Battle for Inspector West by John Creasey

chair. He must not throw his life away, he must wait, wait, wait and listen to this leering brute, this …
    â€˜I like her, very much,’ went on Carosi. ‘It is perhaps a good thing for her. Perhaps. It may be a good thing for you. I do not know, yet. Grant, I have much to do. No time to waste with you. The past, it is past. I have new plans.’
    â€˜Which concern me?’ Grant forced himself to ask.
    â€˜In some ways, a little, in other ways a great deal.’ Carosi spread his thick hands over the gun. ‘Grant, I bring you here, I show you I am in possession, your father works with me. He does not do so willingly.’
    Grant couldn’t keep the question back.
    â€˜Is he here?’
    â€˜He is here,’ said Carosi. A faint sing-song note had crept into his voice. ‘He will assist me. You, also. Until you have done what I wish, you will not see your wife again. Your father and your wife are both my hostages. I can ruin your father, easily. Those papers you destroyed, they were but part of the whole story. I have the rest. He does exactly what I require, because he must. No one can help him—or you. You think perhaps of Scotland Yard, that they “protect” you—protect! They allow your wife to be taken away, they cannot save anyone from Carosi. You begin, I hope, to believe that.’
    Grant said: ‘Yes, I think I do.’
    â€˜It is beginning,’ approved Carosi. ‘Understand this. I am not a mean man. I am big. I forgive you for what you did in the past. But I will make you, all of you, suffer very much if you do not do what I tell you in future. That is understood?’
    Grant felt suffocatingly hot. ‘Yes.’
    â€˜It must be. I shall watch you, closely. In my life I learn one big rule. I trust no one. But of the police. Through you, they hope, they catch Carosi. So, I make big trouble.’ He laughed. ‘They concentrate near Uplands. Good! You will return there, and wait until you have instructions from me how to behave. You will be attacked. Often. You will not be killed, you will not be hurt. You understand?’
    Grant said: ‘I think so.’
    â€˜It is what they call the decoy,’ Carosi said. ‘You will appear very frightened. Worried, for your wife. You will always complain bitterly. You will do all you can to make it appear you are afraid of being killed. But if you behave as I instruct you, you will be all right.’
    Grant said: ‘I don’t get it.’
    â€˜I will also tell you this,’ said Carosi. ‘You fail me, you disobey, and many unpleasant things happen to your wife. Tell the police you have come to a house where you are told you will find her. She is not there, so you return to Uplands. Then wait. I will send instructions.’
    â€˜You didn’t bring me here just to tell me that and send me back.’
    â€˜No, no,’ said Carosi. ‘I bring you here to show you that I have much power. I possess your father’s house. It is one place where the police will not consider looking. I repeat: you will receive instructions about what to do from time to time. That is all.’
    Sweat was standing out on Grant’s forehead, and his voice grated.
    â€˜I’ll do what you want, but let me—let me see my wife.’
    â€˜No. She will remain all right, if you obey. But wait.’ Carosi put out a hand, touched a bell-push, and sat back, putting his hands over the gun again. Grant hardly knew how to sit there, not knowing what to expect, not daring to hope, but hoping. Then footsteps sounded in the outer room, and the door opened.
    Grant saw his father.
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Chapter Twelve
Betrayal
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    Sir Mortimer entered the study quietly and closed the door. He nodded to Carosi, then looked at his son. He was tall and imposing, rather florid of face and running to fat. His eyes were grey – the same colour as his son’s – and he was strangely calm.
    Grant saw