"We"ll just have to find out the hard way." Mitch.e.l.l looked at Marina. "Where are your shoes?"
She smiled sweetly. "I"m a quick study. Shoes make too much noise out on the platform."
"You"re not going out on any platform."
"I am. There are gaps in my education. I want to see how killers operate."
Mitch.e.l.l said in irritation: "Fm not going to kill anyone. Go get your bag packed. You"ll be leaving soon."
"Fm not leaving.**
"Why?"
227.
"Because I want to stay with Daddy-and with you. Don"t you think that"s natural?"
"You"re leaving if I have to tie you up."
"You can"t tie my tongue up. Wouldn"t the law just love to know where the guns stolen from the Mississippi a.r.s.enal are?"
Lord Worth looked slightly stunned. "You"d do that to me? Your own father?"
"You"d tie me up and force me aboard that helicopter? Your own daughter?"
"Talk about logic." Mitch.e.l.l shook his head. "Lord Worth seems to have fathered a nutcase. If you think-"
The wallspeakers crackled again. "Well, don"t just hang around. Stop that radar."
"How?" It was Aaron and he sounded grieved. "Do you expect me to climb that d.a.m.ned drilling rig-"
"Don"t be stupid. Go to the radar room. There"s a red lever switch just above the console. Pull it down."
"That I can do." Aaron sounded relieved. They heard the sound of a door closing. Mitch.e.l.l kicked off his shoes, turned off the lights in the living room and eased the door open a crack. Aaron, his back already to them, was heading for the radar room. He reached it, opened the door and pa.s.sed inside. Mitch.e.l.l moved after him, pulling out his silenced gun and holding it in his left hand. A soft voice behind him said: "I thought you were right-handed."
238.
Mitch.e.l.l didn"t even bother to curse. He said in a resigned whisper: "I am."
Aaron was just pulling the red lever when Mitch.e.l.l made his soundless entrance. He said: "Don"t turn round."
Aaron didn"t turn round.
"Clasp your hands behind your neck, then turn and come over here."
Aaron turned. "Mitch.e.l.l!"
"Don"t try anything clever. IVe already had to kill three of your friends. A fourth isn"t going to give me a sleepless night. Stop right there and turn round again."
Aaron did as he was told. Mitch.e.l.l withdrew his right hand from his coat pocket. The braided leather sap attached to his wrist by a thong was no more than five inches long, but when it struck Aaron with considerable force and accuracy above and behind the right ear it was apparent that five inches was quite long enough. Mitch.e.l.l caught him as he fell and eased him te the deck.
"Did you have to do that-" Marina choked and stopped speaking involuntarily as Mitch.e.l.l"s hand clamped itself none too gently over her mouth. She flinched as he shook the sap before her eyes.
"Keep your voice down." The whisper was intentionally savage. He knelt over Aaron, removed and pocketed his gun.
"Did you have to do that?" she said in a low 229.
Alistair MacLonn voice. "You could have tied Mm up and gagged him."
"When I require advice from amateurs 111 cqrne right to you. I haven"t time for games. h.e.l.l just have a half-hour peaceful rest, and then all he"ll need is an aspirin."
"And now?"
"Durand."
"Why?"
"Fool."
"I"m getting tired of people calling me fool. John just called me that. He also said I was mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded and an artificial pearl."
"No shrewder judge of character than old John," Mitch.e.l.l said approvingly. "If Aaron doesn"t return, Durand will come looking for him. Then h.e.l.l get on the radiophone and stop the helicopter flight"
"Well, that"s what you want, isn"t it?"
"No."
He switched off the light and walked away, Marina following. Mitch.e.l.l stopped outside the entrance to Lord Worth"s sitting room.
"Get inside. You"re both an irritation and a liability. I can"t function properly with you around. Heroines I can do without."*
"I promise you I won"t say a word. I promise-"
He caught her by the arm and thrust her forcibly inside. Lord Worth looked up in mild surprise. Mitch.e.l.l said: "I will hold you personally responsible, Lord Worth, if you let this pesky daughter of yours outside that door again. Also, I"m dimming the deck lights. Anybody moving around the platform will be shot. That"s my .promise and you"d better believe it. This is no place for children who want to play games." The door closed behind him.
"Well!" Marina sat down and gripped her hands together. "What kind of husband do you think fie would make?"
"A perfectly splendid one, I should imagine. Look, my dear, one of MitchelTs outstanding a.s.sets is a hair-trigger reaction. You blunt it. And you know d.a.m.n well how he feels about you- your presence just const.i.tutes an additional worry at a time when he can least afford either. A wife doesn"t accompany her husband down a coal mine or on a wartime bombing mission. And Mitch.e.l.l is much more of a loner than such people are."
She attempted something between a glower and a scowl, but her beautiful face really wasn"t made for it, so she settled for a rueful smile, rose and replenished his gla.s.s of malt whisky.
Mitch.e.l.l removed the gun and two large keys from the pockets of an unconscious Durand, made his way to the main entrance to the oriental quarters, opened the door and switched on the corridor lights.
331.
""Commander La.r.s.en," he called out. "Palermo."
Doors opened and the two men were with him in a few seconds. La.r.s.en said: "Mitch.e.l.l! What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?"
"Just a harmless seismologist taking a stroll.**
"But didn"t you hear the broadcast warning- anyone on the platform will be shot on sight?"
