"Good morning, Mr. Phelps." "Conventional law enforcement agencies have been unable to interfere with the operations of these two men, Ollie Shanks and Rudy Blake, who run the loan-shark racket in the islands for the Syndicate." "Now they are about to transfer almost $10 million in profits to the mainland, thereby motivating the organization to set up additional projects in this new territory." "Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it, is to discourage the Syndicate from any further large-scale expansion into the islands by getting possession of that $10 million and putting Shanks and Blake out of business for good." "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds." "Good luck, Jim." "Can I help you?" "Well, l-l-I've dropped my purse, and I can't seem to find all my cards." "Well, let's see, now." "Island Enterprises, security desk." "Thompson speaking." "Jim, this is George Collins." "I forgot to tell you, Sawyer asked me for the night off, so I hired a man to take his place, name of Jack Wharton." "Put him on as soon as he gets there." "Okay, Mr. Collins, I'll take care of it." "Shanks' right hand." "Good job, Casey." "See you later." " You Jim Thompson?" " Yeah." "Wharton's my name, Jack Wharton." "George Collins hired me." "Ever do this kind of work before?" "I told you, mister, George Collins hired me to fill in for Sawyer." "All right." "Here's your stuff." "Let's get started." "Sawyer handles the second floor." "I'll give you a rundown on the routine." "Now, every hour on the hour, you check all the windows." "Got that?" "We check the office doors every 30 minutes, and after every tour, you punch in here." " That clear?" " Sure, it's clear." "Okay, then." "I'll be up later to see how you're doing." "I'll be here." "She cleaned him out." "Say, Thompson, how you doing?" "Good evening, Mr. Shanks." "Old Lucy here couldn't wait to get to my place, so we're gonna go to the office, have a little drink, right?" "That's right, honey." "Sure thing, Mr. Shanks." "Mmm." "Mm." "Mmm." "Honey, are you all right?" "Get out of the way!" "Security." "Yeah, we've been robbed." "A big dude in guard's threads." "Right, Mr. Shanks." "Yes." "Right." "Hold them." "Mulvaney and Travis were picked up in Los Angeles." "They're being held there." "We can't even be sure Willie's alive, can we, Jim?" "Well, they'd certainly want to know who he was working with and for, Casey." "If he was captured alive, they've probably kept him alive, at least, so far." "But where, Jim?" "That's what we have to find out." "Now, the mission comes first." "We have to put Blake and Shanks out of business." "If we handle it right, we can save Willie at the same time." "So we're gonna pose questions, one on top of another, until it seems there's only one man in the world who world can answer them." "Steve?" "The paperwork on the airplane's ready." "Good." "The cat's ready, too." "The trainer says this is infallible." "Right, Casey." "Can we make another cast of Shanks' right hand, Barney?" "No time, Jim." "We'll have to go the other way." "All right." "Mulvaney and Travis are supposed to meet them at airport information tomorrow morning." "We've got one thing working for us" "Bolt and the Syndicate had a lot of doubts about setting up this island operation to begin with." "But I don't have to tell you, unless we make everything work for us," "Willie hasn't got a chance." "You know, what I'd like to know is how this dude got a cast of my right hand." "That shouldn't be too hard to figure out." "You probably just passed out in some broad's apartment." "What bothers me are the rest of the details." "This thing was just too well-planned." "We've got to know who's behind it." "Was it an inside job?" "Was it the Syndicate?" "Was it even the law, maybe?" "Is that clear, Dr. Matter?" "Yes, of course." "However, as you know," "I have a weakness for material things, and I have not yet received a retainer." "We figured $5,000 now... $10,000 when we get the rest of the answers." "That will be satisfactory." "Thank you." "Penyo?" "We won't be coming back here again-- it's safer that way." "Show these gentlemen out, please." "This way, please." "Hey, Wham?" "Hey, you'.!" "Hey!" "You don't have to do that." "Come on, baby, come on." "Good morning." "Come on, come on." "Look up." "Come on, come on." "Do you always attack animals with any weapon you happen to find available?" "You ought to be ashamed of yourself." "Look, I'm sorry." "It was like a reflex, you understand." "I mean, I would never have stuck it." "Oh, sure." "No, really." "Animals, I really dig." "Especially beautiful animals." "Hey, look, it pains me to see us starting off on the wrong foot." "Oh, starting what off?" "What's got to be a groovy thing." "Oh, really?" "Look, first of the day, very special." "I learned it on the outer islands from an ex-spy, who learned it in Southeast Asia, where it blew his