I came up with the most banal sentence in the world. ‘I’m sorry, Sean.’
He smiled and slapped me on the shoulder. ‘Never mind that now, Stacey boy. What’s to be done, that’s the thing.’
I told him about Joanna Truscott’s offer. ‘I don’t know what she has in mind, but nobody would lose by it, and I’d like to put one over on Hoffer.’
‘So would I,’ he said with some passion. ‘I’ll put it to Piet and Legrande.’
They tood together in a huddle, talking, and I realised again how tired Legrande looked as they moved to join me. ‘That’s it then,’ Burke said. ‘We’ve got half our money in advance anyway. Now we’ll see if we can make the bastard sweat a little.’
He seemed to swallow suddenly and stopped dead so that, for a moment, I thought he was having another attack, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
‘My God,’ he said. ‘We’re all forgetting something- something absolutely bloody perfect. Hoffer will be waiting with our transport on the Bellona road from noon on.’
‘You think we could give him a nasty surprise?’
He smiled slightly, that smile of his that was not really a smile at all, looking completely his old self again, a thoroughly dangerous man.
‘We can have a damn good try, but we’re wasting time talking. We’d better join up with the others as quickly as we can and sort out some sort of plan.’
We moved out fast in single file with me in the lead. I felt full of energy, strong enough to take on anything, a weight lifted from my body and brain. As for Burke, however unfortunate his condition, there was relief in it for me as an explanation of the inexplicable change in conduct I had found in him.
I paused on the edge of the clearing, perhaps thirty yards away from the hut. Our approach had obviously been noted and there was no one in sight. I waited for the others to join me and told Burke I would go down alone to pave the way. The brothers Vivaldi and Joe Ricco had looked capable of anything and I didn’t want any unfortunate misunderstandings at this stage.
I called out to Serafino as I ploughed down the slope through the undergrowth, hands above my head. When I was half-way across the clearing, the door opened and he peered out cautiously, holding my assault rifle ready.
‘It’s all right,’ I said. ‘Everything is fine.’
Joanna Truscott appeared at his shoulder, her face uncertain. ‘You’ve managed to persuade them?’
‘Better than that. Hoffer’s going to show up himself this afternoon on the Bellona road to pick us up. Could be he’ll get one hell of a surprise.’
I’d spoken in Italian and Serafino’s face lit up. ‘Heh, I like that. I could cut the bastard’s throat personally. Okay, Stacey Wyatt, call your friends down.’
He whistled sharply and the Vivaldi brothers and Joe Ricco appeared from different places on the edge of the clearing. Serafmo grinned apologetically. ‘I never like to take chances.’
I waved Burke and the other two down and the girl moved to my side. ‘You’re certain my stepfather will be there himself?’
‘That’s what the man said.’ Burke was half-way down to the clearing now, the others just behind him and I grinned and gave Joanna Truscott a little push towards him. ‘Well, here she is, Sean. The purpose of the exercise.’
And in a single, terrible moment I recognised the ex-pression on his face, had seen it too many times before, but by then it was too late. The rifle snapped to his shoulder and he shot her through the head.
THIRTEEN
I owe my life to Jules Legrande, who shot me down in the same second that Burke killed the girl.
The A.K. assault rifle packs one and a half tons of muzzle energy when it goes off and the bullet it fires was designed by the Chinese not only to stop a charg-ing Marine, but to lift him off his feet and deposit him a yard to the rear. Which meant that I was flat on my back when Piet Jaeger opened up with his Uzi sub machine gun.