Luciano's Luck (11 page)

ever occurred to you that perhaps people turn to God when the Devil no longer has a use for them?' 'No,' she said, pain on her face. 'I can't accept that. I could never accept such a thing.' They came through the pine trees and Nino reined in on the ridge. On the slope below was an old and rambling farmhouse amongst olive trees. There was a man seated at a table on the terrace and when Nino whistled, he stood and looked up towards them, tall with broad shoulders, grey hair. 188 'Don Antonio,' the boy said simply. Luciano waited, but she said nothing, simply sat there for a moment, her face very calm, then urged her mule forward and down the slope. Luciano turned to Carter and Savage who crowded up behind him. 'Professor/ he said. 'You know how Luciano's survived all these years?' * 'No, but I'm sure you'll tell me,' Carter said. 'It's simple.' Luciano patted his stomach. 'I get this feeling in my gut and it's never wrong.' ^ 'And what does it tell you now?' � 'That this is all one hell of a waste of time. Five gets you ten that old buzzard down there isn't going to play.' In Palermo at command headquarters, General Guzzoni was in conference with his staff officers when Koenig knocked on the door and entered. Guzzoni said, 'Ah, there you are.' The weather forecast couldn't be worse, but reconnaissance planes have located a considerable armada of allied ships south of Pantellaria.' 'The feint which Intelligence has been expecting?' Koenig said. 'So it would appear. One would expect the bulk of the force to move on to Sardinia.' He nodded to the Italian staff officers. 'That will be all for now, gentlemen. I'll call you if I need you.' He waited until the last one had gone before offering Koenig a cigarette, then poured cognac into two glasses. 'Suddenly we have the allied airforces back in strength. Messina bombed twice in twenty-four hours. Harbour installations, airbases, all under attack once more. I don't like it and neither does Field Marshal Kesselring. I've just spoken to him in Rome.' 'General?' Koenig was guarded. 'The Field Marshal never did really buy this idea that 189 Sicily would be only a sideshow and Sardinia the main target. And then there's the weather.' 'I must confess I was wondering about that myself. A strange time to choose.' 'The forecast for tomorrow is terrible and for the day after. Storms, gales, rain. The only reason for coming in such weather would be because it was not expected.' 'And why go to all that trouble if the attack on the Sicilian shore is only a feint, is that what you're thinking, General?' 'Exactly.' Koenig sipped his cognac thoughtfully. 'If it wasn't a feint... If it was the real thing after all, then coming in the weather which has been forecast would make excellent sense.' Guzzoni put down his glass. 'You intend to return to Agrigento this afternoon?' 'Yes, General.' 'I think I'll come with you. See for myself what the situation is on the coast.' Luca sat at the table on the terrace, leaning on his stick something regal about him, a true Don, Katerina at his side, and waited as they dismounted and came up the steps to the terrace. He had eyes for no one, but Maria. Katerina, with both hands resting lightly on his shoulders, could feel that he was trembling slightly. Barbera kissed his hand. 'Don Antonio. This is Colonel Carter whom I've spoken of before and Captain Savage, an American officer. Don Salvatore, you know.' Luca ignored him, ignored all of them. 'Leave us,' he said hoarsely. 'All of you. Katerina, see they get fed.' She squeezed his shoulders, then smiled at the others. 'Gentlemen, if you'd come this way.' 190 Carter was reluctant to go, but Barbera pulled at his sleeve and they followed Katerina inside. Maria stood there, very tired, her hands folded in front of her. Her black dress was covered with dust and she took off her headscarf and ran her fingers through the cropped hair. 'So, it is true,' Luca said. 'You are a nun.' 4 'For four years now.' 'Wandering the mountain like a lost soul delivering babies that by all the laws should have died. To Solazzo and his friends you are a saint already.' 'Is there nothing you don't know?' 'Nothing that happens in these mountains,' he said tflatly. There was lemonade in a jug on the table and she helped herself and sat down. 'Nothing changes. Antonio Luca is still Lord of Life and Death in all Sicily.' 'I am of the Society,' he said. 'I have no shame in that. Mafia made me. It is what I am.' 'It also killed my mother.' 'It was meant for me, that day. Those responsible paid Ithe bill.' 'Does that make the dead walk?' He sat there, frowning, hands on the handle of his walking stick. 