Devil's Cocktail (Wallace of the Secret Service Series)

by Alexander Wilson

  Half an hour later Joan awoke, but for a few moments did not recall the events of the night. Then suddenly, after looking round her in astonishment, she remembered and, with a sob of terror, rose and crossing to the door tried it. It was locked.

  She returned to the bed and sat down, feeling very weak. She tried to think; to piece together the events which might be expected to produce a reason for this extraordinary happening. She wondered if Novar, to whom Hugh had given such a shock, was responsible. But why should he want her? Surely she would only be an added danger to him while in his possession. She knew she was not in his house, and she had never seen the horrid Jewish-looking man before. She shuddered at the recollection of the leer with which he had favoured her and his coarse words before locking her in. Then suddenly remembering how lightly she was clad, she convulsively and with a new terror, pulled her cloak round her.

  Joan had a lot of courage, but she had never experienced a situation like this, and she felt dreadfully frightened and forlorn. Presently when she thought of her brother and Miles and little Cousins, and the terrible state in which they would be over her disappearance, tears began to come. She knelt down and prayed for courage and help and the very act of praying made her feel a little better, so that when she rose she determined that she would face whatever happened with all the bravery she could muster.

  She saw the clothes on the chair and wondered who had put them there. They were obviously for her use, but she could not bring herself to put them on until she reflected that anything would be better than being clad in a nightdress especially if – as she thought very likely – she would have to face men. This latter reflection made her cheeks burn and without further hesitation she put on the Indian garments as best she could. She managed all right until she came to the sari, but no amount of ingenuity enabled her to arrange the long veil-like object round her head and body as she knew it should go. She had tried again and again and was about to give it up in despair when the door was unlocked and opened. She shrank away as far as she could, but it was only the Hindu woman who entered carrying a tray. She put this down and seeing that Joan was in difficulties, came to her aid and in a couple of minutes had wound the sari round her and settled it comfortably. Joan plied her with questions, but to each the woman shook her head, and as the English girl knew no Hindustani she was forced to give it up in despair. The other pointed to the tray, then went out and locked the door behind her.

  On the tray was tea and toast, an omelette and some fruit. Joan had very little inclination to eat, but after drinking a cup of tea, she decided to make a meal of some sort if only to keep her strength up for whatever ordeal she would have to face.

  The morning passed slowly and to Joan in her anxiety the waiting for, she knew not what, was terrible and when, at last, she heard the sound of the key in the lock, it was almost with a sense of relief. Anything was better, she thought, than the awful feeling of suspense. The door opened and Kamper came in. He looked at her in admiration and, although she did not know it, Joan presented a very lovely picture in her Indian garb. She recognised the man who had kidnapped her and clutched the bosom of her dress in an effort to still the tumultuous beating of her heart.

  ‘Good morning, Miss,’ said the Jew. ‘You look very pretty this morning!’

  ‘How dare you insult me?’ she cried. ‘Why have you taken me away from my home and why am I here?’

  ‘You vill be told if you come with me.’

  Trembling she followed him along a passage, past several rooms, until he stood aside and beckoned her to enter a large apartment which was furnished in a heavy ornate style with valuable carpets spread on the floor. The odour of a strong perfume hung in the air and rather sickened her. On a divan sat two men whom she took to be Parsees from their dress and another stood slightly in the background. At her entrance the latter made a sudden move forward, but was checked by one of the men on the divan who reached up and caught him by the arm. She was given a chair by Kamper and sat down with the strange feeling that she was playing a part in some extraordinary dream and would wake up presently to find herself back in her own home.

  One of the men on the divan – the stouter of the two – commenced to speak, and his voice had a strangely familiar ring in it.

  ‘We hope you have not suffered any great inconvenience from your experience, Miss Shannon,’ he said. ‘Mr Kamper there assures us that he was as gentle as possible.’

  Kamper! She knew that name. How often had she heard Hugh mention it. She looked round at the Jew fearfully, who grinned at her in his loathsome way. Then she found her voice.

  ‘What is the meaning of this outrage, and who are you?’ she cried hoarsely.

