by Nick Carter
“We haven’t seen any man,” Terri said innocently.
“It’s such a disappointment,” Jerri added disgustedly.
“I’m not one to see phantoms,” Marcus said. I heard him take a tentative step forward. “It will be awhile before the professor finishes his breakfast and sends for one of you. Since I am already here, perhaps we could amuse each other with a little—”
“Absolutely not!” Terri broke in. “Our contract says we are here for Dr. Warnow exclusively. We’ve been warned not to play games with any others.”
“But well think it over,” Jerri said mischievously.
“Teasers,” the guard said. He backed out and the girls closed the door. The lock snapped.
“Now we really are in trouble,” Terri giggled.
“But what fun,” said her sister.
“Big thanks,” I said, and slipped the Luger back into its holster. I grinned. “Maybe I’ll find time to repay you. Is it true that you are here only to . . . uh . . . service “Warnow?”
“You heard what we told Marcus, we’re just wind-up toys for the American scientist,” Terri answered.
“And considering the kind of a man he is, that doesn’t take up much of our time,” Jerri said, and moved closer to me.
“How did you get into this?” I asked.
“You mean what are nice girls like us doing in a place like this?”
“Something like that.”
“We answered an ad in a San Francisco underground paper,” Jerri said. “ ‘Congenial girls wanted for travel, excitement, adventure.’ ”
“And obviously, you got the job.”
“Sure. There must have been fifty other girls, but we had the advantage of being twins.”
“That isn’t all you had,” I said, taking note of their generously displayed endowments.
“I like you,” Terri said.
“I’ll bet you’re a lot more man than the professor, too,” Jerri added.
“His sexual talents, or lack of them, don’t interest me,” I said seriously. “But he happens to be the most dangerous man alive, a threat to the U.S. and the whole world. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but believe me, at this moment there is nothing more important to the future of the human race than for me to get into Warnow’s laboratory. And I want you girls to help me.”,
“You mean that silly old laboratory is more important to you than this?” Terri said, lifting her shorty nightgown even higher.
“And this?” Jerri chimed in, thumbing the waistband of her pajama bottoms and sliding them halfway down her rounded hips.
“I said more important, girls, not more enjoyable.”
“Why should we help you?” Jerri asked. “You won’t even be nice to us.”
It was plain that patriotism and humanitarianism were words that wouldn’t register inside their pretty blonde heads. But without their help, my chances were nil.
“As the old saying goes,” I told them with a poker face, “You scratch mine, I’ll scratch yours.”
A pair of radiant smiles lit up the room. “You mean you will?” the twins chorused.
“If you’ll help me get into Warnow’s lab.”
Nodding in happy agreement, they each took a hand and led me toward a stack of multi-colored cushions where they quickly peeled their flimsy coverings. In a flash they were naked, striking various seductive poses among the cushions. I discovered that Terri had a tiny mole just below her left breast, and by this alone I was able to tell the twins apart.
It was the one time in my life that I was in a hurry to complete what is perhaps the mast fascinating of all human transactions. And so I set a new world’s record for removing the most clothing in the least time.
“Mmm, delicious,” Terri commented.
“I knew he’d have more than that old professor,” Jerri approved.
“Come lie here,” Terri directed, “right between us.”
Swiftly I kneeled and arranged myself in the classic position above Terri’s eager little body.
“I didn’t mean between me, but between us,” she said with a sighing little groan that seemed anything but a complaint.
“Are you objecting?” I asked her as I entered the gateway to paradise.
“Ohhh—nooo,” she moaned.
“Then hereafter, I’ll call the plays,” I told her, and plunged on, into the tunnel of love.
That was how it began, though in a very short time, we assumed an endless variety of gymnastic positions, most of them not covered in the marriage manuals.
After awhile we got so wrapped up in each other that Jerri said in a small, woeful voice, “I don’t really like playing seventy.”
