“How perfectly horrible!” she exclaimed. She turned back to Baker. “Is that why you want to know how my dress got wet?”
Baker nodded.
“It was very embarrassing,” Ileana explained with just the right amount of dignity. “You see, we had been at El Morocco and I’m afraid I had a little too much champagne. That and the new shoes. I tripped and fell into a puddle. I had hoped no one saw me.”
“Are you sure you didn’t fall into the fountain at the Seagram building?” Baker asked.
Ileana looked at him. Her voice became very haughty at the implication that he might doubt her word. “Of that, I am most positive!”
“What did you do after that?” he asked.
“Count Cardinali took me to my room. It’s in this hotel,” she said.
“What time did he leave you?”
She looked at Cesare. He reached over and patted her hand reassuringly. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to,” he said.
She turned back to Baker. “Is it important?”
Baker nodded. “It’s important,” he said seriously.
She took a deep breath. “About an hour ago. When he left to breakfast here in his own suite,” she said, looking into Baker’s eyes.
Cesare got to his feet. His voice was still low but it had gone cold. “And now, Mr. Baker, don’t you think you’ve asked enough questions for one morning?”
Baker rose. He looked down at Ileana. “I am sorry, Baroness, for any embarrassment I may have caused you but it is my job to ask these questions.”
Ileana kept her gaze down on the tablecloth. She did not look up at him. “I understand, Mr. Baker.”
He turned to Cesare. “I would still keep my eyes open if I were you, Mr. Cardinali. The rest of those men will be even more dangerous now.”
“I will, Mr. Baker,” Cesare said, still standing.
Tonio came bustling in. “Your new luggage will be ready in time, Excellency,” he said to Cesare. “I will have it at the airport at four o’clock.”
Cesare nodded. “Thank you, Tonio,” he said in an annoyed voice.
Baker looked at him. “Going somewhere?”
“I have entered the Gran Mexico Road Race,” Cesare answered. “It begins the day after tomorrow. My Ferrari is already there.”
“I am going too.” Ileana looked up. She was smiling. “It will be very exciting.”
Baker looked from one to the other, then he smiled slowly. “Good luck,” he said, starting for the door. “Drive safely.”
Cesare waited until he heard the door close then turned and spoke angrily. “Why did you tell him you were going with me?”
Ileana smiled up at him brightly. “I was only trying to help, Cesare.” Tonio appeared again in the doorway. “Just a half a grapefruit, please,” she said to him.
Cesare waited until the servant had gone. “If I wanted you to go with me, I would have asked you!” he snapped.
Her eyes widened. “Oh! I did not understand. There is another woman. Forgive me, Cesare.”
Tonio returned with the grapefruit. He placed it before her and left again.
“There is not another woman!” Cesare said angrily.
“In that case I will go with you then,” Ileana said practically. She spooned up some grapefruit and looked up at him. “Besides I cannot afford to work for you. I spoke to your secretary just before I came up here this morning. She told me my salary was recorded at one hundred twenty-five dollars a week.”
Cesare was seething now. “Just what did you expect to make? You cannot do anything.”
“I haven’t the faintest idea.” She shrugged her shoulders prettily and looked down at her grapefruit. “But I need at least that much money every day.” She put a spoonful of grapefruit in her mouth. “This is delicious.”
He stared down at her, beginning to smile in spite of himself. That was what happened when you understood each other. She never said a word about lying to Baker for him. And she never would.
She looked up at him, smiling in the knowledge that she had made her point. “Besides,” she added, “there are some very rich Texans I know who will be in Mexico City for the race.”
17
The desk clerk at El Ciudad Hotel in Mexico City permitted himself a knowing smile. “The Baroness has a lovely suite right next to your own, Count Cardinali.”
Cesare glanced at him as he finished signing the register. “That will be fine. Thank you.”
“And we have been holding this telegram for you.” The clerk took an envelope from beneath the counter and held it out to him.
Cesare took it and opened it as he walked back to Ileana. He scarcely looked at it. It was the expected message. “I have just received word,” he said to her, “my mechanic is ill.”
“I’m sorry,” Ileana said. “Is it serious?”
“It means I will have to find a new mechanic,” he answered. “I’d better go right over to the garage and see what I can do.”
“All right,” Ileana said. “Will you be long?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Better go upstairs and get settled. I may be a little while. I will join you for dinner.”
The garage hummed with activity as Cesare came into it. Men were everywhere, going over the cars in last-minute preparation for the race. He walked through to the small office in the back.
The little old man came out of the office when he saw him. “Count Cardinali!” he exclaimed, a smile on his face. “It’s good to see you again.”
Cesare took his hand. “It’s always good to see you, Señor Esteban.”
“Your car is on the lower ramp, stall twelve,” Esteban said. “I suppose you are anxious to have a look at it.”
“I am, Señor Esteban, but I have a serious problem,” Cesare answered. “My mechanic was taken ill and I must find a replacement.”
A sober look replaced the smile on the old man’s face. “That will be difficult, Count Cardinali. All the Ferrari men are spoken for.”
