"Naturally. It always raises hell when an agent defects. I think you had better get me Gunther, Eric. Nobody else has turned up any leads; yours is the only one we have, thin as it is. It should be a smooth, impressive, confidence-inspiring job, preferably one that looks like an accident and embarrasses nobody. Did you receive my little gift?"
"Yes, sir. I am wearing it."
"It is supposed to be an improved model. I would like your comments, later. Just peel off the foil as usual. DO you feel that you are making progress?"
"The preparations are well in hand, sir. I would say she's willing to try anything that'll make life tough for me. All she needs is the chance."
"Let us hope she gets it," Mac said. "I hate to ask a man to offer himself as bait, but-"
"Sure," I said. "Good-bye, sir."
I hung up and stood there for a moment, frowning thoughtfully. A car drove up and a bell rang somewhere on the premises as it crossed a rubber hose lying across the driveway. The filling-station man, in the lighted office, drained his coffee cup and came out. Hs name was lettered over the door: A.H. (Hank) Wegmann. I assumed it was his name. No one but the owner or manager of the place would put in such long hours.
I opened the door of the booth, paused to let him go by and headed across the lot in the direction of the tourist court a couple of blocks away. He went out to the car by the pumps. It was an Army jeep from some nearby missile outfit, I noticed, with a young enlisted man at the wheel. The idea must have been taking shape in my mind as I walked, but I was almost out of range of the lights before it suddenly graduated from a kind of subconscious nagging to a conscious brain-wave.
It hit me so hard that I almost stopped and looked back to check what I'd seen, but that would have been strictly amateur procedure, and I'd done enough blundering already that day-as Mac had not been slow to point out. I kept walking until the place was out of sight behind me. Then I stopped under a street light and searched myself for something I vaguely remembered shoving into a pocket.
After a little, I found it-the flimsy receipt for the gasoline I had charged that morning. I smoothed out the paper, and there it was again, what had struck me back there: WEGMANN'S ONE-STOP SERVICE, CARRIZOZO, NEW MEXICO. I stood there looking at it, while cataclysmic changes occurred in what I like-though it seems without much justification-to refer to as my brain.
Wegmann, I thought, Wegmann. All day we'd been looking for an Indian tent, and here was Mr. Wegmann. Wigwam-Wegmann. It could have been a coincidence. It could also have been a coincidence that of all the filling stations in town, Gail Hendricks had carefully guided us to this one. She had said, it looked cleaner than the others, and she wanted a nice, clean rest room.
It could be, but I didn't believe it for a minute.
XVII
Reaching the motel, I paused outside the door briefly, wondering what kind of a scene she'd prepared for me inside. I'd taunted her and sent her away, remember, claiming to have no further use for her. I didn't think she was about to let herself be dismissed in such a cavalier fashion, so it was her move.
I had no more doubts. The only question was whether I was merely dealing with a mortally offended lady pursuing a private revenge, or whether she had other, darker motives. I didn't really think she had, but of course I couldn't rule it out entirely. In any case, it was obvious that I had misjudged her in that El Paso hotel room. Forced to surrender the film capsule under threat of being stripped naked, she'd still managed to hold out on me.
She hadn't been nearly as scared as she'd seemed. Questioned about her sister's dying words, she'd come up with the perfect answer. Wigwam, she'd said, The Wigwam in Carrizozo.
It left her protected. If I already knew about Mr. Wegmann's service station and confronted her with the knowledge, she could claim to have made an honest mistake- the names were that close. If I didn't… well, at least she'd given no more help to the disgusting bully who'd wrecked her dress and threatened to smash her face in. And she could have the satisfaction of imagining me combing Carrizozo for days, searching for a native shelter that didn't exist.
She couldn't have anticipated that she'd be present to watch, although maybe she'd even hoped for that. In any case, given the opportunity to come along-forced to come along, even-she'd made the most of it. I couldn't help grinning wryly as I recalled the way we'd marched around slushy streets for endless hours this afternoon, while she, outwardly cooperative and sympathetic, undoubtedly laughed herself quite sick inside… I turned the knob and went in to see what she'd figured out for me next.