I had been placed in an awkward position for conversation, but turning my head with a mighty effort I asked innocently, “What does that mean, Jerri?— playing seventy.”
“Lord, everyone knows that,” she answered peevishly. “Seventy is sixty-nine with one watching.”
I reached out to her and, with little coaxing, she became a third partner in one of the most complex, exotic and exhausting performances I can remember. And I remember quite a few.
Afterwards, as I began to dress quickly, the twins eyed me with happy expressions, punctuated by little smiles and winks of gratitude. It was Jerri who said with a long, happy sigh, “You know, I think we three would make a fantastic couple.”
But my thoughts were already absorbed with the problem of Warnow and company. “All right,” I said, “the fun and games are over. Now let’s see if we can’t find a way into Knox Warnow’s sanctum.”
They nodded, almost in unison. But their faces expressed no real interest.
“You do remember our little bargain?” I asked them.
“Yes,” said Terri with a frown. “But it might be dangerous to help you.”
“Besides,” Jerri added. “We have a lot to lose. They’re paying us more money than we’ve ever seen in our lives. When we leave here, we intend to use it to open a little dress shop.”
At that moment I had the decided impression that the twins were not nearly so dumb as they pretended to be.
“So you’re going to open a dress shop when you leave here,” I said. “And what makes you think that you ever will leave here? You’re prisoners, don’t you know that?”
Terri shook her head “We’re not prisoners at all. We come and go as we like. When we’re tired of being cooped up, we take walks all over the. place. And nobody stops us.”
“Of course,” I said. “You can go where you like because there’s no way out of this rock fortress except by air. But tell these people you want to quit and ask them to fly you out of here. That’s when you’ll find out what you should’ve guessed long ago—that you might as well be slaves in chains.”
Now I had their undivided attention. Their cute lit-tie faces had grown solemn, and they exchanged fearful glances.
“I didn’t risk my life to come here for laughs,” I went on hastily. These people intend to take over America and the whole world by atomic force. Their bombs are already placed in key cities of the U.S., ready to explode one by one if our country fails to meet their demands.”
I looked at my watch. “If I can’t get to Warnow, who is the only one who can trigger the devices, the first atomic bomb will destroy New York City and all its people in just over two hours.”
I nodded as they gaped in astonishment. “Yes, those are the facts. And so you gals can stop putting me on with the dumb blonde act, and get on with it. Because, aside from Warnow, who has denounced his country, we are the only three Americans in the midst of the enemy camp.
“And without me, you’ll never make it out of here alive.”
“Oh Jesus God,” said Terri. “What can we do to help?”
“I want the procedure used to get you two in and out of Warnow’s lab, living quarters and whatever. I want you to tell me anything you’ve seen in there that might give me a clue to his operation. And make it fast; the time to move is now!”
They both started to talk at once. “Hold it,” I said, “Terri, you begin.”
“There’s a relief guard,” she said. “But Marcus is on duty most of the time. He sleeps in that little room outside the professor’s door, which seems to be made of solid steel. And he alone escorts us back and forth. He presses a signal button and Warnow comes to the other side of the door, opens a flap and speaks through a kind of iron grill. There’s no key to that door; it opens from inside—and the professor never leaves for any reason.”
“Okay. What else?” I snapped. “What’s inside?”
“As you go in,” said Jerri, “there’s an office with a desk and a phone. The place is bare, no other furniture. But there are filing cabinets. And a large framed map of the U.S. that hangs on a wall near the desk. There’s another door leading from the office to—”
“Wait a minute!” Terri interrupted. “Behind that map, there’s a wall safe. Well, not really a safe. But a square cubbyhole.”
“How would you know that?” I asked her.
“Because one time, as I was going in, I saw it. The map had been taken off its hook and was sitting on the floor below this hole in the wall about a foot square. Warnow had papers spread over his desk that he must’ve been reading while he waited for me. I guess he’d forgotten to put the papers away and cover the space with the map.”