mind, which is..." "Which is why he's an ex-spy." "You're terrific." "No, I mean for real." "Animals, I really dig." "I haven't seen you around before." "I just got Crittendon's place up the beach." "He's in my house on Cape Cod." "And who are you with at Crittendon's place?" "Just kitty." "Hey, come on." "Just kitty?" "Just kitty." "That's nice." "Here's to kitty." "To kitty." "Attention-- final call for flight 254 to San Francisco, Portland and Seattle boarding at Gate Nine." "Flight 254, final call boarding at Gate Nine." " Mr. Mulvaney?" " Yeah, right." " Rudy Blake." " Hi." "How's Mr. Bolt?" "He's fine, just fine." "Where's Travis?" "I had to leave him in L.A." "A little, collection problem." "This is George Collins." "We'll pick up Ollie on the way into town." "How are you feeling?" "Oh, I'm sorry." "There's nothing I can do about that." "What is this place?" "I can't tell you that either." "Who are you?" "Penyo." "Well, I've got quite a headache." "I'm sure you do." "The doctor will prescribe something." "Doctor?" "Dr. Matter." "And you?" "Wharton, Jack Wharton." "It is time we dropped our pretenses." "I should like for you to walk out of here." "I believe I can guarantee that, if you will be cooperative." "Okay, so you asked me my name and I told it to you." "I mean your real name." "Look, Doc..." "Who else was involved in your robbery attempt?" "Okay." "Okay, I'll come clean." "I was trying to heist Blake and Shanks." "That is hardly a startling admission at this point." "Who was working with you?" "I was alone." "The empathaline." "Yes, Doctor." "I'm sure you've heard of truth serum." "This is my own variation of it." "It is not a benign drug." "You will suffer considerable discomfort." "It is an experience you would do better to avoid." "Now, who was working with you?" "Nobody, man, nobody." "There we go." "I thought about it, and the very most in thing you can do is to water-ski, but it has to be behind a plane." "You got a date?" "Are you a pilot?" "Oh, you're kidding." "That's fantastic." "Oh, are you very good?" "Because you have to fly very low and very slow, and you can't stall out." "I lose a lot of boyfriends that way." "Lady, I'm the most together pilot there is." "What kind of plane do you have?" "Well, I just traded in my Flightmaster and I'm waiting delivery on a Clarrion 320." "That's fantastic." " Excuse me." " Right." "Rudy, baby" "Hello, Ollie." "We just thought we'd come by on our way back from the airport." "Terry Ames-- she's got the Crittendon place." "Rudy Blake." " How do you do." " How do you do." "Greatest guy in the world, if you dig squares." "This here's George." "Now how can I describe George?" "Just plain George, I guess." "And this here, uh..." "You're quite a comedian, huh?" "Ah, that deadly voice-- must be Bolt's man." "Stow it, Ollie." "this is Joe Mulvaney." "How you doing, Joe?" "No hard feelings?" "No." "I thought you were bringing a boy with you." "Rudy said a black guy." "Yeah, that's right." "Something came up." "He couldn't make the trip." "Oh, well, relax." "Enjoy the surroundings." "Excuse me." "Hello." "Yeah." "Yeah, this is Ollie Shanks." "I'm with Clarrion Sales, Mr. Shanks." "The new district manager." "I just wanted to tell you that your plane is here and well, she sure is a beauty." "I was wondering whether you might like to drop down and take a look at it." "How about right now?" "Yeah, I'll be there." "Fine, sir." "I'll be waiting." "How about a drink, Mr. Mulvaney?" "No, no, thanks, not for me." "Ah, all virtue, no vice, huh?" "Well, uh, why don't we go downtown and take care of our business?" "Listen, I've got a couple of things to do this afternoon." "Tonight would be better for me." "Oh, that's fine." "It'll give us a chance to do a final audit." "Well, tonight it is." "Say, why don't we all have dinner tonight, the Takala, about 8:00?" "The Takala's good." "Now, your name." "Wh-Wharton..." "Jack Wharton." "Who planned the robbery?" "'An- 'an" "I did." "We have quite an unusual subject here." "However, I think we'll get to him or kill him trying." "Here you go." "And here you go, Mr. Shanks." "Compliments of Clarrion." "And now," "I'd like to propose a toast." "May your new plane fly like a bird always." " Cheers." " Cheers." "Is she gassed up?" "She's being filled right now." "Let's go." "Oh, I'd love to, but I thought you had to get back to town." "Business is only business." "You and me, we're like birds, we're gonna fly." "Oh, you missed one, Mr. Shanks." "If you please." "I got the alarm." "Good, Barney." "Bill?" "Watch the station for a minute for me, will ya?" "Sure." "So you see, those figures come in at just under ten million for Mr. Bolt, which is the amount we've got waiting for him in the vault." "I can tell more from your books than I can from these." "Right, Mr. Mulvaney." "Right after dinner." "That thing's just a double check for us." ""Us"?" "You and Shanks have a