Lace II (47 page)

Gregg showed Mark how to slip the rope around the nearest turret and take the strain, as Gregg tied the other end of the rope around his waist, then threw a leg over the parapet.

Hanging onto the rope, Gregg planted his sneakers on the ancient stone wall, leaned out and started to walk down. As he descended, Mark played out the rope. Gregg could not be seen by Tony because the corner of the building lay between them.

Gregg passed two ornamental ledges, then stopped at the third one. Inch by inch, with arms outstretched, Gregg slowly shuffled sideways along the ornamental ledge, toward the corner on his right. Trying to feel as if the wall were sucking him into it, he clutched at handholds in the rough stonework, until his right fingertips eventually touched the corner.

Gregg silently looked up at Mark and nodded, then swiftly he pushed the upper part of his body out from the wall and swung himself around the corner, feeling with his right foot for the continuation of the ledge he was standing on. He had checked from below, before he started, that the ornamental ledge continued round the building.

Gregg was sweating as he put his right foot round the corner. This was partly because of the blazing heat and partly because he knew that, as soon as he turned the corner, he would be within gunshot range of Tony. Dangling from the rope, Gregg felt naked and vulnerable. Firmly, he told himself that Tony couldn’t see him, and wouldn’t see him, because Tony wouldn’t risk putting his head out of the window, or the Turkish police would shoot it off.

Then, to his horror, Gregg realized that the continuation of
the ledge on the far side of the corner was not the same depth as the ledge upon which he had been standing. It had not been possible to see this, either from below the Palace or from the roof.

Gregg kept feeling for the ledge with his right toe, but the ledge was only about an inch wide—too narrow to stand on—and as soon as Gregg put any weight on it, his foot slipped off.

He tried again, but the ledge crumbled, and again his foot slipped as soon as he put his weight on it.

Gregg turned his sweaty face up to Mark and shook his head. Slowly, he began to inch back along the ledge. He was almost directly below Mark when his left handhold, a piece of decorative leadwork, came away from the wall. Gregg stumbled, swayed, then fell off the ledge, dangling on the end of the rope, like a spider on the end of a string.

Mark braced his feet against the parapet and took the strain.

Very slowly, Gregg swung his legs, searching with his sneakered toes for a foothold on the pitted wall. Eventually, one groping toe found the ledge. Gregg leaned out, pulled on the rope, and began to slowly climb to the top of the parapet.

“Shit!” he grunted, as he swung himself over and onto the roof.

Mark nodded.

*   *   *

Once again inside that gruesome room, her feet tied more tightly than before, Lili lay on the green-striped mattress, quivering with terror. “Tony, for God’s sake, let’s give ourselves up!” she begged. “Otherwise the police are going to kill us both.”

Sheltering behind the window embrasure, Tony said nothing, but fired a burst of machine-gun fire into the dusk.

Lili closed her eyes and linked her handcuffed fingers in an unconscious gesture of supplication. As she did so, she felt—on her center finger—the coral rosebud of the ring that her mother had given her. It comforted Lili.

*   *   *

“I’m pretty certain that if he lets me in, I can talk him out.” Judy stood in front of Colonel Aziz, a resolute expression on
her face. “He knows me, he trusts me and, when he’s in his right mind, he’s devoted to me. If anyone can get through to Tony, I can.”

Covered with gray dust, Gregg added, “There’s only one guy in there; I don’t see what we have to lose.”

Eventually, Colonel Aziz said, “As you say, it is worth a try. Very well. You will go in with six of my men. You will try to persuade him to open the door. You will stand aside as six of my men throw themselves into the room. If two men take the gunman, two throw themselves to the left, and two to the right, and shoot, we will have the best chance of getting Mademoiselle Lili out alive.”

“No!” Judy spoke quietly and firmly. “I want to go in and persuade Tony to come out. I know exactly how to do it. If I fail, you can storm the room with smoke bombs, tear gas and bullets. But I won’t have such unnecessary risks taken with my daughter’s life, until I’ve tried to get Tony to come out peacefully.”

*   *   *

Outside the studded wooden door, Judy shouted “Tony! Thank God I’ve found you. I’m alone. Please let me in.”

“What do you want?”

“To get you out of this alive. Please let me in.”

There was a long, nerve-racking pause.

