the Hunted (1977) (29 page)

"I can't."

"You want to bury it with him? Would tha
t make sense?"

"I can't take his money."

"He's giving it to you," Davis said. "You have t
o take it."

"But in the safe box he had very much money,"

Tali said. "And this, it's too much for me."

"He told me himself," Davis said, "you have t
o learn to accept money without your pride getting i n the way. He's giving it to you because he liked you , he loved you, so don't insult him and try an d change things when he's not here. Do whatever yo u want with the money. Buy clothes, take tapdancing lessons if you want. But take it and thank God you knew the man."

He handed her the money and the key, the
n pulled the blanket up over Rosen, covering his face.

"I didn't know him very long, but I think h
e taught me a few things." Davis paused, thought fo r a moment, and said, "The wake's over."

Tali was looking at the money, holding it in fron
t of her. "Will you take some of it?"

She didn't get an answer.

The voice came to them from outside; it was th
e black one, Rashad, calling out, "Hey, Marine!

Here's somebody want to see you!"

"NO SHOOTING, MAN! Time's out!"

Rashad stood up at the wall, testing the Marine
, giving him a moment.

"You hear? Man's lawyer wants to come out!

Have a talk with you!"

He dropped behind the smooth stones again an
d waited. There was no answer from the house. H
e didn't expect one. All he wanted to do was get th e Marine's attention. He didn't particularly care i f the Marine shot Mel thinking it was somebody else , except then they'd have to talk to the Marine som e other way, directly, and standing out there wasn'
t any fun. Now he crawled back to the thicket o f dusty trees before rising and moving around th e bend in the road to where they were waiting: Valenzuela and Teddy with their machine guns slung over their shoulders, the scared-looking lawyer with hi s resort outfit on standing between them, holding th e alligator case. Mati, the Arab-looking kid, wa s hunkered down over by the cutbank, watching.

Rashad waved for Mel to come on. "Okay, go o
n up there and give your speech. But stay in the yard.

You understand? He invites you in the house, yo
u say, 'No thank you.' "

"I tell him and I come right back," Mel said.

"That's all."

"You show him the money," Valenzuela said
, "and wait and hear what he says."

Mel nodded quickly. "Okay. And then I com
e right back."

"Open the briefcase, leave it in the yard," Valenzuela said.

"Right. Leave the case in the yard. I won't forget."

Rashad looked over at Mati. "The kid'll go wit
h you, keep you comp'ny."

Teddy turned, unslinging his Uzi and waving th
e stubby barrel. Mati got up, wiping his hands on hi s pants, and came toward them. It didn't seem t o matter to him one way or the other.

They held back at the bend in the road, waiting
, letting Mel and Mati continue on toward the opening in the stone fence.

"Might as well get everybody in the yard,"

Rashad said. "Do 'em all at one time."

"It's Mati," Tali said, surprised. "And Mr. Bandy?"

Davis watched them come through the gate an
d start up the drive, Mel carrying his expensive alligator case. The light blue lawyer and the skinny Yemenite in his fake leather jacket. They didn't g o together, wouldn't have anything to say to eac h other. They had both been pushed into this , brought here--the sound of the car last night, th e headlights reflecting in the darkness.

"Did they come here by themselves?" Tali wa
s still speculating. There was no sign of the thre e gunmen.

But Davis wasn't going to get into a conversatio
n about it. He said, "Take the shotgun. Watch the ca r and see if anybody tries to circle around the othe r side. If they do, shoot them. Don't tell me about it , shoot them."

Picking up the shotgun, she looked over at him.

His tone was quiet, but he was concentrating now
, not wasting words, raising the Mauser and extending the barrel out the window.

"They don't want to come out," Davis said.

"They send Mel . . . no, there they are." H
e brought the Mauser to his shoulder but waited.

They were beyond the stone fence, near the gat
e and the section that had been blown apart. H
e could see little more of them than heads and shoulders and realized that the ground sloped away toward the wadi.

"I see them," Tali said.

He told her to concentrate on the one nearest th
e gate opening, the one with the long hair and a scar f or bandana covering his head. Mel and Mati, wh o was dragging behind, were coming over from th e drive now, crossing the grass toward the middle o f the yard.

Mel moved carefully, his gaze holding on th
e front windows. Mati's hands were in his pockets.

He seemed to have no purpose other than to watc
h what was going on.

"Sergeant, you in there?"

"Right here," Davis said.

"I can't see you. . . . Where's Rosen?"

"You want to come in?"

"No, I'm supposed to stay here. Is that Rosen--
h ey, Rosie, is that you?"

"He's in the can," Davis said.

Mel thought that was funny. "Listen, you mind i
f I use it after? I've got kind of a nervous bladder. I d on't know what the fuck I'm doing here at all." H
e glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at th e windows. "I'm sure you understand this isn't m y idea. I'm supposed to be on a plane in half an hour."

"You're not coming in," Davis said, "what d
o you want?"

"I'm speaking for them, you understand. Non
e of this is my idea."

Davis waited.

"They want to offer you something. A hundre
d thousand dollars."

The three gunmen were at the stone fence now
, not more than a few yards separating them. H
e would have to squeeze and fire and snap the nex t two shots, though he would be sure of getting th e first one. Davis placed the front sight on Valenzuela, then raised his head to look at Mel again.