very close relationship." "I brought him along fast." "You know, he was a hit man when he was 17, and a good one, too?" "I know he comes off as a swinger, but he's a hard worker, and one of the smartest guys around." "Then the only thing he lacks is punctuality." "George, you want to check the airport?" "Clarrion Sales." "Okay, Mr. Blake." "I noticed that some of these columns are in multiples of nine instead of eight." "Are you boosting interest rates again?" "Hello." "Uh, I'm trying to locate Ollie Shanks." "He came over to your..." "I'm so glad you called." "We've been trying to get in touch with someone in regards to Mr. Shanks for the last hour." "Now, we're not sure but, there may have been a terrible accident." "What time?" "Where?" "Where is she?" "Is that all you have?" "Thanks." "Mr. Blake, there's been an airplane accident." "Ollie is missing." "They found the girl half drowned on the beach at Mahapi." "She's in the hospital there." "It was horrible." "It was just awful." "The, the plane just seemed to fall apart when it the water." "And... and, well..." "Ollie was about 30 yards away." "I screamed for him, and then the sharks hit." "And then... the water churned white and then red." "There must have been a whole school of them." "I heard Ollie scream and... and then he just disappeared." "I knew there was nothing I could do, and I just swam as hard as I could and I woke up on the beach." "That's all I know." "Poor Ollie." "We have business, Mr. Blake." "One minute you have a friend and partner, the next minute like he never existed." "Oh, yeah, Mr. Bolt told me about that." "It's quite a setup." "It ought to be." "We put out enough bread for it." "Ten mil..." "The money-- the money's gone." "Gone?" "Yes, gone!" "All of it gone!" "What do you mean?" "Ten million dollars stolen!" "How?" "Only two people in the world can open that safe, you and Shanks, right?" "So how?" "I don't know how, but I'm going to find out." "You realize Mr. Bolt is expecting me to bring ten million dollars back to the mainland tonight." "Well, you'll just have to explain to him." "No, I don't have to explain it to him, you do." "Operator, I'd like to make a person-to-person call to the mainland, please." "You're awake?" "Where's the doctor?" "Downtown in his office." "Why are you involved with him?" "I am working out a debt of honor to him." "He helped my father escape from prison in his native country." "My father was a political prisoner and would have been shot." "My father asked him what he could do for payment." "And I'm here working out his debt." "Dr. Matter has been good to me." "Is he a regular doctor?" "Yes." "But sometimes he does... special jobs." "Like this?" "You're a nurse." "Don't you object to this kind of thing?" "I have no choice." "Cut me loose." "I cannot betray him." "Tell him what he wants to know, and he'll let you go." "Do you really believe that?" "Please tell him or else he'll be giving you more and more of the medicine." "And it will kill me." "Yes, sir." "Yes, Mr. Bolt, I understand." "He's catching a plane." "He'll be here first thing in the morning." "And you still won't help me?" "I will do nothing." "Your fate is in your own hands." "Please act wisely." "Only two people could open that safe, you and Ollie Shanks." "It wasn't Ollie." "And it wasn't me either." "Somebody's got the ten million." "Well, it wasn't either one of us!" "Is that what you're going to tell Mr. Bolt when he arrives?" "Listen, suppose I'm Ollie Shanks and I want that ten million dollars." "And I want to lie in the sun somewhere and have a different girl every night," "I"IO pressures, I"IO worries." "Ten million dollars can go a long way, but only if I can live to enjoy it." "So, I find a girl-- somebody like Terry Ames-- and she tells a wild story about my plane going into the drink and sharks and all of that." "And I've got my ten million dollars and I'm clean for good because everybody thinks I'm dead." "No, Ollie wouldn't have." "I tell you I brought that kid along." "Either he did it or you did it." "Okay, then where's Ollie now?" "I don't know, but I'll bet that Miss Terry Ames does." "George, get out to that hospital, keep an eye on the girl." "If she leaves, follow her." "Okay, Mr. Blake." "Hello." "Hello, Mr. Blake." "I found her." "Where?" "She's at the Clarrion sales office." "Just walked in there pretty as you please." "And if that girl was in an airplane crash tonight," "I'll eat my shirt." "Don't you let her get away from you, George, or those sharks will really have a fine time for themselves." "You may be right." "Miss Ames is at the airport." "What?" "What happened?" "Welcome back to the world of the living." "Oh, no." "You sure must have had a lot more of those Southeast Asian slingers than you were letting on to everybody." "One glass of champagne and out you went." "Now, wait a minute, I didn't have all that much to drink." "Besides I