Paradise Gold: The Mafia and Nazis battle for the biggest prize of World War II (Ben Peters Thriller series Book 2) by Vic Robbie Page A

ready to go.
    ‘Still, we listen to all ideas no matter how stupid they may appear to be.’ Rovicco gave a strangled laugh and glanced over at Manny as though seeking agreement.
    ‘So make it good, you dumbfuck,’ Paradiso interrupted.
    Rovicco flashed him a look of anger, making him shrink back against the wall apologising ‘Sorry, Mr Rovicco.’
    ‘Tell us what you know.’ Rovicco glanced over at Manny whose eyes were scouring Durant’s face.
    ‘And don’t fuckin lie, we can smell fuckin bullshit at a hundred paces,’ Manny said. ‘Remember, we have your life in our hands and if we don’t like what you’re tellin us we’ll hand you back.’
    He swallowed hard. Although he had hoped they might forget, he’d given his initial conversation with Paradiso much thought. He studied the logistics of the suggestion he’d planted in Paradiso’s mind. With his knowledge of the island acquired in his role as an analyst, he believed an operation could be mounted that might be successful. It would need the assistance of Raymond, the Resistance leader on the island, and backing from the army and naval officers who still supported the Free French. If it followed his strategy and succeeded, it would be beneficial not only to the islanders but also perhaps to America and Britain. So he felt better prepared than when he blurted it out to Paradiso on Long Island in an attempt to save his neck. The seeds of a plan that might save his life, and be a solution to some of his country’s problems, had bloomed in his mind. And at every opportunity he added more detail to make it a genuine working proposal. Within the intelligence corps in the US government, he would find it hard to sell as a serious proposition, yet to an organisation driven by greed and unfettered by legalities it might just have a chance.
    Convinced he was on home ground, he cleared his throat. He must ignore the fact he was talking to Mafia bosses and his life was on the line. He had to imagine he was addressing a Washington committee. Something he had done many times before in his role as a State Department analyst. The art, he knew, was making possibles seem like probables and diminishing the impossibles so they all but evaporated. He knew it might work. It should work. It had to work to extricate him from the clutches of Paradiso’s bosses. First, he must convince Rovicco and get Manny on side, and if he succeeded it might be a major step towards helping his country fight a probable war against Germany.

14
Dannemora, New York State: Tuesday, October 21st, 1941
    T he Clinton Correctional Facility dominated the New York State town of Dannemora. Its high, grey walls stretched into the distance with tall observation towers on each corner manned by guards, armed with rifles and binoculars, who kept a constant watch on the prisoners penned in below. It gave Paradiso the shivers. One slip, one unguarded moment, one slight change in circumstances and he could be a guest of such an establishment. It made him nervous and on a misty morning he had a lot to be nervous about. It wasn’t every day you got to meet the capo di tutti capi , the boss of bosses. On his way up the stories about the boss had been legion. With every one his respect grew for a man who, although incarcerated behind these walls on a thirty to fifty-year stretch for pandering, could still reach into every corner of your life.
    He had been told by Rovicco to meet him and Manny at the Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn just after dawn for the flight north. He was banished to the back of the six-seater plane and for most of the flight Rovicco and Manny were deep in conversation. Although he strained to hear, the drone of the engines drowned out their low monotone. And if there was one thing he hated it was silence. Every time he tried to join their conversation with some inane subject like the weather they both glared at him forcing him to turn to his own thoughts.
    The other thing making him nervous was