"Well, Moreno, I am going to give you a chance to prove your mettle. You know the next item on our programme is the removal of Guy Rossett." Moreno nodded. He had shot a side glance at Violet Hargrave, but she had betrayed no sign of emotion. And yet, in the flat at Mount Street, she had alluded to the project in a spirit of exultation. "It was the first item on the programme, and was shelved in favour of the later one. What do you mean precisely by the term `removal'?" Contraras shrugged his shoulders. "That I have not yet quite decided upon. The first thing is to get hold of him." "That is quite easy," said Moreno in his usual quiet way. Contraras looked at him sharply. "You speak very confidently, Moreno. You appreciate the difficulties in the way? To get him either out of the Embassy or his flat will be a tough job. He is well guarded, you may depend." "I appreciate all the difficulties, Contraras. To get him out of the Embassy is well nigh impossible. To get him out of the flat is the easier job of the two. Well, I will undertake to bring him to any place you like." "Your methods?" queried Contraras, in the same sharp tone. Moreno bowed with great courtesy to his titular Chief. "Pardon me for declining to answer that question at present. I am a very new member of the brotherhood, I have my spurs to win, I have to justify your confidence in me, or I should rather say the confidence of Lucue, for you know next to nothing of me. I want to show you that I am a little more clever, a little more subtle than perhaps you imagine. When I deliver him to you, I will possibly explain my methods, not before." "You will undertake to deliver him to us?" questioned Contraras, still speaking a little doubtfully. He was, however, very much impressed by the young man's confident manner. "On any day, at any hour you like to name," was the reassuring reply. "I will settle the details later on," said Contraras, his voice betraying a note of agitation. "Anyway, I depute you and Violet Hargrave to see that this thing is carried out." Moreno looked at the woman. "You will be my assistant in this?" he asked. Her voice was very low. "Of course, if the Chief wishes it." Contraras spoke in his most authoritative tones. "You have no choice. You took a solemn oath to obey the orders of the Chiefs of the organisation. As your Chief, I call upon you to do this." Violet Hargrave bowed her head submissively. She remembered there was a terrible penalty attached to hesitation or disobedience. She also recalled the fate of Valerie Delmonte, and her face went white. Moreno thought to himself, "Infernal old scoundrel, he doesn't care whom he sacrifices. And in the meanwhile he is living in luxury, and getting us poor devils to run all the risk." Aloud he said: "And what will you do with Guy Rossett when I deliver him to you?"