She chuckled. “Or else he thinks I’m too dumb to know a hole in the wall from you-know-what. Anyway, I pretended I didn’t notice, and at the time I wasn’t especially curious. Next time he sent for me, the map was in place, no papers around.”
“How does he tell you apart?” I asked, merely to confirm my educated guess.
“I have a mole right here,” Terri said with only the hint of a smile as she pointed to the area below her left breast. “And as you see, we wear different costumes to distinguish us.”
“All right, Jerri, go on. What’s in the room next to the office?”
“Well, it’s really one big room divided by a curtain. On one side is the bed, a couple of pieces of furniture, and a bathroom that connects to the office. On the other—don’t ask me. I’ve never seen it I think it contains some kind of equipment. Oh yes, and next to the bed there’s another of those inside phones.”
“Did you ever hear him talking on those phones?”
“Only once. But it was a kind of double talk, and I didn’t understand it”
“Twice when I was there, he got calls,” said her sister. “I didn’t get what he was talking about either. But I think I do now.”
“Tell me about it, Terri.”
“Well, he seemed very angry. And he said something like, listen, don’t pressure me, general, And don’t threaten. Remember, if I go, everything goes with me. And that includes Moscow, general I arrived there with two suitcases for the conference. But somehow, one got lost.” And then he paused and he said, ‘Does that tell you anything, general?’ ”
“I don’t know what it tells the general,” I commented. “But it tells me plenty. Warnow’s got the system rigged so that if he dies, all the cities including Moscow will die with him. He’s not only an evil bastard, he’s a damn clever one.”
For a minute my mind spun as I sorted out the various aspects of a workable plan. Then I said, “On the one hand, time is the most important factor. But I don’t see any way to hurry the action. I can force Marcus to take one of you to that door. But I can’t make Warnow open it unless he takes the initiative. That is, unless he has already sent Marcus for you.
“Also, I can’t force my way in behind you without killing Marcus, who will be standing right at the door where Warnow can see him. And before I could take care of Marcus, he’d slam the door in my face. So everything depends on you girls. Whoever is today’s vio-tim has to jam something in that door to keep it from shutting completely, and do it without being seen by Warnow. And that calls for a miracle of timing.”
“I have a better idea,” said Terri. “The one who has the nod from the professor goes into the bedroom with him, gets him primed and in bed. Then she pleads that she has to go to the john. He can’t argue with that, so shuts herself inside the bathroom, flushes the john, then runs through to the office side, and opens the steel door for you. Then she gets back through the connecting door and climbs in bed with Wamow.”
“Pure genius,” I said.
“But meantime, you’ll have to get rid of Marcus,” Terri rushed on, “and be waiting at the door.”
“Give me about five minutes,” I said. “And I want Marcus lured in here by the gal who stays behind—so I can take care of him quickly and silently.”
“He doesn’t usually want both of us for the morning quickie,” said Jerri. “But suppose he does?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be prepared for almost anything,” I told her.
There was another thoughtful silence and then I said, “Now all we have to do is wait. But for how long?”
“He’s like a clock,” said Terri. “It should be any minute now.”
“Sure,” said Jerri. “But if this is his big day to wipe out New York, maybe he’ll be nervous and hell have no appetite for the bed.”
“Oh Jesus,” Terri groaned.
And I said nothing, Because the enormity of that question and the potential disaster riding on the answer numbed my brain.
Twenty-One
There was a sort of dressing table in a dim corner of the room and I crouched behind it, completely screened from the door. The minutes ticked off endlessly as my cramped muscles begged for relief. At last I stood. It seemed foolish to remain in that awkward position when there would certainly be the warning sound of a key in the door.
A half hour went by as I reasoned that the enormous question had been answered Warnow was going to dispense with frivolous entertainment and keep his mind on the grim business of the day, his hand ready to send the signal that would blast the city of New York into the sky. And unless at the last hour the President decided to risk a national panic and evacuate Manhattan, the fate of all those people was in my hands.
