Such Power is Dangerous

by Dennis Wheatley

  For the first time since the tragedy Nelson Druce-laughed, ‘I’ll say you’re a great little man, Issey. The idea of fighting Hinckman on his own money suits me fine.’

  ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute.’ Uncle Andy put out a large hand. ‘If you’re game to help us break these swabs—why not come cut in the open? Line up along side of us.’

  Vandelstein shook his narrow head. ‘Dat ain’t der same thing at all. Mozarts is Mozarts, ain’t it—vell, they stays put. Ai don’t vant no combines with Hinckman an’ Ai don’t vant no combines with you … but if Ai’m villing to make a little loan to Mister Druce, that’s private—see. Now vill you vant der money or von’t you?’

  ‘What security are you asking, Issey?’

  ‘Vell, Mister Druce, Ai figure you got a vad of Pacific stock, ain’t it. Ai’m villin’ to loan you dem ten million dollars fer ninety days at six per cent, an’ Ai’m villing to take Pacifies at par on fifty per cent cover fer security.’

  ‘That’s okay, Issey, though I’d certainly like a longer date if you could fix it.’

  ‘Vi vorry about dat? Hinckman vill be up der spout afcre then, ’sides, Ai vouldn’t like to make it no longer on them terms. Ain’t Ai takin’ a chance that Pacifies go vonkey as it is.’

  ‘That’s true. All right, Issey, we’ll call it a deal.’

  The little man stood up. ‘Vell, you’re a vine feller, Mr. Druce, an’ Ai vish you all der luck in der vorld.’

  When Vandelstein and Schultzer had departed, Uncle Andy and Nelson talked over their plan of campaign. It was decided that they should each call a meeting of their principal executives and place the situation before them, offer new contracts all round to those they wished to retain, at a considerably higher figure, but with very heavy penalties attached. By this means they hoped to bind their lieutenants to them, or in the event of their going over to the Combine, pile up enormous assets for their corporations by way of damages.

  ‘I figure that Issey’s getting the best of this deal by a long sight,’ Uncle Andy said, as he was leaving.

  ‘Sure,’ Nelson grinned. ‘He reckons Hinckman’s about all in for money, but that it’ll pretty near break you an’ me to bring him down. Then Master Issey’ll be sitting pretty. The only man outside Star Artists in the market, Hinckman bust an’ us crippled like hell. I guess that’s the reason why he’s financed us just to make quite sure we won’t go under before the Combine’s down and out. Still we meant to fight anyhow, an’ this money’ll be mighty useful. I figure it’ll make just all the difference in pulling us through.’

  ‘Yeah. You’d have been a fool not to take it—an’ he didn’t ask for what was more than fair. He stands to lose a packet if Pacifies slump. I guess we got no grouse on Issey really.’ Uncle Andy climbed into his car and Nelson waved to him as he drove away.

  When the car had disappeared from sight Nelson Druce strolled back into the house. He carefully collected and locked away his papers, then he went upstairs to his bedroom.

  In the gathering twilight he unlocked a big cabinet containnumerous pigeon holes, most of which were filled with papers and bundles of letters. From one upon the left-hand side he drew a large and ugly-looking automatic, farther in reposed a square box full of cartridges. He weighed the pistol carefully in his hand for a moment as he stood there deep in thought. Gradually his eyes narrowed and his mouth drew down into a set curve full of dangerous determination. Then he took out the box of ammunition, and with those long, nervous fingers that Avril had admired so much, slowly began to load the gun.

  8

  The Terror in the Night

  Avril dined with Ronnie that evening. She had dined with him on two occasions before and enjoyed being in his company. She found his lazy amusing manner delightfully refreshing after the snap and drive of the Americans. They always seemed so frantically anxious to get somewhere, or do something. Even if they were apparently enjoying themselves at a party—they wanted to rush off in their fast cars to some road house or night dive, and when they got there, their first idea seemed to be—to leave it for some other.

  She could talk, too, with Ronnie upon all sorts of interesting subjects, whereas everybody else in Hollywood had one theme and one theme only—they chattered endlessly from morning to night as to what they and their acquaintances were doing or about to do in connection with the motion pictures. Avril was getting heartily sick of it. It seemed to her that they were a stupid, brainless lot with the possible exception of a few brilliant intellects, and these locked themselves away in the fastness of their luxury mansions most of the time.

