The Black Ice Score(1968)

Richard Stark

Three guys wearing black suits and holding guns were giving Parker a lesson in economics. All about the haves and the have-nots. The good guys in a new African nation were missing a treasury full of diamonds. They were the have-nots. The nation's corrupt leader had stashed the rocks somewhere in New York City. He and his henchmen were the haves. Now the good guys needed a specialist to get their diamonds back. So they came to the best in the business: Parker. Only the three mysterious tough guys came to Parker, too. They figured three hands filled with .38s could convince him to pass up this international gem game. But leaning on Parker was like pressuring a box of TNT with a short fuse.