Страница 4 из 12
As they headed out the door, Murdock laid his hand on Cassidy’s back. “I hear you got stuck with teaching the ropes to the new Dundee recruits.”
“Yeah, I drew the short straw.”
Cassidy gri
“You on for pool tonight?” Murdock asked.
“Not tonight,” Cassidy replied, the smile still in place. “I have all-night plans with a lady.”
“A lady, huh? Well, be careful, Bubba. Ladies are the most dangerous kind of female known to man.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“A gentleman never gets kicked where it hurts and tells.” Murdock slapped Cassidy on the back as the two men chuckled.
The cool autumn air hit Murdock the minute he stepped out onto the Atlanta street. He threw up his hand to wave goodbye to Cassidy and the others, then headed for his Camaro.
The drive home to Locklin Street took less than fifteen minutes. He parked the Z28 in the tenants’ garage that took up the entire ground level of the old building. Besides his loft apartment, there were four other apartments below him, two each on the second and third floors. Using the service elevator, which none of the other residents used, Murdock headed upward. The moment he emerged from the elevator, a sense of unease hit him square in the gut. He lifted his jacket back over the hip holster and unbuckled the flap. He hadn’t lived forty-six years, most of it in life-threatening situations, without acquiring a keen instinct for danger.
“No need to draw your weapon,” the familiar voice said.
Recognizing the voice, Murdock released a tightly in-drawn breath and turned to face his former CIA contact. “What the hell are you doing here, Burdett?”
After glancing around at the darkened corridor, Burdett nodded toward the door of Murdock’s apartment. “I just drove over from Huntington, Te
Murdock chuckled as he unlocked the door and ushered Burdett inside the open expanse of his private domain. After flipping a light switch that controlled the recessed wall fixtures and illuminating the huge living room, he locked the door behind them.
“Bathroom’s through those double louvered doors.” Murdock used his thumb to point the direction. “Jack Daniel’s is all I’m drinking these days.”
“Fine with me. Make mine neat.”
While he prepared the drinks and waited for Burdett to emerge from the john, Murdock wondered why a CIA Deputy Director was paying him a nighttime visit. He hadn’t seen or heard from Rick Burdett in nearly two years.
When Burdett came out of the bathroom, he glanced around the apartment, his gaze taking leisurely note of everything from floor to ceiling. “Don’t tell me you decorated this place yourself.”
“All right, I won’t tell you.” Murdock handed Burdett his whiskey. “So, are you going to tell me what you’re doing here or are we going to play nice-nice all night?”
Burdett took a sip of the liquor, then without invitation, sat on the tan leather sofa that rested on the wooden floor, squarely in the middle of the large room.
“La
“What?” Murdock felt as if he’d been hit on the head with a sledgehammer.
“La
“How do you know? Hell, don’t answer that! Just tell me if you’re sure. One hundred percent sure.”
Rick Burdett pulled a photograph from his coat pocket and handed it to Murdock. “This was taken less than a week ago.”
Murdock studied the snapshot of a ski
“Have you been keeping up with the latest news on the Zarazaian civil war?”
“Yeah. I know Juan Sabino’s kid has taken over where his old man left off and he’s whipping Ramos’s ass.”
“Ramos is preparing for the worst and he wants to make sure that if he has to abdicate his position, he can take as much money with him as possible. He’s asking $100,000 in exchange for La
“Jeez!” A hundred thousand was a lot, but by cashing in some bonds, emptying his savings and, if necessary, selling his new Camaro, he could scrape up the cash. “I can get my hands on that much, but it could take me several days.”
“La
“La
“Catherine Price is no girl,” Burdett said. “She’s thirty-six, a widow and was reluctant at first to even talk to me about her father.”
“Thirty-six. Damn. Guess I still thought of her as a young girl.”
“Here’s the deal,” Burdett said, as if he didn’t want to waste any more time. “Ramos is demanding the money in cash.”
Murdock let out a long, low whistle. “That’s a lot of money for one of your men to carry around in a briefcase all the way to Zaraza.”
“There’s a bigger problem. One of my men won’t be taking the money. Catherine Price will be.”
“Why the blue blazes would you—”
“Ramos’s stipulation. He’s demanded La
“I don’t like it. Taking La
“She’s going to Zaraza to get her father out of prison. She’s the type of woman who’s doing this because it’s the honorable thing to do, not because she loves La
“What time does her flight arrive?”
“Five-thirty.” After finishing off his whiskey, Burdett set the glass on a brown marble coaster that rested on the big, square, oak coffee table. “You two will fly straight to Peru day after tomorrow. Arrangements have been made to then take you and Ms. Price, by private plane, directly into San Carlos. One of our contacts will meet you at the airport down there.”
“And I suppose since she’ll have cash on her, Ms. Price will be under my protection from the moment she arrives tomorrow. Which means La
“Yeah. And you better roll out the red carpet while she’s here. Catherine Price is the type of woman who expects first-class treatment. She’s a thoroughbred. A Southern lady, through and through.”
“Just like her mother.” Murdock remembered how La
“You knew La
“I met her once. After I came back from Zaraza. I went to see her, to tell her about La