‘We haven’t discussed that,’ Larry said. ‘I doubt it, though. Please go.’
‘You promised me . . .’
‘No, I didn’t. Get out and leave this to me.’
She divided a malignant glance between the two of us and slipped out.
‘That woman is getting to be a damned nuisance, Larry muttered. ‘I think she’s a little crazy.’
‘You know, Larry, you might have something there. Why don’t you fire her? You hired her.’
‘No, I didn’t. My original arrangements were made with her brother. A very competent man.’
Competent, sane Leif. I remembered the last sight I’d had of him. The knife with which he’d been slashing at me was still in his hand when John dragged him down under the icy water.
Larry’s frown smoothed out. ‘Well, it won’t be much longer. I will certainly sever my connections with the organization after this. I hate to do it because they’ve done excellent work for me in the past, and at the start she was quite efficient. Some of her ideas were brilliant, in fact – like planting that message with the dead agent to get you on board as a means of making Tregarth behave himself.’
‘Oh,’ I said. He seemed to expect some response, but congratulating him on that brilliant idea was more than I could manage.
‘Her organization handled that matter, and very well, too.’ Larry went on. ‘She’s been acting strangely the last few weeks, though, and one can’t put up with that sort of thing. It’s inefficient.’
‘Right,’ I said, swallowing.
‘I need that pectoral, Vicky,’ Larry went on. ‘Do you have it?’
‘What . . . Oh.’ In the fascination of following Larry’s mind along its monster-haunted byways I had almost forgotten the Tutankhamon jewel. ‘No, I don’t have it. Didn’t you search me?’
Larry looked uncomfortable. ‘Only in the most respectful fashion. Mary wanted to . . . Of course I couldn’t allow that.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. And I meant it. The idea of those soft little hands on me made my skin crawl.
‘It’s a very large object,’ Larry went on. ‘I don’t believe I could have missed it. Anyhow, I didn’t suppose Tregarth would trust you with it. He has it, doesn’t he?’
‘Unless he is a lot dumber than I think he is, he’s stowed it away somewhere safe by now.’
‘So we decided. Well.’ Larry rose. ‘He’ll turn it over to us in exchange for you. So you see, Vicky, you haven’t a thing to worry about. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?’
His departure would certainly have that effect but it wouldn’t have been tactful to say so. I shook my head.
‘Have a little rest,’ Larry said kindly. ‘I’ll let you know as soon as we hear from him.’
Mary wasn’t the only one who’d gone around the bend in the last few weeks. Or had Larry always been this way, determinedly unconscious of the deadly results of his ‘harmless’ schemes? Maybe they were all like that, the presidents and chairmen and commanding generals who sat in their offices and gave orders to ‘engage targets’ or ‘cut the work force.’ They never saw the suffering, bleeding bodies those orders affected.
I didn’t have a little rest or eat any of the food on the tray. It wasn’t very appetizing – dry sandwiches and a wilted salad that probably contained a whole colony of healthy typhoid germs. That suggested there were few or no servants in the house. Larry might not have his full crew with him. Some of them would have to stay with the boat. Mary and Hans were here, and that probably meant Max and Rudi were also with Larry. How many others?
And what the hell difference did it make? I couldn’t get out and there was no way John could get to me without being caught.
I went onto the balcony. Down below – far down – I saw a stone-paved terrace without so much as a shrub to break one’s fall. Rudi was down there too. At least the shape in the shadows, slim as a weasel, looked like his. To complete the picture of total disaster, the railing of the balcony swayed under the pressure of my hands. No point in trying the old bedsheet routine even if Rudi hadn’t been lurking. Those rails wouldn’t support the weight of a healthy six-foot female.
I was inspecting the bathroom, hoping to find a used razor blade or a nail file, when I heard the bedroom door open.
‘He’s on his way. He telephoned a few minutes ago.’
Her eyes glowed. Little flecks floated in them like the dead insects in amber. My heart couldn’t sink any farther; it was already trying to shove through the sole of my shoe.
‘So,’ Mary went on briskly, ‘we must get ready to receive him, mustn’t we. Sit down in that chair. Not the big carved armchair. That one.’