“No.”

“Tony, I don’t want you to come out,
I
want to come
in.”
Judy pleaded, “I’m your friend, Tony. This is
Judy
out here.”

“Things ain’t goin’ as I hoped, Judy.”

“That’s why I’m here, Tony, so that together we can work out what to do next.”

Nothing happened.

“You’re sure you’re alone, Judy?”

“I’m alone.”

Another long pause.

“Okay, I’ll undo the bolt and cover the door,” shouted Tony. “Come in, then bolt the door behind you. If there’s anyone behind you, I’ll shoot.”

They heard the sound of the bolt slowly being pulled back.

Judy gestured frantically, and the men behind her took cover in the doorways.

Judy stepped forward and pushed the massive door open.

“Bolt the door,” said Tony. “Gee, I’m glad to see you, Judy.”

“Judy!” gasped Lili, struggling on the green-striped mattress. Judy looked at her with dismay, but fought back her natural inclination to run to her daughter. She ignored Lili and beamed at Tony.

“I’ve missed you, Tony.” Judy tried to behave as if they were still in the
VERVE!
office. “And I sure could do with a workout. I’m out of shape.”

“Yeah, well…”

“May I sit down, Tony?” Judy knew that she should move slowly and deliberately and, at any cost, avoid startling the gunman.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Judy sat on a stained rose-brocade mattress. “May I eat a peach, Tony?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

From the central, low brass circular table, Judy picked up a half-rotten peach, around which a few flies had been hopefully buzzing. She knew that the table was really a brass tray on a plinth, and she considered flinging it at Tony, then leaping to unbolt the door. But not yet. She was supposed to try to get him out peacefully.

Outside there was total silence.

Inside, Tony stood, submachine gun in his hand, with his back to the wall by the window. Lili lay on the green-striped mattress, not moving.

“What was the plan, Tony?” Judy asked.

“I never meant it to get outta hand like this, Judy. I only wanted to help you.”

“You’ve always been wonderful to me, Tony. But why did you think I needed help?”

“I knew that the magazine was gonna fold. I heard Tom talking to the Lady Mirabelle people. Then, late one night, when I was waiting to take you home, I heard you tell Tom that you wanted someone to kidnap Lili.”

“What?”

“It was after Tom had said something about kids giving you more trouble when they was grown up than when they was small.” Tony shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“Judy, you said you wanted a miracle to happen. You asked Tom to kidnap Lili for a ten-million dollar ransom, then give the money to you. But the putz said he didn’t know how to handle a kidnapping. You called him a weakling, Judy. You said you couldn’t rely on him.”

“But I
can
rely on you, Tony,” beamed Judy, as, with horror, she vaguely recalled her joking conversation with Tom. She took another bite of the disgusting peach and leaned back agains the pink brocade.

“Yeah, so I thought, I’ll do Judy a favor and make a bit for myself as well, then hide out in Europe, change my appearance a bit, that stuff. I never had such a great life in the States until you appeared, Judy, and I knew that if the magazine closed, I’d lose my glamour job. But, like it says in the
VERVE!
self-help articles, nobody has to put up with what they think they’re stuck with.”

“The clever thing,” said Judy, hoping that she wouldn’t retch, “was those ransom telegrams. They got
front page coverage
, Tony! How did you think of that?”

Tony looked pleased. “The Greek guy was easy. He wanted to be Lili’s sugar daddy. That’s what gave me the idea. Originally, that is. I sorta kept this idea hangin’ in my mind, then bits got added.”

“Like?”

“Like I hear the pop star yellin’ at you on the phone. I think the guy’s got no manners, the guy’s rich, and the guy seems to think he’s Lili’s father.”

“Then?”

“Then I’m waitin’ for you outside Mr. Halifax’s office and the door’s open a crack … I can hear you cryin’ … well, I guess I opened the door. His secretary’s got her own office, so she doesn’t sit outside the boss’s door. I reckon that’s a big mistake. So, anyway, I hear that Mr. Halifax has got the same idea as the pop star and I think, little Miss Jordan, she sure kept them guessin’, even when she was a kid.”

“But how did you get here, Tony?”

“Simple. I flew to Britain, caught a ferry across the Channel, then got here by train and bus. Don’t worry, Judy, I didn’t leave a clear trail.”

