1980 - You Can Say That Again Read Free Page B

marmalade and a pint sized pot of coffee.
    I pulled up a chair and gorged myself. Food gives strength, I told myself, as I cut into the steak. Okay, I had been kidnapped, but at least, I wasn’t going to starve.
    When I had finished eating, making sure there was nothing left, I found a pack of Chesterfields and a lighter on the trolley. I lit up and went back to the lounging chair and sat down.
    I was now much more relaxed. I thought about last night and the little old woman. It seemed to me she must be connected with Mr. Durant. This could only be the explanation of my kidnapping. I hopefully reasoned that Mr. Durant had decided I was the type he was looking for, and for reasons best known to himself, had brought me to this room, to extend the audition. Then I thought about the Ape who had brought in the trolley and I began to sweat again. I told myself not to start heroics with him. Tangling with him would be like tangling with a buzz saw, and that I was not going to do.
    So I waited and sweated.
    A half hour crept by. I kept looking at my watch, wondering when the action would begin. I had smoked four cigarettes and was beginning to fidget when the door snapped open and the ape man came in. He was followed by a short, swarthy complexioned man I immediately recognized by his lizard skin shoes as Joseph Durant.
    As I made a move to get to my feet, he said in a hard metallic voice, ‘Stay seated, Mr. Stevens.’
    He walked to a lounging chair and sat down. I studied him. Lu’s description had been accurate, but Lu hadn’t added that this man not only gave off the aroma of wealth, but he also gave off an unmistakable aroma of sinister menace.
    I glanced at the Ape, standing by the door. He was staring at me the way a tiger stares at a prospective meal. I decided to wait for Durant to make the opening move.
    He took his time. His hard black eyes studied me, then he inclined his head in what I hoped was a nod of approval.
    ‘Mr. Stevens,’ he said finally, ‘you are naturally wondering what this is all about. There is no need for you to be alarmed. It was necessary to bring you here the way you were brought here.’
    ‘Kidnapping is a Federal offence,’ I said, annoyed that my voice sounded so husky.
    ‘So I believe.’ He looked at his fingernails. ‘This isn’t the moment, Mr. Stevens, to discuss the legal aspects of bringing you here. Later, perhaps, but not now.’ He crossed one solid leg over the other and swung a lizard skin shoe in my direction. ‘There are facts about you, I need to confirm.’ He paused, then went on, ‘You are a bit-part actor with some success in Western movies. You have been unemployed for some six months. You are looking for work.’ He eyed me. ‘Is that correct?’
    ‘Well, yes. I am looking for work,’ I said defensively. ‘Westerns are not the in-thing at the moment. They . . .’
    He cut me short.
    ‘You have no money. In fact, Mr. Stevens, you not only have no money, but you are in debt and you owe rent. Is that correct?’
    I shrugged.
    ‘Correct.’
    He nodded.
    ‘I believe I can offer you employment,’ he said. ‘The financial return to you will be more than adequate. I am prepared to pay you one thousand dollars a day for at least thirty days, possibly longer, providing you are prepared to conform to certain conditions.’
    For a long moment, I sat still, stunned.
    One thousand dollars a day for at least thirty days, possibly longer!
    This can’t be true, I thought. Where’s the catch?
    Yet looking at this man, I realized that one thousand dollars a day to him would be chick-feed. As Lu had said this man stank of money.
    But I wasn’t so bemused as to grab at such an offer. There was something about this man that warned me I could be walking into trouble. Again, I glanced at the Ape, standing motionless, glaring at me.
    ‘That sounds interesting, Mr. Durant,’ I said in my nonchalant voice. ‘What are the conditions?’
    ‘I want to buy your full hearted