It was a straight chair, the seat and back covered with faded gold brocade.
‘No, thanks,’ I said, backing away. ‘I’d rather stand.’
‘If you prefer it this way.’ She turned to the door. ‘Hans. Come in.’
Hans’s face wasn’t capable of displaying subtle emotion, but I got the impression that even he was beginning to wonder about little Mary. ‘Aber, gnädige Frau, Herr Max hat mir gesagt – ’
‘From whom do you take your orders? I’m not going to hurt her,’ she added unconvincingly. At least it didn’t convince me. Poor bewildered Hans shrugged, setting off a miniature avalanche of muscles, and advanced on me.
Just for the look of the thing, I picked up a bowl from the table and heaved it. To my surprise it hit him square on the chest. Not to my surprise it didn’t halt his advance.
So I sat down in the chair and Hans took the cord Mary had foresightedly brought with her, and he tied my wrists and ankles. He worked with slow deliberation. The knots weren’t painfully tight. Hans didn’t get any jollies from hurting people. He just killed them.
‘Larry isn’t going to like this,’ I said.
‘Larry knows I’m here.’ Mary assisted Hans out the door and closed it. ‘My darling husband is an ingenious swine, and as I pointed out to Larry, it would be foolish to take unnecessary chances.’
‘Are you really married?’
‘Bell, book, and candle.’ Mary leaned against the table, hands in her pockets. ‘Not for long, though,’ she went on conversationally. ‘I regret that, in a way. I shall hate wearing black. It’s not my colour. And sharing his bed was quite an interesting experience.’
‘Oh, come off it,’ I said. ‘You’re wasting your time with that routine, Mary. He could hardly stand to touch you. It was always you hanging on to him, instead of – ’
I wouldn’t have believed a soft little hand like that could hit so hard. When my ears had stopped ringing I said, ‘Did Larry authorize beating me up?’
‘He took my knife away.’ Mary’s voice deepened and the golden eyes glittered. ‘But he can’t object to this. A few bruises will have a persuasive effect on John. You’ve got him trained like one of Pavlov’s dogs. I don’t understand how you accomplished it – ’
She examined me curiously, from head to foot and back again. I could see her problem; the idea that any normal man could resist a cuddly little cutie in favour of a six-foot Amazon with a sarcastic tongue and the disposition of a hedgehog absolutely baffled her. To be honest, it baffled me too – not that he could reisist little Miss Mary the Ripper, but that he had stuck with me so long.
With an abrupt movement she pulled the lovely little Greek heads from her ears and flung them at me. ‘These were meant for you, you know: I made him give them to me. Did you enjoy seeing me wear them?’
‘I did wonder. They aren’t your style.’
‘But they were clearly a love token, weren’t they? Something distinctive and different, carefully chosen for a woman who would appreciate them.’ Her thumb caressed the gaudy diamond on her finger.
I knew what she intended and I was contemptibly relieved when she decided to try a little mental torture first. ‘Wouldn’t you like to know how your other friends are faring?’
I shrugged. ‘You haven’t got Schmidt or you would have said so. F
eisal . . . I assume Feisal is dead.’
‘Oh, no,’ Mary said softly. ‘He’s still alive. He may never walk again, but that won’t concern him after they hang him for treason.’ The tip of her little pink tongue showed between her parted lips. She was having such a good time she didn’t even hear the voices outside.
There’s a poem about a highwayman who came riding, riding, up to the old inn door. The soldiers used his sweetheart as a decoy, tying her to a chair with a rifle pointed at her breast. She managed to get one finger around the trigger, and when she heard him coming she pulled – ‘and warned him with her death.’
I always wondered why she didn’t just yell.
Oh, well, maybe he couldn’t have heard her over the pounding of his horse’s hooves. Or maybe it didn’t fit the metre. I didn’t have a rifle at my breast. Anyhow, John knew the soldiers were there.
I threw my head back and opened my mouth and screamed. But the name I called was not that of my lover. ‘Max! Hey, Max!’
John was the first one through the door, but Max was right behind him. It wasn’t until much later that I understood the significance of that sequence.
The Pavlonian conditioning didn’t seem to be as strong as Mary had believed. After a few steps John stopped. He had only glanced at me; his eyes were fixed on Mary.
