Wyatt - 05 - Port Vila Blues Read Online Free PDF Page B

and no one ever endured his stare for long. Mansell turned and got
into the drivers seat of the car.

    But Riggs seemed to think that he
had something to prove. He winked at Niekirk, an expression edged with
contempt. See you on the next job, he said, climbing into the passenger seat.

    Mansell fired up the engine. The
Range Rover began to creep across the car yard. Niekirk watched it burble away,
on to the road and into the darkness.

    * * * *

    Five

    Springett
and Lillecrapp worked the surveillance using a pair of Honda 750s, not cars,
wanting speed, ease and concealment on the tight mountain roads. They
maintained contact on a little-used emergency band, restricting themselves to clipped
commands that might almost have been static, and kept well back, lights off,
when they tailed the Telecom van from the bank to the car yard.

    Lillecrapp went on ahead to an unlit
service station with instructions to tail the Range Rover. Springett watched
Niekirk, Riggs and Mansell make the transfer with night binoculars, stationing
himself on rising ground behind the car yard.

    So far, hed seen nothing iffybut
that didnt mean anything. Niekirk and his men could easily have been skimming
off some of the money while they were in the bank itself, let alone in the van.
Surely the temptation was there. No one had known to the last dollar how big
the take would be, after all. As soon as Springett had got word that the money
would be in the bank hed briefed De Lisle in Sydney, and De Lisle had arranged
the hit. Niekirk, Riggs and Mansell were De Lisles men, not his.

    If they were crookedand someone had
to be, given that the Tiffany brooch had suddenly shown up again then
Springett wanted to be sure of his facts.

    He took the glasses away from his
face, blinked and rubbed his eyes, focused on the yard again. The Range Rover
was leaving. Lillecrapp would pick it up farther along the road and tail it.
Springetts instructions had been clear: Stay with the vehicle until you get
an idea of where its headed. Theres no need to follow it all the way to
Sydney. What Im interested in is if they stash something somewhere along the
way, meet with someone, unaccountably double back, that kind of thing.

    Lillecrapp had blinked uncertainly,
brushing his ill-cut fringe away from his forehead. You dont want me to stop
them? Heavy them?

    Christ, no. Just do what youre
told.

    Niekirk stayed behind after the
Range Rover left. Springett watched him. The man was thorough, giving the van a
final check. Springett knew thered be no joy there for forensic technicians.
The three men had worn gloves, so thered be no prints to give them away. They
hadnt smoked; they hadnt had anything to eat or drink. They might have left
clothing fibres or shoe grit behind at the bank, but soon there wouldnt be any
clothing or shoes available for a match, only ash somewhere. These guys were
pros.

    Finally Niekirk wheeled out a big
motorcycle that had been stashed behind a rubbish skip and packed the gym bags
into the panniers. It was one-thirty in the morning when he left the yard.
Springett stayed well behind him. The roads out of the hills and down onto the
coastal plain were fast and quiet, yet Niekirk kept to the speed limit all the
way.

    There was probably half a million
dollars strapped to the bike. As Springett had informed De Lisle, it would be
in new bills, consecutive serial numbers, therefore easy to trace. But that was
De Lisles problem. Springett had no intention of ripping off the money
himself. There were fences around who would give him twenty cents in the
dollar, but that would take time and effort and leave him exposed. It was
better to take the one-third cut De Lisle was offering him to identify the
hits. Only De Lisle was in a position to get the full return on half a million,
a haul that would be like hot potatoes to anyone else.

    Springett tailed Niekirk down to the
Doncaster freeway and along it to the Burke Road exit. The traffic was sparse,
the lights in