Free 1978 - Consider Yourself Dead by James Hadley Chase Page A

quietly. ‘He can get himself torn to pieces by four Doberman Pinschers. If the I dogs don’t get him, I will.’
    Goble put a surprised look on his face.
    ‘Dogs, huh? Still, dogs can be taken care of.’ He looked reflective. ‘Twenty million bucks! That’s real bread!’
    Twenty million! Frost thought. Yes, Grandi would pay that to get his daughter back.
    ‘Anyway, Mike, I told this guy to forget it,’ Goble went on. ‘I once had the same idea, and I cased the joint . . . no way. This wop fink has really taken care of it.’
    ‘You can say that again.’
    ‘Yeah.’ Goble sipped his drink. ‘Since then I’ve thought about it. There’s no problem that can’t be solved. Twenty million! Bread like that gives me daydreams. Just suppose four smart operators really got together. Suppose they did snatch this babe. That’d be five million each.’
    Five million! Frost thought. That kind of money would set him up for life! He kept his expression deadpan as he said, ‘You just said there was no way.’
    ‘I thought that a couple of months ago,’ Goble said. ‘I keep thinking. It doesn’t hurt me to think.’ He looked at Frost, then said, ‘The Trojan horse.’
    Frost frowned.
    ‘What the hell does that mean?’
    ‘My old man was a nut about Greek history.’ Goble said. ‘He bent my ears with all this gaff about the Greeks. There was a fink called Ulysses. The Greeks were besieging the Trojans and getting nowhere. This fink made a big wooden horse and he put soldiers in it and he kidded the Trojans they would be sitting pretty if the horse was put in the city. The jerks fell for it. The soldiers spilled out at night and opened the gates and the Trojans got skewered. To snatch this babe I’d want a Trojan horse . . . an inside man: maybe one of the staff. They have ten people keeping that joint running. Maybe one of them could be got at.’ He shrugged. ‘I think. It’s my job. Could be I also need my head examined.’
    Frost stared at him. Was he being propositioned? Five million! He had come to Paradise City to make money, but to date, he had only landed a job for six hundred a week . . . chick-feed! Goble had said, ‘Maybe one of the staff could be got at.’ That was a direct hint. Frost, looking at the fat man, was now sure he was being propositioned. This was something he needed to think about. Play hard to get, he told himself, as he got to his feet.
    ‘Yeah . . . get your head examined,’ he said curtly, and walked out, leaving his drink untouched.
    Goble finished his drink, then reached for the drink Frost had left. Silk came silently into the room, closed the door and sat at the table. He had been listening to the conversation that had been relayed to him by a hidden microphone.
    ‘Nice work, Mitch,’ he said. ‘You handled it just right.’
    Goble nodded.
    ‘So what now?’
    ‘We’ll give him time to think. He’s a real fast worker. Hot pants gave him the ring - unless he stole it, but I don’t dig that. Amando was away for the night. She wouldn’t miss out on an opportunity like that. My guess is he screwed her, told her he was in the hole for four thousand, and to keep him, she gave him the ring.’ Silk rubbed his bony hands together. ‘It’s moving our way, Mitch. We wait.’
    Goble stared thoughtfully at Silk.
    ‘Don’t take this guy for a sucker, Lu. I’ve a feeling he could be tricky.’
    Silk allowed a wintry smile to crease his face.
    ‘I can be tricky too,’ he said.
     
    * * *
     
    Five million dollars!
    Frost had driven away from the restaurant and down to the beach. He had found himself an isolated spot under the shade of a palm tree, and had sat down on the sand to think.
    The photo swam slowly into focus. The setup had begun with his chance meeting with Marcia - Silk’s niece.
    Probably, she had been told to look out for a likely stooge.
    Probably, Silk had got inside information that the second guard wouldn’t last long, so he had planned ahead. Maybe, Joe