Qazi waved back.
“Lieutenant Tarkington is out here to see you, sir,” Farns-worth said, leaning through the door to Jake’s office.
“What’s he want?”
Farnsworth managed an off-balance shrug.
“Okay.” Farnsworth stepped through the door, opening it wide and holding it. When Toad passed, the yeoman exited and closed the door. The Keeper of the King’s Gate, Jake thought. He would have to speak to Farnsworth. His doorman’s bit was becoming too theatrical.
“Good morning, sir.”
Jake stared at the junior officer standing exactly two feet in front of his desk. “Thanks a lot for your efforts last night, Tarkington. I really appreciated your suave and de-boner performance.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
Doggone, Jake thought, he appears sincere. Jake bit a small piece of his lower lip to hold back the smile.
“So why are you here to waste my time?” Jake shook a piece of paper at Toad, who was staring at a spot two feet over Jake’s head.
“Uh, I’ve made a serious mistake, sir. Judith really is a very nice girl.”
Jake snorted and pretended to read the paper in his hand.
“She’s really not like she seems. She’s a highly intelligent lady.” He cleared his throat. “I really want to get to know her better, sir.”
“Really? Tarkington, that woman could rip the balls off a brass monkey. Why are you standing here in front of my desk?”
“She’s a wonderful woman, sir. I see that now. At first I thought she was just another airhead. You know, a great bod and a brain that went into storage overload by the time she was in the fifth grade.” His voice fell and he confided, “You know the type, sir — into astrology and screwball causes and longhaired cats. But Judith’s not like that at all. Uh, I guess I’ve sort of … like … um, fallen for her.”
“Do I look like a chaplain? I don’t give a damn about your love life or lack of it. That goddamn witch is probably related to the Borgias. Go write a long letter home to momma and tell her all about it. Get out of my office.”
“I want you to get me another date with her, sir,” Toad blurted. “Please,” he added as Jake stood up so fast his chair crashed against the bulkhead.
Jake leaned across the desk and roared, “I don’t procure women for anybody, mister. I’m a captain in the United States Navy. You’re a fucking lieutenant and don’t you forget it. How dare you come into my office and ask me to fix you up!” The last three words dripped off his lips like poison from a snake. “Jesus H. Christ!”
“But—”
“Shut up!” He could have silenced a riot with that shout. “I’m doing the talking here. Now when I finish, you will about-face and march your brassy, sassy ass out of my office. If I ever again lay eyes on you in this office on anything other than official business, you will be the radar intercept officer on a garbage scow in Newark for the rest of your naval career. Are you reading me loud and clear?” He was in fine voice, braying at the top of his lungs.
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t you ever again ask a senior officer to assist you in your debaucheries.” He lowered his voice: “You ask the senior officer’s wife. Mine is still at the hotel.” The volume went back up: “Now get out! Out out out!”
Toad fled. As the door to the outer office closed smartly, Jake collapsed in laughter into his chair. This was the first good laugh he had had in months. Farnsworth appeared in the door with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.
16
Colonel Qazi and Ali sat in the car and stared through the chain-link fence at the six helicopters sitting on the concrete mat.
“There’s another in the hangar,” Ali said. “Pagliacci’s man says the choppers will be fueled and ready tomorrow night. The watchman at the gate and the man at the office of the helicopter company have been visited by Pagliacci’s men. We are to tie up the watchman.”
“We only need three helicopters.”
“We may take any three. All will be fueled and ready, so if we have a problem with one, we merely leave it and take another.”
“What if none of them are ready?”
“But …”
“What if the watchman gets frightened before you arrive and calls the police? What if there is a police car sitting there beside the office? What if the transport company manager has panicked and sabotaged the helicopters and none of them will start? We will already be aboard the ship. We will be committed. What will you do then?”
“Well, if it’s just a police car, we’ll kill the policeman and proceed as planned. If the helicopters won’t start, we will go to the backup machines at the military base.” Weeks ago Qazi and Ali had examined every airport within fifty miles, and had located acceptable machines they thought they could steal if necessary. “Nothing will go wrong, Colonel. We will get the helicopters.”
“Where is our watcher?”
“Over there.” Ali nodded toward an abandoned warehouse. “He’s in that little room up at the apex. We relieve him every twelve hours and Yasim develops his photographs. If the watchers see anything suspicious, they will let us know immediately by telephone.”
“Who are you using as watchers?”
“The pilots. Here and at the military airfield. But the last shift before departure will have to be stood by nonpilots. It’s unavoidable. We only have four of them. Still, it’s an acceptable risk. Nothing will go wrong, inshallah.”
“Don’t give me that ‘if Allah wills it’ dung! You will succeed no matter what happens, because you will be very careful, take precautions, and be ready for the unexpected.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
Qazi sounded weary. “Everything will go wrong. Believe it. Know it and be ready and keep thinking. Now tell me who comes to see the watchman after ten P.M.”
“Occasionally, every third or fourth night, a security guard parks his car and they play dominoes. We haven’t seen anyone else during the night, except helicopter company employees and passengers. Occasionally rich people arrive just before dawn and are flown to their yachts. And occasionally a chopper goes away and returns with a yachtsman, but those trips are in the morning or early evening.”
“I am tempted to forego these machines,” Qazi said thoughtfully, staring at the hangars and the black windows that looked down upon the concrete mat and the street. “One wonders about Pagliacci.”
“Has he not done everything he promised — the vans, the uniforms, the weapons, the wiretap equipment, the cooperation of the ship-painting firm? For him, this is just good business.”
“Ayiee, the faith of the foolish! Help me, Allah,” Qazi muttered. “So tell me again how you will take the helicopters.”
Ali did so. He had gone over the plan on four previous occasions with Qazi. He had it down. When he was finished, Qazi put on his brimmed hat and motioned toward the gate. Ali spoke to the man in the watchman’s booth, the day watchman, then drove slowly on and parked by the door to the office of the helicopter company. He got out of the car with an attaché case and came around to the passenger’s side, where he held the door for Qazi. The colonel eased himself out. Once again he was an old man. Ali preceded him and handed him the case as Qazi passed through the office door.
The only person in sight in the offices was a young woman. She had a breathtaking bosom and wide, ample hips. Her hair was yellowish blond, dark at the roots. She stubbed out her cigarette as Qazi muttered, “Prego, Signor Luchesi.” She rose from her desk and bolted for the manager’s door, glancing at Qazi over her shoulder.