‘More melodrama,’ Max said in exasperation. ‘How weary I am of this! You were forbidden to come here, Mary. Mr Tregarth is willing to cooperate. You will only irritate him if you persist in this nonsense.’
‘I am already irritated,’ John said. His eyes returned to my face. ‘Are you – ’
‘Fine, just fine,’ I said, stretching my mouth into a smile. My cheek hurt. ‘I do hope you have a couple of aces up your sleeve, because if you haven’t, this was not one of your brighter moves.’
He was still wearing Keith’s suit, but he had washed the cheap dye out of his hair. Avoiding my eyes, he remarked, to the room in general, ‘She tends to babble when she’s nervous. Mary does affect people that way. Get her out of here.’
Blenkiron was the next to arrive. ‘Damn it,’ he exclaimed. ‘Mary, I told you – ’
She laughed contemptuously. ‘What a conveniently bad memory you have, Larry.’
‘Well, I certainly didn’t give you permission to . . .’ He couldn’t even say the ugly words. ‘I’m sorry, Vicky. I told her to stay with you but I never authorized . . .’
‘Swell,’ I said. ‘So how about untying me?’
Nobody reacted to that naive suggestion. Mary backed off a few steps and Max said, with poorly concealed exasperation, ‘Can we now discuss the situation in a reasonable way? You have the pectoral, Mr Tregarth?’
‘You know I haven’t,’ John said. ‘You watched Rudi search me.’
‘Where is it?’
‘None of your damned business. Now, Maxie, don’t lose your temper. That pectoral is my ace in the hole. You don’t suppose I’ll meekly hand it over without getting something in return, do you?’
‘Need I ask what?’
‘Surely not. And please don’t insult my intelligence by suggesting you’ll turn her loose after I deliver the goods. I want her out of here and safely back at the Embassy. As soon as she telephones to say she’s there, and the ambassador confirms it, I’ll get the pectoral for you.’
‘We could force you to tell us,’ Max said.
‘You could certainly try,’ John said agreeably. Leaning against a chest of drawers, hands in his pockets, he was putting on a pretty good imitation of languid self-confidence, but the tension that vibrated along every nerve was evident to me at least. He was trying very hard not to look at me.
‘But it’s not the most efficient method of attaining your ends,’ he went on. ‘You know me well, Maxie; do you suppose I give a damn about the museum or the tomb or any bloody antiquity on the face of the earth? I’ll even go through with the robbery, if that’s what you want.’
‘You will?’ Blenkiron said eagerly. ‘But you said – ’
John raised an eyebrow. ‘I didn’t object to robbing the museum. The thing that put me off a bit was a strong suspicion that I wouldn’t survive the attempt. I’m willing to take my chances with the ordinary security system, but I object to being shot or stabbed in the back by one of my purported assistants.’
Max looked a little embarrassed. ‘I was against that,’ he said. ‘I felt sure you would expect something of the sort and there really was no need – ’
John cut him off. He was looking at Max, but I knew he was aware of every move Mary made and every breath she took. She was the most unstable and unpredictable factor in the structure of mutual self-interest he was building with such agonizing deliberation. I was afraid to move or speak for fear of shaking it. And I knew why he wouldn’t look at me.
‘There was no need,’ John agreed. ‘You’re a businessman, Max, and Mr Blenkiron’s sole concern is making off with his pretty toys. My sole interest is my survival and Vicky’s. My proposal will accomplish all those admirable aims, but you will have to make up your minds without delay. Herr Schmidt has an appointment with the director of the museum in’ – he glanced at the cheap watch that had replaced his – ‘in an hour and a quarter. If he hasn’t heard from me before he leaves his present location he will take the pectoral with him and then, if you will excuse a cliché, the die will be cast. There’s barely time for Vicky to reach the Embassy providing she leaves within the next five minutes.’
Max’s eyes narrowed. ‘We must discuss this. It requires consultation.’
‘It’s your own fault,’ John said. ‘You oughtn’t to have selected such a remote hideout. Cairo traffic is difficult at any time of day or night.’