  Avril was just a trifle homesick for her own English world, and Ronnie was definitely of it. However much his casualness—to call it by no other name—might lead the unwary to suppose that he had unbounded influence with important people who in actual fact he had hardly met, Avril did find that they really had quite a number of acquaintances in common.

  After dinner Ronnie suggested going on to a night place to dance, but Avril decided that she would rather go back to their hotel and sit in the garden.

  The night was fine, and it was cool and pleasant there after the dusty heat of the long day. They sat talking casually as they sipped their iced coffee fortified with brandy from Ronnie’s flask. The hotel itself was a blaze of light, but the garden was almost deserted.

  ‘When do you start to do a spot of work?’ Ronnie asked lightly.

  ‘In a day or so now, I hope. Barton Druce was to have taken over my contract today, but I expect the Pacific people will when they’ve had a chance to straighten out his affairs.’ ‘Nelson Druce is a lucky devil—I bet he comes into a packet.’

  ‘Well, I don’t know that one can say that he’s altogether lucky. I believe he was very fond of his father, and he must be feeling this terrible thing most frightfully—but of course he’ll be a very rich man now.’

  ‘Wonder if he’ll run the Pacific show or if he’ll sell out.’

  ‘I should think he’s almost certain to continue in the business, he seems awfully keen about it. I think he’s clever, too, he’s carrying out all sort of experiments with new lenses.’

  ‘That must be rather fun.’

  ‘His fiancée told me about it when I was up at the house the day before yesterday—it seems he’s got a thing called the “Z” projector. I don’t know much about it, but Vitelma Loveday said that he thinks it will revolutionise the whole business?’

  ‘Oh—how?’ Ronnie’s tone was casual but his blue eyes had quickened with interest.

  ‘I don’t quite know, but I gather that it will throw up the actors in relief when the film is shown upon the screen.’

  ‘Um—they’ve been working on that for years. The Germans perfected one method, but the expense killed it. They had an enormous screen made like the concave side of a saucer tilted up on end, but it had to be made of silver. The ordinary picture palace couldn’t possibly have afforded to install it, but it was a marvellous idea. I saw it in Berlin, and when they chopped a chap’s head off on the film it looked just as though it was rolling out of the screen right on to the stage.’

  ‘How extraordinary!’

  ‘I wonder of Druce has really solved the secret of showing films in the round, it is bound to come, of course, and if he has there is a fortune in it.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose there is.’

  ‘Rather! Look what Western Electric must be making out of their talkie patents—every theatre in the world has to be fitted with them. I wonder if Druce would care to sell the English rights of this thing.’

  Avril smiled. ‘What would you do if he would?’ she asked curiously. ‘Try and sell them to Uncle John?’

  ‘Oh, no. I’d form a company—I don’t suppose Bamborough would be willing to give me the price I should want in money down.’

  ‘You must be a very rich young man.’

  ‘No. But I know plenty of people who are. It would be as easy as falling off a log to raise money on a thing like that.’

 
‘Then where would you come in?’

  ‘Oh, shares—and my expenses—man’s time, you know.’

  ‘If, as you say, the whole world will have to use this invention I shouldn’t think Nelson Druce would be such a fool as to sell the English rights—why should he?—he can’t be hard up for money.’

  ‘No, I don’t suppose he would—worse luck.’ Ronnie whistled thoughtfully, then he said suddenly, ‘I say! it’s going to make the other companies look a bit silly, isn’t it? If Druce decides to fit his new projector in Pacific-owned theatres only.’

  ‘Yes, I should think it will, and I can’t say I shall be sorry—your friend Hinckman thoroughly deserves a real good slap in the eye.’

  ‘Oh, I say,’ Ronnie protested. ‘What’s he done, anyway. He’s not a bad chap.’

  ‘Indeed, I think you have very curious ideas, Ronnie, I don’t know, of course, but I should think it’s more than likely that he put those men up to shoot poor Mr. Druce last night, the man they caught was one of his people.’