She'd left one small light on, so I'd get the full impact as I came in. That was a flaw, objectively speaking- darkness would have been more suitable to the tragic impression she was trying to convey-and I thought the pathetic, moist, crumpled handkerchief in her trailing hand was overdoing it a little, but on the whole it was a very creditable stage setting. It established the proper mood instantly.
Her fur-lined coat lay on the floor where she'd discarded it, supposedly, as she stumbled forward and flung herself face down on the big bed in tears-too upset by my cruelty, it would appear, to even remove the little plastic boots she'd been wearing over her shoes. A nice touch of verisimilitude was that the boots were muddy.
She gave me plenty of time to appreciate the scene. Then there was an audible gasp as she realized, officially, that she was no longer alone in the room. A moment later she was sitting up, prettily startled and embarrassed.
"Oh! I didn't hear… I must have fallen asleep." I looked at her for a moment, feeling rather sorry for her. She was pretty good, but she was still an amateur. Sooner or later, she'd get into things she couldn't handle. It wasn't a game, but she didn't know it yet.
I said, "Why, you've been crying! What's the matter, glamor girl. Can't you bear to part from me?"
She stared at me, wide-eyed and jumped to her feet. "Why, you arrogant, insufferable beast-"
She choked and turned away, putting the damp handkerchief to her face. I produced a larger one of my own, fortunately clean. I stepped up and reached around to give it to her from behind.
"Here," I said. "Try a dry one. Wipe and blow."
She hesitated then snatched the cloth without looking around. We stood like that for a little. Then, with a small, tired sigh, she turned and came quite naturally into my arms.
I heard her voice, muffled: "Why do you have to be such a monster? Why couldn't… Why can't I ever fall for a man who's… nice. Just a little nice, just a little kind and gentle. I declare, that don't seem like too much to ask."
"Gail," I said. "Gail, I-"
Then, in the direct and clumsy way of the suddenly passionate male, I kissed her thoroughly and reached for the zipper of her skirt. She caught my wrist, but she was smiling now.
"All right," she breathed. "All right, but let's do it properly this time."
"Properly," I said, kissing her again. "It's a hard thing to do, properly, but for you I'll try. I'll be proper as hell."
"Please, darling!" she said, laughing and trying to escape. "I mean, I don't care much for this impromptu sex. Let me take a shower and make myself pretty. I won't be long."
She wasn't, and much later, with darkness in the room, I felt her move beside me in a tentative way. I made no response, breathing evenly. She barely disturbed the bed as she slipped out of it. Apparently the sweater and skirt she'd removed in the bathroom wouldn't do for the next bit, or maybe simple fastidiousness wouldn't let her put them back on after wearing them so long; anyway, she paid a visit to the closet and paused by her suitcase, before she went in there. I heard the muffled click as the door closed behind her. I waited.
For a woman of her looks and background, she was a fast dresser. She was out again in less than five minutes. I was prepared to keep up my impersonation of a man pounding his ear until she was safely gone, but I'd underestimated her again. Instead of sneaking out, she came straight to the bed.
"Matt," she whispered. "Matt, darling."
I g
runted, snorted and sat up abruptly. "What-"
I reached for the light switch. The sudden illumination made her blink. She was wearing another sweater, this time a fuzzy tan job with a big loose collar-very dramatic but not much good for keeping the neck warm- and a pair of tapering tan pants. I suppose they're still called pants. They ended short of the ankles and were very, very snug. I looked at them and pursed my lips in a soft whistle.
"Don't be corny, darling," she said. "I'll have you know they're very expensive and very chic. I'm sorry to wake you but I didn't want you to think I… I'd run away, or anything."
"Where are you going?"
She shook her head mysteriously. "I'm not going to tell you. It's just an idea-"
"Little Gail, girl detective," I said sourly. "Look, glamor girl, don't you realize that a couple of people have already been killed very dead? If you've got an idea, tell me about it, and we'll figure out what to do about it together."
