The Xavier Affair — Robert L. Fish

A quartet of kidnappers make the mistake of hiring Da Silva as their driver

Chico Xavier needs cash. His father has cut off his allowance, and for a university student with expensive taste -- and an even more expensive girlfriend -- this is a death sentence. And so he and his friends arrange to kidnap one of their school chums: a fellow dilettante who lets himself be taken in exchange for a cut of the ransom. Two days of criminal behavior, Chico thinks, and they'll all live happily ever after -- or die in the Rio sand.

To store the victim of their faked kidnapping, Chico's girlfriend pays a taxi driver for the use of his house. But the driver is no ordinary cabbie -- he is Captain José Da Silva of Interpol. He can't tell if Chico's scheme will turn out to be tragedy or farce, and so he plays along, hoping to save the kidnappers from themselves.