  Ronnie laughed as he tilted back his chair. ‘My dear, what utter rot! Hinckman would never have had anything to do with a thing like that. The States are full of gunmen, I expect they shot old Druce up because he refused to pay for protection or something of that sort.’

  ‘I’m not so sure. Anyhow, Hinckman seems to have pretty well smashed up poor old Schultzer.’

  ‘What about it if he has. That’s only business. If Schultzer can’t keep his directors and technicians he deserves to lose them, and I think you are awfully silly to turn down Hinckman’s offer of a contract. This “Forbidden Territory” film is going to be the best thing Trans-Continental Electric have done for years.’

  ‘Perhaps it is—I don’t care—I just don’t like Mr. Hinckman and I don’t approve of his business methods.’

  ‘Well, it’s your funeral—but you’d be much wiser to come in. He’ll have the whole caboodle under his thumb in a few months’ time.’

  ‘If he doesn’t go smash first.’

  ‘He won’t. And after all, why worry where your screw comes from as long as it’s the biggest you can get—I shouldn’t care a hoot.’

  ‘No, Ronnie, of course, you wouldn’t, and I think you’re a darling, but that is just one of the little things in which we don’t see eye to eye. And now I’m going to bed.’

  Ronnie laughed as he stood up. ‘Well, have it your own way, but there’s nothing dishonest about it.’

  ‘Nothing dishonest about breaking my contract?’

  ‘No, it’s done every day in Hollywood, and your business manager would do it for you if he were over here.’

  ‘Yes, if I let him, but I shouldn’t, as it is he drafted my contract before I left London, and that, my dear is that.’

  Ronnie saw her as far as the door of her room. He had decided to have an early night himself, and his own room was only just along the corridor.

  ‘Thank you for my nice evening,’ said Avril sweetly, ‘and lots of happy dreams.’

  Ronnie laughed again. ‘Thanks. I’ll dream I have that contract of yours and I’m scrapping it for a fifty per cent rise with Hinckman—no, I won’t though, that would be too much like hard work. I’ll dream that Nelson Druce has made me a present of the “Z” projector. Good night, sleep well.’

  Lord Gavin Fortescue was reading when Ronnie entered his private room. He carefully marked his place and put down his book. ‘Well, my young friend,’ he said placidly, ‘how have you been amusing yourself this evening?’

  ‘Oh, I dined Avril Bamborough,’ Ronnie replied, as he walked over to mix himself a drink. ‘She’s intelligent for a woman and I’m sick to death of American cuties. How’s Great-Headquarters—any news from the Californian Front?’

  Lord Gavin stroked his silver hair. ‘We progress,’ he said slowly. ‘You know, of course, that we have taken the Alpha salient, a costly operation, since Vandelstein stuck out for his price, but it straightens our front considerably and gives us five.’

  ‘Yes, we’re gaining ground. How about Schultzer?’

  ‘We attack the Schultzer ridge at dawn tomorrow—or to be more strictly accurate, at 10 a.m., Hinckman is to meet the Ubiquitous board. As you know, the position has been well mined, most of their directors are on our side already—Schultzer himself is the main obstacle, but if Hinckman is the strong man I think him we have no need to worry about the result.’

  ‘Um—Hinckman’s the big boy all right—and I expect Barton Druce’s death has shaken them pretty badly.’

  ‘Yes, a most tragic affair, poor fellow, to be shot in the open street like that. Really, the American Government should do something to put a stop to these crimes of violence. The activities of these gunmen are really too terrible—nobody is safe.’ Lord Gavin’s voice was mild and sympathetic. He looked like some benovelent prelate as he sat hunched in the big chair.

  ‘It was a ghastly business,’ Ronnie agreed. ‘I wonder what they had up against him, been trying to soak him and he wouldn’t pay, I suppose. Still, one can’t help feeling it’s a slice of luck for us—it’s going to make things much easier. Is there any news from the enemy camp?’

  ‘Intelligence reports that young Nelson Druce has been appointed to his father’s old position in the Pacific Company—also that he called a meeting this afternoon.’

  ‘Trying to form a group against us, I suppose?’

  ‘Precisely, but I gather that he did not have much luck. McTavish was present, and he declared openly for us. The Grand Old Man is joining Druce with World Wide, Schultzer’s hands have been successfully tied, and the Jew remains nebulous.’