She shook her head again. "No, I want to do this myself. You said some things that weren't very nice this morning, remember? You acted as if you thought I..Anyway, I want to try. Maybe I can help."
I hesitated, and said sulkily, "All right, be the expert. Get yourself killed. Why bother to wake me up to tell me?"
"Oh, Matt!" she said, in a hurt little-girl voice. I didn't say anything. She started to speak again, changed her mind and turned towards the door.
I said, "Gail." She looked back. I reached down into one of my boots lying by the bed and came up with my.38 Special revolver. "Here, damn it," I said. "Do you know how to use it?"
"Well, I've shot them-"
"Okay," I said. "It's loaded. It kicks like a mule. Try not to blow your fool head off. Now get the hell out of here and let me sleep."
I watched the door close behind her. A diligent detective type would, I suppose, have hauled on his pants and followed, but I just let her go. The risk of being caught tailing her was too great; besides, I didn't figure she was going very far, just to the filling station a couple of blocks away, where Mr. Wegmann would, no doubt, be very glad to see her.
XVIII
I don't apologize for going to sleep; there wasn't anything else to do, and it might have been a long time before I got another chance. When the knock came at the door, it took me a moment to realize what it was and where I was. It was a soft little knock, the kind of diffident knock a woman might use who'd forgotten to take the key and hoped she wasn't going to have to wake anybody up to get herself let back in.
Well, that was all right, and as a matter of fact I hadn't seen her take a key, but we have a routine that covers doors and the opening thereof in the middle of the night when the situation warrants a red-alert rating. I made some kind of a sleepy sound to let her know I was coming and she didn't need to break it down. I sat up and put my feet into my boots-people have sustained painfully smashed toes, opening doors barefooted. I looked around the darkened room, placing the furniture in my mind so I wouldn't have to look again. Then I got up and stole silently to the door and yanked it open from a certain angle in a certain way, stepping aside quickly.
The first man in was easy. He must have been braced against the door, ready to shove it open hard to throw me off balance. He came hurtling past me like an Army fullback getting up steam to hit the Navy line on a bright fall day along the Hudson. I merely had to stick out my booted foot innocently and he spilled headlong. I made a note of the fact that he seemed to be armed, and it therefore wouldn't do to leave him unattended too long, but it was time to deal with Number Two, who was bigger and cagier.
He had a gun, too, but I kicked it out of his hand- which was a mistake. It's always a mistake to kick at a high target, even with the best kicking technique in the world, unless you know the man opposing you is a fool, or expect the kick to be immediately disabling. Well, the real karate and savate experts can get away with it, maybe, but I'm not in that class.
I knew I was exposing myself to retaliation the instant my knee straightened beyond a certain point and I was letting myself fall backwards towards a clear space in the room even as he made the standard response of grabbing my foot and dumping me on the back of my head. He scored the point, but I got my foot out of hock, hit the floor in a back somersault and was up again before he could reach me.
There was a groan off to the side. I knew where Number One had landed. He'd rammed the bed with his head as he pitched forward, which was a step in the right direction, but I thought I'd better do something more permanent about him while Number Two was still taking things easy and sizing me up. I jumped up on the double bed. The big one couldn't figure out what I wanted up there, and he wasn't in a hurry to find out. He came forward slowly, alert for a trick.
Finally, he lunged for me. I vaulted to one side, dropping over the foot of the bed and landing on his partner, driving the boots in hard. It wasn't a very nice thing to do, but I wasn't feeling very nice. A girl had made love to me, smiled at me, and gone out to sell me to the highest bidder. Even if it was what I'd expected and worked for, it didn't make me very happy.
I jumped on the first guy hard and threw myself away from the reaching arms of Number Two. That was enough of the Douglas Fairbanks routine. I'm not really that young or that acrobatic except when I have to be. Number One was safely out of it now; he was due in the shop for body work and engine repairs. But his big com padre was still coming after me like a great bear, only after that first neat, foot-twisting throw I wasn't kidding myself: this bear knew unarmed combat.
