The Vets (Stephen Leather Thrillers) (31 page)

Lehman leant back in the seat. “Yeah, I see what you mean.” The tuk-tuk lurched to a halt outside the hotel and Lehman climbed out while Tyler paid the driver. They walked together through the hotel lobby.

“Can I have a word with you before you turn in?” asked Tyler. Lehman agreed and the two men took the elevator to his room. Lehman opened the door and Tyler sat on a beige sofa while Lehman knelt down by the side of the mini-bar.

“Singha okay?” asked Lehman.

“I’d prefer a bourbon,” said Tyler.

“Ice?”

“Straight.”

Lehman gave him a miniature Jack Daniels and a glass and helped himself to a beer. He sat down on the corner of the queen-size bed as he poured the Singha. A large mirror hanging on the wall opposite the bottom of the bed reflected his actions. The whole hotel seemed to be geared up for guys picking up girls. The reception desk asked to see the IDs of any girls brought into the hotel so that guests could be protected from theft, every room had a huge bed, two robes in the bathroom and a mirror close to the bed. Business cards with the names and addresses of local massage parlours appeared under his door as if by magic and even the chambermaids smiled invitingly as if they’d be prepared to share the bed rather than simply make it up.

“Dan, I don’t want you to think that I’ve been prying into your personal life,” said Tyler. “I’m not playing some sort of game with you, I want you to know that.” He took a long pull at his Jack Daniels. “You seem like the sort of guy I could use, and I wanted to have that confirmed before I approached you with what I have in mind. I just made a few phone calls, that’s all.”

“Who did you call?” asked Lehman.

“I have friends,” said Tyler. “That’s all I can tell you.”

“Everyone must have their secrets?” said Lehman sarcastically.

“Something like that. But you’ve no need to worry, the people I use are discreet. There’s no way that Mario Cilento will know that you’re out here. At least, he won’t find out from me. Does anyone else know you’re here?”

Lehman shook his head.

“I asked you before how long you planned to stay here. Can you answer me now?”

“I’m not sure,” answered Lehman. “Not now you’ve told me about the contract. I’d assumed that it was just a matter of lying low for a while then going back and taking my medicine. A beating, maybe. Possibly a broken arm and a promise that I’d make good the money. I’m a good operator, you know, and I’d just put in the extra time until I cleared it.”

“The way I hear it, that’s not on the cards,” said Tyler.

“Yeah. So I guess I will stay put for a while, while I figure out what to do.” He drank his beer but it had no taste. He grimaced and so did his reflection.

“Dan, I can help you,” said Tyler.

“Help me make up my mind, or help me get straight with Cilento?”

“I can help you get enough money maybe to persuade Cilento to take back the contract. Or to start a new life somewhere else. Plastic surgery if necessary, new ID, the works.”

Lehman snorted. “Plastic surgery? You think I need a nose job, Joel, is that it?”

Tyler smiled grimly. “You know what I mean. You could get enough money to stay hidden for ever. And you never know, if you were to offer Mario Cilento half a million bucks and a fulsome apology, he might figure it was worth the loss of face.”

“Half a million bucks?” said Lehman. “Where am I going to get money like that?”

Tyler sipped at his bourbon. “That’s what I want to talk to you about.” He paused long enough to make sure that he had Lehman’s undivided attention. He did. “Dan, what would you be prepared to do for two million dollars?”

Lehman rolled his glass between the palms of his hands as he considered the question. “A lot,” he replied eventually.

“Would you kill?”

“No,” said Lehman emphatically. “Not cold, I’d never kill for money.”

“You killed in Nam, though?”

“Twice. I was a chopper pilot, remember? I killed when I had to, when my Huey went down and we had to fight off an NVA patrol, but I was never in the jungle with an M16 in my hand. But that’s not what we’re talking about, is it? You’re talking about killing for money, and the answer is that I wouldn’t. Not for two million dollars, not for twenty million dollars.”

“A point of principle?”

“Yes.”

“Would you break the law for two million dollars?”

Lehman laughed. “Come on, Joel. Everyone breaks the law. We’ve all driven above the speed limit, we’ve been at the wheel with a few too many beers under our belts, we’ve smoked grass and done a hell of a lot more besides. I’ve no problems with breaking the law, it just depends on what law it is you want broken. Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind?”

