MFU Whitman - The Affair of the Gentle Saboteur
Page 9
What hope?
And then, suddenly, there was hope.
She laughed—shrill, tremulous, spiteful—and it gave him hope. She was not done yet.
"Failed in our mission"—the harsh voice rasped in an anger, a futility—"but for me at least, a booby prize."
Solo pulled up the corners of his mouth, forcing a smile.
"What last prize can I give you, Miss Tudor?"
"You're not giving me! I'm giving you!"
"A prize for me, Miss Tudor?" Hope fluttered. Keep her talking. Let's see what happens. "A prize? A memento, perhaps? A token of our meeting?" He played along with it, played it stupid. "But didn't you say for you—a booby prize for you?"
"A prize for both of us, Mr. Solo."
"Well, thank you, Miss Tudor."
The harsh voice now snapped an order: "Take off your glasses, Mr. Solo!"
And Solo, quite mildly, pretending stupidity, frowning inquiringly, responded, "Beg pardon, ma'am?"
"The great Mr. Solo. The vaunted Mr. Solo. I want to see your eyes, Mr. Solo. Courage or fear? Take off your glasses. You have seen me, you know me, the only one of UNCLE thus far—but not for long. Take off your glasses. Courage or fear in the face of the inevitable? It must happen, sooner or later, to all of us. I'm curious about you. Let me look in your eyes, Mr. Solo, as I present your prize—a prize for both of us. Let me look at your eyes as they look on—death."
His smile, no longer forced, was grave.
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
He opened his arms, bowed politely, straightened, looked up at her, direct, exact, moving his head slightly, arranging the line of vision.
"I'm waiting, Mr. Solo."
"As you wish."
His right hand came up like a salute to the right temple of the glasses, his index finger pressed to the hidden spring, and a tiny dart was released. A slender streak gleamed in the sunshine. Suddenly she was rigid, her eyes round in wonder; then she hung limp in the window, unconscious. The gun slipped from her hand and soundlessly met the sand.
It was over. It was ended.
Solo sighed and went back through the house and the long way over the pebbled road to McNabb and the many men now gathered.
Table of Contents
1. The Quarry
2. Dinner With the Old Man
3. A Morning Stroll
4. The Gentle Saboteur
5. "No Way Out"
6. "Two Trumps"
7. Game Without Rules
8. The Living Beacon
9. "A Crazy World"
10. Rendezvous
11. "Mistake in Judgment"
12. Change in Plans
13. "Two-Gun McNabb"
14. Turnabout