1978 - Consider Yourself Dead

by James Hadley Chase

  The Trojan horse!

  Silk had been smart enough to know there was no way of snatching Gina without an inside man, so he had picked on him.

  Frost dug his fingers into the hot sand while he thought.

  Five million dollars! Suppose he played along? Suppose Silk had a safe, working plan? Frost’s eyes narrowed as he thought. Goble had talked of a fourth man - Umney? A four way split - five million dollars each. What he couldn’t do with bread like that! Frost’s thinking switched to Marvin. Suppose Gina was snatched? Would Grandi scream for the cops? Thinking about this, Frost decided he wouldn’t. He would pay up, but Marvin, shrewd ex-cop as he was, would know there had to be an inside man, and he would point a finger at Frost.

  It was one thing to snatch the girl, but something else besides, to get the ransom. When the ransom was paid and Gina returned, the heat would be on. Frost grimaced.

  He would be suspect number one. Silk must know this.

  Frost let sand trickle through his fingers.

  He wouldn’t be Silk’s stooge. If he was caught, he certainly wouldn’t let Silk go free to spend the ransom. He would talk his head off, and Silk must know this.

  Frost rubbed his hand over his sweating face. If he decided to act as the inside man, the snatch wouldn’t be too difficult, but collecting and spending the ransom seemed to him, to be impossible.

  He thought some more, but couldn’t find a solution.

  He felt sure that Silk wouldn’t stick his neck out unless he had a foolproof plan. What was it?

  For the next half hour, Frost sat staring at the glittering sea, his mind busy. Then, with a sudden nod of his head, he made his decision. He would pretend to play along with Silk, listen to Silk’s plan, examine it, then opt out or opt in, depending how convincing Silk was.

  As he got to his feet, he looked at his watch. The time was 15.15. He had five hours to kill before returning to the Grandi residence. He wondered if he should return to the Ace of Spades and see Marcia. He shook his head: play hard to get. He decided to take a closer look at Paradise City, and walked to where he had parked his car.

  Five million dollars!

  He kept thinking of owning such a sum. His mind was so occupied with visions of how he would spend money like that, he failed to observe a lean, tall youth with long greasy hair, a face like a ferret’s, wearing a T-shirt and dirty jeans, swing his leg over a powerful Honda motorcycle and come after him as Frost drove on to the highway and headed for the city.

  This youth, known as Hi-Fi, worked for Mitch Goble.

  He was a heroin addict. Goble kept him supplied with just enough money to buy his next fix. Goble had told him to keep tracks on Frost and never let him out of his sight.

  Still thinking about a possible future, Frost drove into Paradise City and parked the T.R. outside an amusement arcade. Leaving the car, he wandered into the arcade which was humming with activity. Crowds of young people jostled around spending their dimes, eating hot dogs, screaming at each other.

  Frost jostled his way to the shooting range. A fat, smiling Polak handed him a rifle. It was a way to kill time, Frost thought as he settled himself and took aim at the distant target.

  Hi-Fi melted into the crowd, his eyes on Frost’s broad back.

  Frost had taken the centre of the target out when he heard a voice say, ‘You Frost?’

  He lowered the rifle and turned to find a tall, wiry man, with a lined sun-tanned face and clear ice blue eyes at his side.

  He knew at once that this man was a cop.

  ‘That’s me,’ he said. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘Tom Lepski. City police,’ Lepski grinned and offered his hand.

  Lepski? Frost’s mind became very alert. He remembered Marvin had said Lepski was a first grade detective, and a good friend of his. It had been Lepski who had told Marvin that Grandi had needed a bodyguard.

  ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Jack mentioned you.’

  ‘Yeah. He and I are buddies,’ Lepski said. ‘I saw the T.R. out front, so I thought I’d meet you.’

  ‘Glad you did.’ Frost laid down the rifle. ‘Just amusing myself.’

  ‘Jack said you were some shot.’ Lepski eyed the distant target. ‘Yeah . . . you sure are. You got a minute? Suppose we go over to Joe’s across the way for a beer?’

  ‘Why not?’

  As they left the arcade, Hi-Fi went after them. He watched them enter the bar across the street, hesitated, then walked fast to a telephone booth. He called Silk.

  ‘Our creep is chatting it up with Lepski,’ Hi-Fi reported.

