The car drove silently away. Hill was directed to ascend to his flat, and leave the front door ajar. He obeyed instructions. Ten minutes later Sir Leonard entered quietly, closing the door behind him. He accepted the whisky and soda Hill mixed for him; then, from the depths of a comfortable armchair, regarded his assistant with a quizzical smile.
‘It was not very bright of you,’ he commented, ‘to break out suddenly into English, when you proposed to Miss Ictinos. However, as it was under the stress of great emotion, I must forgive the lapse, I suppose. Probably I should have done the same thing.’
Hill’s face turned crimson as he stammered his apologies. He knew very well that Sir Leonard would not have committed such a blunder. They discussed Shannon’s coming enterprise thoughtfully, being chiefly concerned with the question of whether General Radoloff’s continued absence from his flat would be noticed and cause alarm. Two or three times Hill crept out and, ascertaining that the way was clear, listened at the door. He was unable to hear anything to indicate whether the occupants were still up or had gone to bed. The fact that neither Bikelas from the floor below, nor Plasiras and Doreff from the opposite flat, had been summoned seemed to indicate that all was well. There was a possibility, of course, that they were already with Michalis and Kyprianos but, as time went on, and the building remained as silent as the grave, except for the occasional hum of a lift as a resident returned home, the waiting men felt reassured. Soon after midnight, Hill was directed to fetch Tempest and Merryweather. Acting on instructions, he switched off the dim lights that remained burning in the corridors and hall. The two newcomers, therefore, were brought silently up the stairs in complete darkness. Afterwards, Hill again switched on the single lamps that had been alight on each floor.
Nothing now interrupted the profound silence that reigned over the whole building. Tempest and his ex-soldier assistant were provided with refreshments by the hospitable Hill, and given chairs in which they could doze if they wished. Sir Leonard sat for long periods smoking his pipe; hardly moving. For three days he had been exceedingly busy, and had had little rest, but he showed no inclination to sleep. During that time he had learnt to know each of the conspirators by sight except Kyprianos. He had even been inside the flats of Bikelas and Plasiras, when he had assured himself their occupants were out, and had searched in vain for evidence of their activities. In addition, he had had a long conference with the British ambassador that morning, handing over to the latter a document in which the conspiracy was set out in full detail. The result of the conversation was that the ambassador was ready, on notification from Sir Leonard, to place before the Italian government all particulars of the conspiracy; demanding on behalf of Great Britain the arrest of Michalis and Kyprianos for plotting against the safety of the people of Cyprus. He could not, of course, insist on the apprehension of the others, but, as Bruno’s part in the activities was aimed against Italy, and the rest were conspiring against their countries on Italian soil, the capture of the whole band would naturally be the object of the authorities.
At first Wallace had considered the advisability of asking the British ambassador to inform the Italian government at once, but the risk of such a proceeding was too apparent. A representative of a foreign power could not dictate or advise a course of action to Italy, and it was certain that, directly the police were acquainted with the facts, they would proceed against the conspirators. In that case, the result might have been appalling. Like Shannon, Sir Leonard felt certain that Kyprianos – a man whose mind had conceived a scheme so diabolical – would not submit quietly to arrest. It was certain that he was prepared for eventualities. Wallace envisaged him locking himself in his room on the first sign of alarm, opening the phials containing the cultures and, by some means or other, no doubt to hand, starting them on a journey of death through Rome. A catastrophe of such a nature was to be avoided at all costs, which was the reason why the British ambassador was not to move until Kyprianos had been rendered powerless.
The time passed slowly to the men awaiting the coming of Shannon. At fifteen minutes to two, Hill again made a journey downstairs, switching off the lights. He had hardly returned, leaving the door open, when Shannon slipped into the flat, moving with astonishing noiselessness for such a big man. His surprise was great, when he became aware of Sir Leonard Wallace reclining in an armchair in the sitting room. The two men shook hands warmly, Sir Leonard’s first question being a thoughtful enquiry after Shannon’s wounds. The young man assured him they were practically healed. The question naturally brought up the subject of the tragic fate of Barbara Havelock and the events in Nicosia. Hill, Tempest, and Merryweather stood in the background awaiting instructions, and their hearts went out to Shannon, as they observed the sorrow which mention of Barbara had brought to his face. They realised, as Sir Leonard did, that, though he was in no way to blame for her death, nothing that could be said would prevent him from blaming himself for the tragedy. Wallace switched the conversation quickly to the affair on hand.
