THURSDAY'S ORCHID by Robert Mitchell

looked at me questioningly. “They hang them! It stuffs up any chance of an early parole.”
    He waved his hand at me. “Don’t worry about it, Jeff. We won’t actually deliver it to Singapore. That’s the beauty of the whole scheme. We just have to put it on a ship, conceal it well, and make sure it’s not discovered on reaching Singapore. Delivery is to be taken on the ship’s arrival. We’ll have no connection with the buyer or Singapore at all. Our only problem is to figure out how to hide the merchandise amongst a shipment of innocent cargo so that it can be taken ashore without being discovered. They’ll do the discharging; we’ll do the planning.”
    It was obvious that he had no idea how to go about it. That’s what happens when you limit your area of operation – there’s a loss of perspective. I got up and started to pace around the courtyard, and then I gave it to him, starting in a quiet even voice.
    “You don’t need someone just to ride shotgun on this one, Nick. You need me to set it up for you. You haven’t got a clue, have you? You haven’t got any plan that needs refining. You want me to give you the bloody plan!”
    He straightened up on the lounge chair. “Calm down, Jeff. Of course I’ve got no bloody idea how to get the grass across! Did you expect me to invite you in because of your good looks? Come off it.” He lay back down again, the smile once more creasing his dark face. “Anyway, how are we going to do it?”
    I looked at him and started to laugh. “I haven’ t got a bloody clue either!”
    The next minute we were both laughing, the tension gone, both realizing each had been bluffing the other.
    “Okay,” I said, as soon as I could talk again. “Let’s go over it again, from the top.”
    We went back over the things he had raised: the quantity, the name of the buyer, the method of payment – bearer bonds drawn against a Swiss bank to be handed over on satisfactory delivery. The set-up was a good one. The buyer had a sound reputation as far as Nick could ascertain, and I was prepared to rely on his judgement. It wasn’t necessary for me to get too close to the merchandise during shipment. I could stand off from the action and supervise things from the sidelines. It made me a lot happier.
    “Right, Nick,” I said. “This is the deal. I put in three hundred thousand dollars.” In for a penny, in for a pound, I had decided. “But I take out fifteen percent of the net profit, not ten. I don’t act directly in the matter; the same as you don’t. I’ll manage the operation from a distance. I don’t have any ideas on concealment, but I’m sure it will come to me after I’ve had a chance to mull it over.”
    I was aware that I was treading on dangerous ground by trying to alter the split. Nick had already filled me in on most of the details. It wouldn’t have been smart to let me loose with all that knowledge if I didn’t agree to continue. But then I knew the position he was in, and was reasonably certain I could squeeze him for a bit more.
    “The percentage will be fine,” he replied, after giving it some thought. “But let’s leave your objections to direct supervision ride for the time being. Just remember, we’ll both have a great deal of money invested in this deal; and me more than you, much more. And remember what I said about the greater the risk the greater the profit.” He could see by the look on my face that I wasn’t going to back down easily. “Okay,” he continued. “We’ll go into it later. If you don’t agree with me when the occasion arises, well, we’ll just have to run the risk of leaving it unsupervised.”
    He had something on his mind, but I couldn’t tell what it was. And , as he had said, the decision would be up to me. What could I lose? At least he had agreed to the increase to fifteen percent. Maybe I should have tried for twenty, but that might have been pushing my luck too far.
    “Well,” I said. “That settles that.