'For a servant of God, you are singularly lacking in charity. I know what I am, but what are you, Maria? The nun in white robes, struggling with the sick in hospital or on your knees in the candlelight praying to the Virgin to save the soul of Antonio Luca?' Her face was pale, her hands gripping the arms of the chair so tightly that the knuckles gleamed white. He said softly, 'Or could it be that your prayer is to the Devil to take me straight to hell?' She jumped to her feet, upsetting the jug of lemonade, turned and hurried down the steps into the garden. Katerina came out through the open window and joined him. 'Does it give you satisfaction, this thing? Are you happy now?' 'No,' Luca said. 'But then I never expected to be.' He went down the steps and walked along a path that finally brought him out on one of the terraces of olive trees above the valley, where he found her sitting on a stone wall. He sat down beside her and took a cigar from his pocket. 'Remember the summer house at Trevese? What times we had there. How old were you when I bought your first pony? Nine?' 'I broke my left arm in two places trying to jump the boundary wall,' she said. 'And we had to shoot the pony.' He sighed. 'Life walks towards death. The human condition.' There was silence for a while and then he said. 'You're happy? As a nun, I mean?' 'Perfectly. I'm a trained nurse. I spend most of my time in hospitals.' 'A strange life,' he said. 'Celibacy, for example. I could never understand that.' She laughed, unable to help herself. 'The vow of chastity is a contract with God entered into voluntarily. Because I gave up any thoughts of a sexual life doesn't mean I don't feel any desire for it. We are human beings, flesh and blood like anyone else.' 'True enough if you're my grand-daughter,' he said. 'So, the line ends here. No more Lucas when I'm dead and gone.' 'So it would appear.' And then he saw it or thought he did. 'Was that it, girl ? Was that the intention? To cut off the flow of tainted blood?' 19* 'Perhaps. I don't know.' She was confused and struggled against it. 'The woman?' 'Katerina? What about her?' 'Is she your wife?' 'No.' There was another awkward silence. He said, 'Spit it out, whatever it is they wanted you to say. You didn't come all this way for love of your grandfather.' She folded her hands in her lap. 'It's simple enough. The invasion will come soon now and the Americans need your help. One word from you and all over Sicily...' 'No,' he said. 'I will not do it.' 'Because you hate Americans?' 'I will not do it because you have asked me.' He got to his feet. 'Even Christ only had to carry his cross so far,' and he turned and walked back along the terrace through the . olive trees. Meyer was working over some papers in his office when there was a knock and Suslov entered. 'Well, what is it?' Meyer demanded impatiently 'I'm busy.' 'Several interesting new developments as regards this present case,' Suslov said. Meyer sat back. 'Go on.' 'Well, the old villain who sold him out to us was discovered on a dung heap outside the local village this morning.' 'Dead?' 'And his tongue had been cut out.' 'The traditional way the Mafia deal with an informer,' Meyer said. 'And one of our patrols has found a parachute caught in a tree not a mile from the farm where we picked up our friend yesterday.' 193 'A supply chute?' Suslov shook his head. 'No, very definitely the other variety. British. The kind their paratroopers use.' Meyer's eyes glittered. 'This could be important. He must be made to talk. He must.' 'What would the Major suggest?* 'I give you one more chance your way. If that doesn't work, then we'll try scopalomine.' 'Very well.' Suslov turned to the door and opened it. 'One other thing. We've a patrol very much overdue,' 'The same area?' 'Yes.' Meyer nodded. 'Then get to work. It would appear there are a great many questions to be answered and our friend may provide the key to all of them.' Luca sat at the table on the terrace drinking Zibibbo, an anis-flavoured wine from the island of Pantellaria which was a particular favourite of his. Carter sat opposite him and Luciano and Savage watched from the other end of the terrace. Carter said. 'The invasion comes tomorrow or the day . after, depending on the weather. I make no secret of this. I trust you as a man of honour.' 'Colonel, I salute you as a soldier and as a scholar, but you're a rotten salesman.' � 'Don Antonio, if you give the word, the whole of the Cammarata will rise as one man. There's a fair chance that ; most Italian troops in the mountains will surrender with- ; out firing a shot. They're brave men, but they've had enough of Mussolini.' 'I'm not interested in Italy, only in Sicily,' Luca said. 'Then help us kick the Germans out.' 'Colonel - Professor - whatever you are. The Nazis have lost the war. They lost it in 1940 when Hitler stood back '� 194 and let the British Army escape at Dunkirk. All we need to do is sit back and wait.' 