“I know,” Cesare said. “But we must do something. Otherwise I shall not be able to start in the race.”
“We must not allow that to happen,” Esteban said quickly. “Let me start looking for one at once. I will call you the moment I have news.”
“Mil gracias.” Cesare smiled. “In the meantime I will be at the car. I will do as much as possible to get it ready.”
He had been working on the white Ferrari about an hour when he saw the girl approaching. She was coming directly toward him. He straightened up, admiring the trim figure she made in the white coveralls.
She stopped in front of the car. “Count Cardinali?” she asked. Her voice was low and pleasant.
He nodded, reaching for a cigarette in his jacket which was hung over the door of the Ferrari. “Yes?”
“Señor Esteban says you’re looking for a mechanic.” Her eyes were very blue.
“You know of one? Where can I meet him?” he said eagerly. He was already bored with the work. This was the part of racing that he did not like.
The girl smiled. “I am one.”
His surprise showed in his voice. “But a girl? This race is no place for a woman. It is fourteen hundred miles!”
The smile disappeared from her eyes. She looked right at him. “I’ve driven that far when I’ve had to,” she said quietly. “But we’re not going that far.”
Cesare stared at her. “No?”
She shook her head, the blond ringlets around her tanned face caught the light and sparkled. “It will not be necessary.” She bent over the hood of the car and looked in at the engine. “Don Emilio has other plans,” she whispered.
His eyes widened slightly. He had not expected a girl.
She straightened up, smiling again. She held out her hand man-fashion. “I’m Luke Nichols,” she said.
They shook hands. Cesare studied her. “But do you really know Ferraris?”
Her smile broadened. “I should. I’ve raced them all over the world.”
She saw Esteban approaching over Cesare’s shoulder. “Ask him.”
Cesare turned. Esteban smiled. “I see you two have already met. That is good.”
“But a girl in the Gran Mexico Race,” Cesare said. “Who ever heard of such a thing?”
“You are very lucky, Count Cardinali,” Esteban reassured him. “Señorita Nichols had many offers but she had already decided not to enter this race until she heard of your predicament. Last year she drove her own Ferrari.”
Cesare turned back to her. “Your own car?” he questioned. “What happened to it?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t win. It was hocked to the hubcaps so it’s gone now. I had hoped to pick up something down here, but no luck.”
“All right,” Cesare said. “You must be good if my friend, Señor Esteban, says so. Standard cut of the purse if we win. Five hundred if we don’t.”
“It’s a deal, Mr. Cardinali.” She smiled.
He reached for his jacket and put it on. “Tune her up and take her out for a road check. Have a full report for me at five o’clock. I’ll be in the bar at El Ciudad.”
“Okay,” she said. She turned to Esteban. Her voice became very businesslike. “Would you make arrangements for me to use the number two pit, Señor Esteban? The one with the new electrical timer. The first thing I want to do is go over the wiring.”
Esteban nodded and Cesare turned away and started up the ramp. When he reached the top of the ramp and looked back, she already had the car rolling toward the pit.
The light in the cocktail lounge of the El Ciudad came from hidden recesses in the wall that not only hid the lamps but also the light that came from them. Cesare was happy that he could see the drink on the table before him; there was no use looking at his watch to check the time, he was sure he couldn’t see the dial.
The door opened and a shaft of sunlight split the gloom. Cesare looked toward it. Luke came in and stood there, her eyes adjusting to the dimness, trying to find him. He stood up and waved to her.
Smiling, she sat down opposite him in the booth. “They ought to give you miners’ lamps when you come in.” She laughed.
“It is dark,” he admitted. The waiter came up. “Can we have a little more light before we go blind?” Cesare asked him.
“Of course, señor.” The waiter reached across the table and pressed a hidden button on the wall. Immediately a soft light came into the booth.
“That’s better,” Cesare smiled. “What will you have to drink?”
“A daiquiri, please,” she said.
The waiter went away. Cesare looked at her. “What do you think of the car?”
Something almost like sadness came into her eyes. “It’s a wonderful car. Too bad. Under ordinary circumstances with a car like that, one could win this race.”
The waiter placed her drink before her and left. Cesare lifted his glass. “Salud!”
“Luck!”
They sipped at their drinks and put them down. “There will be other races,” Cesare said.
Her voice was expressionless. “I hope so.” She looked around. There was no one near them. “I have connected a timing mechanism to the speedometer,” she said in a low voice. “Exactly one hundred fifteen miles from our starting point, it will blow, wrecking your generator. We will then be two hundred ninety miles from the next check point so it will be about five hours before they find us. There is a small deserted house about a half mile from the road. We will go there and wait for Don Emilio.” She picked up her drink again.
Cesare sipped at his own. “Is that all?” he asked.
“That’s all,” she answered.
Cesare studied her. She had changed into a light summer frock that left no doubt as to her femininity. It also served to make her look more like a young American coed than a woman involved with the illegal activities of the Mafia. He half smiled to himself. Don Emilio was full of surprises.
She began to feel uncomfortable under his scrutiny. He was different than the others she had met. Generally they were coarse men and overt in their manner. There was no question as to where they belonged. But she didn’t quite fit him into the pattern.
