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“How much extra will he cost?”
“A thousand pounds sterling.”
“In dinars or dollars?”
“In dollars.”
Sha
“All right,” he said. “Who is this partner?”
“Fellow called Ziljak. He’s out there now, taking care of the shipment right up to Ploce and into the warehouse there. When the ship comes in, he’ll get the stuff from the warehouse through customs and onto the boat.”
“I thought that was your job.”
“It is, but now I have to engage a Yugoslav as partner. Honestly, Cat, they left me no alternative.”
“Then I’ll pay him personally, in travelers’ checks.”
“I wouldn’t,” said Baker.
“Why not?”
“The buyers of this shipment are supposed to be the government of Togo, right? Black men. Another white turns up, obviously the paymaster, and they might begin to smell a rat. We can go to Ploce, if you like, or I can go alone. But if you want to come with me, you’ll have to come ostensibly as my assistant. Besides, travelers’ checks have to be cashed at a bank, and in Yugoslavia that means they take the man’s name and identity-card number. If someone cashing them is a Yugoslav, there are questions asked. It would be better if Ziljak got cash, as he has asked.”
“All right, I’ll cash some checks here in Hamburg, and I’ll pay him in dollar bills,” said Sha
“Fine by me,” said Baker. “When do you want to go?”
Sha
“Day after tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll fly to Dubrovnik and have a week in the sun. I could do with a rest anyway. Or you can join me on the eighth or ninth, but not a day later. I’ll hire a car, and we can drive up the coast to Ploce on the tenth. I’ll have the Toscana come in that night or early on the morning of the eleventh.”
“You go on alone,” said Baker. “I have work to do in Hamburg. I’ll join you on the eighth.”
“Without fail,” said Sha
“I’ll come,” said Baker. “I still want the balance of my money, don’t forget. So far, I’m out of pocket on this deal. I want it to go through just as much as you.”
That was the way Sha
“You do have the money, I suppose?” asked Baker, fingering a lump of sugar.
Sha
They left the table and on the way out used the restaurant telephone to call a Hamburg charter company specializing in package tours for the thousands of Germans who vacation along the Adriatic coast. From this company they learned the names of the three best hotels in the Yugoslav resort. Baker was told he would find Sha
Joha
“The port should be Valencia, though this has yet to be fixed and is in any case the choice of the Spanish authorities,” he told Sha
“I’d prefer the twentieth for loading,” said Sha
“The Toscana should be permitted to berth on or during the night of the nineteenth and load in the morning.”
“Good,” said Schlinker. “I’ll inform my Madrid partner. He habitually handles the transporting and loading side of things, and employs a first-class freight agent in Valencia who knows all the customs perso
“There must be no problem,” growled Sha
It was not true, but he saw no reason why Schlinker should not believe it was true.
“I shall want to watch the loading also,” he told the arms dealer.
Schlinker pursed his lips. “You may watch it from afar, of course,” he said. “I ca
“I also want to board the ship at Valencia,” said Sha
“That will be even harder. The whole port is sealed off inside a chain-link fence. Entry is by authority only. To board the ship you would have to go through passport control. Also, as she will be carrying ammunition, there will be a Guardia Civil at the bottom of the gangplank.”
“Supposing the captain needed another crewman. Could he engage a seaman locally?”
Schlinker thought it over. “I suppose so. Are you co
“Not on paper,” said Sha
“If the captain informed the agent on arrival that he had permitted one of his crewmen to leave the vessel at its last port of call to fly home and attend his mother’s funeral, and that the ”crewman would be rejoining the vessel at Valencia, I suppose there would be no objection. But you would need a merchant seaman’s card to prove you were a seaman. And in the same name as yourself, Mr. Brown."
Sha
Schlinker consulted his diary. “As it happens, I shall be in Madrid on the nineteenth and twentieth,” he said. “I have another business deal to attend to. I shall be at the Mindanao Hotel. If you want to contact me, you can find me there. If loading is for the twentieth, the chances are the convoy and escort from the Spanish army will run the shipment down to the coast during the night of the nineteenth to arrive at crack of dawn. If you are going to board the ship at all, I think you should do so before the military convoy arrives at the docks.”
“I could be in Madrid on the nineteenth,” said Sha
“That is entirely up to you,” said Schlinker. “For my part, I will have my agents arrange the freighting, transportation, and loading, according to all the normal procedures, for dawn of the twentieth. That is what I contracted to do. If there is any risk attached to your boarding the vessel in harbor, that must be your affair. I ca
“It will be,” said Sha
Before leaving Toulon, Kurt Semmler had given Sha