  ‘Don’t talk of your adventure as an outrage,’ replied the man smoothly. ‘I hope you will come to regard it as a very pleasant ordeal later on. And I am sure my friend,’ he indicated the man standing by his side, ‘hopes so even more than I do. As for who we are,’ he went on, ‘it is rather a tribute to our disguises that you do not recognise us, but as we have no intention of hiding our personalities from you, allow me to inform you that I am Novar, the gentleman seated by me is Mr Rahtz and our eager friend, who is longing to clasp your hand and say many things to you, is Mr Hudson!’

  Joan gasped with terror; she knew now that she was in the gravest peril, but with that thought came the courage which was her heritage from a line of fighting ancestors. She raised her head proudly.

  ‘What do you want with me?’ she demanded.

  He spread his hands in a deprecating gesture.

  ‘This morning a note went to your brother,’ he replied, ‘telling him that you would be quite safe so long as he ceased from interfering with us and did not search for you.’

  A flicker of hope entered her heart. Apparently she showed it in her eyes, for she smiled.

  ‘Please don’t think that your brother, or his friends, will find out your whereabouts from the messenger. You see we knew that Captain Shannon would have to go to the College and it was hardly likely that Mr Miles and your – er – valet, Cousins, would stop at home doing nothing. Our man had instructions to make sure that nobody was on the premises except the servants, then deliver the note and come away.’

  ‘Are you holding me as a hostage?’

  He bowed.

  ‘In a sense, yes. I am sorry it was necessary for you to be brought away in such a hurry without your own clothes. But permit me to remark that you look most charming in the only garments we were able to provide for you.’

  ‘You are brutes,’ she said; ‘horrible, loathsome brutes, and I despise all of you, as I never thought I could despise anyone! You have me in your power, but that will not prevent my brother doing his duty, and God grant that he will succeed in finding you and punishing you as you deserve!’

  ‘Joan!’ cried Hudson in a voice broken by emotion.

  ‘Don’t speak to me!’ she flashed. ‘You showed your character on the ship, and it is only confirmed by your association with these other men. You are a traitor and a coward!’

  ‘Let us have done with these heroics,’ said Rahtz with a sneer. ‘They only bore me and I dislike being bored. I think that it would be as well for your peace of mind, Miss Shannon, if you told us exactly what knowledge your brother has of our – er – activities. If you refuse to tell us, there are ways and means of making you speak, and cries of pain can easily be muffled in this building.’

  Novar touched him on the arm, and Hudson swore a particularly ugly oath.

  ‘If you dare hurt her, Rahtz,’ he shouted, ‘you’ll have to answer to me.’

  Rahtz looked at him contemptuously.

  ‘I’d as soon put a bullet in you as talk to you, Hudson,’ he said calmly. ‘Your days of usefulness to us are done, and you’re nothing but unnecessary lumber now.’

  Hudson drew back with an exclamation of fear and hatred. During this sharp passage Joan’s mind had been working rapidly. She realised the deadly peril she was in and wondered if she wou
ld have the courage not to reveal all she knew if they tortured her. Rahtz’s voice roused her from her thoughts.

  ‘Tell us,’ he said, ‘what your brother has discovered and save yourself a great deal of anguish!’

  She actually smiled.

  ‘I have no intention of hiding it,’ she replied quietly, though her heart was beating rapidly with anxiety. ‘He has found out that you three are in the pay of Russia and are plotting against India. What the plot is he does not know yet, but as I know Hugh, I feel certain that before long he will find out everything and make you pay to the very uttermost.’

  Novar gave a sigh of relief, but Rahtz looked at her intently for a second or two as though trying to pierce her inmost soul, and Joan, still with a smile of triumph on her face, waited in dreadful anxiety to know if he were satisfied that she could tell him nothing more. At last he spoke.

  ‘It is lucky for you that you have replied candidly,’ he said. She almost gave herself away in her relief. ‘I did not want to hurt you, but if you had refused to answer I would not have hesitated.’

  ‘Is that what you meant by writing to my brother to say that I would be quite safe?’ she asked contemptuously.