‘You have planned the whole business in order, as far as possible, to make it foolproof, I hope?’ he asked, adding, with a smile, ‘I am not anxious to lose one of my most valuable men.’
Shannon flushed a little at the compliment.
‘Yes, sir,’ he responded, ‘I think everything is as cut and dried as it can be. Few of the doors in this building possess bolts, so I think I shall be able to get into Kyprianos’ room, even if it is locked, without making a sound. First I shall enter the bedrooms of Michalis and Radoloff, extract the keys, and lock them in. That done, I shall enter the laboratory – I know exactly where it is – render Kyprianos helpless, stick the hypodermic needle in him, and give him the doings. Hill tells me that in five minutes he will be helpless. Sounds simple enough.’
‘Yes; it sounds simple enough,’ responded Sir Leonard drily. ‘I hope it works as simply and easily as it sounds. By the way, you won’t have to bother about General Radoloff. He is – er – out.’
‘Radoloff out!’ repeated Shannon in surprise.
Sir Leonard explained, and the burly Secret Service man laughed. The latter had been rather concerned lest Sir Leonard should forbid his venture. He was now feeling very much encouraged at the realisation that he approved of it. The chief did not even take charge. He had sent Shannon out on a mission, and it was always his way to leave his men to their own resources, only interfering, or giving advice, when he felt they were in need, or knew they were in difficulties. In the present case he did not make any alterations to Shannon’s plans, except to suggest that, now there were so many of them to help on the outside, there was no reason why Hill should not accompany him and administer the injection to Kyprianos. He would have gone himself, but, in that event, Shannon would automatically have come under his orders and, as it was that young man’s show, he felt it would be hardly fair to him.
‘We’ll give you half an hour,’ he declared. ‘That should allow you a margin for unexpected obstacles. If you have not returned at the end of that time, I will come to see what has happened.’
Shannon, who was wearing rubber-soled shoes, waited while Hill donned a similar pair; then the two quietly left the flat. They stood listening for some minutes, but not a sound reached their ears, and presently they softly approached the door of the suite it was their intention to enter. Shannon would rather have gone alone. He was sentimental enough to desire that Hill’s and Thalia’s love for each other should end in complete happiness for both. If anything went wrong with the enterprise on which they were engaged, and the ex-doctor was killed, he hated to contemplate the sorrow which would overwhelm the girl. He felt he knew her well enough to realise that she had the power of bestowing love of a depth and intensity far beyond the ordinary and, in consequence, would suffer the more at the loss of her lover. The discovery of Hill’s identity, too, might bring real danger upon her, for no secret had been made of her companionship with him. Hill had, in fact, been received by Madame Bikelas and, though not encouraged,
tolerated by Bikelas himself. However, Sir Leonard had decreed that the ex-doctor should tackle Kyprianos with Shannon, and that was the end of it. Love, after all, could not be allowed to obtrude on duty, and the powerful Secret Service man reflected that, behind them, waited Sir Leonard himself with two others ready to render assistance if necessary. Hill, of course, had no idea of the thoughts in his companion’s mind. It would never have occurred to him to put anything but the service first, despite the love which, for the first time in his thirty years of life, had come to him and taken possession of him with such force.
