Solo (Aka the Cretan Lover) (v5) by Jack Higgins Read Free Book Online Page B

He shrugged. 'Which still doesn't mean they would stand much chance of tracing you, but silly to spoil such a brilliant operation with even a single act of stupidity.'
    Mikali waited, the Colt against his thigh. 'Who are you?'
    'Jean Paul Deville. By profession, criminal lawyer. This creature here is a client of mine. He came to me earlier tonight in considerable agitation and told me everything. You see, we have a special relationship. I am, you might say, his father confessor. He'd been a naughty boy with the OAS a year or two back, I got him off the hook.'
    He reached inside his coat, the Colt swung up instantly. 'A cigarette only, I assure you.' Deville produced a silver case. 'I haven't fired a gun in years. No blunt instruments. Nothing up my sleeve at all. This whole affair is between you and me and this poor drunken swine here. He hasn't spoken to another living soul.'
    'And you believe him?'
    'Who could he run to? Like a scared rabbit, he came to the only safe burrow he knew.'
    'To tell you?'
    'He was afraid that you intended to kill him. Quite terrified. He told me everything about you. Algeria, the Legion. Kasfa, for example. That little affair made a deep impression on him. He gave me the reason for the whole thing as well. The fact that Vassilikos had tortured and murdered your grandfather.'
    'So?' Mikali waited patiently.
    'I could have written a letter detailing all these acts before leaving my apartment tonight. Posted it with a covering note to my secretary asking for it to be passed on to the right people at SDECE.'
    'But you didn't.'
    'No.'
    'Why not?'
    Deville walked over to the window and opened it. Rain poured down relentlessly. There was the sound of traffic in the night.
    'Tell me something - do you usually speak Greek with a Cretan accent like you did in the park?'
    'No.'
    'I thought not. A brilliant stroke that, coupled with your reference to Vassilikos and his men as fascists, to the chauffeur. Of course it does mean that all over Greece tonight, they'll be hauling in every Communist, every agitator, every member of the Democratic Front they can lay their hands on.'
    'That's their hard luck,' Mikali said. 'Politics bore me, so could you kindly get to the point.'
    'It's really quite simple, Mr. Mikali. Chaos - chaos is my business. I have a vested interest, as do my masters, in creating as much of it as possible in the Western world. Chaos and disorder and fear and uncertainty, like you have created, because what's happening in Athens tonight is also happening in Paris. There isn't a left-wing agitator in the city who won't be either under cover or in police hands by morning. Not only Communists, but Socialists. The Socialist Party won't like that and very soon, the workers won't like it either, which makes things rather difficult for the government with an election coming up.'
    Mikali said softly, 'Who are you?'
    'Like you, not what I seem.'
    'From way back east? As far as Moscow perhaps?'
    'Does that matter?'
    'Like I said, politics bore me.'
    'An excellent basis for the sort of relationship I'm seeking.'
    'So what do you want?'
    'You, my friend, to repeat your performance in the Bois de Meudon when I require it. Very special occasions only. A unique and totally private arrangement between the two of us.'
    Mikali said softly, 'Blackmail, is that it?'
    'Don't be stupid. You could kill me now - and Jarrot. Walk away from here with an excellent chance of no one ever being the wiser. Who on earth would ever suspect you? Good God, you even played for the Queen of England at a special reception at Buckingham Palace last year, isn't it so? When you're in London, passing through Heathrow, what happens to you?'
    'They take me to the VIP lounge.'
    'Exactly. Can you remember when Customs anywhere in the world last checked your baggage?'
    Which was true. Mikali put the Colt on the window ledge and took out a cigarette. Deville gave him a light. 'Let me make one thing clear. Like you, politics mean nothing to