  He shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘You are a pawn that has strayed on to the chess board of great events,’ he said; ‘and to gain my ends I would sweep you aside with as little compunction as I would the ordinary ivory piece.’

  ‘I am quite sure of it,’ she said, with an insolence that made him almost admire her.

  ‘You have courage, Miss Shannon,’ he remarked. ‘I could almost wish that happier events had brought us together and enabled us to be friends.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said bitterly. ‘I would rather make friends with a snake.’

  He rose and bowed mockingly.

  ‘You honour me,’ he said. ‘I have a great admiration for the serpent family. A snake knows when to strike and it seldom misses. I flatter myself that I can strike with almost as much success.’

  ‘Satan also associated himself with the snake,’ she remarked. ‘I have already noticed that you and he have a great deal in common.’

  He laughed.

  ‘This is splendid!’ he chuckled. ‘Miss Shannon, I begin to admire you more and more. You are just the Eve I should love to try my satanic wiles on.’

  ‘Then you would fail,’ she retorted.

  ‘I wonder. My apple might have too much delight even for you to resist. Come along, Novar; you too, Kamper; let us leave Miss Shannon with Hudson. He has a lot to say to her I think.’

  He bowed to Joan once more and left the apartment with his two companions. She made as though to follow, but Hudson hurried across the room and closed the door.

  ‘At last!’ he said hoarsely, but with a note of triumph in his voice. ‘This is the first time you and I have been alone since that unfortunate night on the ship when you and your brother misunderstood my intentions.’

  ‘Misunderstood your intentions!’ she echoed scornfully. ‘In what way were they misunderstood?’

  ‘You both thought I was a rotter; that I intended to harm you, when my only fault was that I loved you and had not strength enough to hide my love.’

  ‘Don’t talk to me of love!’ she cried. ‘Why, such a word on your lips is a desecration of one of the most beautiful gifts of God. You love indeed; with a mind like yours, bestial, filthy, hideous! Please let me go! If my brother and his companions knew that I stood so close to you they would be revolted as I am, and would never rest until they had purged the world of the taint you put upon it.’

  An angry frown came upon his face.

  ‘Be careful!’ he threatened. ‘You are going too far.’

  ‘I could never go far enough in my contempt for a thing like you,’ she went on without hesitation. ‘There can be nothing worse than a man who takes advantage of a woman and tries to force her into a loathsome compact by threatening danger to those she loves, if she will not bend to his will. And when, in addition to that, he attempts to sell his own country, the country which has given him birth, nourished him, and brought him up as one of her trusted sons and enabled him to enjoy a position of responsibility and honour when he betrays his trust and – oh! I wish I could think of words to tell you what you are – if only I could make you realise the utter depths of degradation to which you have descended, for even you must have been pure once! God grant that there are not many such as you – I am sure there cannot be. Even the companions with whom you have associated yourself are saints compared with you. They are vicious, cruel, unscrupulous, but I cannot think that they can have gone to the very dregs of vice as you have done. You are the worst of traitors, the most contemptible of cowards and are not worthy to associate with the lowest reptile that lives. You—’

  ‘You have said enough,’ he said in an ominously calm voice. ‘I do not wish to hear any more.’

  ‘Of course you don’t! I have tried to make you realise my feelings for you – I only wish I could have put it stronger.’

  ‘Joan, you are cruel!’

  ‘Cruel! To you!’ she laughed unsteadily. ‘I am beginning to think you must be insane.’

  ‘You’ll make me insane if you talk to me in that tone any longer. But hatred is akin to love, and I’ll make you love me yet.’

  He came towards her.

  ‘Keep away!’ she cried. ‘I already feel as though your very presence in the same room has made me unclean. Stand aside and let me go!’

  ‘No, I won’t! I have listened to you, and now you will have to listen to me.’

  ‘Spare me any further conversation!’ she begged.

  ‘Of course, like all women,’ he sneered, ‘you think you can say anything you like; insult a man to your heart’s content and then expect him, poor fool, to bow his head and go away confounded. But I am not such an idiot as that, and so I am going to say a few words. When a man desires a woman he’ll get her no matter the price, no matter what either he or she may suffer in the process and—’

  ‘So those are your ideas, are they?’ she interrupted, with a greater scorn in her voice than even before.

