by Nick Carter
"I will get some rest," she said. "I promise."
"Good. I have a little something to do. I'll see you early tomorrow morning. Are you heading back to your compartment?"
"I think I'll get some air first," she said. She leaned over and touched my lips with hers. "Darikeschön for worrying about me, Nick."
I smiled. "See you later."
I left Ursula on the platform and walked back through Voiture 7, now the last coach, toward 5, where I hoped to find Eva Schmidt.
I had reached the far end of Voiture 7, when I saw a man headed toward me through the corridor of the next sleeper. It was Hans Richter. He was no longer carrying the radio with him, and his face looked very businesslike. I ducked back out of sight and ran ahead of him, back to my compartment. I unlocked the door and got inside just as Richter rounded the corner of the corridor.
I waited until I heard him pass before stepping back out into the corridor behind him. He was headed toward Ursula who was still on the rear platform. At first I thought it was probably just a coincidence, but then I saw him stop at the end of the corridor, remove a big stiletto knife from his pocket, and snick the blade open. There was little doubt about it: he knew Ursula was there. Apparently he had guessed that she was after him, and was going to kill her.
Richter disappeared around the corner of the corridor. I moved quickly after him, realizing that it would take only a moment for him to kill Ursula if she hadn't seen him coming and that the clatter of the train would cover any sound he made.
It took me just a moment to round the corner of the corridor and reach the platform door. When I looked through it, I saw that Richter had already grabbed Ursula from behind and was holding the knife at her throat. His other hand was over her mouth, and I could imagine her very wide, fear-glazed eyes.
Richter was speaking to his captive in an arrogant, hard voice, as I eased the door open behind him.
"Yes, I know it's unpleasant to die. But that is what the Bonn government has in mind for me, isn't it?"
It was a tricky situation. I could not just kill Hans Richter because Ursula and Bonn wanted him alive. It was important to them that he suffer the ignominy of public trial.
I eased the door shut behind me, pulled out Wilhelmina, and moved up behind Richter just as he was about to draw the stiletto across Ursula's throat. Then I placed the muzzle of the automatic up against the base of Richter's skull so he could feel it there.
Richter turned his head quickly, still holding the knife to Ursula's neck. When he saw me behind him, a look of pure hatred came into his hard, muscular face.
"You?" he exclaimed.
"You had better drop the knife," I said, nuzzling the Luger up tightly against his skull.
"And what if I do not?"
"Then I'll blow your face off," I said grimly, hoping he did not call the bluff.
"Not before I am able to open up this lady's throat like a ripe tomato. No, I have the advantage here, my friend. If you do not put your gun away immediately, and leave this platform, I will kill her instantly.
"You misunderstand my motive for being here," he continued smoothly. "I only intended to frighten the lady off. I was not going to actually kill her. Nor will I kill her now if you leave this platform. If you do not, however, I will be forced to sever her jugular."
Richter was a smooth liar, but not a convincing one. I knew that if I left the platform, I would not see Ursula alive again.
I saw blue eyes look toward me in desperation. I swallowed hard and shoved the Luger even tighter against the base of his skull.
"All right," I said, "do it."
Richter glanced at me. "You mean you will let me kill her?"
"That's right," I said. "After that, the front of your head will disappear into the blackness out there. Now you decide, Richter. Drop the knife or you're dead."
I hoped I sounded convincing. Richter hesitated a moment, thinking it out, evaluating. Then I saw his face change and relax a little. He took the knife from Ursula's throat and dropped his other hand from her mouth.
I took a long step away from Richter, and he moved slightly away from Ursula. She turned toward him now, breathing hard.
"Well, it appears that you finally have me," he said to Ursula in a sarcastic tone. "Wie schade für mich." Too bad for him — his sarcasm heavier than ever.
"It looks as if we've made ourselves an arrest earlier than you had wanted," I said to Ursula, not taking my eyes off Richter.
