Read Online The Detonators by Donald Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Donald Hamilton
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mission, the part that concerns my daughter.” He frowned at me. “Did she make any arrangements for getting in touch with you again?”
I shook my head. “But I nobly offered her my strong right arm and my shining sword in case of need. Call any time. Sir Matthew is willing.”
“Ah, I knew I could count on you! Well, I think you’ll find the need will arise fairly soon, if we have Miss Amy sized up correctly. In fact, while I’d like to buy you lunch, I don’t recommend the room service here; and I think you’d better get back to Miami as soon as possible and wait for her call. Now that I’m dead, it’s fairly certain she’ll try to attach herself to you. We’re counting on it, in fact.”
I said, frowning, “This is still your daughter we’re talking about?”
“Don’t give me that blood-is-thicker line!” There was sudden anger in Doug’s voice. “Why do you think I picked you, anyway? I could have turned her over to one of those cold young Casanovas who hang around the office in Washington. But you’ve got a warm, sentimental streak where women are concerned. It’ll get you dead one day, but right now I’m making use of it. I’m not asking you not to sleep with her if the mission requires it. I’m not even asking you not to kill her if you have to. There’s a job to be done and we’re going to do it. All I’m saying is—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “All I’m saying is, don’t hurt her any more than you have to.”
After a little, I said, “I still don’t know what this is all about, but she didn’t look like much of a menace to me. Are you quite sure we’re thinking of the same girl?” He didn’t answer that, and I said, “Okay. The man says you’re the boss, so we’ll play it your way. But why send me back to Miami? Unless the airlines screwed up again, the kid’s in Cincinnati by this time.”
Doug shook his head. “No, she isn’t. She missed her flight, deliberately. At the very last minute, while everybody was milling around waiting to be sent aboard the plane in relays, filling it from back to front the way they do nowadays, she slipped out of the waiting room and disappeared, letting her checked suitcase travel to Ohio without her.”
“You had somebody covering her?”
He nodded. “Yes, but in the boarding confusion they lost track of her and didn’t realize she’d vanished until her section was called and she didn’t appear to present her boarding pass at the gate.”
I frowned. “So now she’s wandering around Miami with nothing but the clothes she’s wearing and the money in her purse, which can’t be much. At least she talked very poor when she described how she’d come to make the trip.”
“I wouldn’t be too concerned about my daughter’s destitute condition,” Doug said dryly. “If she really needs help, she has plenty available, I assure you. But we’re hoping that you’re the one she’ll turn to in her hour of need. It will be interesting to hear what her story will be. A sudden emotional crisis, probably.” He stared at me grimly. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m not sounding very fatherly, am I? But I’ve had a good many years to get over my original attack of paternalism, years during which my letters were returned and my bitch-wife told my little girl all about her evil daddy. And give me credit, Matt. I have made provision for her long-run security if she survives her present foolishness. It stands, even if she hates me so much she’s willing to be used against me. Also, I did pick you to deal with her, not because I like you but because you’re a softy in certain respects.”
“Yes, you said that,” I said. “Okay, I’ll beat her gently, if I have to beat her. Tell me why I may have to.”
Doug Barnett regarded me bleakly. “The fact is that whatever you think, my daughter is not a nice kid. Blame it on the divorce, blame it on her mother, blame it on me; it doesn’t matter. I know she looks pretty
I shook my head. “But I nobly offered her my strong right arm and my shining sword in case of need. Call any time. Sir Matthew is willing.”
“Ah, I knew I could count on you! Well, I think you’ll find the need will arise fairly soon, if we have Miss Amy sized up correctly. In fact, while I’d like to buy you lunch, I don’t recommend the room service here; and I think you’d better get back to Miami as soon as possible and wait for her call. Now that I’m dead, it’s fairly certain she’ll try to attach herself to you. We’re counting on it, in fact.”
I said, frowning, “This is still your daughter we’re talking about?”
“Don’t give me that blood-is-thicker line!” There was sudden anger in Doug’s voice. “Why do you think I picked you, anyway? I could have turned her over to one of those cold young Casanovas who hang around the office in Washington. But you’ve got a warm, sentimental streak where women are concerned. It’ll get you dead one day, but right now I’m making use of it. I’m not asking you not to sleep with her if the mission requires it. I’m not even asking you not to kill her if you have to. There’s a job to be done and we’re going to do it. All I’m saying is—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “All I’m saying is, don’t hurt her any more than you have to.”
After a little, I said, “I still don’t know what this is all about, but she didn’t look like much of a menace to me. Are you quite sure we’re thinking of the same girl?” He didn’t answer that, and I said, “Okay. The man says you’re the boss, so we’ll play it your way. But why send me back to Miami? Unless the airlines screwed up again, the kid’s in Cincinnati by this time.”
Doug shook his head. “No, she isn’t. She missed her flight, deliberately. At the very last minute, while everybody was milling around waiting to be sent aboard the plane in relays, filling it from back to front the way they do nowadays, she slipped out of the waiting room and disappeared, letting her checked suitcase travel to Ohio without her.”
“You had somebody covering her?”
He nodded. “Yes, but in the boarding confusion they lost track of her and didn’t realize she’d vanished until her section was called and she didn’t appear to present her boarding pass at the gate.”
I frowned. “So now she’s wandering around Miami with nothing but the clothes she’s wearing and the money in her purse, which can’t be much. At least she talked very poor when she described how she’d come to make the trip.”
“I wouldn’t be too concerned about my daughter’s destitute condition,” Doug said dryly. “If she really needs help, she has plenty available, I assure you. But we’re hoping that you’re the one she’ll turn to in her hour of need. It will be interesting to hear what her story will be. A sudden emotional crisis, probably.” He stared at me grimly. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m not sounding very fatherly, am I? But I’ve had a good many years to get over my original attack of paternalism, years during which my letters were returned and my bitch-wife told my little girl all about her evil daddy. And give me credit, Matt. I have made provision for her long-run security if she survives her present foolishness. It stands, even if she hates me so much she’s willing to be used against me. Also, I did pick you to deal with her, not because I like you but because you’re a softy in certain respects.”
“Yes, you said that,” I said. “Okay, I’ll beat her gently, if I have to beat her. Tell me why I may have to.”
Doug Barnett regarded me bleakly. “The fact is that whatever you think, my daughter is not a nice kid. Blame it on the divorce, blame it on her mother, blame it on me; it doesn’t matter. I know she looks pretty
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