"You hear what I said? A hundred thousand. It'
s in here." Mel raised the attache case.

"For what?"

"If you leave. Get out of here."

"Alone?"

"You can take the girl."

"But leave Rosen, huh? Just a minute." Davi
s turned to look at Tali. She was staring at him an d seemed more tense than a few moments before.

"They don't know," Davis said to her.

"But if he's already dead? They'll come in to se
e him, won't they?"

Davis looked out at Mel.

"Rosen says he doesn't like the idea."

"Jesus--" Mel was shaking his head. "Look, tel
l him I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do abou t this. You can stay here and see what happens or yo u can accept the hundred grand and leave. That's it."

"Mr. Rosen's money, huh?"

"What difference does it make?" Mel said. "Yo
u want to see it?" He went down to one knee, place d the attache case on the grass, snapped it open, an d turned the lid toward him to show Davis the ope n case. "Can you see it? That's a hundred grand , man."

"Where's the rest?" Davis said.

"What rest?"

"We started with two hundred thousand," Davi
s said. "You sent him five. Where's the rest?"

"Well, see, what they're doing, they're splitting i
t with you, giving you the bigger half. What do yo u say?"

Davis was silent. He watched some of th
e hundred-dollar bills blow out of the case as a win d stirred in from the desert. Mel said, "Jesus Christ--"
a nd almost fell making a grab for them.

"All right? Come on, before it blows away."

Davis waited. He said then, "Tell them, the
y want to give me the whole thing, it's a deal."

"Christ, this is a hundred grand here!" Mel said.

"What do you want?"

"I just told you, I want it all," Davis said. "Or I
s tay here and they sit out in the sun till the police o r an Israeli Army patrol comes along."

"I'll have to ask them," Mel said. He rose, turning, as more bills blew out of the briefcase, and yelled toward the fence, "He says he wants th e whole thing!" Mel waited. "What?"

Davis held the sight on Valenzuela. He watche
d him wave for Mel to come back.

Mel turned to the windows again. "I guess the
y want to talk it over." Mel stooped to close the briefc ase, but Valenzuela called something to him an d Mel straightened and walked off, glancing back a t the money blowing, swirling across the yard, the n motioned to Mati to come with him.

"Watch them," Davis said.

Tali glanced at him, saw him move to Mr.

Rosen's body and pull back the blanket. She looke
d out the window and then at the Marine again. H
e was lifting Mr. Rosen's hands now--the bent arm s rising stiffly with the hands--then drawing the Col t automatic from its holster and placing it on th e compress bandage covering Mr. Rosen's wound , making sure the safety was off. It shocked her an d made no sense.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Watch outside."

Davis took another compress from the pack o
f bandages on the floor, placed it over the automatic , and brought Rosen's hands down to cover the compress. The grip of the Colt, part of it, was all that showed.

"Please, what are you do ing?"

Davis glanced out the window, seeing the five o
f them at the opening in the fence. He picked up Dr.

Morris' heavy Enfield revolver from the floor an
d tried it in the shoulder holster. It rested too high beneath his left arm. He pulled the gun out and stuck it into the waist of his trousers.

He said to Tali then, "I've thought of what I
w ant to tell them."

"Say, fine, he can have the whole thing," Rasha
d said. "What's the difference?"

"Watch them," Valenzuela said to Teddy. H
e motioned Rashad away from Mel and the Arablooking kid and they moved down the road toward the gray car.

"He won't believe it," Valenzuela said. "We'r
e agreeing too quick. Why would we do it?"

"You want to sit here," Rashad said, "wait til
l tomorrow to make it look real? What's the difference? A hundred, a hundred ninety-five, if he smells something he'll smell it either way. No, I believ e what he's doing, he's putting it all on one roll. Go t nothing to lose. He knows we're playing with th e man's money. He sees a chance to take it all. But tel l me, how's he gonna get out with it? Man, we'r e standing there."

"He's pulling something," Valenzuela said.

"Pulling what? He hasn't had time to thin
k about it. He's seeing how much he can get, that'
s all. He's got nothing to lose, we got nothing to los e giving it to him."

"Mel said there's no sign of Rosen."

"I agree with Teddy, the man's probably bee
n hit," Rashad said. "But he's in there, isn't he? N
o place else he could be."

Valenzuela thought about it a little more. Finally he said, "All right. We'll say we'll give him the whole thing. The other half when he come s out."

Mel returned to the middle of the yard, Mat
i trailing.

"Sergeant!"

He stopped, looking around, and began pickin
g up the bills that were scattered about the grass.

Davis waited, watching from the window. H
e saw Mati pick up several of the bills and slip one i n his pocket as he walked over to the lawyer with th e rest. Davis glanced at Tali. He was very tense no w and it was a moment of relief.

"You see that?"

"Mati takes care of himself," Tali said. "I hop
e nothing happens to him."

The lawyer was squinting, looking this wa
y again.

"Sergeant? . . . They said okay. You can have th
e whole thing."

Just like that, Davis thought. They give awa
y money.

"They said, you come out, get the briefcase here.

One of them will come over and give you the rest."