  ‘Nelson Druce is a clever chap,’ Ronnie remarked airily. ‘He’s just perfected a new projector for showing films in relief.’

  Lord Gavin hunched his frail body in the arm-chair, his pale blue eyes filled with quick interest. ‘Are you certain of that,’ he asked sharply.

  Ronnie nodded lazily. ‘Yes. I had it from his fiancee.’

  ‘Indeed! This is interesting. It may affect the whole situation profoundly, many people have been working on such inventions for years.’

  ‘I know, it will be as big a thing as when the Talkies first came out. He calls it the “Z” projector.’

  ‘This information is of extreme importance, and my plans are of far too great a magnitude to neglect a possibility of this kind. You have done well, Ronnie.’

  ‘Cough up,’ said Ronnie with a laugh.

  Lord Gavin took out his note-case and handed over a number of crisp new notes.

  Ronnie pocketed them, smiling. ‘Well, I think I’ll toddle along to my well-earned rest,’ he said. ‘Good night.’

  A few doors along the corridor Avril had just climbed into bed; she took up her book but she did not begin to read at once. She was thinking of Ronnie and their conversation about Nelson Druce.

  What a delightful person Nelson was. His comments upon the absurd travesty of Aldous Huxley’s book that they had seen the night before, had been most amusing and full of shrewd intelligence. Then afterwards—during that nightmare scene in the box-office—with the old man dying, and the police, and the doctor, and those soulless reporters thrusting their way in, avid for details. She wondered how it was that he had come to be holding her hand, but could not remember, she felt certain that he was quite unconscious that it had been she beside him. Perhaps he had thought it was Vitelma, but Vitelma had been busy in a corner repairing the ravages that hysterics had made to her face.

  It seemed absurd that Nelson Druce should love that beautiful shallow doll. Avril supposed that it was the old story of an intelligent man disliking intelligence in his woman, and just wanting a lovely silky kitten to play with on the heathrug when he returned tired out from business. However, it was not her affair.

  She began to wonder if she had been quite wise in mentioning the ‘Z’ projector to Ronnie, but after all Vitelma had been quite open about it, and there must be dozens of people in Hollywood who were working upon new inventions;
what harm could come of it—none that she could see. She dismissed the matter from her. mind and began to read one of Mr. A. E. Coppard’s delightful short stories. She finished it and read another, then she laid down her book and put out the light.

  A gentle glow, the reflection from the lights of the ground-floor rooms on to the garden, showed the tall french windows plainly. It filled the room with a pale, restful twilight which Avril preferred to complete darkness. The thin curtains were sufficient to keep out the morning light, at all events enough to prevent her waking.

  For some reason she was restless tonight, and could not get to sleep, She lay for a long time in the semi-darkness, her senses wakeful although her eyes were closed. The sound of faint movements came to her as she lay there, but she thought that they must come from the adjoining room. Then she heard a rustle at her bedside, and in a second sat up, wide awake.

  A dark figure stood beside her, the figure of a man, sharply outlined against the faint light of the windows. She snatched at the house telephone on the table by her bed, but with a swift movement he knocked it from her hand. She drew away, opening her mouth to scream, but he was too quick for her. In one spring he had landed on the low bed, forcing her backward, his hand over her mouth.

  ‘Hush,’ he said sharply. ‘Do not maka da noise. It ees me—Angelo.’

  She struggled fiercely but he flung the whole weight of his small lithe body upon her, bearing her down. ‘Listen,’ he whispered, forcing his face within a few inches of hers. ‘I lova you—why you not lova Angelo—Angelo da greata lova. He giva you wonderful time.’

  With a terrific wrench she jerked her head free for a second. ‘Get out,’ she said fiercely. ‘I’ll scream.’ Next minute his hand descended like a clamp upon her mouth again.

  In hot, passionate language he began to pour out his love for her. Then a silent, desperate struggle ensued in the darkness. Angelo had no mind to be thwarted in his desire, having got so far. He had not lain in wait behind her trunks in the close, hot darkness of the big clothes closet for nothing. He was a strong, wiry little man and his passions were at fever pitch. He had been brooding over Avril for days past, and the cerebral excitement which with him always accompanied a killing, had not subsided from the night before.