don't pass out from booze." "Well, then you sure did a good imitation of it." "Mr. Wells and I both tried to wake you up." "Neither one of us could, so I persuaded him to let you sleep it off here." "Something's wrong." "Well, if it wasn't the alcohol, maybe you should see a doctor, huh?" "Yeah, sure." "Come on, let's get out of here." "You'll be all right." "I'll drive you home." "Come on." "Hello." "Mr. Blake, Ollie's alive." "Alive?" "!" "That's right." "He's with the girl, and they're headed for his place." "I don't know what you want me to say." "Only the truth." "We are your friends." "We don't want to see you in pain." "You were working with others, weren't you?" "Yes." "Yes, and they planned very well, didn't they?" "Yes." "How did they know about the money?" "We were told." "You were told by whom?" "By whom, my friend?" "BY Whom?" "!" "No, no, I've-I've told you everything." "I was alone." "Prepare another injection." "Five en's." "Doctor, please pardon me." "The last injection was only 30 minutes ago." "Are you arguing with me, Penyo?" "No, I..." "I just don't want you to lose him, Doctor." "Perhaps I should remind you." "Your skills are far from indispensable." "Prepare the hypodermic." "Yes, Doctor." "She's quite right to be concerned about you." "You have an exceptionally strong constitution." "It is quite possible you'll be able to survive very large doses of the empathaline." "Survive, that is, as a vegetable." "Here you are, Doctor." "Thank you." "Hello, Ollie." "What are you doing here this early in the morning?" "What's that for?" " Mr. Blake, I can explain" " Shut up." "Get his gun." "Hey, look Rudy, I'm clean." "What's this all about?" "Be nice, Ollie." "There's very little keeping you alive right now." "I trusted you." "I would have torn myself apart for you." "What's this all about...?" "$10 million worth the Syndicate money, and you set me up for the fall!" "Rudy, have you gone crazy?" "Ollie, he knows." "He knows!" "I'm..." "Mr. Blake, I'm sorry." "Please, please, don't kill me, please." "Maybe I won't have to." "Maybe, if you tell me where the money's hidden." "I don't have the money." "That was his job." "My part was in the hospital." "That's all I had to do." "Please, you've got to believe me." "How about it, Shanks, your life for the $10 million." "I never touched that money, Mulvaney." "If it's missing, he had to take it." "And this fox, lying about me." "She's got to be working for him, too." "What do you say to that, Blake?" "What do I say?" "It kind of makes sense, doesn't it?" "You steal the money, you hire the girl to make it seem like it was him." "It could go either way." "I think it's time we got that straightened." "Hold it." "Freeze." "The name's Travis." "You're his boy?" "I'm nobody's boy, man." "I work for Jack Mulvaney." "He got picked up in Los Angeles." "They missed me." "That cat was a cop." "So's the broad." "Well, Shanks, your parties seem to be getting wilder and wilder." "Mr. Bolt." "Thank you for what you did." "It was not honorable, but I could not let him destroy you." "Then cut me loose." "I cannot do that." "But he'll be back." "There'll be more of the medicine." "Close your eyes." "Doctor, he's still unconscious from the last dosage." "Let me know as soon as he's awake." "Yes, Doctor." "Penyo, there isn't much time." "Stop it." "Stop it." "Stop asking me to do what I cannot do." "I beg you." "Look, I don't know you, and I don't know that he was a cop." "There are four possibilities:" "Blake, you stole the money and laid it on Shanks, or, Shanks, you stole it and laid it on Blake." "Or they stole it and put it on you two." "Or all three of you stole it, and put the blame on that poor gentleman impersonating Mr. Mulvaney." "Meanwhile, I'm out $10 million." "Mr. Bolt, it's so clear." "He was trying to set Ollie and me against each other, knowing we were afraid of you." "He was trying to use us to get enough information to break the organization here." "Theories." "But where's the money?" "There may be someone who has the answer." "Who?" "A guy tried to heist us last night." "That's right, Mr. Bolt, and we've got an expert working on him, trying to find out who hired him." "And if you could find that out, then maybe you could find out who's telling the truth around here." "Let's go." "You two stay here." "What's the idea, Mr. Bolt?" "To be frank, Mr. Travis, if that's who you are," "I prefer that the only guns in there belong to my man and myself." "Doctor, he's still unconscious." "You've got to make him talk, Matter." "I can try a larger dose-- it might work." "Or it might send him into shock and kill him." "Doctor, do it." "Bolt is sure hot to kill someone." "You'd be hot, too, for ten million bucks." "Don't make a sound, George." "I'll take that." "Please." "There goes ten million bucks." "Well, now at least you know it wasn't Ollie and me." "Do I?" "You're going to be all right, Penyo."