The Negotiator [antikvár]

The dream came again, just efore the rain. He did not hear the rain. In his sleep the dream possessed him.There was the clearing again, in the forest in Sicily, high above Taormina. He emerged from the forest and walked slowly toward the center of the space, as agreed. The attaché case was in his right hand. In the middle of the clearing he stopped, placed the case on the ground, went back six paces, and dropped to his knees. As agreed. The case contained a billion lire.It had taken six weeks to negotiate the child's release, quick by most precedents. Sometimes these cases went on for months. For six weeks he had sat beside the expert from the carabinieri^s Rome officeanother Sicilian but on the side of the angelsand had advised on tactics. The carabi-nieri officer did all the talking. Finally the release of the daughter of the Milan jeweler, snatched from the family's summer home near Cefalii beach, had been arranged. A ransom of close to a million U.S. dollars, after a start-off demand for five times that sum, but finally the Mafia had agreed.