahead and phone. I'll get you change."

The phone was on a battered desk by an open window. I called Ginny's number. The light was fading now. It was getting on for nine. I could see the old guy pumping petrol into the Buick. On the desk was a packet of Camel's. I took one and lit up.

"Hello," a girl said over the line. It wasn't Ginny.

"Miss Laverick there?"

"No, she's out, but I'm expecting her any minute now."

I cursed silently.

"Okay. I'll call back in five minutes."

I hung up and went outside to see how the old guy was getting on. He was screwing on the cap. "She's full, mister."

"Get me the change will you? I want to phone again in five minutes."

He got me the change and sold me a packet of cigarettes. I hung around and wasted eleven minutes before I finally got Ginny. By then I was getting a little uneasy. A fast car can cover a lot of miles in eleven minutes. I wasn't kidding myself they wouldn't be after me by now.

"Why, Johnny, darling!"

"Now, listen, kid. I've a surprise for you. I've got that job. Yep. I heard only just now. And I've another surprise for you. I'm on my way to you now."

"Why, Johnny, does that mean ... ?"

"Yeah, it means just that, but hold everything and listen. I'm to start work in Havana tomorrow. I want you to call the airport and charter a plane to Havana to be ready to take off in four hours. I want to know if you'll come with me."

"Charter a plane? It'll cost a fortune."

"Never mind the money. I've got all the money in the world. Will you come with me, Ginny?"

"Tonight?" Her voice rose. "But I should have to pack and ..."

"It's tough, but if you can't make it I'll have to go alone ..."

"Not another word, Johnny. I'll make it I"

That's the kind of girl she was.

"As soon as we arrive, we'll be married, Ginny. Hold everything. I'm on my way!"

I slammed down the receiver and ran out.

The old guy was standing with his back to the petrol pump, his hands in the air and his goatee trembling. I pulled up short and spun around, my heart skipping a beat.

Della was standing in the shadows, by the window, a gun in her hand, the awful little smile flickering around her lips.

"Hello, Johnny" she said.

I knew if I made the slightest move she'd drill me. There was a look in her eyes that turned me cold.

"Get in the car, Johnny; you and I are going for a ride." And I knew if I even hesitated she'd shoot. I walked over to the Buick and got in under the driving-wheel. She opened the rear door and got in behind me.

"Miami, Johnny," she said, "and snap it up!"

I trod on the starter, shifted into second and pulled away from the row of petrol pumps. The old guy still stood as stiff as a statue, his hands in the air. She had scared the guts out of him.

We drove for about a mile in silence, then she said, "Where's the money?"

I could see her in the driving mirror, the gun was pointing at the back of my head. Her face in the moonlight was as white as a fresh fall of snow, and her eyes scared me.

"Where you'll never find it," I said.

"We'll find it. Benno and Pepi are waiting for you in Miami. They'll make you talk, Johnny, and then they'll kill you, and you'll be glad to die."

I kept driving. There wasn't anything I could do about it yet, but I was working on it.

"So you thought you'd marry her," she went on, the words spilling out of her mouth in a vicious rush. "That's a laugh! She's in this, too. We'll pick up Pepi and Benno, and then we'll all go down to the airport and pick her up. You'll talk fast enough when you see those two working on her. I'll make her suffer! Don't think she'll escape. She's in this as much as you!"

That settled it. Only she had heard my conversation over the phone. Only she knew I had arranged to meet Ginny at the airport. It was as simple as that. Ginny wasn't going to fall into Pepi's hands. I had still the last word. The road was straight: on either side were mangrove thickets. It was as simple as that.

"Well, so long, Ginny," I thought. "This is the way out. This is the only way out," and I got a picture of her in my mind with her copper-coloured hair and her big, serious eyes and her lovely mouth as I pulled down hard on the wheel.

As I swung the car off the road, I shoved the accelerator to the boards. I felt the car leap forward. I didn't look where we were heading. My eyes were fixed on the driving rnirror. I could see Della's face.

"Go ahead and shoot me," I thought. "If this is my end, it's your end too. You're not going to get your dirty claws on Ginny."

Then we hit a tree, bounced off it, shot into the undergrowth and smashed into another tree. I held on to the steering-wheel for dear life. Della had disappeared. I felt the car turning over. "This is it," I thought, and I wasn't scared. I was thinking of Ginny as the car turned over, and I was still thinking of her when something crashed down on my head.