“What I’m trying to do, Dan, is to ascertain just what you’d do for money. You’ve told me that you won’t kill, and that’s fine, the job I have in mind doesn’t involve murder. But you can’t expect me to come right out with what I’ve got in mind, not until I know where you stand. For all I know, you might go running straight to the police, and then where would I be? No, you’ll have to bear with me, for a while.”

“If you’ve been asking questions about me back in California you’ll know that I’m not exactly on the best of terms with the police. And you’ll know what it is I do for a living.”

“You sell non-existent investments. Fraud.”

“It’s a grey area, but I wouldn’t quibble too much with your description.”

“Would you fly a helicopter for money?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On what it is you want to fly. I wouldn’t want to get involved in drugs.” He grinned. “Other than for occasional recreational use,” he added. “But I wouldn’t fly drugs in from South America. Too risky.”

“But if I could guarantee you wouldn’t get caught? Would you do it then?”

“For two million dollars? And no chance of getting caught?” He took a mouthful of beer as he thought about it. “Yeah, I would. I’ve nothing against the idea in principle. Is that what you have in mind, Joel?”

Tyler shook his head. “I’m still feeling my way, Dan. Bear with me. Would you steal?”

“Steal what?”

Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know. From a shop, maybe. Would you throw a brick through a jeweller’s window and take a two million dollar necklace?”

“Too risky.”

“Okay, if I could put together a team which was breaking into a jeweller’s shop at night, and if I could guarantee that there was a ninety per cent chance of us getting away clean and that your share of the take would be two million, would you do it?”

Lehman waggled his head from side to side and chewed his lip like a schoolboy trying to solve an algebra problem. “It’s too hypothetical,” he said.

“Gut feeling,” pressed Tyler. “Give me your gut feeling.”

“Yeah, I’d do it.”

“And what if it meant going in during the day, with guns but not planning to use them. If I could guarantee the same odds of success. Would you do it then?”

“Depends on the team,” said Lehman.

“Good guys. Guys like you.”

“Vets?”

Lehman felt Tyler’s eyes bore into his own like blue ice daggers. “Yes. Vets like you.”

“Who?”

Tyler smiled tightly. “First we have to decide whether or not you want to be part of it, Dan. It wouldn’t be fair to the rest. If you’d already agreed you wouldn’t want me to be telling someone who might run off and spill his guts, would you?”

“It sounds like you don’t trust me, Joel.”

“I don’t trust anybody. Not completely. Not until I know them.”

“Tell me one thing. Is Bart Lewis part of this?”

“Would it make a difference?”

“No, I guess not.” Lehman studied his own reflection in the mirror. Middle-aged, grim expression as usual, slightly hunched over his glass of beer, sweat stains under the arms of his shirt, seven o’clock shadow around his cheeks. A man on the run, not knowing how long it would take until Mario Cilento’s contract was fulfilled. That wasn’t how Dan Lehman wanted to end his days, on the receiving end of an assassin’s bullet. “It’s a robbery?” Lehman asked.

“It’s a robbery,” confirmed Tyler.

“Where?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“When?”

“Weeks rather than months. You’d have to stay in South-East Asia. But that’s not a problem for you, is it?”

Lehman ignored the question, figuring it was probably rhetorical anyway. “And the chance of success is ninety per cent?”

“Who can tell, Dan? I was using that as an example. I don’t plan to get caught, that’s for sure. And I’ll explain everything to you nearer the time. But I can say that as far as I’m concerned it’ll be a completely successful operation. And if it all goes to plan, nobody will get caught. If it goes wrong, I would hope we’d be able to abort safely. And I should stress that all I want you for is your helicopter experience, nothing more. You won’t be carrying a weapon, not unless you want to.”

“Was the two million dollars hypothetical, too?”

Tyler shook his head. “No, that’ll be your cut. Two million dollars. Cash. Are you in?”

Lehman looked at his reflection again. He straightened his back and smiled. “Yeah, I’m in. Who else is in on it?”

“Bart Lewis. Eric Horvitz. And Larry Carmody.”

Lehman frowned.

“Something wrong?” asked Tyler.

“I guess I’m just surprised that you’d want Horvitz and Carmody. I mean, Bart’s a regular guy, and if you’re planning to use a chopper then he’s obviously useful, but Horvitz and Carmody?”