"We will take him to my compartment. I will guard him all night so that he does not break free," Ursula said.
Richter grunted a small laugh.
"All right," I said. I did not like having this man on our hands until morning, particularly while I was worrying about Eva Schmidt and Blücher, but there was no other choice. "Move, Richter." I waved the Luger toward the platform door.
He still had the knife in his hand, and I reached out to take it from him as he passed me. He gave it to me without trouble, but then as I threw it overboard, taking my eyes from him for just a split-second, he jammed a hand at my right wrist and pushed the Luger away from him.
We slammed up against the bulkhead together, Richter twisting to grab at the gun. At one point I might have taken the chance of firing at him, but Ursula was standing in the line of fire behind him.
I turned with Richter, as I spun him in a small circle until his back slammed up against the rear of the train. Ursula was no longer behind him. I was fighting to turn the Luger in toward him. I no longer cared if I killed Richter or not, but I would try instead to wound him. Grunting and sweating, I forced the muzzle of the automatic toward his body. He squeezed my hand, and a shot was fired from the Luger. The slug hit the bulkhead and ricocheted into the night.
Ursula had just gotten her Webley out, but I was between her and Richter, and she could not use it against him. In a sudden vicious and desperate thrust, Richter threw me away from him. I fell against Ursula momentarily, knocking the Webley from her grasp. Then Richter started through the door. It closed behind him as I fired another shot from the Luger. The slug shattered glass and hit him as he moved around the corner toward the corridor. The impact of the slug slammed him against the wall. But he was still on his feet. Then he disappeared from view.
"Damn!" I shouted. "Are you all right?"
Ursula was retrieving her Webley. "I'm okay, Nick," she said, but I could see she was shaken.
I grabbed at the door, pulled it open, and entered the sleeping car. As I rounded the corner of the corridor with the Luger still in hand, I saw Richter about halfway down, running toward the other end. I leveled the Luger at him but then I thought better of it. Most of the passengers were in bed in their compartments now, and a shot would be sure to wake them up.
I dropped the Luger and watched Richter disappear through the other end of the car. Ursula was now beside me.
"Sorry," I said to her.
"Don't worry, Nick. He is still on the train. Next time, he won't be so lucky. We'll make sure of that. Shall we look for him?"
"Let's."
We went to Richter's compartment, but he wasn't there. Then we searched the rest of the train. He was nowhere in sight. He had evidently found a place to hide. It looked as if we would have to count on Ursula's being able to grab him at Belgrade in the morning. I insisted that Ursula go to her compartment for a short rest. She needed it badly. I drifted back toward Voiture 5, hoping to make contact with the Schmidt woman.
When I arrived at Voiture 5, I had a big surprise awaiting.
I had just started into the corridor toward Eva's compartment when her door opened and Hans Richter appeared.
I ducked around the corner and watched. He was shrugging into his jacket and there was a bandage on his arm. He looked around furtively and then headed away from me, toward the day coaches.
From all appearances, the ex-Nazi had hidden in the Schmidt woman's compartment while we were looking for him. He'd also acquired a bandage, which meant Eva must have helpe
d him.
"Richter!" I yelled, stepping out of concealment.
He broke into a run. I sprinted after him as he yanked open the door and left the car.
I reached the end of the corridor and tugged at the door and followed him.
That was when I met the cheerful man again.
He was on the platform between the cars. He must have been waiting for Richter. He had heard me yell, had seen Richter running, and he was ready for me when I burst through the door.
Wielding a sap like the one Richter had used earlier, Mr. Cheerful slugged me. I caught a glimpse of his face in the light from the car behind us just before the blow landed.
My knees sagged. The man using the sap knew how to hit and exactly where the blow should land to put a victim down for the count. I woke up huddled on the platform, a conductor shaking me and asking what had happened.
"A man struck me."