The fact is that all this karate-judo stuff is really effective only on people who don't know how. Sure, I'm acquainted with a lot of bare-handed ways of knocking out or even killing an unskilled man, or one who isn't aware that mayhem is coming his way. But when the other guy is hep and ready, then everybody's got trouble, and the best thing to do, particularly if he's bigger than you, or if you can't find yourself something to chop, stab, or shoot with, is to depart the joint and take to the hills.
The trouble was, I was in pajamas, he was between me and the half-closed door and while the motel carpet was downright littered with firearms-well, two-a feint towards the nearest one showed me that the big fellow was just as aware of them as I was. If I wanted a gun, I was going to have to fight him for it, and that was just what I was trying to avoid. We don't do this stuff for fun, you know, or even for exercise. Some people do try to play at it, but it's not really a sport, like boxing or wrestling. Basically, it's for keeps.
He was one hell of a big guy, towering square and black against the dim illumination of the door and window-a mountain of a man without a face. He made me feel spindly and fragile for all my two hundred pounds and six feet four. Maybe I had the reach on him by a little, but it didn't cheer me up remarkably. I didn't really want to reach him-with anything less than an axe.
Then we were mixing it, if you could call it that. What it amounted to was that he'd try something in a careful and experimental way, and I'd catch the shadowy movement and show him that I knew the answer, and he'd cover up quickly. Then I'd trot out one of my pet tricks, and he'd let me know he'd read that book, too. Two guys who know the stuff don't take any chances with each other, and it's very dull to watch.
That is, it's dull if you don't happen to be one of the guys. I knew that lightning would strike the instant I made a mistake or let myself get trapped in a corner or tangled in the furniture. As we shuffled around each other warily in the dark room, the thought of Gail returned to my mind. It wasn't anything to be bitter about, I told myself. It was what we'd wanted, Mac and I, wasn't it? I remembered Mac's words: You can't trust her, but untrustworthy people can sometimes be very useful.
I woke up suddenly to the fact that I was spoiling my own game by being so hard to take. After all, clear back in El Paso, we'd planned for her to sell me out, and here I was doing my best to queer the sale. I turned and kicked the unconscious man lying nearby right in his dim white face.
The big one spoke for the first time. "Why," he gr
owled, "you lousy bastard, kicking a man who's down!"
Then, enraged, he charged as I'd hoped he would, with that provocation. He forgot all the nice scientific blows he knew that would kill me or cripple me for life. He charged like a giant grizzly, and I hit him once feebly to make it look good and let him sweep me up in his arms. I don't believe there's a case on record where one man has actually managed to squash another full-grown healthy man with that bear hug. Even breaking an opponent's back from that position isn't easy do. At least so I'd been told, but as the arms closed about me I started wondering about the accuracy of my information.
I fought back, of course, as I'd be expected to do, frantically. I tried for the groin, but he knew that one, so I tried for the eyes, but I couldn't reach them. He had me pretty well tied up, and he was increasing the pressure, growling deep in his throat. I realized abruptly that if he'd ever received any orders about taking me alive- which I was counting on-he'd forgotten all about them.
I'd miscalculated his loyalty to his partner, and I was in serious trouble. The room was getting darker, and I said the hell with it and went limp as a last resort, beating real unconsciousness by only a little. This didn't bring any marked improvement in the situation. I wasn't breathing much any more, and the station was just about to go off the air when there was a small chopping sound somewhere and the pressures surrounding me eased perceptibly.
The sound came again, accompanied by a little breathless whimpering noise. The arms holding me let go abruptly, and I stumbled back, grabbing a chair to keep from falling. The room was still too dark and my focus wasn't good, but I saw the big man who had almost killed me go to his knees, shielding his head with his arms, while over him hovered a slender, breathless figure in tight light pants and a fuzzy sweater.
I managed the breath I needed and stumbled forward. She had him helpless on all fours now and was systematically hacking away at his head with the butt of the gun I had given her-as if intent on hammering him right through the floor. I came up behind her and caught her arm. She whirled.
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