Waiting, I fought an expanding sense of dread by calculating the feasibility of half a dozen alternate plans. They were all practical and clever enough. But each came to a dead end—at the impregnable steel door between me and Warnow.
From time to time, I heard vague, muted sounds from the tunnel corridor. Garbled voices, the hollow thump of heavy feet, the clank of metal. The girls listened for me with ears pressed close to the door, but reported that they could hear nothing of importance, just useless bits of chatter as a number of men, all apparently in a hurry, went striding past.
Then, after a long period of silence, as I was about to gamble on any desperate ploy, no matter how insane the risk, there was an impatient knock on the door, followed instantly by the rasp of a key in the lock.
I was already well concealed when Marcus burst into the chamber of the professor’s concubines and bellowed, “You there—Little-Miss-Mole, the American demands your services on the double! The professor has been delayed by a visit from the high brass, and he says if you don’t come at once hell feed you to the general’s dogs for supper.”
“Oh Lord, those dogs would gobble poor little me in three bites,” said Terri in her dumb blonde voice. “Let’s hurry before the professor loses his hot.”
“I think you mean his cool, not his hot, Terri dear,” corrected Jerri.
“I call ‘em like I see ‘em, darling,” she answered, and scampered toward the door.
“Oh, Marcus!” cried Jerri, “after you deliver my sister, would you come back for just a teeny minute?”
“Come back?” snapped Marcus irritably. “What for?”
Tm lonely and—and I need a real man, not that tired old bag of bones.”
“Yeah? Is that so now?” said Marcus, his voice crackling with excitement. “And what could you do with a real man in only a teeny minute?”
“Could you spare two teeny minutes?”
“I could spare plent
y but I might get into trouble.”
“I won’t tell. And don’t you think I’m worth taking a weeny chance?”
And then, after a dreadful, uncertain pause, “Yeah, HI be back. In less than a minute. Be ready!”
As if it were an exclamation point of acceptance, the door slammed with a thud. And there was then a great vacuum of silence.
“Don’t waste a second,” I low-voiced to Jerri “And keep him busy!”
“Hell never know what hit him,” she murmured, and I ducked down again.
In a matter of seconds, Marcus returned.
“As you see, I’m ready, lover-man,” said Jerri.
“I’m more ready than you’ll ever be,” he told her with a nervous chuckle. “But I’m supposed to be guarding Warnow’s door and there’s no time to undress.”
“Forget that silly door,” answered Jerri. “A wild bunch of elephants twenty feet tall couldn’t break it down if the room inside was floor-to-ceiling with peanuts.”
Apparently Marcus was too far under the hypnosis of desire to answer. But after a minute he let out a couple of all-business grunts as Jerri said, “Oh—my —Cod, you are just too much!” and I sneaked from behind the dressing table.
I stepped lightly but swiftly forward with the stiletto. I hovered above them for an instant as I hoisted the weapon over his broad back. Jerri’s open eyes dilated at the sight of me.
Suddenly, prodded perhaps by some animal instinct, or by the look in Jerri’s awe-stricken eyes, Marcus lifted his head and turned half toward me.
So instead, I buried the blade in his chest.
His mouth gaped and his eyes were positively incredulous. But then, with only a small cry and a terrible grimace as I swiftly withdrew the knife, he obediently collapsed on top of Jerri and was still.
I wiped the blade on his uniform Jacket and restored the weapon while Jerri, wearing the most horrified expression, tried vainly to shove the body away from her. So I grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked, and he rolled off to the floor. He stared up into an eternity of space.
Jerri sat and wiped a smear of blood from her naked body with a comer of sheet while she gazed at me with an expression I could not accurately define. Except to say that it was possibly a mixture of admiration, disbelief at the close reality of savage death, and a tinge of loathing. Loathing for me, the blood, or the corpse, I could not tell.