'And see thousands of young Americans die needlessly fighting their way through the Cammarata?' 'Not my affair.' 'Why, because they sent your brother to the electric chair? Must all Americans suffer?' Luciano said to Savage, 'There's no percentage in this and you can tell Carter I said so. He's wasting his time. I'm going to take a walk.' He moved through the garden and found Maria walking along the terrace between the olive trees towards him. 'What's happening?' she asked. 'Carter's ramming his head against a stone wall called Antonio Luca.' 'He won't help?' 'Wouldn't lift a finger. Obviously, you didn't get anywhere either.' 'Why should I?' There was a curious edge of bitterness to her voice. 'I came here for one reason only and it certainly wasn't for love.' 'How stupid, when you think about it. I've avoided him for years, made my feelings absolutely plain. And now, to turn up in such circumstances, expecting him to come running, like snapping one's fingers to a dog.' She walked up through the trees towards the house, head bowed, and Luciano turned and moved down towards the valley. It was shortly after noon when they dragged Detweiler out into the courtyard at the rear of the police barracks. There were two posts in the centre and a thin, hollow-faced man in ragged clothes was strapped to one of them. He had obviously been terribly beaten, Detweiler was aware of that as they strapped him to the next pillar. 195 Suslov said, 'Right, this is it, then. No last cigarette. They're in short supply.' Detweiler was aware of the firing squad on the other side of the square as the Ukrainian pulled a black bag over his head. His brain refused to function and his mouth was so dry that he couldn't cry out. There was a pause that seemed to go on for ever, a shouted command, a sudden volley. Detweiler hadn't even braced himself for death, simply hung there in the straps, aware of steps moving towards him. The bag was wrenched from his head and Suslov said, 'Still with us, I see.' Detweiler turned and saw that the man next to him hung there, saturated in blood, head lolling to one side. 'Always like to make sure,' Suslov said. He took his Walther from his pocket and fired at point blank range. Pieces of bone and blood sprayed, the body sagged and Detweiler cried out. Suslov nodded to the guards. 'Bring him along.* Detweiler was half-conscious as they took him upstairs between them. He was aware of being dumped in a chair and opened his eyes to find himself in Meyer's office. The Major came round the desk. 'Still nothing to say. Well, we'll soon remedy that.' He picked up a hypodermic. 'Scopalomine, otherwise known as the truth drug.' Detweiler tried to struggle, but Suslov and the guards held him firmly and Meyer moved in dose and rolled up his sleeve. It was very hot, very still on the olive terraces and thunder rumbled on the horizon, as Luciano produced a pack of cards he had found up at the house. He took out six and lined them up in a crack in a large rock. Then he walked away. There had been a time when he could draw, turn and 196 hit a playing card six times at that distance inside a second, but that had been long ago. His hand went under his jacket, found the butt of the Smith and Wesson. He drew, turned, crouched, arm extended and fired very fast. He went forward to examine the cards, reloading as he did so. Three out of six. Not bad, considering. Luca said, 'So the hand has lost its cunning.' Luciano turned and found him standing a few yards away leaning on his stick. 'You want to try?' Luciano offered him the gun. Luca balanced it in his hand, then emptied it very deliberately, taking his time, hitting four of the cards. 'Not bad,' he said. 'A tendency to pull to the right. Maybe you could lighten the trigger.' Luciano took the gun back and reloaded. 'It's good to see you again.' 'And you, Salvatore, even on a fool's errand like this. What possessed you to do such a thing? The promise of a pardon?' 'Only a possibility,' Luciano said. 'Nothing on paper.' Luca was astonished. 'Then why did you come?' 'You've been to prison. You know how it is. Can you imagine how a thirty-to-fifty year sentence feels for something you didn't do?' Luca nodded. 'Yes, I can see that almost anything would be preferable to that.' Luciano said, 'Anyway, what about Maria?' � 'Maria and I have nothing to say to each other/ 'So, you will not do as Carter asks?' Luca said, 'Salvatore, what has this nonsense to do with us? Whatever happens, Mafia will survive. Mussolini couldn't crush us. Neither could the Germans. The wise man keeps his own council and lives a hundred years. You know the saying.' Luciano hesitated, then bowed his head formally. 'If �97 that is your decision, then I accept it, naturally, Don Antonio.' Luca put a hand on his shoulder. 'Then you will stay here with us. We can talk of old times, old friends . . . Stay, Salvatore.' He reached for Luciano's arm. 'Together, there is nothing we can't accomplish. Eventually, you would take my place, that goes without saying.' 'Capo di Tutti Capi in all Sicily.' Luciano smiled, remembering Maria's words. 'Lord of Life and Death.' 'Look what's happened to Mafia in New York,' Luca said urgently. 'For some of the families, whores have become big business. They tell me there are even those who deal in children. I ask
