The Dogs Of War

Last, he sent Simon Endean a letter in London, asking him to meet Sha

The evening of May 13 was soft and cool, and several hundred miles along the same coastline Jean-Baptiste Langarotti was driving his truck westward from Hyéres on the last stretch into Toulon. He had the window down and sniffed the smell of conifer and maquis coming off the hills to his right. Like Dupree in London, who was preparing that evening to fly to Marseilles, like Vlaminck in Ostend, who was putting the final touches to his fifth and last oil drum of guns, Langarotti was content with life.

He had in the back of the truck the last two outboard engines, bought for cash and equipped with underwater exhaust attachments for silent ru

It was a pity he had had to move from his hotel. A chance encounter with an old underworld friend as he left the doorway three days ago had forced him to make a quick excuse and move out the following morning. He was now in a new hotel and would have informed Sha

The meeting in Luxembourg on May 14 was surprisingly short. Sha

Thirty minutes later, Mr. Stem emerged from the board meeting and handed Sha

Giulio Ponti at his Genoa office, and gave it to Sha

Two days later, in the Italian lawyer’s office, the deal was finished. The check for the purchase of the Toscana had been cleared, and Tyrone Holdings legally owned 100 per cent of Spinetti Maritimo. In respect of this, Signor Ponti dispatched by registered mail the 100 ordinary shares in Spinetti Maritimo to the company office of Tyrone in Luxembourg. As a separate matter, Signor Ponti accepted a package from Sha

Carl Waldenberg received his captaincy and his six-month contract, and the Serbian engineer was kept on. One month’s salary was paid to each man in cash, and the remaining five months’ pay for each was placed in escrow in the hands of Signor Ponti.

The Italian deckhand was persuaded without difficulty to take his £500 severance pay, plus a bonus of £ 100, and left the crew. Semmler was installed as managing director.

Sha

“How about the two replacements for the crew?”

“Waldenberg is seeing to it already,” Semmler told him. “He reckons this port is crawling with men available for recruitment. He knows the place inside out. He also knows what we need. Good hard men, the kind who ask no questions and do what they are told, particularly if they know there is a bonus at the end of it. Don’t worry, he’ll have a good pair before the end of the week.”

“Right. Fine. This is what I want. Get the Toscana ready for sea. A complete engine overhaul and servicing. Port dues paid up, papers in order with the new captain’s name. Manifest prepared for Toulon to pick up general cargo for Morocco. Get her fueled and supplied. Take on enough stores for the crew plus a further dozen men. Extra fresh water, beer, wine, cigarettes. When she’s ready, take her to Toulon. You have to be there by June first, at the latest. I’ll be there with Marc, Jean-Baptiste, and Ja

17

Jean-Baptiste Langarotti was alive, in part, at least, because of his ability to sense danger before it came looking for him. The first day he reported to the Paris hotel, he just sat quietly at the appointed hour in the residents’ lounge and read a magazine. He gave Sha

On the off chance, the Corsican inquired at the reception desk, for although Sha

So the Corsican was there, sitting in the residents’ lounge, at the same hour on May 16. There was still no Sha

Over the next twenty-four hours the Corsican began to sniff the wind in the bars of Paris where mercenaries forgather, using his old contacts of the Corsican Union in the Paris underworld. He continued to go to the hotel each morning, and on the fifth morning, that of May 19, Sha

He had arrived the previous evening by plane from Genoa and Milan, and had stayed the night at the hotel. He seemed in good spirits and told his colleague over coffee in the lounge that he had bought a ship for their operation.

“No problems?” asked Langarotti.

Sha

“But here in Paris we have a problem.”

Unable to strop his knife in such a public place, the small Corsican sat with his hands idle in his lap. Sha

“Such as?” he asked softly.

“There’s a contract on you,” said Langarotti.

The two men sat in silence for a while, as Sha

“Do you know who placed it?” asked Sha

“No. Nor who has taken it up. But it’s high, about five thousand dollars.”