The QE2 Is Missing

“Yes. I made it a point to let him see me when none of the other Paraguayans was present. He nodded, which is enough. If there is any action he will fight on our side, you can be sure of that. But he will not reveal himself until it is absolutely necessary.”

“If we could get a message to him to take concerted inside action on our behalf, would he do that?”

“He would — if he were certain the message was genuine. I would have to make the contact myself.^,

“All right. We’ll hold that possibility in reserve. Are you satisfied, Josep? Will you inform your men not to fire upon Sergeant Pradera?”

Josep lit a cigarette, then nodded abruptly. “If that’s the way it has to be. But I do not like it. If there are any slipups, if any of my people are hurt, he is not the only one who will die.”

“Is that a threat?” Diaz was angry now.

“No. Simply a statement of fact. We are not used to working with others. We have been betrayed too often, too many of us have been murdered in this fashion. We have learned to destroy any threats to the organization before they destroy us.”

“That’s settled then,” Uzi told them calmly, working to make peace. “You are both right. We will compromise. The Sergeant will be treated as one of our party — as of now. But Diaz will make every effort to contact him at the earliest possible moment to put him into the picture and pass along any instructions we may have. Agreed.”

Hank watched in silence as Uzi took charge, making peace between the uneasy allies, keeping them under control. The undercover agent must have had a world of experience because here he was, a single man, holding everything together. Hank was glad of his presence. There was a sudden knocking on the door.

“See who it is,” Josep ordered, already standing to one side with his gun ready.

Hank opened the door and admitted Concepcion Valerde and three other Tupamaros. She was carrying a large hat box; one of the others had a suitcase while the other two each carried a violin case. It was cornball, Hank thought, like something out of an old gangster movie, but it worked. He had no doubt what was in the cases. Concepcion removed any doubts he might have had by opening the hat box and dumping its contents out onto the couch. Sub-machine gun clips.

They could never have risked smuggling weapons and ammunitions in this quantity aboard in their luggage. Only by forcing the Acapulco longshoremen to smuggle it aboard with the other luggage that had cleared customs had they been able to arm themselves so well. The bags had been marked as cabin baggage and brought there by the unsuspecting ship’s porters.

“Any activity?” Josep asked.

“Not much,” she said. “The Germans have been stirring about some, a lot of traffic back and forth between their rooms, mostly by Fritz and the other young ones. The Hortiguela girl went to Chvosta’s room a few minutes ago.”

“They’ll be meeting soon,” Uzi said. “Are we ready?”

The Tupamaros certainly were. The violin cases were open and the Chinese sub-machine guns passed around. They each had a pistol as well, while Josep stuffed his pockets full of handgrenades. “They’ll be pretty lethal inside this ship.”

“I know. That is why I have them. We may not need them. But if we do they will be available.” He turned to look at Hank. “Are you armed?”

“No.”

“Here is a pistol…. “

“No.” Hank knew that this point would be raised eventually and had thought long and hard about what his answer would be, “I don’t want one.”

“Whose side are you on!” Josep snapped, striding forward. Uzi moved between them.

“Sit down, Josep,” he said. “I’ve told you — we cannot fight with each other. Hank’s on my team, so I’ll talk to him. Hank?” He turned and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“Everyone here knows which side I’m on. I’m not saying that my personal sacrifices in this matter have been greater than yours, but I’ve done my part. A long time ago I volunteered to help the Israelis in gathering intelligence. I'll continue to do that. But this present matter has snowballed and my entire life and career will be destroyed if it is discovered that I had a hand in this matter. If one passenger sees me waving a gun around for one second I’ll get just what Patty Hearst got. I’m with you all the way and I’ll give you all the aid I can. Short of getting involved in any shootouts. That is, unless Uzi feels that he wants to order me to have a weapon.”

Hank turned to face Uzi, who looked back with an ironic grin. “You should have been a rabbi,” he said. “You make a moral point, then transfer the burden of responsibility to another to prove that point. It’s proven. If it is a matter of life and death — well, then I may ask you for aid. Until that time you are our intelligence wing and no more. Do you gentlemen agree?”