“What are you staring at?” she finally asked. “Haven’t you seen a girl before?” Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth she felt the fool.
He smiled slowly. “I apologize for staring,” he said. “I was just wondering why? A girl like you?”
“The money is good,” she said coldly. “I told you I wanted a Ferrari. This is the quickest way for me to get it.” She took another sip of her cocktail. “But what about you? You don’t need the money.”
He laughed easily. “There aren’t enough races like these. And life between them can become very dull if one does not keep occupied.”
He signaled the waiter and they were silent until the man had placed fresh drinks before them. Then Cesare picked up his glass and looked into it. “It is too bad,” he said regretfully. “This is one race I would like to win.”
Luke sipped at her drink. “I know how you feel,” she said, her face suddenly lighting up. “There’s nothing quite like it. The speed, the danger, the excitement. You feel alive, everything inside you tingles, the whole world is churning inside your body.”
“That’s it! That’s just it,” Cesare said quickly. An almost boyish excitement crept into his voice. “I didn’t think anyone else felt like that. It is like having everything you want in the world. All the money, all the power, all the women!”
Luke looked down at her glass. She felt almost shy. “I didn’t know anyone else could feel like that.”
He put his hands across the table on her own. She could feel the strength and power coming from them. She looked up into his face. It was intense and his eyes were glowing like a tiger’s eyes in the night.
“It is as if I had never been with a woman before,” he said softly.
A sudden fright came up in her. Not of him, but of herself. She knew too well what a man like him could do to her. She took her hands away quickly. “Let’s keep it business, shall we?” she said as coldly as she could. “We both know we cannot win.”
His voice was still soft. “Why, Luke? We are here. Why must we keep it business?”
His eyes were deep magnets and she could feel herself beginning to swirl in their depths. The familiar fever began to rise in her loins, the familiar weakness seep down into her limbs. Why did it always have to be like this? Just when she had everything worked out. She felt the bitter resentment toward herself creep into her voice. “Because with you I’m a loser. I’ve met guys like you before. It’s always the same. First thing you know you can touch the stars. Then, like that—” She snapped her fingers.
“Must it always be like that?”
She met his look steadily. “Always.”
“And you are content to go through life without living because you are afraid of losing?” he asked, almost gently.
She was angry because he had unerringly put his finger right on it. “What do you want from me anyway?” she snapped. “Are you one of those men who have to gobble up everything in sight? Possess every woman? You’re here with a woman who can probably give you more sex in ten minutes than I can give you in ten days!”
The tears of anger were beginning to flood into her eyes and she got to her feet before he could see them. “So let’s keep it business!” she said angrily. “See you at the starting line tomorrow!”
She turned and started out, almost knocking over Ileana who was on her way to the table. Ileana looked after her and then sat down in the seat she had vacated. She looked at Cesare. “Who was that?” she asked curiously.
Cesare watched Luke go out the door. “My mechanic,” he answered.
Ileana raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” She turned to the waiter who just came up. “Cinzano on the rocks, please.” The waiter left. “Your mechanic,” she repeated.
Cesare looked at her. “That’s right!” he snapped.
Ileana smiled. “You k
now I could not help overhearing her last few remarks. She is right, you know.”
Cesare didn’t answer. The waiter placed her drink on the table and left. She picked up the drink and held it toward him in a sort of mock toast.
“Just the same, I do not think I will meet you in Cuernavaca as we had planned. I will wait right here for you in Mexico City,” she said. She sipped her drink. “Not being American and therefore very understanding about such things, I think I shall give both of you the chance to find out for yourselves and prove each other right.”
18
The bright sunlight hurt her eyes after the dimness of the cocktail lounge. She put on her dark glasses and began to walk. At first she walked quickly, angry with herself. Then she noticed people were looking at her strangely. She slowed down. After all this was Mexico City. And nobody down here walked fast.
What was there about her that brought on things like this? Even when she had been a kid, it had been like that. Other girls had fellows at their houses for a study session and nothing ever happened to them. She had played it as straight as they did but something would always happen before the evening was over.
When the boy had gone, she used to sit and curse herself. Usually she never saw the boy again but there was always another. And it would start the same way. She had the highest resolves. Just the schoolbooks. She wouldn’t even go near him, would sit on the other side of the table or across the room and they would throw each other questions. At least that was the way the evening would begin.
But before long she would feel the fever begin inside her. Her legs would grow weak and her speech begin to falter. She would find it more and more difficult to concentrate on the lessons. She would fight the fever inside her, fight so hard the perspiration would break out on her face and her arms so that even she would get the faint scent of musk that rose mixed with perfume from her body.
And then it would happen. The first few exploratory kisses. She would prove it to herself. Just those kisses and then she would stop. Nothing more after that. Then suddenly the fever would rise inside her and with it would come the frenzy. The frantic tearing of clothing that was constricting to her, the wild desire to cause pain and to feel pain. The worship of the arrogant male and the need to subdue it inside her so she could be the master of its exploding strength.
Harold Robbins Organized Crime Double Page 60