CURTAINS

I got my eyes open with an effort, and stared into the fat, blue-chinned face of Benno. Instinctively, I tried to throw a punch at him, but my arm didn't respond.

Snarling, he slammed me across the mouth with the back of his hand, and I flopped back on the bed, scarcely conscious.

Dimly I heard a fat voice say, "Don't hit him like that, you fool! I want him to talk!"

"He'll talk!" Benno said viciously, and hauled me upright again. "Come on! Take notice or I'll yank your goddamn ears off!"

I opened my eyes again and looked around. I was lying bound hand and foot, on my bed in the bedroom of my apartment on Franklin Boulevard. Benno was sitting on the bed, and Ricca stood at the foot of the bed.

For a long moment I was confused and bewildered, then I remembered Ginny. Was she still in the apartment? Had I imagined she had been there? I remembered her coming to the door and the terror on her face.

"What have you done with her?" I croaked.

Ricca smiled.

"She's in the other room. You played your hand pretty badly. I wanted her as well as you, and you led me right to her."

I strained at the cord that bound my hands, but it didn't give.

"Better bring her in here," Ricca said to Benno. "It's time we started."

Benno patted my face with a hand that smelt of lavender water.

"You and me are going to have fun before long," he said.

He went into the other room.

Ricca continued to smile and puff breath at me. His snake's eyes were vicious.

Benno came back, dragging Ginny with him. She was gagged, and her wrists were tied behind her. There was a rip in her skirt, and she had pushed a knee through one stocking. She looked as if she had had a bad time. She stared wildly at me, horror in her eyes.

"Ginny!" I cried, struggling upright. "What have they done to you?"

"We haven't done much to her yet," Ricca said, "but we will unless you are ready to talk."

"Turn her loose and I'll talk," I said wildly. Just to see her in the hands of a rat like Benno drove me frantic. "But she's got to go free! She isn't in this. She's got to go free."

Ricca pulled up a chair and lowered his bulk on to it.

"You had your chance when I made my first offer," he said. "It's out of my hands now. Petelli's claiming you. All I want is the money, then I turn you over to him." He pulled at his thick lower lip. "Unfortunately she'll have to be turned over to him, too."

"That won't get you anywhere," I said. "Either she goes free or the money stays where it is, and it's where you'll never get your claws on it."

"Don't be too sure about that. I have an idea I can persuade you to talk."

"You heard what I said! Let her free or you don't get the money!" '

Ricca lifted his fat shoulders.

"It's out of my hands. She knows too much. Benno's going to knock you off. She'll have to go, too."

I turned ice-cold. I had only to look at him to see he wasn't bluffing.

"She'll give you her word not to talk," I said. "I don't give a damn what happens to me, but you've got to let her go!"

"I happen to hold all the cards in this deal," Ricca said.

"Ask yourself which would be better for her: a bullet through the head or to be worked over until you decide to talk. You'll see Benno at work. Better save her from that. What do you say – a quick bullet or Benno?"

Benno put his hand on the front of Ginny's frock and ripped it down to her waist.

I was licked and I knew it. Ginny would be better off dead than tortured by Benno.

Without looking at her, I said, "Yes. Don't let him touch her. I'll talk."

Ricca rubbed his hands.

"I thought somehow you would. Where's the money?"

"The Miami Safe Deposit."

I could see by the momentary blank expression in his eyes he hadn't expected this.

"I see. Very sensible of you."

Then suddenly I remembered the .22 I had left in the suitcase. I felt a hot surge of triumph run through me. With that gun I could fix him and turn the tables on Benno.

"You will write them a letter ..." he began, but stopped as I shook my head.

"Do you imagine I'm all that of a dope? I and no one else can get the money. I left instructions I was the only one to enter the strong room."

Ricca stared down at his feet. Then he glanced up and waved his hand at Benno.

"Take her away," he said. "Why doesn't Pepi come?"

"He doesn't know we're here," Benno said. "How many more times do I have to tell you ?"

"Try to find him. We want him."

"Forget him! He might be anywhere. Can't you swing this yourself?"

"Take her away."

Benno shoved Ginny out of the room. As he reached the door he put his knee in her back and shot her forward. I heard her fall on the floor.

"If ever I get my hands on you ..." I said, straining at the rope that held my wrists.

Ricca smiled.

"It's your own fault. How can you expect an animal like Benno to treat a girl decently ?"