The Spoilers / Juggernaut. Desmond Bagley

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СКАЧАТЬ said Warren. He was not very interested.

      ‘IMEG’s bossing the show – that’s you British. Me – I’m with Williams Brothers, who are doing the goddam work. Call that a fair division of labour?’

      ‘It sounds like a big job,’ said Warren evasively. He shifted his position and saw Follet at the other end of the bar.

      ‘The biggest.’ The American swallowed his drink. ‘But the guys who are going to take the cream are the Russkis. Christ, what a set-up! They’ll take Iranian gas at under two cents a therm, and they’ve pushed a line through to Trieste so they can sell Russian gas to the Italians at over three cents a therm. Don’t tell me those Bolshevik bastards aren’t good capitalists.’ He nudged Warren. ‘Have a drink.’

      ‘No, thanks,’ said Warren. ‘I’m expecting a friend.’

      ‘Aw, hell!’ The American looked at his watch. ‘I guess I’ve gotta eat, anyway. See you around.’

      As he left, Tozier came up to the bar with his drink in his hand. ‘Who’s your friend?’

      ‘A lonely drunk.’

      ‘I’ve seen your man,’ said Tozier. ‘He looks like another drunk. What now?’

      ‘Now we don’t lose him.’

      ‘And then?’

      Warren shrugged. ‘Then we find out what we find out.’

      Tozier was silent for a while. He pulled out his cigarette case, lit a cigarette and blew out a long plume of smoke. ‘It’s not good enough, Nick. I don’t like acting in the dark.’

      ‘Sorry to hear it.’

      ‘You’ll be even sorrier when I pull out tomorrow.’ Warren turned his head sharply, and Tozier said, ‘I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but you can’t run this operation by keeping everything under wraps. How the hell can I do a job if I don’t know what I’m doing?’

      ‘I’m sorry you feel that way about it, Andy. Don’t you trust me?’

      ‘Oh, I trust you. The trouble is that you don’t trust me. So I’m pulling out, Nick – I’ll be back in London tomorrow night. You’ve got something on Johnny Follet, and you might have something on Ben Bryan for all I know. But I’m clean, Nick; I’m in this for honest reasons – just for the money.’

      ‘So stay and earn it.’

      Tozier shook his head gently. ‘Not without knowing what I’m getting into – and why. I told you once that I like to have something to shoot back with if someone shoots at me. I also like to know why he’s shooting at me. Hell, I might approve of his reasons – I might even be on his side if I knew the score.’

      Warren’s hand tightened on his glass. He was being pushed into a decision. ‘Andy, you do jobs for money. Would you smuggle dope for money?’

      ‘The problem has never come up,’ said Tozier reflectively. ‘Nobody has ever made the proposition. Are you asking me, Nick?’

      ‘Do I look like a dope smuggler?’ said Warren in disgust.

      ‘I don’t know,’ said Tozier. ‘I don’t know how a dope smuggler behaves. I do know that the straightest people get bent under pressure. You’ve been under pressure for quite some time, Nick; I’ve watched you struggling against it.’ He drained his glass. ‘Now that the question has arisen,’ he said, ‘the answer is no. I wouldn’t smuggle dope for money. And I think you’ve turned into a right son of a bitch, Nick; you’ve tried to con me into this thing and it hasn’t worked, has it?’

      Warren blew out his cheeks and let the air escape in a long sigh. Internally he was cheering to the sound of trumpets. He grinned at Tozier. ‘You’ve got the wrong end of the stick, Andy. Let me tell you about it – around the corner out of the sight of Speering.’

      He took Tozier by the arm and steered him to a table and in five minutes had given him the gist of it. Tozier listened and a slightly stupefied expression appeared on his face. He said, ‘And that’s all you have to go on? Have you gone out of your mind?’

      ‘It’s not much,’ admitted Warren. ‘But it’s all we have.’

      Suddenly, Tozier chuckled. ‘It’s just mad enough to be interesting. I’m sorry if I got things wrong just now, Nick; but you were being so bloody mysterious.’ He nodded ruefully. ‘I can see the position you were in – you can’t trust anyone in this racket. Okay, I’m with you.’

      ‘Thanks, Andy,’ said Warren quietly.

      Tozier called up a waiter and ordered drinks. ‘Let’s get practical,’ he said. ‘You were right in one thing – I wouldn’t let a breath of this leak out to Johnny Follet. If there’s any money in it Johnny will want to cut his share, and he won’t be too particular how he does it. But all the same, he’s a good man to have along, and we can use him as long as you keep that stranglehold tight. What have you got on him, anyway?’

      ‘Does it matter?’

      Tozier shrugged. ‘I suppose not. Now, what are your ideas on Speering?’

      ‘He’s come here to extract morphine from opium, I’m fairly sure of that,’ said Warren. ‘That’s why he went to a wholesale pharmaceutical firm yesterday. He was ordering supplies.’

      ‘What would he need?’

      ‘Pharmaceutical quality lime, methylene chloride, benzene, amyl alcohol and hydrochloric acid, plus a quantity of glassware.’ Warren paused. ‘I don’t know if he intends transforming the morphine into heroin here. If he does he’ll need acetic acid as well.’

      Tozier frowned. ‘I don’t quite understand this. What’s the difference between morphine and heroin?’

      The drinks arrived and Warren did not reply until the waiter had gone. ‘Morphine is an alkaloid extracted from opium by a relatively simple chemical process. Heroin is morphine with its molecular structure altered by an even simpler process.’ He grimaced. ‘That job could be done in a well-equipped kitchen.’

      ‘But what’s the difference?’

      ‘Well, heroin is the acetylated form of morphine. It’s soluble in water, which morphine is not, and since the human body mostly consists of water it gets to the spot faster. Various properties are accentuated and it’s a damned sight more addictive than morphine.’

      Tozier leaned back. ‘So Speering is going to extract the morphine. But where? Here in Iran? And how is the morphine – or heroin – going to get to the coast? South to the Persian Gulf? Or across Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean? We have to find out one hell of a lot of things, Nick.’

      ‘Yes,’ said Warren gloomily. ‘And there’s one big problem I can’t see past at all. It’s something I haven’t even discussed with Hellier.’

      ‘Oh! Well, you’d better spit it out.’

      Warren said flatly, ‘There’s no opium in Iran.’

      Tozier СКАЧАТЬ