May There Be a Road (Ss) (2001)

by L'amour, Louis

  He strode from the office. After all, Duro was right. It would be an utterly preposterous story.

  Ships of several thousand tons displacement do not vanish into thin air. As for witnesses, no doubt fifty people had noticed the Semiramis, but how many could see her name at that distance? The Chittagong, moored in the same place, would be considered the same ship. The few who knew better could be bribed or frightened.

  Then, he was aware of the fact that his own reputation did not appeal to many government officials. He had been in action against the Japanese and Germans in the East Indies before the war began. That his aid had been invaluable to the Dutch and British was data burned deep into reports of their intelligence services. The fact that he had usually profited from those services would be enough to blacken his reputation with some people.

  A man of Norden’s strength could build a substantial case against a lone captain of a tramp freighter with a mixed crew. Even if he won in the end and proved his point, it would require months of red tape and argument. In the meantime, what of his ship and his men?

  Just why Norden wanted planes Mayo did not know, but the presence of Nazis on the hump of Brazil boded no good for the Allies. It was too near the source of bauxite for American planes.

  It was a place of great wealth and poverty, two elements that were often unstable when combined.

  What Ponga Jim Mayo wanted done he must do himself. No doubt the communications were controlled by Norden, and it was to be doubted if any message he might send would be allowed to leave Fortaleza.

  No doubt the freighter had been moved to some nearby river mouth or minor port where the plane would be removed. Possible anchorages were few, but there was nothing he could do to search. For the moment, the Semiramis and her crew must get along on their-own. Don Pedro would expect him to protest to the government. He would expect excited demands, protests, much noise. In that case, it would be very simple for Don Pedro to have him sent to an insane asylum. Certainly, a man claiming someone had stolen an unknown ship and its crew would be insane enough for most people.

  Long ago, Ponga Jim Mayo had discovered that attack was the best defense. He had discovered that plotters like to take their own time. He knew that one man with energy and courage could do much. So he wasn’t going to protest or demand, he wasn’t going to argue. He was going to carry the fight to the enemy.

  Jim bought a suit of khakis, and returning to the hotel, changed from the bedraggled suit. Castillo Norden was on a spur of Mount Jua, approximately ten miles from town. In the side street not far from the hotel was a disreputable Model A. Nearby a Brazilian loitered. He was a plump, sullen man with a mustache and round cheeks.

  “How much to rent the car all day?” Mayo asked.

  The Brazilian looked at him, bored. “You go to Castillo Norden, my friend,” he replied, “you go to trouble.”

  Ponga Jim grinned. “Maybe I’m looking for trouble. Do we go?”

  The Brazilian tossed his limp cigarette into the gutter. “Why not?” he said with a shrug.

  They rattled out of town and drove in silence for several miles. The man paid no attention to the main road, but took side roads toward Mount Jua. “I am Armando Fontes,” he said, “always in troubles.” He looked at Ponga Jim, his eyes sullen. “You have a gun?”

  At Mayo’s nod, he drew back his own coat and showed an enormous pistol stuffed in his waistband. “I, too!” he spat. “These men are bad. You better watch out. They got plenty stuff.”

  Leaving Fontes with the car, Ponga Jim walked up the stable road. He saw no one. It was easy to understand why Carisa and Peligro had been sure the road was safe.

  It led through two rows of trees that would have allowed quick concealment in case of need.

  Then he passed the stables and went on through the garden. He glanced back and saw a workman at the stables had straightened and was watching him, but when the obrero saw himself observed, he hastily bent over his work.

  It was late afternoon when Ponga Jim slipped behind the boll of a palm, then behind a clump of hibiscus at the edge of the terrace where he had stood the night before.

  He was waiting there when the French doors opened suddenly and Don Pedro Norden came out, walking with Don Ricardo. “You will see,”

  Norden was saying, “the planes will be here. The fields have been ready for months. As you know, there has been no passport control at Fortaleza and we’ve been importing technicians, army officers, engineers, all sorts of men, most of them Germans.”