“They’ve both seen combat, they can handle the pressure. Sure, they’ve got problems, but that’s more because they’ve had trouble adapting to life back in the States rather than anything intrinsically wrong with them. They’ll be fine, believe me. I’ve seen their files, their war records. And Lewis is more than just a regular guy – he’s a decorated crew chief and was one of the army’s best mechanics. I’m an excellent judge of character, Dan. That’s why I chose you.”

“Did you arrange for them to come on this trip?” Lehman asked.

Tyler smiled. “Secrets, Dan,” he said quietly.

“What about me? Did you know about me before I left the States?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that Lewis, Horvitz and I were all approached by a guy called Dick Marks, saying he was some sort of psychiatrist with an organisation that helped vets return to Vietnam. What was it called? The US-Indochina Reconciliation Project?”

Tyler nodded. “The organisation exists, but Dick Marks works for me, not for it. And his name isn’t Marks, either.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on here,” said Lehman.

“I needed a pilot, a good one,” explained Tyler. “I needed a mechanic, and I needed two men who know how to handle themselves in combat. I had you all checked out in the States, but I wanted to see for myself before I approached you. I wanted to feel you out. See what sort of condition you were in, physical and mental.”

Lehman shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense,” he said. “You didn’t know until the last minute that I was coming. Hell, I didn’t know myself.”

“To be honest, Dan, you weren’t my first choice. I’d already contacted a chopper pilot in Phoenix but he broke his leg three weeks ago. I already had Lewis, Horvitz and Carmody lined up. Marks and I were trawling all over the place looking for a suitable pilot. You were a godsend.”

“I had the skills you need, and I have a good reason for needing cash.”

“That’s about it,” agreed Tyler.

Lehman wondered what Tyler had said to convince Lewis, Horvitz and Carmody that they should take part in whatever it was that he had planned. Tyler was a control freak, that was for sure; he seemed to enjoy manipulating people, and while he claimed to be able to spot people’s strengths he had an uncanny knack of finding people’s weak points. The carrot and the stick. In Lehman’s case the carrot was the two million dollars. And the stick? The fear of the contract hanging over him, and the unspoken threat that Tyler could quite easily inform a certain Mr Cilento of Lehman’s present whereabouts. “So what happens now?” asked Lehman.

Tyler smiled, stood up, and placed his empty glass on top of the mini-bar. “I have to keep some secrets, Dan. You’ll get the details soon enough.” He stepped towards Lehman and Lehman got to his feet. Tyler stuck out his hand like a car salesman wanting to seal a deal with a handshake. They shook hands and Tyler patted Lehman on the back. “I’m glad you’re on board, Dan. Really glad.”

Lehman saw Tyler out and then poured himself another beer. He went over to the window and pulled back the blinds. The water in the swimming pool glinted far below. Someone was swimming a slow breast stroke, pale white skin in the blue water.

Lehman hadn’t been too surprised by Tyler’s choice of men. He’d spent a great deal of the trip in Vietnam talking to Lewis, Carmody and Horvitz, and now it was clear why. He’d been sounding them out, getting the measure of them and working out which buttons to press to get them to agree to join him. Lehman nursed his beer and wondered what buttons Tyler had pressed. Carmody would probably have been the easiest to persuade; from what Lehman had seen the man was bordering on psychotic and had a lot of anger inside. Tyler would have offered him a way of expressing that anger, of getting it out of his system and of making money at the same time. Horvitz? Eric Horvitz was a real mystery. Something was burning inside him, it wasn’t anger, it was something else, something colder. Lehman didn’t know much about Horvitz but he supposed that Tyler had managed to go deeper into his psyche. Maybe he’d offered him a chance to relive his glory days. A last hurrah. Even Lehman could appreciate the fact that most of the vets had never been so alive as they had been during their time in Vietnam and maybe that was what Horvitz missed. The robbery might give him the adrenaline rush that life after Vietnam denied him. That left Bart Lewis. He seemed a straight enough guy, but Lehman couldn’t imagine him wanting to take part in a robbery, even though there was little doubt that he needed the money. He’d said several times that his garage business in Baltimore wasn’t doing too well and he had a young son who he wanted to put through college when he was old enough. Lewis would have been easy to hit with an investment programme. All Lehman would have had to do would be to tell him it was a sure thing, that it would provide a nest egg for when his kid needed to go to college, tell him that his son would be proud of him and Lewis would already be reaching for a pen to sign the cheque. Lehman felt a sudden wave of emotion for Lewis, a desire to protect him from life’s sharks.