Pat Harris turned up in the jet during the afternoon and didn't seem surprised that we had had a visit from Gatt. He merely shrugged and went off to have a private talk with Fallon. but when he came back he was ruffled and exasperated. 'What's wrong with the Old Man?' he asked.
'Nothing that I know of,' I said. 'He's just the same as always.'
'Not from where I stand,' said Pat moodily. 'I can't get him to listen to me. All he's concerned with is pushing Rudetsky. Anything I say just bounces off.'
I smiled. 'He's just made the biggest discovery of his life. He's excited, that's all; he wants to get moving fast before the rains break. What's worrying you, Pat?'
'What do you think?' he said, staring at me. 'Gatt worries me -- that's who. He's been holed up in Merida, and he's collected the biggest crowd of cut-throats assembled in Mexico since the days of Poncho Villa. He's brought in some of his own boys from Detroit, and borrowed some from connections in Mexico City and Tampico And he's been talking to the chicleros. In my book that means he's going into the forest -- he must have the chicleros to help him there. Now you tell me -- if be goes into the forest, where would he be going?'
'Camp Three,' I said. 'Uaxuanoc. But there'll be nothing there for him -- just a lot of ruins.'
'Maybe,' said Pat. 'But Jack evidently thinks differently. The thing that gripes me is that I can't get Fallon to do anything about it -- and it's not like him.'
'Can't you do anything yourself? What about the authorities -- the police? What about pointing out that there's a big build-up of known criminals in Merida?'
Pat looked at me pityingly. The fix is in,' he said patiently, as though explaining something to a small child. 'The local law has been soothed.'
'Bribed!'
'For Christ's sake, grow up!' he yelled. These local cops aren't as upright as your London bobbies, you know. I did what I could -- and you know what happened? I got tossed in the can on a phoney charge, that's what! I only got out yesterday by greasing the palm of a junior cop who hadn't been lubricated by the top brass. You can write off the law in this part of the world.'
I took a deep bream. 'Accepting all this -- what the hell would you expect Fallon to do about it?'
'He has high-level connections in the government; he's well respected in certain circles and can set things going so that the local law is short-circuited. But they're personal connections and he has to do it himself. I don't swing enough weight myself -- I can't reach up that high.'
'Would it do any good if I talked to him?' I asked. Pat shrugged. 'Maybe.' He shook his head dejectedly. 'I don't know what's got into him. His judgement is usually better man this.'
So I talked to Fallon and got a fast brush-off. He was talking to Rudetsky at the time, planning the move to Camp Three, and all his attention was on that. 'If you find anything in the preliminary clean-up, don't touch it,' he warned Rudetsky. 'Just leave it and clear round it.'
'I won't mess around with any stones,' said Rudetsky reassuringly.
Fallon looked tired and thinner than ever, as though the flesh was being burned from his bones by the fire glowing within him. Every thought he had at that time was directed solely to one end -- the excavation of the city of Uaxuanoc -- and nothing else was of the slightest importance. He listened to me impatiently and then cut me off halfway through a sentence. 'All this is Harris's job,' he said curtly. 'Leave it to him,'
'But Harris says he can't do anything about it.'
Then he's not worth the money I'm paying him,' growled . Fallon, and walked away, ignoring me, and plunged again into the welter of preparations for the move to Camp Three.
I said nothing of this to the Halsteads; there was no point in scaring anyone else to death. But I did have another conversation with Pat Harris before he left to find out what Gatt was doing. I told him of my failure to move Fallon and he smiled grimly at Fallen's comment on his worth, but let it go.
There's one thing that puzzles me,' he said. 'How in hell did Gatt know when to pitch up here? It's funny that he arrived just as soon as you'd discovered the city.'
'Coincidence,' I suggested, But Pat was not convinced of that. He made me tell him of everything that had been said and was as puzzled as I had been about Gait's apparent disinterest in the very thing we knew he was after. 'Did Gatt have the chance to talk to anyone alone?' he asked.
I thought about it and shook my head. 'He was with all of us all the time. We didn't let him wander around by himself, if that's what you mean.'
'He wasn't alone with anyone not even for a minute?' Pat persisted.
I hesitated. 'Well, before he went to his plane he shook hands all round.' I frowned. 'Halstead had lagged behind and Gatt went back to shake hands. But it wasn't for long -- not even fifteen seconds.'