They stood outside the door of the flat in which Kyprianos lived, and Shannon felt for and found the keyhole. Softly, and with great care, he inserted a cleverly-fashioned steel instrument. Intent on working silently, he took so long that Hill began to feel impatient. At last, however, the door was open; was pushed inwards by slow degrees for fear that it might creak. Shannon touched his companion on the arm. A moment later they stood together in the passage. There was not a glimmer of light anywhere, the occupants apparently being wrapped in profound slumber. Shannon put his mouth close to his colleague’s ear; bade him remain where he was until he returned. Silently and slowly, feeling before him for fear there were obstacles in the way – he dared not use a torch yet, though he had one in his pocket – he moved along the passage. He reached the room corresponding to that occupied by the secretary below, felt for the handle of the door, turned it, and entered. The key was in the lock on the inside as he had expected. Quietly he withdrew it to insert it in the outside. Then he stood listening, but no sound of breathing reached his ears. That occurred to him as very strange, until he remembered that Radoloff was not in the flat and that the room must be the one he had used.
Shannon took the torch from his pocket; switched it on guardedly. His surmise had been correct. He was alone in the bedchamber. As there was now no point in locking the door, he merely closed it, retracing his steps to the apartment corresponding to that used by Bikelas and his wife. There was no question about the third occupant of the flat, Paul Michalis, being absent, and Shannon, if possible, increased his precautions. After several minutes of nerve-racking caution, he had opened the door, repeating the process of transferring the key to the outside. But again he was puzzled by the fact that he could not hear the sound of breathing. There must be someone there. Surely Michalis was in bed and asleep. Or was he in bed – and not asleep? Had he been roused, despite Shannon’s precautions, and was lying there now, holding his breath and listening, his finger perhaps on the trigger of a pistol? Minutes passed by, and the Secret Service man stood rigid, listening intently, hardly daring to breathe himself. At last he became convinced that there was nobody in the room. Again he warily switched on his torch. As before, the apartment was empty. What was even more astonishing was the fact that it showed no signs of occupancy. It was furnished, of course, but lacked the personal touch. There were no bags or other items of luggage; the dressing table was devoid of toilet articles; the washstand of shaving and other materials. The room, in fact, gave the impression that, if it had recently been occupied, it had been vacated. Shannon remembered now that he had not observed any signs of occupation in the other apartment. He went back to make certain. It was as he had thought. Thereupon he turned his attention to the bathroom. Except for an old toothbrush lying on the floor, that also suggested, by its emptiness, that the flat had been vacated. There was not even a towel hanging on the rail or a piece of soap in the receptacle over the marble washbasin.
Feeling, by that time, thoroughly puzzled and perturbed, Shannon rejoined Hill, and whispered to him his discoveries or rather lack of them. He sent the other, who was as astonished as he, to inspect the sitting room, while he turned his attention to the door of Kyprianos’ laboratory-bedroom. This he had expected to be locked, but it opened when he turned the handle, and he stepped inside. A combined odour of several drugs caused him to screw up his nose in distaste, but it revived his drooping spirits. Whatever had happened to the occupants of the other rooms, this, he decided, was in use. He could hear someone breathing, not quietly or softly, but stertorously.
That did not cause him any wonder. The atmosphere was enough to choke anyone’s breathing apparatus. How Kyprianos could exist in it was beyond him to understand. He felt a touch on his arm. Hill was back. The latter whispered that the sitting room showed as little sign of occupation as the others.
‘Never mind,’ breathed Shannon. ‘I don’t pretend to know what’s happened, but the bird we want has not flown anyway. Have you the syringe ready?’
‘Yes. It’s in my hand.’
‘Come on then!’
He was about to tiptoe forward, when Hill’s hand on his arm arrested his progress.
‘There’s something wrong here,’ muttered the ex-doctor, his lips close to Shannon’s ear. ‘That breathing isn’t natural.’
‘How can you expect it to be?’ came from the other.
‘I feel as though I’m suffocating already.’
‘Stand ready to jump,’ whispered Hill, ‘I’m going to switch on the light.’
Before Shannon could stop him, he had found the switch. The room was at once brilliantly illumined by the powerful lamp hanging from the centre of the ceiling, causing them both to blink owlishly. The sight that met their dazzled eyes, however, swept all other considerations from their minds. Balanced on the balls of his feet ready to spring, Shannon froze into a state of horrified immobility; Hill, by the door, stood, his fingers on the switch, as though he had been turned into stone. Thus they remained for several seconds, the ex-doctor at last breaking the tension.