“Then what did you do?”

“I had a copy of your travel itinerary, the one you left for
the office. So I knew where you’d be staying, and I knew you’d have one of the fancy suites, facing the water, so I rented a room on the Asian side of the Bosphorus and bought some hardware in the Bazaar. I followed you pretty well as soon as you arrived. I know Lili likes to go around by herself sometimes, so I just waited for a chance. It came sooner than I expected.”

“And what did you plan to do after you’d got the money?”

“My contact at the Bazaar, the guy I’d bought the guns from, put me in touch with a seaman who was going to hire a speedboat. After the man with the red armband got onto the Guzelhisar ferry, I was goin’ to wait until the boat was in the middle of the water, then grab the suitcase from him and jump over the side. Then the speedboat was going to pick me up.”

“But wouldn’t that have been very risky, Tony?”

“Judy, you know I’m a first-rate swimmer, and the whole thing took less than thirty seconds in our trial. You see, the ferry can’t stop suddenly. I knew there would be police on board, but they probably wouldn’t be able to shoot straight, not from a moving boat on choppy water, at a speedboat on an erratic course.”

Judy thought with horror, I wonder if he realizes that kidnapping is a crime punishable by death in some American states. Gently she asked, “And then what were you going to do?”

“I was going to send another bunch of roses to tell you where to find Lili.”

“Such a
clever idea
, Tony.”

“Yeah, then I was going to fly to Egypt, meet you there, and give you half the cash.” He frowned. “Maybe
lend
you half the cash. Until your business was straightened out.” Suddenly he raised his machine gun as something outside the window distracted his attention.

But it was only a bird.

Neither Judy nor Lili moved. They were both terrified. Suddenly, Tony relaxed and grinned. “I also reckoned you musta bin quite a goer, when you was a girl, Miss Jordan.”

Judy gave a tight smile as Tony continued. “Then the fourth telegram I sent to your friend, the King, after I heard
you and Maxine talkin’, on your way up to Westchester last fall. She said she guessed…”

Judy looked astonished when Tony mentioned the fourth telegram, then she quickly interrupted him. “Maxine was right, Tony, and so were you, to send those telegrams to men with plenty of money. But what we have to do now is figure out how to get out of here.”

“Yeah. I could do with a few ideas on that subject. Like I said, it ain’t worked out as I intended.”

“How to get out of here
fast
, Tony. I’ve got a limo outside with smoked-glass windows. If we can make it into that, we’ve got a chance.”

“What about
her?”
Tony jerked his head to Lili, who was lying gagged and handcuffed on the green-striped mattress.

“What matters is
you
and
me
, Tony. All they want is her, so they can have her,” said Judy in a firm, reasonable voice. “But you and I have to get to the limo.”

“How about we distract their attention by droppin’ Lili outta the window?”

Judy’s stomach turned over. She’d hoped to get Tony out and leave Lili in the room. “Better if we use her as a hostage. Take her with us.”

Tony looked at her with an unnerving, cunning expression. “How do I know there ain’t an ambush out there?”

Judy swallowed hard. Dammit, she’d gone too far too fast, as usual. In a quiet, soothing voice, she reassured him. “I’ll walk in front and you follow, with the gun.” In a reasonable voice, she added, “I’d hardly be likely to put myself right in the line of fire, would I? Anyway, the police don’t know I’m in here.”

“You were in here before. With that guy.”

“Well, then you know I wasn’t with the police. And I’ve shaken off Mark. You know, I haven’t wanted anything to do with him for months, after I caught him in bed with
her!”
She threw a contemptuous glance at Lili.

Tony thought about this for a few moments, then grunted in agreement.

“So how do you want this played, Tony?”

Tony thought again. “Untie her legs.”

Judy slowly got up, walked over to the green-striped
mattress and, without looking at Lili, she untied the nylon rope around her ankles, then helped Lili stand up.

Lili felt painful pins and needles in her legs, because the rope had been tight around her ankles. She looked at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Tony.

“Now what, Tony?” Judy asked, then realized that she had made another mistake, as Tony looked harassed. He had no idea what to do.

Judy said, “Would you like me to unbolt the door? Then you can follow me, with the gun, and that troublemaking little bitch can walk behind you, until we’re safe. Then we can dump her.”