  “What about the Japanese?” Valdes suggested.

  “Ready. The colonies around Cananea and Registro will act simultaneously with those here in Ceari and those on the Amazon. Our men have been posted in key spots for weeks now, ready for the day.

  The transport planes will move them where they are needed.”

  Valdez smiled grimly and nodded.

  “You will give the word?”

  “Soon. There are approximately three million Germans, Japanese, and Italians in this country. Most, of course, want no trouble but our men will hide in those communities and when the time comes they will make sure that the right kind of incidents Occur. I think we can count on a good many joining us once they are threatened by the government.

  “First, seventy key men will be assassinated.

  To allow for mistakes, each man is covered by two groups. Vargas and Aranha are among the first, of course. Both are strong, capable men, and without them the army will have to step in.

  “So Paulo will be seized—it is practically in our hands now. Also Mangos. The Amazon will be closed to traffic, all available shipping will be impounded. Our airfields here and at Teresina will be receiving and refueling planes. We will have Brazil before Vargas realizes we are moving.”

  Valdes nodded. “A good plan, and a careful one.” Norden snorted. “How did I make my money, Don Ricardo? By taking chances? I made it by planning. At all my properties in South America there are bases. Fuel is stored, the two ships in Fortaleza harbor are full of munitions for our cause, we are ready. This amphibian we picked up today—it will be priceless in getting about. We need many planes now, and they are hard to get.”

  “What of the United States?” Valdes asked.

  “Will they interfere?”

  “The Germans believe so. I doubt it. The Axis backs this move because they want a diversion, something to divide the strength of the North Americans.

  The Yankees will send some forces here, but we can handle what they send. The Americans are soft—their own correspondents say S.”

  Valdes nodded. “Perhaps, but His Mayo, he took that situation over last night too fast to suit me.”

  “Him?” Norden sneered. “I’ll have him in an asylum before the week is out. He will be telling people his wild story of a stolen ship. It is too preposterous!”

  “Perhaps.” Don Ricardo was uneasy. “You have been successful but perhaps you are too sure.”

  Valdes hesitated, biting his lip. “Don Pedro,” he said slowly, “I have been hearing stories. When the amphibian landed here one of the men recognized it. The plane is special, made to order for Count Kull, one of Germany’s most dangerous secret agents. It was taken from him by an adventurer in the East Indies.”

  “You mean—Mayo?” Don Pedro was scowling.

  “Just that. What I’m saying, Don Pedro,”

  Valdes insisted, “is that Ponga Jim Mayo may be a very dangerous man.”

  Norden paused. “Perhaps. All right. You have convinced me. I’ll give the order that he be killed on sight. Now let us go in. I could use a drink.”

  Chapter 3

  Killed on sight. Ponga Jim watched them go.

  At least it was all in the clear now. The amphibian was here. If he only knew where the Semiramis was!

  He stood still, staring out across the spacious grounds that surrounded the Castillo Norden. What a fool he was to believe he could cope with all this alone.

  Don Pedro Norden had stood upon the te
rrace like a king, a man who knew great power, yet thirsted for more. He was no petty criminal, no agent of a foreign power. He was playing the Axis off against the United States to win more power for himself.

  Even to hope seemed foolish: Yet, instinctively, he knew that to plan was to play Norden’s game. The man was shrewd, he had power and held all the strings. Ponga Jim stood behind the hibiscus and knew that there was only one way out—right through the middle. Don Pedro had built well, but could the structure stand attack?

  He glanced around. There was no one in sight. He caught the rack on which the wisteria grew and went up, hand over hand, to the balcony above.

  He flattened against the building. He had been unobserved so far as he could see. He stepped to the window and pushed it inward. Carisa Montoya sat before a mirror in her robe, polishing her nails.

  “Hello,” he said cheerfully. “Did I come at the wrong time?”

  She stiffened and swallowed a scream. “You? But Jim, are you mad? If they find you here, they’ll kill you. You’ve got to get away!” She caught him by the arm. “You must now “After all my trouble getting here? Anyway, why are you worried? And whose team are you on, anyway?”

