‘Al right: a quarter of a mil ion, then,’ he said, smiling at her. ‘Even two hundred and fifty thousand isn’t to be sniffed at.’
But Eve wasn’t to be put off.
‘You don’t intend to give him anything, do you, Adam?’
‘You mean Hater? Why, of course. He isn’t likely to part with any information unless he gets well paid. Of course he’l have to have something: not half, but certainly something pret y big.’
‘And Kile? Isn’t he to have anything?’
‘Wel , it may be necessary to give him something to keep him quiet,’ Gil is said. ‘How curious you are.’
‘But as he is dealing direct with the Rajah, what’s to stop him taking the lot and leaving you out of it?’ Eve persisted. She had a feeling that Adam’s plans had taken care of al contingencies, and she wanted to know just what he was up to.
‘What’s to stop him?’ Gil is repeated. His eyes narrowed. ‘I would stop him. That’s something I was meaning to speak to you about, Eve. It’s up to you to find out something about him that we could use if he makes himself awkward.’
She shied away from this.
‘We’re get ing into an awful jam, Adam,’ she said, twisting her hands anxiously in her lap. ‘I’m scared. Kile expects to have all the money. Then there’s Baird. Suppose he finds out why Hater’s to be kidnapped? Do you think a man like Baird will let you walk off with all that money when he has the most dangerous part of the job to do?’