[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.8Simon appeared to study the photograph closely for half a minute beforespeaking. Middle eighteenth century.Evidence of Florentine influence, but thedetail appears somewhat crude and heavy.Could be Portuguese but more probablySpanish, he pronounced, and handed back the picture.The Prof noddedapprovingly. I see you know your antiques, Mr.Grondheim. I know my job, Simon responded, allowing a new curtness into his voice.Inits own way it was the truest statement he had made that morning.During alifetime of wide-ranging piracy he had been obliged to learn to evaluate manyexotic forms of plunder.Page 26ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html You would like to view? enquired the Prof, as he slipped the photographback into his pocket. I would like to view, the Saint said, and paused momentarily before adding: When would you like to bring it here?Mr.Dankin seemed slightly shocked by the suggestion. To the hotel? Comenow, Mr.Grondheim, I m surprised you should even ask such a question.The Saint s sigh carried just the right pitch of professional resignation. It s only that I m a little tired ofmidnightmeetings in back rooms. He hadnot expected Dankin to agree, but it had been worth asking on the off chance.He knew the formalities that had to be observed on such occasions.The patterndictated that they would haggle over the price; that a price would be agreed;that he would be taken to see the chalice, and that he would hand over thecash.Thus ran the conventional scenario.But the Saint had never consideredhimself bound by any scenario, and he had his own notion of the way in whichthe rules of the game might eventually be interpreted.For the present,however, there was nothing he could do but tag along with whateverarrangements the Prof felt like making. Your price? Simon asked.The Prof thought for a few seconds. Let us say thirty thousand pounds, he suggested, with the air of a mananxious to be helpful even at cost to himself.The Saint smiled thinly. Let s say fifteen.The Prof appeared startled, as if he had been suddenly and unexpectedlyinsulted.The bartering continued along well-worn grooves until theycompromised on twenty-four thousand pounds, a figure both men knew to be aboutthe chalice s actual value on a high-class thieves market. Do you want pounds, dollars, or Swiss francs? Simon asked when the figurehad been agreed on. Sterlingwill be quite acceptable, thank you, said the Prof primly, andstood up. I will telephone this afternoon, when you will have had time to obtain thecash.I m sure we can get our business concluded well beforemidnight. The Saintreturned the smile with a grin equally lacking in warmth. Yes, he agreed softly as he heard the outer door of the suite close behindthe fence. Yes, I m sure we can.After a boringly lazy day spent mostly within the confines of the hotel hereceived the promised call shortly after five.The instructions were simpleand direct.If Mr.Grondheim was in the middle ofWaterlooBridge, on the eastside, with the money, at ten, he would be taken to see the chalice.The choiceof location showed a professionalism that Simon Templar appreciated.Cars donot normally park on bridges, therefore any that were would immediately arousePage 27ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthe suspicions of whoever arrived to collect him.Therefore the chances of hisarranging to be followed were greatly reduced.He was duly on the said bridgeat the appointed time, with a briefcase in hand, and when a car pulled intothe kerb beside him he spared it only one searching glance before climbing inbeside the driver.It was a black production-line saloon, indistinguishable from a thousandothers traversing the streets ofLondonthat night, except that the accelerationof their departure showed that the engine had been made capable of a degree ofperformance far beyond the advertised claims of the manufacturer.To the uninitiated the action of Mr.Grondheim in getting into a strange carin a strange city while carrying a considerable amount of instantly spendablecurrency might have appeared more than a little foolhardy.But then theuninitiated, by definition, do not know the protocol of such transactions.That Mr.Grondheim might easilyhave been forced to part with his money without ever getting a glimpse of theobject it was to be spent on is true, but it is equally certain that had thathappened the Prof would never have sold another stolen artifact, because aleper would have been treated as an honoured guest compared to the receptionhe would have received among his peers.It was also probable that some verylarge men would have been knocking at his door very shortly afterwards.By thesame token, Mr.Grondheim might have relieved the Prof of the chalice andrefused to hand over the money.But Mr.Grondheim would be aware that hischances of leaving the country, or evenLondon, with his money, the chalice,and himself intact would have been equal to the survival rating of athree-legged mouse in a cattery.It was not honour among thieves.It was simply an understanding based on amutual instinct for survival.The only danger lay in the unlikely event of Mr.Grondheim not really beingan accepted member of the brotherhood, which was why the Saint got into thecar with only a tiny tremor of unease.The driver was the only other occupant of the car.Simon s chatty  Where to?as they shot away received no reply, and other efforts to enliven theconversation during the drive were equally unsuccessful.The man was in his mid-thirties and powerfully proportioned, but with adegree of intelligence in his features which indicated that he was not solelyemployed for his physical prowess.In the lexicon of the underworld, he was a minder  a cross between a bodyguard, a chauffeur, and an aide-de-camp.Had the Saint really been a visiting American and not a native of the citywith a knowledge of its byways that would have shamed a taxi driver, he wouldmost certainly have been lost within the first half mile.They headed south and toured the back streets around the Elephant and Castlebefore recrossing the river viaVictoriaBridge.A meanderthroughBelgraviafollowed until they hit Kensington, and the driver, finallyconvinced that they were not being shadowed, swung the car through the gatesofHyde Park.Their journey ended in the car park behind the restaurant nearthe Serpentine.The tarmac expanse was bare except for a Rolls-Royce in thefar corner.They parked a few yards from it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]