Delta Factor, The Read Free Page B

no consideration in the matter at all. I told you it came from higher up. Maybe it’s an appeal to your patriotism.”
    â€œThen they’ll have to do better than that.”
    All the eyes made the rounds of the other eyes at the table again. This time it was Carter who said, “What are you thinking of, Mr. Morgan?”
    At least he kept the mister in.
    â€œMaybe they don’t want the forty million back,” I said.
    Seconds pass slowly when nobody wants to commit themselves. Only Doherty was grinning because he liked binds himself and he didn’t have anything outside a professional affection for the rest.
    â€œWe’re not at liberty to decide on that matter,” Woolart said quietly.
    I had them then. “Like hell you’re not. This was dropped in your laps and you were told to handle it. You were told to make the deal and if you come back empty-handed somebody will drop a hot potato in them. Buddies, you done bought the farm. Now I’ll lay it out. If I pull it off, you knock off fifteen years, all sentences to run concurrently, and nobody touches that loot. Plain enough?”
    â€œNo.” Gavin Woolart’s tone was adamant.
    â€œIs your boy worth forty million, Mr. Woolart? Can you do the job yourself?”
    And from the rear Carter said, “Let it stand, Gavin. It’s the only deal we can make.”
    For a few long seconds Woolart just stared at me. It was his kind of game, this mental cat-and-mouse bit, and he had been at it a long time where all the participants were experts. Now he was calling on all his resources to catalog me properly. Then, very quietly, he said, “No.”
    â€œWhy, Gavin?” Carter asked him. The rest of the room was very quiet.
    I said, “He’s considering a possibility, Mr. Carter. A forty-million-dollar possibility. He hates to see that kind of money cut from the budget. Now let me inject another possibility ... that I didn’t take it. Oh, sure, it was proven in court through circumstantial evidence, but more than one innocent person went that route before me. The cute little possibility he’s considering is that if you guarantee I can keep the forty big ones ... and I didn’t heist it to begin with ... but manage to get my hands on it in the meantime, you people are up the creek. Make it a public issue and some of our more progressive papers will take you apart ... not to say what will happen politically. Right, Woolart?”
    He didn’t answer me.
    I said, “He knows I might pull it off, too.” I let a grin crease my face and relaxed in the chair. “It’s an interesting challenge.”
    Gavin Woolart’s face was drawn into a tight mask. “There’s no doubt about your having that money, Morgan.”
    â€œOr that I might get it,” I added.
    He shrugged, not changing his expression. “Either way, the answer is still No.”
    â€œYou authorized to make the decision or does it go through channels, Mr. Woolart?”
    He didn’t have to give me the answer. I saw the sudden narrowing of his eyes. “For your own satisfaction, you’ll get an opinion from higher quarters, but I can assure you it will be negative. However, there’s a time element involved and I advise you not to delay making up your mind or the entire situation will revert unconditionally to your recapture.”
    â€œBut the rest of the deal stands?”
    â€œThat’s the offer. Take your choice.”
    I nodded. “Okay, buddy, I’ll take it.” I scanned the room and watched the small glances they exchanged, those tiny motions of relief like finding out that there was still some time left in the ball game after all. I said, “How do you know you can trust me?”
    Gavin Woolart gathered his papers together and stood up. His eyes were cold beads that said he hated every facet of the arrangement, but it was out of his hands. Very tersely, he told me, “We