  He raised his hand and went on:

  ‘Yes, they are my ideas and they should be the ideas of any man who calls himself a man. I have wanted several women in my life, but never one as I want you. Although you scoff at my love, it is nevertheless true that I love you with a passion that is eating me away; a passion which is burning my brain and wrecking me physically. You are here now in my power and I assure you that you will never see your brother or your precious American lover again. You are mine!’ His voice rose until it became almost shrill. ‘Mine until the end of things and nothing you can say will alter it. I am perfectly willing to marry you, if that will give you any satisfaction, although marriage is merely a convention – an excuse for love; but have you I will! Insult me as much as you like; use all the degrading epithets you can think of – nothing will make any difference to the fact that you are in my power!’

  He came towards her, the light of an unholy triumph in his eyes. With her breath coming in great sobs of fear, and her heart fluttering wildly, she shrank behind the chair.

  ‘Go away!’ she panted. ‘Don’t dare touch me!’

  He laughed and with a bound caught her and dragged her into his arms. She struggled like a wild cat, and beat her fists against his face, but he did not seem to mind.

  ‘I’ve got you,’ he gasped between the blows.

  He pressed her to him savagely until all the breath seemed to leave her body, and presently with a great, heartbroken sigh she had no further strength left to fight against his brutality, and hung half-fainting in his arms. He kissed her again and again, and as she felt his loathsome lips press hers with a cruelty that almost brought the blood, she made a feeble effort to resist him; but it was useless, and from sheer horror and fright she fainted dead away.

  When he noticed her pallor and felt the lifeless little body hanging in his arms, he became alarmed and, pl
acing her in the chair, tried to revive her. It was some time before she regained consciousness, and when, at last, her eyes opened, and she saw him staring down at her, such a look of contempt came into them that all his savagery was renewed. He stood up and an obscene smile curved his lips.

  ‘You can go to your room now if you like, you little vixen,’ he said, ‘and you can spend the afternoon making up your mind to be reasonable. At ten o’clock tonight, I’ll come to you and offer you marriage. If you agree, we’ll be married at once according to the Hindu, Muslim or Sikh rites. If you refuse – well, we’ll dispense with a wedding altogether.’

  She tottered to her feet and stumbled to the door.

  ‘I’ll kill myself before you touch me again,’ she said in a voice that could hardly be heard, but which, nevertheless, was full of an undying spirit.

  ‘You won’t!’ he laughed. ‘I’ll see to that.’

  Opening the door he called to Kamper, who was sitting in a room opposite reading a paper. The Jew strolled out and seeing Joan’s condition grinned.

  ‘Miss Shannon desires to go to her room,’ said Hudson.

  ‘I don’t blame her,’ said Kamper insolently. ‘This vay, Miss!’

  Joan staggered after him down the passage, and once inside the small prison-like apartment gave full vent to her feelings in a flood of tears. Kamper was about to make some coarse remark, but refrained, and going out locked the door.

  It was a long time before Joan was composed enough to think clearly, and she still felt weak and very faint. She almost despaired now of anyone coming to her rescue and tried hard, despite her terror, to collect her thoughts sufficiently to prepare for the further and greater ordeal which she knew was before her that night. Her head ached abominably, and it was with difficulty she forced herself to examine the room in the hope that she might find a weapon of some sort with which to defend herself when Hudson made his threatened visit at ten o’clock. But there was nothing in the room except the bed, one chair, and a mat. It was a small bare apartment with one door and no windows, light being admitted through two large ventilators high up. She wondered if by dragging the bed before the door she could keep the scoundrel out and then, to her joy, she saw that the door was furnished with a bolt about halfway up. She was about to shoot it into its socket at once, but reflected that in all probability food would be brought to her, and she knew she would have to eat to keep her strength up and if she drew attention to the bolt by withdrawing it when the Hindu woman came, steps would be taken to render it useless. She determined, therefore, not to touch it until late in the evening and also decided that she would try to pull off one of the legs of the chair to act as a weapon.