  “Not on theirs,” she said. “But I have to be careful. And I’m worried because you’re too good a dancer to die so young.”

  He grinned. “Shucks, and I thought it was my boyish smile. All right, tell me one thing and I’ll go. Where is Don Ricardo’s room?”

  Her face paled. “You mustn’t. That would be insane.”

  “Tell me,” he insisted. “The longer you stall the greater the danger.”

  “Across the hall and the third door on your left.”

  He walked to the door, and turning the key, glanced out. The hall was empty. He stepped out and pulled the door shut softly. Then he walked quietly across the hall to the third door. He touched the knob, and it turned gently under his hand.

  Ponga Jim Mayo opened the door and stepped in—and found himself looking into the business end of a Luger in the hands of Hugo Busch.

  “So,” the German said. “We meet again.”

  Jim said nothing. The German’s left hand was holding the telephone handset which had evidently just been replaced on the cradle. Carisa! Could she The door opened behind him, and then he heard Valdes’s crisp voice. “May I ask what this means?” he demanded.

  “The American came in, I followed,”

  Busch said, shrugging. “How he got here, I don’t know.”

  “Don Ricardo,” Ponga Jim said coolly, “do you think if he followed me in that I would be standing near the door? I came in and found him.”

  “He lies,” Busch snapped. “What would I be doing in your rooms?”

  Valdes looked at the German thoughtfully.

  “What, indeed? Nevertheless, Herr Busch, it will bear thought. Now, if you like, take him away. I must dress for dinner.”

  Without a word Busch marched Ponga Jim to a square building near the stables. The windows were heavily barred. A man working nearby glanced up and saw Jim, then went on repairing a wagon, uninterested.

  Hugo Busch, keeping carefully out of reach, swung open a cell door and pushed Jim inside.

  Then, suddenly, and before Mayo could turn, Busch struck him over the head with the gun barrel.

  Jim staggered and almost went to his knees, then Busch hit him again. Ponga Jim tottered against the wall, blood running into his eyes from a cut scalp, blinded by pain and the ruthlessness of the sudden attack. Calling a guard, Busch handed the soldier the gun. Then he turned around and walked up to Jim.

  “So? You come to cause trouble, eh? We’ll see about that. Maybe I’ll give you all the trouble you want.”

  His left smashed Jim on the jaw, knocking him across the cell. Ponga Jim pawed blindly at his face to get the blood out of his eyes.

  On the second jab, Jim went under it and smashed Busch under the heart with his right. Before Busch could clinch, Jim hooked a left to the jaw and jarred the German to his heels.

  Bursting with rage, Hugo Busch rushed back.

  Using all the power and skill that had once carried him to the Olympics he went to work. Blinded by blood and pain from the two brutal blows with the gun, Jim could get no power into his blows. Busch came up with a sweeping hook that lifted Mayo bodily and knocked him against the wall. He hit hard, slipped to the floor, and his head banged against the steel cot.

  In a bloody haze, he tried to get up, and slipped back. He felt a heavy kick in the ribs, then another, but consciousness slipped from him, and he lay still.

  It was dark when he opened his eyes, pitch dark.

  He rolled over, his body one endless wave of pain. Struggling, he got his knees under him and straightened. His head felt heavy and rolled on his neck. Fumbling, he felt of his face. It was cut and swollen, and his head had two long gashes from the gun barrel, and a big lump from the blow against the cot.

  How long he stayed on his knees he did not know, but suddenly, he came to himself and got up. Then he was suddenly sick and going to the corner, retched violently. Feeling around, he found a bucket of water, took a long drink then poured some in the basin and splashed it over his face and head.

  Then he lay down on the cot and after a while, he fell asleep. It was morning when he awakened.

  A fumbling of a key in the lock awakened him, and he staggered to his feet to see Hugo Busch come in, stripped to the waist. The man was muscled power full and he grinned at Mayo. There was a welt on his jaw, and a bit of a blue lump over one eye.

  “Ready for a workout?” Busch grinned.

