Wyatt - 03 - Death Deal Read Free

you to
that Sydney crowd thats put a price on your head.

    The Outfit.

    Thats them.

    Where do you stand in all this?

    Me? Im growing old gracefully,
keeping all my friends.

    They were silent and then Harbutt
said, About that payroll . . .

    Again Wyatt explained that he didnt
have the payroll, hed never had it. No offence, I wouldnt be calling you if
I had it.

    Ah well, at least the papers and
the TV got some mileage out of it. How much do you need?

    Im not talking about a loan.

    Right, Harbutt said. Then, Im
not an ideas man, Wyatt. Im strictly muscle. Give me a sledgehammer, a drill,
a stick of dynamite, thats what I do.

    But you can put me in touch with
someone. Local, someone who doesnt know my face.

    After a while, Harbutt said, Theres
a bloke I done a couple of smash and grabs for, name of Ray Dern. Hes full of
ideas, except most of them never get off the ground. Lack of local talent.

    I want you to line up a meeting.

    When?

    Tonight.

    Where?

    Wyatt thought about it. He had
nothing to worry about from Harbutt, and if the man called Dern didnt know the
name Wyatt, or the face, then his motel would be safe enough. He gave Harbutt
the details. Six oclock, he said.

    He spent the day sleeping. At three
oclock he caught a bus into the city centre and found a back street discount
shop open. He bought cheap socks, underwear, jeans, shirt, windcheater and a
disposable razor. The clothes were dark. They fitted poorly. He had one hundred
and six dollars left. Back at the motel he showered, shaved, changed into his
new clothes and washed and dried his dirty clothes in the motel laundry. Then
he lay on his bed to think and wait.

    He wondered what sort of man Dern
would turn out to be. If Harbutt knew him, maybe that made him all right. Wyatt
knew that the career criminals like himself were fast disappearing. There was
no room for them. He put it down to drugs, the movement of money by electronic
means, advances in security technology. The purely cash jobs were drying up.
These days, armed robbery was virtually unproductive in terms of risk and
profit.

    Then there was a knock on the door
and Harbutt and another man filed in and they had a woman with them.

    * * * *

    Three

    She
hung back, letting Harbutt enter first, then slipped through the door and to
one side. It was a display of meekness that Wyatt knew owed more to the man
behind her than to personality. Wyatt had once spent a few days with her and
there hadnt been much meekness in evidence then, so it had to be the man. Dern
was fiftyish, a tall, benign, wise father-figure with a large, sensual,
comfortable body. He beamed, and stuck out a broad tanned hand at Wyatt.

    Mr Lake. Good to make your
acquaintance. Id like you to meet Thea.

    Thea bobbed, smiled quickly, shook
Wyatts hand. When hed known her shed been calling herself Maxine. She looked
at him levelly, a sallow, mocking blonde in a tight skirt. Then the nail on her
ring finger dug warningly into his palm. It was a way of saying that she wouldnt
reveal his identity if he wouldnt reveal hers.

    Thea, Wyatt said, and she released
his hand.

    He leaned against the wall and asked
them to sit. Harbutt chose the only chair in the room, Dern and the woman sat
close together on the bed. When they were settled, Dern looked brightly around
at everyone. He was a professional beamer, proud of his tangle of black hair
and the young woman next to him. He wore a costly casual suit, the flowery tie
tugged loose from the collar, and slim-line Italian shoes. Lets start from
the beginning, shall we? he said. The voice was deep-chested, pleased with
itself.

    Harbutt leaned forward in the chair.
I told Lake here that you had a couple of jobs in mind that required a good
pro.

    Indeed I have.

    Wyatt didnt like the man, his air
of satisfaction. Then he thought about the hundred and six dollars in his
pocket and said, What sort of jobs?

    Dern blinked, as though there should
have been a few minutes devoted to small talk and