"That"s past. One piece of bad news, two of good. Bad news first Roomer and Miss Melinda didn"t hear the warning-those quarters are sound-insulated. So they took a walk. Both were hurt badly. Melinda has a shattered left shoulder. Roomer was shot through the neck and chest The doctor thinks the bullet is lodged against his spine. We"ve got to get them to the hospital and quick. Who"s Lord Worth"s personal pilot?"
"Chambers," La.r.s.en said.
"Get one of your men to have him refuel his machine. Now the good news. Durand is in the radio room; his number two, guy named Aaron, is in the radar room. Both are unconscious." He looked at Palermo. "When they come to-it"ll be some time yet-can you have them looked after with loving care and attention?"
"Our pleasure."
La.r.s.en said: "Durand had three other men.**
"They"re dead."
"You?"
"Yes."
232.
Sn* witch "We didn"t hear any shooting."
Mitch.e.l.l gave them a brief sight of his silenced .38. La.r.s.en looked thoughtful. "Lord Worth has talked about you: I used to think he was exaggerating."
"The other bit of good news. Cronkite is sending some reinforcements by helicopter-not many, I believe, eight or nine-and they should be taking off about now. A fifteen-minute flight, I gather, so I think Cronkite"s boat is somewhere just below the horizon, below our radar sweep."
Palermo brightened. "We blast this chopper out of the sky?"
"My first thought, I must admit. But let"s try to play it smart and put him off his guard.-Let"s let them land, then take them. We"ll make their leader report to Cronkite that everything"s okay."
"What if he won"t? Or tries to warn him?"
"We"ll write out his script. If he changes one word Fll shoot him. Silencer. Cronkite won"t hear it.**
"He might hear the guy scream."
"When a .38 slug enters the base of your skull and travels upward at forty-five degrees, you don"t scream very much."
"You mean you"d kill him?" While not exactly incredulous, La.r.s.en was obviously taken aback.
"Yes. Then we"d line up number two. We shouldn"t have too much trouble with him."
233.
La.r.s.en said with some feeling: "When Lord Worth talked about you he didn"t tell me the half of it"
"Another thing. I want that helicopter. Well fake a story that the engine failed above the pad and it crash-landed, and will take several hours to repair. It"s always handy to have another helicopter around but, more important, I want to deprive Cronkite of the use of his." He looked at Palermo. "I take it that the reception committee can be safely left in your hands?"
"It sure can. Any suggestions?"
"Well, I doubt that I need to lecture an expert like you."
"You know me?"
"I used to be a cop. In any case, the rig is loaded with portable searchlights. They"ll head for the administration buildings. I"d stay in hiding, switch off the deck lights and then turn on the searchlights when they"re, say, thirty yards away. They"ll be blinded and won"t be able to see you."
"You can"t count on what nutcases like that"ll do."
"Til bet you can." Mitch.e.l.l smiled briefly at him, cop to crook. He said to La.r.s.en: "I have a feeling that Lord Worth would like to confer with his rig boss."
"Yes." They walked away as Palermo was already giving rapid instructions to his men. "Lord Worth know what you"re up to?"
234.
*T haven"t had time. Anyway, I wouldn"t tell Lord Worth how to make a billion out of oil."
"Good point." They stopped briefly by the radio room. La.r.s.en gazed at the crumpled form of Durand, half in appreciation, half in regret. "What a beautiful sight Wish it had been me, though."
"I"ll bet Durand-when he wakes up-doesn"t Plastic surgeons come high."
They made their next brief stop at the sick bay. La.r.s.en looked at a still comatose Melinda and a wide-awake Roomer and his ma.s.sive fists clenched. Roomer smiled. "I know. But you"re too late. How deep"s the water here?"
"Nine hundred feet."
"Then you"d need a diving bell to get your hands round the throats of those responsible. And how are things with you, Commander La.r.s.en? You can see how things are with us."
"I"ve been resting. Mitch.e.l.l has been more active. Besides the three men at the bottom of the Gulf, he"s also deprived me of the pleasure of beating the h.e.l.l out of Durand. Aaron isn"t feeling too well either."
Roomer said apologetically: "He doesn"t go in much for diplomacy. So the Seawitch is in our hands?"
"For the moment"
"For the moment?"
"Do you expect a man like Cronkite to give up? So ke"s lost five men and is probably about 33S.
AllNtair to lose another eight or nine. What"s that for a man with ten million to play around with? And he"s got his personal vendetta against Lord Worth. If he has to cripple or even destroy the Seawitch, including everybody aboard-well, it isn"t going to bother Cronkite"s conscience for long." He turned to Dr. Greenshaw. "I think it"s time you got busy with the stretchers. Can you spare four of your drilling crew, Commander, to help transfer them to the stretchers and then across to the helicopter? I"m afraid, John, you"re going to have some unpleasant company on the trip. Durand and Aaron. Tied up like chickens, of course."
"Well, thank you very much."
"I can-occasionally-be as leery as you. I wouldn"t put it past Cronkite to get aboard the Seawitch. How, I haven"t the faintest idea, but with a highly devious mind a driven man can accomplish most anything. If he succeeded I don"t want Durand and Aaron blowing the whistle on me. I want to stay an inconspicuous and harmless seismologist."
La.r.s.en gave a few orders on the phone, then he and Mitch.e.l.l went through to Lord Worth"s room. Lord Worth was on the phone, listening and scowling. Marina looked at Mitch.e.l.l with an expression as forbidding as her father"s.
"I suppose you"ve been Uttering the platform with a few more dead men?"
"You do me a grave injustice. There"s no one 236.