  Unbelieving, Jim saw the man meant to beat him again. Busch walked up and swung his open hand at Jim’s face. Bleary from the frightful beating of the night before, Mayo could barely roll his head out of the way, but Busch missed his careless slap, and it made him angry.

  He jabbed a left at Jim’s cut eye, and Jim started to go under it, but Busch was ready and dropped the left. The punch took Mayo between the eyes, and grabbing suddenly, he got Busch by the arm and jerked him into a right to the body. The punch lacked force, but had enough to hurt.

  Busch tried to get loose, but Ponga Jim clinched and hung on.

  Then the fighter broke free and went to work like a butcher at a chopping block. When the German left, he was covered with blood—Jim Mayo’s blood. He laughed harshly.

  “I’ll be back,” he said. “I’ll be back tomorrow. We’re going to put you in a ring to see how you Americans take it.”

  Ponga Jim backed up and sat down. After he had bathed his face again, he lay down and stared up at the ceiling through his swollen eyes. He had to get out. In time these beatings would kill him. If he had a chance to recover, and could start from scratch, it might be different. Now, there was no chance. Or was there?

  For a long time he thought, and out of the thinking came a dim memory of a fight he had seen ten years before, of a fellow who used a Kid McCoy type of stunt. Out of that memory came a plan.

  But it was a plan that covered only one phase.

  It did not cover escape. He had to get away, had to get out and let the authorities know what was being planned here.

  It was then he heard the plane. Only a few minutes later, another, then several at once.

  He sat up abruptly. The transports were coming.

  That meant the day was soon to come.

  In the morning he was still stiff and sore. He was battered, and he knew his cuts would open easily.

  A glance into a mirror showed he was hardly to be recognized. But he shadow-boxed a little to loosen up, and rubbed his muscles. He was, he knew, in no shape for such a battle as he would now have. But he was in better shape than Hugo Busch believed.

  Valdes was with them when they came to get him. He frowned when he saw Ponga Jim’s face.

  “Been giving it to you, has he? Well, I don’t like it.” Jim said nothing, and he was led to a ring that had been pitched in the open under some trees.

  Seats had been pla
ced around, and there were at least thirty German officers there. One of them, an elderly man, scowled when he saw Mayo’s face. He put a monocle in his eye and studied Jim briefly. Then he removed the monocle and started away. He took three steps but then walked back briskly.

  “Good lucKnowledge” he said briefly. “For myself, I don’t care for this sort of thing.”

  Ponga Jim was stripped to the waist, and they were tying on the gloves when he looked up to see Carisa coming down the lane with Don Pedro and Von Hardt. She involuntarily put a hand to her mouth when she saw Jim’s face.

  Busch got into the ring, and Jim barely had time to take the piece of tissue paper from under his arm and put it a little higher, so it would not be noticed. The action passed unseen.

  Someone sVruck a bell, and Busch walked out.

  Jim came to meet him, then lied his left arm. From the armpit the sheet of tissue paper floated toward the floor. For an instant, Busch stared.

  Involuntarily, his hands dropped. An instant only, but it was enough. Ponga Jim threw his right high and hard.

  There was a sodden smack, then Hugo Busch crumpled to the canvas without so much as a sound.

  For a moment, there was dead silence. Then, from the crowd there arose a roar of anger, mingled with a few cries of approbation, and one definite hand clap.

  It was from the elderly officer with the monocle.

  Lifted from the floor, Busch was showered with water.

  For an instant he stared, wondering. Then with a cry of rage, he shook off his handlers and rushed.

  “Enough.”

  The voice did not seem loud, but suddenly everyone froze. Even Hugo Busch stopped his rush in midstride.

  Not a dozen feet away, standing alone at the edge of the crowd, was Armando Fontes.

  In his right fist he held his huge pistol. It was aimed at Don Pedro Norden!

  Chapter 4

  Armando Fontes was holding a large sweet potato in his left hand, and was gnawing at it contentedly. He was still wearing his soiled whites. His belt barely retained his bulging stomach.