"A would-be thief, perhaps. I saw a man leaning over you as I came through the door. He fled into the next car. If you can describe him…"
"I didn't even see his face," I lied.
Richter and his chum had escaped again, but I considered myself lucky. If the conductor hadn't appeared, Mr. Cheerful would probably have left me in worse shape than unconscious.
I assured the conductor I was in condition to walk. When I was able to break away from him, I returned to Eva Schmidt's compartment.
"Who is it?" she called out in reply to my knock.
I changed my voice and spoke in French. "Porter, madame."
There was a pause. Then a lock clicked. The door opened a crack. I jammed my foot in the opening and stuck the Luger into Eva's surprised face.
"How about that deal we had?" I said in a rough voice.
"I contacted Horst. But I haven't had time to get back in touch with you."
Shoving the door shut, I said, "You're lying — you set the Russian on me."
The woman avoided my eyes. "If he caused you trouble, it was his idea. I only told him that you were in on the bidding for the device."
"Beautiful. When you told him that, you knew damn well what he'd do."
"You can't expect me to worry about your safety. Not after the way you roughed me up."
I held onto my temper. "What is your connection with Hans Richter?"
Her gaze whipped back to me. "Hans Richter and I have no connection."
"I saw him leave your compartment. He had a gunshot wound and he came to you for help. You bandaged his arm."
Her gaze didn't waver. "I admit that it's true. But we still have no connection, except that I know West German agents are looking for him. I don't consider that my business. Let them capture their own ex-Nazis."
"Why should he come to you?"
"A few years ago, we knew each other well. I recognized him when I saw him again. I made the mistake of giving him my compartment number, never dreaming he'd get into trouble aboard the train." She smiled slightly. "Now, don't tell me you don't know what I mean when I say I used to know him well."
"Let me tell you about a thought that has just occurred to me, Eva. Maybe Hans Richter is the boss of Topcon. Maybe he's the man you call Horst Blücher."
"Horst does not run around getting shot. He is much too clever for that."
"Then where is he and why doesn't he show himself?" I asked. "What is his reply to my request for a meeting?"
She slid an American cigarette out of a package and lighted it. "Horst says he will consider you a legitimate bidder for the device. But he will only deal with you on this train, and the deal must be made before we reach Sofia. You will make your offer through me."
"Like hell I will," I said. "I'm ready to make my offer for the monitor. But I'm making it only to the boss of Topcon."
She sighed heavily. "He will not like this, but I will deliver the message. I'll set up the meeting and bring word to your compartment."
"When can I expect to hear from you?"
"After our stop at Belgrade in the morning. I can't make contact with Horst tonight."
"All right," I said. "But this time the meeting better come off. I'm getting very impatient."
In the darkness of my compartment, I stretched out on the bed and listened to the sound of the wheels as the train sped toward Belgrade and the big moment for me and for Ursula.
Ursula hoped to land her fish in Belgrade and I hoped to meet mine. Despite the story Eva Schmidt had given me, I still wondered if the man I was after and Ursula's elusive quarry were one and the same…
* * *
Because of all the night's excitement and my extreme fatigue, I slept longer than I had expected. A knock on my compartment door awakened me. It was Ursula. The day was bright outside, and we were nearing Belgrade.
"I wanted to say goodbye in case we don't see each other again," she said to me softly.
She hardly looked like an agent. Her tousled blonde hair gave her a young schoolgirl look which was very becoming.
"How nice of you," I said.
When I rose from the bunk, she moved over to me and pressed her lips to mine. I could feel her soft body against my chest. In a long moment the kiss was finished, and she was breathing shallowly.
"I meant that I wanted to really say goodbye," she said.
I smiled at her. I guess I had taught her to mix business with a little pleasure. "We'll be in Belgrade soon."
"Saying goodbye doesn't take long."
I smiled again and leaned down and touched my lips to hers. "You're very persuasive," I said.
"I hoped to be." She smiled.
