Passage of Arms by Eric Ambler

Author:Eric Ambler
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller
ISBN: 9780307950000
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 1959-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

The call to Manila came through on time.

Greg was still out of temper, and cut through Mr. Tan’s preliminary courtesies almost brusquely.

“Mr. Tan, I’ll come to the point. The prospective buyer doesn’t want to deal through your brother.”

“Oh. Does he give a reason?”

“He says he doesn’t trust him, but I have an idea that that’s not the real reason.”

“I see. And what do you think the real reason is, Mr. Nilsen?”

“Are you paying your brother a commission?”

“Of course.”

“Well, I think he’s trying to make the buyer pay him a commission for the introduction as well.”

There was a pause. “What do you propose, Mr. Nilsen?”

“That I negotiate on my own with the buyer, and that you tell your brother to behave himself.”

“Leaving everything in your hands, Mr. Nilsen?”

“You’re covered. Your brother has the customs documents. He can hold on to those as security.”

There was another pause before Mr. Tan said: “Very well. I will cable to my brother.”

“Today?”

“At once. It is a pleasure to do business with you, Mr. Nilsen.”

At five o’clock there was a call from Captain Lukey.

“Did you inspect the stuff?” Greg asked him.

“Yes. It seemed pretty fair. What about Tan?”

“He’s taken care of.”

“Good show.”

“Do you want to talk business?”

“Be over in a jiffy.”

Despite his admitted eagerness to buy, the Captain proved to be a stubborn bargainer. It took an hour and three stengahs to force his price up to fifty thousand dollars. His method of haggling was to isolate two items, the machine pistols and the bazookas, admit their worth, and then insist on putting a nominal valuation on the remaining items. He wore a tortured expression throughout, gnawed steadily at his mustache as if it were hurting him, and covered sheets of hotel stationery with pointless calculations. In the end Greg became impatient.

“Captain, we’re not getting anywhere. Sixty-five thousand is rock bottom. If you don’t want the stuff, just say so.”

“But if we disregard the rifles …”

“Well, let’s not disregard them. They’re there, and that’s the price.”

Eventually, at sixty-two thousand five hundred, there was a meeting of the minds. When they had shaken hands on the deal, the Captain grinned.

“I’d have paid sixty-five if you’d stuck out.”

“Well, I’d have gone down to sixty if you’d stuck out,” Greg replied, “so we’re both happy. Now, about terms. Cash on delivery, of course. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. If you’ll get a certified check made out and meet me at the Customs House tomorrow morning, we’ll square it all away.”

The Captain stared at him indignantly. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, old boy.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I’m only the liaison officer, the agent. I have to follow the drill.”

“What drill?”

“Well, I told you. Those people are funny about money. They like to do the paying out themselves.”

“As long as it’s clearly understood that the stuff stays where it is until I have sixty-two thousand five hundred dollars in my hand, I don’t care who does the paying.”

“You needn’t worry about that, old boy. They want that stuff and the sooner the better. This is how we handle it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.