| The minute you centralize the company finances and make a few deposits that can be tapped under certain conditions, I’ll drive you to the airport myself. That’s the word of a general officer.” 214 of’ “It’s the reasoning of a brain soaked in linseed oil! Do you have any idea what you’re asking me to do? That’s not chopped liver you’re talking about, it’s forty million dol- lars. I’m marked for life! They’ll have a record sheet on me in every Interpol headquarters and police station in the civilized worldl You don’t put your name on forty million dollars’ worth of bank transfers and expect to go back to a normal law practice. Word gets out.” “That’s not so, and you know it. All that Swiss banking stuff is confidential.” Devereaux looked around to make sure no one else was within hearing. “Even if it’s supposed to be, it’s not going to be once a… certain attempt is made to snatch a… certain person in Rome! And that’s all it will be! An attempt! You’ll have your ass in a net, and every contact you’ve made since China will be put under a microscope and my name will surface and so will forty Sucking million dollars in Zurich and that’s the baligame!” “Now, goddamn, boy, we’ve been over that! Your job’s finished now. Or will be soon’s you take care of the money. You don’t have to be involved anymore. And you’re clean, son. You’re a hundred percent Clorox!” “I’m |
mantel clocks and lamps that were neither nailed down nor with imbedded plastic cards proclaiming ownership; tall casement win-, cows, flanked by regal drapes, that looked out on the river with the lights of small boats, the buildings beyond, and especially Waterloo Bridge’ He was in the sitting room, on the pillowed sofa, with his shoes off and a tall drink in his hand. The London Philharmonic was on BBC1, playing a Vivaldi concerto, and the warmth from a heater filled the room with a splendid comfort. Good things came to the deserving, thought Sam. Anne came out of the bathroom and stopped in the frame of the doorway. Devereaux’s glass was suddenly checked on its way to his lips. She was dressed if that was the word in a translucent sheath that at once left little to, yet completely provoked, the imagination. Her Sloping yet Argumentative breasts swelled to blushing points beneath the soft, single layer of fabric; her long,- light-brown hair fell casually and sensually over her shoul116 ders, framing her extraordinary endowments. Her tapered legs were outlined under the sheath. Without saying a word, she raised her hand and beckoned him with her finger. He rose from the sofa and followed. Inside the huge, tiled bathroom, the enormous Savoy tub was filled with steaming water; several thousand bub- bles gave off the scent of roses and wet springtime. Anne reached up and removed his tie, and then his shirt, and then unstrapped his buckle, unzipped his trousers |
