Chapter 17
The visit of the legendary Juan Peron to the most popular city in the southern Andes was an event of moment. The local inhabitants had decorated the plaza with flags, bunting, and bright flowers. The local military band arrived at six in the morning to begin practicing. The snow of the day before was cleared from the plaza itself and hauled off by trucks. On the north side of the plaza, facing the lake, a wooden reviewing stand had been erected. Coffee vendors arrived early to set up their coal-burning fires. A red carpet was laid to the monument in the center of the square, and committee women kept casting anxious eyes at the sky for any sign of fresh snow.
Although the celebration was scheduled for eleven o'clock, the small plaza was jammed with people before nine. Some people established positions to see the celebration. Others milled about in groups, greeting friends and neighbors.
David Foster parked the Mercedes two blocks north of the plaza, carefully choosing a place where no one could block him in. He joined a group of tourists alighting from a tour bus and walked with them to the square, always taking care to be among the people and not alone. He was constantly conscious of the heavy automatic in his jacket pocket, which reminded him of the reason for being there. He broke from the tour group when they arrived at the plaza and casually joined a cluster of people standing by the reviewing stand. Buying a cup of steaming coffee from a vendor, David began studying the early crowd.
By the time she reached the edge of the plaza, Jenifer's legs were weak from the long downhill walk. She had waited until David had left the house, then ransacked the place until she found a skiing outfit that fitted her moderately well. The jacket was too tight and she felt as if her breasts were standing out a mile in front of her, but the stretch pants and the ski boots were snug and comfortable. She had pulled her hair up in a bun and was wearing an Austrian ski cap as an effort at disguise. She also carried the gun that David had given her. She had no idea why she had brought it. She wasn't even sure that she could remember what David had told her about operating the automatic. In fact, Jenifer was beginning to wonder why she had followed David at all. What did she hope to accomplish? All she knew was that she had to be near him.
She spotted David almost immediately and her heart jumped to her throat! He was standing not fifteen feet from her, sipping coffee and looking at the crowd. Fortunately, he had his back to her and Jenifer managed to disappear into a tourist shop before he saw her. The sight of the coffee in his hand made her mouth water and Jenifer was about to buy a cup from a vendor who came in the shop when she realized that she didn't have one cent to her name! She smiled at the irony of the penniless rich girl and settled back to watch David through the window.
Jenifer's heart again caught in her throat when she recognized her husband walking along the street. What in the world is Peter doing here, she asked herself? As she watched him walk slowly down the street with his eyes roving the milling crowd, Jenifer became aware that a tall, very attractive Latin girl with auburn hair was following him. Every time Peter stopped, the girl stopped and ducked behind people to avoid being seen. Jenifer's curiosity didn't extend to a desire to warn Peter. When she looked at her husband, she realized that he was a complete stranger to her now. She felt no regret, only mild curiosity, but she did wonder why Peter was being followed by an attractive girl. Was it someone he had used to pass the lonely hours while Jenifer had been held captive? Or was Peter in some danger? Was he mixed up in this affair that David was working on?
Glancing back at David, Jenifer was just in time to see him move away from the reviewing stands. She slipped quietly out of the shop and followed him.
It had taken David fifteen minutes to locate the Hawk in the crowd. He was standing casually by the museum at the far comer of the plaza, diagonally across from the office that he would use in a little while. David had to admire the Hawk's professional approach as he walked slowly around the plaza. He noticed that the plaza was filling more rapidly now and it was difficult to make progress on foot. David glanced at his watch and noted that it was almost ten o'clock. A little over an hour!
David's muscles tensed and he automatically ducked into a doorway when he recognized Yolanda. He had come within several feet of running into her as he tried to cross a comer of the plaza. Fortunately, Yolanda hadn't seen him! As he watched her from the doorway, David realized why. She was intently following somebody, and David was certain that that bulge in her pocket wasn't her hand alone. He raised up on his toes to try to see who she was following. A sea of people greeted his eyes and he was about to give up when the crowd momentarily parted and he caught a glimpse of the man that Yolanda was tailing. Peter Martin!
What in the hell is he doing here, David asked himself? Raitman agreed to keep him out of the area! He's not only here, David said to himself, he's picked up Yolanda as a tail! And complicated the hell out of my job, he added a little bitterly. David cursed the fact that he was alone. Raitman's team was due at noon, an hour after the whole mess would be over! With everything taking place a day early, David resigned himself to handling it alone. He was glad that he had caught the announcement on the radio the night before. He couldn't help feeling that he could have done without the addition of Peter Martin and Yolanda.
When she saw David dart into the doorway, Jenifer experienced her first fright. Until that moment, it had been a game to her. The very fact that David had been frightened enough to move quickly alerted the young girl to the danger of the situation that she had placed herself in. She fought back an urge to return to the security of the house on the hill. David might need me, she told herself, gripping the gun in her pocket and moving carefully behind him when she saw David leave the doorway and head across the plaza.
When David arrived at the comer across from the steps to the museum, the Hawk was gone. Moving as quickly as he could without calling attention to himself, he climbed the steps to the door of the museum and turned to study the crowd. There were at least five thousand people in the plaza now, and David couldn't see the Hawk anywhere. Sandoval had been dressed in a business suit, but three-quarters of the men in the plaza had on business suits. Argentina wasn't a country of colorfully dressed peasants. The average person looked very much like any American or European businessman.