‘Don’t go near the bed, Hugh!’ he warned.
The room, like the others they had inspected, had been stripped of personal belongings. There were no articles of wearing apparel, bags or boxes in it. Indications that it had been used as a makeshift laboratory still remained, it is true. There was a broken retort lying on a table; a couple of empty phials and a measure on the washstand, which had been pushed into a corner, and denuded of basin and ewer. A pair of rubber gloves, one of them torn, lay on the floor. The sight to which their eyes had, at once, been drawn, and which had caused them such horror, was a man lying on a divan against one of the walls. He was practically nude, and his body lay in a terribly distorted attitude, as though he were suffering intolerable agony. Yet, though his eyes were wide-open, piteous, and terror-stricken, not a sound came from his pallid lips. A bluish tinge and beads of perspiration caused his face to look ghastly. Shannon noticed that his body also looked blue.
‘It’s Bikelas’ secretary!’ he whispered. ‘Good God! What have they done to him?’
‘I can’t tell you offhand, of course,’ returned Hill, ‘but, at a guess, I should imagine they have injected him with that devilish serum of Kyprianos’. So long as you don’t touch him, I should imagine you are pretty safe. The very atmosphere of this room, redolent as it is with chemicals, acts as a disinfectant, a fact which I should imagine was lost sight of by Kyprianos. They’ve obviously fled, though why they should have treated that poor devil in such a way is more than I can understand at present.’
‘What beats me is how they got away without your knowing,’ grunted Shannon.
Hill drew him from the room, and closed the door.
‘You tell Sir Leonard what has happened,’ he suggested, ‘while I see what I can do for him. It will be little enough, I’m afraid.’
‘Be careful you don’t catch it,’ warned Shannon.
‘I shan’t, and I’ll take jolly good care nobody else does!’
They went back to Hill’s flat. Sir Leonard met them at the door; frowned a little at the expression on their faces.
‘What has happened?’ he began. ‘Has—’
‘Keep away, sir,’ urged Hill. ‘Wait in the sitting room. Shannon will come to you in a few minutes, and explain.’ He took his big companion into the bathroom. ‘Thank the Lord!’ he muttered, ‘that I travel prepared, though I never dream
t I should be called upon to combat anything like this.’
They were in the bathroom for close on ten minutes, and eventually emerged reeking of strong disinfectant.
‘Phew!’ whistled Shannon. ‘How perfectly beastly! Was all this necessary?’
‘No; I don’t think so. Neither of us came into actual contact with the poor devil and, as I said, the air was pretty well purified by the chemical atmosphere in that room. Still, it is safer not to take risks. Now go to the chief and tell him. Keep him away from the flat though. I’m going to see if I can ease the sufferer’s last moments.’
‘He’s dying, is he?’
‘Yes; he may be dead by now. God! That fiend must have done devil’s work indeed to enable him to breed bacteria that act with such appalling swiftness.’
He procured some drugs from a case, and went off to attend the dying man. Shannon joined Sir Leonard, and explained fully what had happened. The chief and Tempest listened with horror in their eyes. At the end of the recital, the former sat thoughtfully looking at the great empty fireplace for several minutes.
‘It seems to me,’ he observed at last, ‘that this has been done with vicious inconsequence. If Hill is right, and the poor fellow has been injected with the virus, it must have been from motives of sheer, wanton vengeance. Kyprianos probably thought that his body would be found there, be handled by the finders, and thus commence an epidemic. But why should he have done such a thing? It could not be of advantage to him or his companions. I am willing to bet they were dead against it, but, like most other devils who concoct something highly injurious to fellow humans, he was passionately eager all the time to inject somebody with it, and watch it act. I should imagine he has got more or less out of hand and has become a menace to them all.’
‘But if, as you told me, he and Michalis were stopping behind to murder me,’ remarked Shannon, ‘why has he done this now and vanished?’
Microbes of Power (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) Page 26