  Silk’s face tightened. This was unexpected and bad news.

  Was Frost alerting the cops that Goble had propositioned him? After a moment’s thought, he decided not. Five million, to a man like Frost, was too big a temptation for him to shoot off his mouth to a cop.

  ‘Stay with him, but watch it,’ Silk said, and hung up.

  Settled at a corner table with beers before them, Lepski said, ‘You’ve got yourself a sweet job.’ He grinned. ‘The City police are right behind Mr. Grandi. He takes care of us, so we take care of him. His daughter stays safe.’

  His face expressionless, Frost nodded.

  ‘So Jack tells me.’

  ‘Have you met her yet?’

  Frost shook his head.

  ‘Not yet. I’m on night duty this week. All I have to worry about is Amando.’

  ‘There’s a jerk.’ Lepski grimaced. ‘Nothing satisfies him. He bothers the Chief nearly every week. He has a bee in his nut that the girl is going to get snatched.’ Lepski laughed. ‘How can she? We keep explaining it to him, but he won’t lie down.’

  ‘It’s his way of earning his money,’ Frost said.

  ‘I guess that’s right.’ Lepski’s cop eyes swept over Frost. ‘When we heard that Amando had given Joe Davis the gate, and he had reason, we got interested in you.’

  There was no smile now on Lepski’s face. ‘We heard you got the job through Joe Solomon. We know all about Joe. He’s not our favourite citizen. So we leaned on Joe and he came up with your credentials. What we learned from them, satisfied us you were right for the job. We checked the N.Y.P.D. and the F.B.I. They gave you a clearance.’

  He paused, then went on, ‘There’s this thing that bothers us: you don’t stay long with a job.’ Again a pause, then he said, ‘Maybe you’ve got itchy feet.’

  Frost’s mind worked swiftly. So the cops had put him under a microscope. He was too much of a cop himself to be leaned on.

  ‘Are you asking a question or are you just talking?’ he said quietly.

  ‘Call it a question.’

  Frost smiled.

  ‘Tell me something, friend, are you asking this question because your Chief told you to ask it or are you just playing cop?’

  Lepski stiffened. His Chief had given him no instructions to quiz Frost. He realised he had moved on to tricky ground.

  He waved his hand airily.

  ‘Don’t get me wrong. Let me explain. We don’t want Gina Grandi snatched. Right now, we know she has total protection. There is no way to get at her unless there is an inside man, and if an inside man appears, she could get snatched. We have screened everyone living at the villa: all of them are okay. So you appear on the scene. So we screen you. Get the photo?’

  Frost nodded.

  ‘Sure . . . sure, but that doesn’t answer my question.’ He finished his beer. ‘Are you interrogating me because you have instructions from your Chief or are you a first grade detective after further promotion?’ He leaned forward, staring at Lepski. ‘I’ve been on the force. I know how it works. I know all about guys who lean on people to get promotion. I did it myself, but nobody leans on me. So you talk to your Chief. Tell him, I’ll tell him anything he wants to know. I have nothing to hide, but I don’t - repeat don’t - get leaned on by a first grade detective.’ He got to his feet. ‘Okay with you, Lepski?’

  Lepski stared up at him, then before he could think of anything to say, Frost gave him
a broad smile and walked out of the bar.

  Hi-Fi was sitting astride his Honda as Frost walked to his car. He gunned the motor and moved into the traffic as Frost drove down the main street.

  Frost’s mind was busy. He was uneasy. Had he handled Lepski right? he asked himself. The last thing he wanted was to make an enemy of a cop, but he couldn’t let Lepski lean on him. He shrugged. Maybe it wasn’t important, but what was important was that the cops had reached the same conclusion as Silk had done: to snatch Gina, there had to be an inside man.

  Frost drove aimlessly towards Miami. He still had some hours before returning to Villa Orchid. The traffic was light. He kept looking into his rear mirror as good drivers do, and he picked up Hi-Fi tooling along behind him.

  Hadn’t he seen this creep before? Frost frowned. He remembered seeing him on the deserted beach when Frost had been sitting in the shade, thinking. Now here he was again. Was he being tailed? He grinned. He studied Hi-Fi in the driving mirror: a punk: one of Silk’s stooges?

