Free Bloody Passage (v5) by Jack Higgins Page A

inside, you could have been in London, Paris or Las Vegas. The decor and design of such places is the same the world over along with the steaks straight from the freezer and the packaged food. There was a casino which seemed to be doing good business and up on the stage a trio played modern jazz brilliantly although nobody seemed to be paying much attention.
    We settled ourselves at the bar and had a drink. Barzini glanced at his watch. "Not long now, then you'll see what I mean."
    A few moments later there was a drum roll and a compere came on stage to announce the commencement of the floor show. The effect was remarkable. The casino emptied of all but the most hardened gamblers and there was a general rush for seats.
    A larger orchestra now took their places on the stand and someone checked the mike. A moment later the compere ran on to a drum roll and announced in four languages that the Club Tabu was proud and happy to present, straight from her sensational run at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, Miss Angel Carter.
    He ran for the wings, the lights went out completely. A single spot picked her out of the darkness, one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever clapped eyes on, long blonde hair hanging straight to the shoulders, a simple green silk mini dress with pleated skirt, black stockings, gold shoes with enormously high heels.
    When she started to sing, you'd have thought it was Judy Garland come down to earth again. The same emotion deep in the throat, the same way of breaking a note in two so that it sent something crawling up your spine.
    She started to work her way through all the old standards. A Foggy Day, September Song, The Lady is a Tramp, and had them eating out of her hand, especially the men when she moved out along the boardwalk above the heads of the audience.
    I said to Barzini, "Listen, she's fantastic, but what in the hell am I supposed to do with her except the obvious thing? She wouldn't last five minutes on the kind of caper we're contemplating."
    "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that," he said. "She has certain unusual qualities. Anyway, I'd like you to meet her, so we'd better get round to the back now. She only has one more number to do."
    We pushed our way through the crowd to one side and negotiated the stage door with no difficulty as Barzini was obviously known. Angel Carter's name was on the door of a dressing room in a corridor at the rear and we walked outside. She was still singing up there on the stage, presumably an encore. When she finished, the audience stamped and cheered again, but this time it didn't do them any good. The band broke into a fast quickstep and a moment later she came down the steps.
    As she reached the bottom, an astonishing thing happened. Two men in evening dress who had been standing there talking in low tones suddenly grabbed her.
    The larger one, a thoroughly nasty-looking specimen, said in Italian, "Okay, baby, you're coming out with us tonight."
    "Definitely!" the other one said and ran a hand up her skirt.
    They were both obviously pretty drunk. I took a step forward and Barzini pulled me back. Angel Carter pulled free and delivered a high karate kick to the big man's jaw and the effect of that stiletto heel was devastating. At the same time, she put a knee into the other man's gut and gave it him again in the face as he keeled over.
    Such was the vigor of the movement that her blond wig came off and all was revealed, for underneath was a very old-fashioned GI haircut. Angel Carter was a man.
    He stamped down the corridor, clutching the blond wig and cursing fluently in very explicit Anglo-Saxon.
    "Good evening, Angelo," Barzini said.
    Carter stopped dead and glared at him, "And what in the hell's good about it? I'm sick of getting touched up by drunken bums every night. I quit. If you've got anything better to offer, come in. If you haven't, get lost."
    He walked into the dressing room, skirt swirling, and slammed the door.
    Barzini grinned. "Like I said, a very