Maybe there was something to that business about auras. I could almost see the taut lines of tension crisscrossing the empty air like a cat’s cradle of coloured yarn. The strain of manipulating them was beginning to tell on John; his nonchalant pose hadn’t changed but his face was beaded with perspiration.
‘It sounds reasonable to me,’ Blenkiron said slowly. ‘So long as we have Tregarth, the others won’t risk – ’
‘You fools,’ Mary said suddenly. ‘Can’t you see what he’s doing?’
She had been standing quietly, hands folded and head bowed. It was her old pose of sweet submissiveness and the men, bless their chauvinist hearts, had dismissed her from consideration. But I had been afraid of this, and so had John. He straightened, taking his hands out of his pockets, but before he could speak Blenkiron said angrily, ‘Be still. You’ve already caused enough trouble.’
‘You sentimental idiot!’ She took a step forward. Her hands were empty, clasped and twisting. ‘Too fine-minded to hurt a woman, is that it? And you, Max, you’re getting soft too. I’m afraid I won’t be able to give you a favourable efficiency report on this job. Are you really stupid enough to let him hypnotize you into giving up the one thing that will force him to cooperate? I’ll show you how to get what you want. Hold on to him, Max.’
She didn’t wait to see him comply with her order. It would never have occurred to her that he might not.
Who needs a knife when she’s got diamonds? They are harder than steel. She had twisted the ring around and when her hand struck my face the stone opened up a long stinging cut.
When I opened my eyes John had her by the throat. I could see her mouth gaping in a struggle for air, her cheeks darkening.
Max hadn’t moved.
John could have snapped her neck with one twist of those long skilled hands. When he released his hold she crumpled bonelessly to the floor, but she was still alive. I heard the rattle of painfully drawn breath. John’s hands fell to his sides. I couldn’t see his face; his back was to me.
Max sighed. ‘You surprise me, Mr Tregarth. Mr Blenkiron, I think perhaps you had better run along.’
Larry’s features were drawn with disgust and horror. ‘Yes, yes, perhaps I had,’ he mumbled. ‘The boat will be in shortly; I’ll just go down to the dock and . . . You�
��ll make the – the arrangements, Max?’
‘Don’t concern yourself, Mr Blenkiron. I’ll handle everything.’
‘You’re a very competent man, Max. I leave everything in your hands. Vicky, I – uh – you’ll be fine. I hope we meet again under more – uh – pleasant circumstances.’
The door closed.
John turned. His colour was bad and perspiration trickled down his cheeks, but his voice was cool and ironic. ‘A pity we didn’t have a basin of water to offer him. Don’t do anything you might regret, Max. It’s over, you know.’
He stepped back, closer to me, as Max came towards him. ‘I know,’ Max said calmly. Stooping, he lifted the unconscions woman and carried her towards the bed. Instead of putting her down he went on, out onto the balcony. When he came back his arms were empty.
It was done with such quiet unhesitating efficiency I didn’t understand what had happened until John moved, violently and jerkily, and then jolted to a stop.
‘That’s settled,’ Max said. ‘I had hoped you would take care of it for me, but evidently I overestimated you. It doesn’t matter; the onus won’t rest on me. If you two will wait here for – oh, an hour should be long enough – you can proceed on your way. Whitbread has gone with Blenkiron, and Rudi and Hans will accompany me, so you need not worry about being disturbed.’
John cleared his throat. ‘You mean you – ’
‘I am a professional, Mr Tregarth, and I don’t underestimate your intelligence. When I learned that you and Herr Schmidt had reached Cairo unscathed I knew we had lost. He would, of course, go straight to the authorities. His reputation is such that they would be forced to listen to him and, however reluctantly, act on his accusations. They would be hammering at the door by this time if they weren’t hoping you could get Dr Bliss out safely.’
He waited for confirmation. John nodded dumbly. ‘So,’ Max went on, ‘I requested Mr Blenkiron to settle our outstanding account, and made plane reservations. He has not my experience; I fear the unfortunate man doesn’t realize that there will be a reception party waiting for that boat to dock.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘I really must be off. Oh, do forgive me, Dr Bliss. No doubt Mr Tregarth would find it easier to release you if I returned his pocket knife.’
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