  Reaching Miami, he swung off Bayshore Avenue and on to S.W. 17th avenue, then turned left on to Miami avenue. The Honda followed him.

  So he was being tailed!

  Frost doubled back and headed for Paradise City. He was relaxed, humming to himself.

  On the outskirts of the city, he left the highway and drove down a sandy road to the beach. Leaving the car, he walked fast to a clump of sea palms, hearing the noise of the Honda as it came down the road.

  He dropped out of sight on hands and knees and waited.

  He heard the Honda motor die.

  Hi-Fi was nervous. Leaving his motorcycle, he walked slowly down the sandy path, sweat on his face. He had been told not to let Frost out of his sight. He knew if he didn’t obey orders his heroin money would stop.

  He reached a clearing and looked up and down the wide stretch of deserted beach, then Frost dropped on him, his knees smashing into Hi-Fi’s back, slamming him on to the sand.

  Hi-Fi let out a yell as hard, vicious fingers encircled his throat. He tried to struggle, but the fingers tightened.

  ‘Take it easy, sonny,’ Frost said quietly. ‘Just answer questions. Are you from Silk?’

  Hi-Fi wriggled, heaved and tried vainly to throw off the crushing weight that kept him flat on the sand.

  ‘Don’t act stupid, sonny.’ Frost said and releasing his grip on Hi-Fi’s throat, he grabbed his right wrist and put a lock on it. ‘Talk or I’ll bust your arm.’

  Hi-Fi felt the pressure. The pain that shot up his arm nearly made him faint.

  ‘Are you from Silk?’ Frost asked him.

  ‘Yeah . . . yeah. You’re breaking my arm!’ Hi-Fi moaned.

  Frost released him and stood up. Hi-Fi lay still, then turned on his back, glaring up at Frost ‘Don’t try a thing, sonny,’ Frost said. ‘Just go back to Silk and tell him I don’t like being tailed. The next time I spot you following me, I’ll break your arm. Okay?’

  They looked at each other. Hi-Fi had often been in the hands of the police. He knew a cop when he saw one.

  ‘Okay,’ he mumbled, and watched Frost walk back across the sand to where he had left his car.

  Four

  Mitch Goble, a half-eaten hotdog in his fat hand, stormed into the room, overlooking the Ace of Spades’ swimming pool, where Silk and Umney had just finished a tray dinner.

  ‘Hi-Fi blew it!’ Goble said, and sat down heavily at the table, facing Silk. ‘Frost caught him, gave him the treatment, and the little jerk shot with his mouth.’

  Umney gave Silk a startled look, but Silk shrugged.

  ‘So what? Frost is an ex-cop. He’s smart. I wouldn’t have picked him unless I was sure he was smart. So, okay. He now knows we are keeping tabs on him. Relax, Mitch. It doesn’t matter. We’ll leave him alone. We wait.’

  Goble finished his hotdog, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and eyed the debris on the two trays.

  ‘I’m telling you, Lu, Frost could be too smart. He bothers me.’

  ‘We can’t do without him.’ Silk lit a cigarette. ‘I can handle him. Relax. We’re doing all right. You planted the seed. A guy like Frost is going to think what five million will mean to him. We give him time. In a couple of days, he’ll come here to screw Marcia . . . that will be his reason for coming here, but he’ll be looking to talk business. I’ll be here to talk business. Once I convince him he’ll lay his mitts on five million, he’ll play.’

  ‘Just watch him,’ Mitch said. ‘You’re smart, I’m smart, Ross is smart . . . just watch he isn’t smarter.’

  While they were talking, Frost was eating corn beef hash with Jack Marvin.

  ‘Ran into your buddy, Tom Lepski,’ Frost was saying I casually.

  ‘That right?’ Marvin grinned. ‘Now there’s a shrewd, dedicated cop. When Chief Terrell retires, it’s my bet Tom will be Chief of Police here. What a worker! He has ambition like a tiger with a hornet up his ass.’

  ‘Yeah. He tried to give me the treatment,’ Frost said quietly. ‘I cut him down to size.’

  Marvin paused in his eating and regarded Frost.

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘Your buddy started throwing questions. The boys have been making inquiries about me - fair enough. He said they were bothered that I didn’t stay with any job long. I’ve nothing to hide, but I don’t get leaned on by an ambitious cop. So I leaned on him. If the Chief wants answers, he has only to ask. I don’t dig answering questions from a first grade detective.’