you. Can you believe that of a true Sicilian. And this drug thing. Infamita. And not for a man like you. Stay here in Sicily, where you belong. Where you have respect.' His fingers had hooked into Luciano's arm and there was a strange kind of pleading on his face. Luciano detached himself gently. 'I'm sorry, old friend,' he said. 'But I can't be the son you never had. I go back with Carter and take my chances with that parole board. If it works, I'd be free again -really free - for the rest of my life.' 'And if it doesn't?' Luciano shrugged. 'I'll deal with that when it happens. And there's Maria to consider. She certainly won't stay here, you must see that.' He turned and fired left-handed so fast that it sounded like one continuous roll and knew what he would find even before he reached the cards. Six hits, each card drilled cleanly. 'Remarkable,' Luca said. 'I know,' Luciano smiled. 'It's this weather, you see.' He looked up into the sky as heavy drops of rain spotted the dry earth. General Eisenhower was due to go to Malta with Field Marshal Alexander and Admiral Cunningham. Waiting for his staff car he had a final cup of coffee, standing in front of the map of Sicily on the wall of his office at dar el Quad. There was a knock at the door and Cusak entered. 'A signal from Admiral Ramsay with the fleet, General.' 'Anything important?' 'Everything is going well except for the deteriorating weather. Force four to five winds over the sea.' Eisenhower nodded. 'Any word from Colonel Carter?' 'I'm afraid not.' Eisenhower put down his cup and reached for his cap, 'There are 2,500 ships out there. Air Chief Marshal Tedder's promised us blanket air cover of five thousand planes when the right moment comes, the sole aim being to put 115,000 British and Canadians at one end of the island and 66,000 of our boys at the other to drive the enemy out of Sicily.' Cusak helped him on with his fieldcoat. 'Quite a responsibility, General.' 'One hell of a job of organizing,' Eisenhower said. 'Months of research, planning, arguments, sleepless nights, and the irony is that the whole damn thing could quite easily stand or fall on Carter's negotiations with this - this mountain brigand or whatever he is.' 'Carter could still bring it off, General.' 'Well, all I can say is he's running it damn close,' Eisenhower said and he picked up his briefcase and went out. At the farm it had started to rain. Katerina sat at the table at the end of the terrace with a pack of cards, laying them before her one by one. Maria came out of the living room and stood watching her. Katerina said, 'You have wasted your time, I think.* 199 'So it would appear.' Maria sat down opposite her. 'I should never have allowed them to persuade me to come. He is the same man I ran from so long ago.' 'Not true,' Katerina said. 'Everything changes.' 'Even Antonio Luca?' 'He is not the man today that he was yesterday. Are you the same woman you were when they came to you back there in your convent? Has nothing changed?' Maria smiled sadly. 'You're right, of course. There I had certainty, the days had a pattern. Now, there is only ,doubt.' She hesitated and when she spoke it was from the �depths of her being. 'I even doubt my vocation now. I thought I sought God, now it would appear I was only fleeing Antonio Luca.' 'You hate him so much?' Maria touched her breast. 'It is like a stone in here, a-constant pain that won't go away!' She sat back. 'But for you it is different, I think. You love him.' 'Oh, yes, for me that is the only certainty.' > They sat there in silence. Behind them Luciano and^ Savage appeared in the doorway. Katerina shuffled the cards and laid them out again. Maria said, 'The Tarot?' 'Yes.' 'I haven't seen that done since I was a child. My mother ; constantly sought news of the future.' ; 'It is there for those who would see.' " 'Irrevocably?' 'I'm not certain. Perhaps a warning only. An opportunity to take another road.' Maria watched her for a while and then said, 'Let's.; see what the cards have to say for me.' Katerina shrugged. 'If you like. Your future on one i j card, although I don't think the Vatican would approve.' ( She counted quickly and flipped over the seventh card. . 200