David's trained mind worked rapidly. It was too late to waste time here. He had to head for the building across the plaza and intercept the Hawk there. His eyes scanned the crowd quickly, searching for Peter Martin and Yolanda, but they were nowhere in sight. Taking the steps two at a time, David headed for the street by the lake. It was out of his way, but he knew that he would be able to move faster. Half way down the steps, David caught a brief glimpse of the Hawk. He was standing at the entrance to the building across the plaza, being searched by two men. Security police, David said to himself, and they'll search everybody entering that building. David knew that he would never get past those men with the automatic in his jacket. Fortunately, he had thought of that the day he studied the plaza.
David had to control himself to keep from breaking into a run as he walked quickly along the lake. Above all, he didn't want to call attention to himself at this point! As soon as he passed the building on the far side of the plaza, he broke into a trot and made his way to an old apartment house that was behind the plaza and separated from the other buildings by an alley six feet wide.
Jenifer couldn't keep up with David, but she saw him stare across the plaza just before he left the steps of the museum. When she caught a glimpse of the Hawk standing at the door, she knew that that was where David was headed. Then, as she pushed her way slowly through the crowd, Jenifer saw the tall Latin girl who had been following Peter. The girl stood talking to the men at the door for a moment, then entered the same building that the Hawk had entered. Peter was nowhere in sight. Jenifer knew that she was over her head in the situation, yet she refused to turn back now. If the Latin girl could get in that building, so could Jenifer!
David had guessed correctly that the security police wouldn't cover the old apartment building. He cursed when he found the front door securely locked. This was neither the time nor the place to pick a lock, so David darted around the comer and grabbed the fire escape that he remembered seeing. It was old and rusty and David had to hang his entire weight on it before the old steel ladder creaked down. He thought that the clatter of his boots on the iron rungs, as he made his way up the fire escape, could probably be heard all the way in Buenos Aires, but no curious soul even opened a window along David's journey to the roof of the building. He eased his head above the ledge of the roof and breathed a sigh of relief when he found no security police staked out on the roof of either building. They're probably on the roofs of the buildings facing the plaza, he told himself as he made his way across the top of the apartment house. His hands were stinging from the cold steel of the fire escape.
A movement below him made David flatten himself in the snow on the roof when he arrived at the side closest to the building that the Hawk was in. David lifted his head just enough to see over the edge of the building and found himself staring at Ignacio Sandoval less than six feet away. The Hawk was retrieving a long package from the snow on the landing of the fire escape on the building across the alley. David held his breath and dropped his head slowly. His luck was holding. The Hawk hadn't looked up.
When he heard the door to the building close, David again raised his head. The Hawk was gone and David pulled himself to a kneeling position. There was no guard at the bottom of the fire escape! Then David spotted a security officer standing in the street outside the alley. The man was drinking a cup of coffee and watching the crowd.
Just as David began pulling himself up to spring for the landing across the alley, he heard a clatter below and he quickly flattened himself in the snow again. Someone was climbing the fire escape. Inching his eyes above the ledge, David recognized Peter Martin pulling himself up on the landing! Christ, David muttered to himself, are we going to have a damned convention in here? He watched Peter open the door and slip into the building. David cursed to himself and waited. He fully expected to hear Yolanda's steps on the fire escape next. When his ears were greeted by dead silence, David pulled his head up to peer down into the alley. The girl was nowhere in sight, and David decided that he sure as hell wasn't going to wait for her! He crouched on the ledge and jumped. His outstretched hands caught the railing and he pulled himself onto the landing with a minimum of racket. The band was playing in the plaza and David knew that that would cover what noise he had made.
The hall was pitch black and David flattened his back against the inside of the door while he fitted the silencer on his automatic and allowed his eyes to adjust. He remembered seeing the hall take a sharp right turn a few feet from the door to the landing, and when his eyes adjusted to the darkness he made his way silently along the wall. He heard a loud cracking sound of wood breaking and rushed to the comer just in time to see Peter Martin kick a door in and start to rush into an office with a gun in his hand. There was the low burping sound of a silencer and Peter Martin fell back with the left side of his head blown open.
David darted across the hall and caught Ignacio Sandoval reloading his high powered rifle. David raised his gun and fired. The Hawk looked startled, then slowly fell forward with blood gushing from the hole in his temple.
"DAVID, LOOK OUT!"
He recognized Jenifer's voice, but he didn't stop to ask himself what she was doing here. He propelled himself back into the dark hall and fell flat on the floor. Two shots rang out before he touched the cold floor. The "first one ripped through the collar of his jacket and embedded itself in the plastered wall with a ping.
David turned his head and saw Yolanda sprawled on the floor a few feet away. Standing above Yolanda's body with a gun in her hand was Jenifer!
Scrambling to his feet, David quickly placed his gun in Peter's hand and took Peter's automatic and shoved it in his jacket.
"Come on!" he snapped to the terrified girl. "You ladies didn't use silencers. This place will be swarming with police in a minute. I hope you can jump! By the way, Jenifer, thanks! Now come on!"
He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall. David cracked the door to the landing and peered out. Miraculously, the alley was still deserted! And for some reason the guard wasn't in view on the street below. David had serious doubts that Jenifer could make the jump to the ledge on the opposite building. He decided that they would take their chances on the fire escape and alley. They raced down the steps and jumped to the snow-covered alley.
"When we get on the street," he whispered hoarsely to her, "walk slowly. Don't hurry, whatever you do. Make like a tourist. Got it?"
"Right on!" Jenifer giggled, using a phrase she had seen in the newspapers.
"Well, they'll be right on our ass, baby, if we're not careful! And it seems to me we have a lot of explaining to do."
"Thank God you're alive to explain it to!" she said tartly, reminding him that she had just saved his life.
"Right on!" David replied, taking her arm and walking casually down the street toward the plaza.