  Marvin rubbed his jaw as he laid down his knife.

  ‘Maybe you played it wrong, Mike. Tom’s a little touchy: better to have him as a friend than an enemy.’

  ‘I’ve nothing to be nervous about,’ Frost said curtly and pushed back his chair. ‘Between you and me, I don’t give a damn about your buddy. I read him. He’s ambitious . . . so was I when I was on the force. Okay, but no one leans on me.’ He stood up, stretched, then went on, ‘Nothing happen today?’

  Looking a little worried, Marvin got to his feet.

  ‘The same old routine. She must be goddamn lonely. I’m sorry for her. She spent the afternoon with the dogs. She can handle them better than I can.’

  Frost registered this piece of news.

  ‘Those tigers dig her?’

  ‘They love her the way kids love candy. She’s got a way with animals.’

  And a way with men, Frost thought.

  When Marvin had left and Suka had collected the trays, silently, not looking at Frost, except to bow slightly in his direction, Frost went over to the signal panel by the monitors and studied it.

  Up to now, he hadn’t bothered to look at the panel carefully. The top row of red lights indicated any breakin attempt. The next row were switches marked: Fence neutralisers. Cabin 1 & 2 alarms. Dog whistle. F.A. alarm.

  Below these switches were red lights marked: Police alarm, F.B.I, alarm. Fire alarm. Below these lights, were green lights and switches marked Neutralisers for all alarms.

  Frost guessed the F.A. alarm was the alarm switch direct to Amando’s sleeping quarters.

  The Trojan horse!

  With a flick of a few switches, the Grandi estate would become vulnerable!

  He settled in the chair before the monitors, lit a cigarette and thought about Silk: a dangerous, deadly man.

  Frost moved uneasily. Suppose he agreed to be the inside man? Once Silk got his hands on Gina, what was to stop him putting a slug into Frost? Again Frost moved uneasily. He now knew Silk was a better shot than he was.

  If he acted as the inside man, how could he be sure of getting the five million and getting away with his life? How could Silk also be sure of getting away with the ransom?

  Frost stubbed out his cigarette, frowning. He needed to know what Silk’s plan was, then, if he decided to be the inside man, how he could safeguard himself and his share of the money? He was still brooding on the problem when he heard a sharp knock on the door behind him, then the door swung open.

  Amando
came in.

  ‘All quiet, Frost?’ he asked, in his low hissing voice.

  Frost got to his feet. At least this snake of a man hadn’t crept up on him, he thought, and hid a grin. He had thrown a scare into him.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ he said. ‘Nothing to report.’

  Amando nodded, his suspicious black eyes running over Frost

  ‘Keep alert. Mr. Grandi will be coming at the end of the week. He will want to see you.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Again Amando eyed him.

  ‘This isn’t much of a job for a man of your physique. I’ve been studying your record. You don’t seem to keep jobs for long.’

  ‘I like changes, sir,’ Frost said quietly. ‘Security work offers changes, that’s why I went in for it. I guess this job isn’t permanent, is it?’

  ‘No, I wouldn’t say it’s permanent. I trust Miss Grandi will be out of danger in a few months’ time.’

  ‘I’m glad you think so, sir. From my experience Miss Grandi must always be in some degree of danger.’

  Amando stared thoughtfully at him, nodded, and went away.

  When Marvin came in at 08.00, Frost told him what Amando had said.

  ‘Looks like you’re going to lose your job you like so much, Jack,’ he said.

  Marvin grimaced.

  ‘You were right to tell him. As long as there are billions lying around, there will be an attempted snatch.’ He put the coffee percolator on. ‘But maybe Grandi is realising he can’t keep her penned up like this, but what the solution is beats me.’

  ‘That’s Grandi’s headache,’ Frost said. ‘Me for bed.’

  After a four-hour sleep, he shaved, showered, then called the Spanish Bay hotel. He asked to speak to Miss Goolden.

  Marcia came on the line so quickly, Frost grinned to himself.

  ‘Why, honey, where have you been?’ she asked. ‘I’ve missed you.’

  ‘That makes two of us. Look, baby, how about spending the afternoon on the beach? I’m not in the mood for plush luxury. Bring a swimsuit, and let’s get lost some place.’