She laid her raincoat down and pulled her boots off as I watched. Then she was pulling her sweater over her head. This time she was not wearing a bra. She looked quite delicious in the morning sun. As she began to take the skirt off, I began unbuttoning my shirt.
In a few minutes we were lying on the bunk together. Her warm nakedness was pressing against me, and I could feel all those curves waiting for my touch.
I was moving my hand slowly along the velvet of her thigh. We had not bothered to pull the shade at the window, and the sun light on her skin made it look peach-colored as she moved her hips against me. I moved my hand up between her legs.
Her breasts were thrusting up toward me, responding to my touch. She had found me and was caressing me slowly and tenderly in a gentle rhythm. Her mouth sought mine hungrily, seeking and nibbling and pressing.
Then I could feel a gentle trembling inside her, and I knew I could not wait. I moved carefully onto her, and we united. A lovely moan came from the depths of her throat.
I did not answer her. I was obsessed with the urgent necessity of finding satisfaction in her. We moved together more and more insistently, and the lovely sounds from her throat seemed to be all around me. Her hips now imprisoned me in sensual desire. The rhythm built and became more violent. There was a cauldron boiling inside me that was ready to overflow. As the sounds from her became one with the distant whistle from the train, the cauldron bubbled over, and she received that hot spilling into her innermost and most secret places.
"A nice way to start a day," I said as I lay beside her. "And we're not saying goodbye. Not just yet. I'll meet the police with you."
"Forget it, Nick," she smiled. "You have your own assignment to think about."
"My assignment just may be related to yours," I replied. "I can't explain now. But we'd better get dressed. We're almost at Belgrade."
We dressed quickly as the train passed through the outskirts of Belgrade. Later, as we walked toward the day coaches, I had an unpleasant thought. If Horst Blücher were in fact Hans Richter and if Ursula managed to arrest him before I found out where the stolen monitor was, or if the monitor was taken into custody along with Richter, my chances of recovering it were slim. The Yugoslavs would certainly not surrender the device to me or to the U.S. government.
In a way, Ursula and I were adversaries for the moment because our missions and immediate goals were contradictory. I was sure that although I h
ad saved Ursula's life, she would not consider postponing her arrest of Richter at Belgrade just because I wanted to recover a piece of electronic hardware from him before he was taken into custody. She would consider her assignment of prime importance because of the enormity of his earlier crimes.
However, the double identity was yet unproven. I saw no way to divert Ursula from her purpose without divulging my mission, and I did not want to do that. So I decided to stick with Ursula during her attempted arrest, watching for Eva Schmidt, and see what would develop in my favor.
We passed through the day coaches slowly, but there was no sign of either Schmidt or Richter. By the time the train moved along the long gray platform of the Belgrade station, we were standing on a platform near the engine. There were a lot of people waiting for the train, and we both realized that Richter could lose himself very easily in such a crowd.
The train finally stopped. I turned to Ursula and gave her a smile. "Well, let's see if we can find your plainclothsmen," I said.
We stepped off the train onto the platform before most of the other passengers and walked toward the busy station building. Ursula was looking for the policemen, and I was watching the train platforms.
"I see them," she said. "Keep an eye out for Richter while I bring the officers. If necessary, we'll have the train searched from front to rear."
Ursula darted away and then I spotted Eva Schmidt. She was alone and in a hurry, pushing her way against the flow of the crowd, headed toward the rear of the train. I forged after Eva, colliding with travelers in my haste.
I saw Hans Richter and his companion, the stocky man with the jovial face, get off the last car. Richter was carrying a piece of luggage and the familiar radio.
They met a cart loaded with luggage and disappeared behind it. I approached them with the luggage hiding me from their view and got close enough to hear their voices.
"You were wise in stalling Carter. This will soon be over." That was Richter. "I will meet the Russian here and close the deal."
"You have the device?" That was Eva.
Richter laughed. "Right here in my radio, where it's been all the time."