The Silencers

by Donald Hamilton

  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 compadre 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 growled, “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 to 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.

  “Easy,” I said. “Easy, Gail.”

  “Oh!” She looked down at the gun she was holding wrong-end-to and threw it on the bed. She controlled her breathing with a great effort and spoke flatly. “I thought he’d killed you. Are you all right?”

  “Well, I’m not dead,” I said. “Thanks.”


  She swayed and put out a hand to steady herself. I caught her and held her. I would like to be able to report that my only emotions at that moment were love and gratitude—and remorse for having misjudged her—but the picture wasn’t that clear in my mind. My ribs ached and my back hurt and oxygen deliveries to my lungs were far behind schedule. It was hard to concentrate on the woman in my arms, but I was aware that she was trembling.

  “My dear man,” she breathed, “my dear, dear man! Did you know you had the power to transform a female clothes-horse into a raging tigress? I’ve never in my life done anything like that before.” Then she stiffened against me, looking past me. “Matt!” she breathed. “Matt, look!”

  I released her and turned. The big man had slumped over on his side. A shaft of light from the open door struck him squarely as he lay there, and I saw his face clearly for the first time. Blood from his lacerated scalp had run across it, but I could see it was the face of Dan Bronkovic, the ex-cop Mr. Paul Peyton, security officer, had introduced as his assistant.

  I drew a long breath, feeling a little dizzy. I walked over to the other man who was lying by the foot of the bed and bent down. His face was in worse shape than Bronkovic’s, but it was undoubtedly the face of Peyton himself. I don’t suppose it was nice to laugh. Maybe I was just a bit hysterical.

  19

  Gail came in from the bathroom, drying her hands with a face towel. She stopped just inside the room, startled.

  “Matt! What are you doing?”

  I finished giving the injection to Bronkovic, who was showing signs of reviving, and went over to squirt a dose into Peyton, who might have remained passive without it—he wasn’t in very good condition—but there wasn’t any sense in taking chances. I got up and cleaned off the hypo with the stuff provided in the little kit we’re all issued, packed everything neatly back the way it was supposed to be and tucked the kit behind the lining of my suitcase. I turned to face Gail, who was standing there looking at me shocked and accusingly.

  “Look, glamor girl,” I said, “this isn’t TV. In real life you don’t go to all the trouble of knocking people out just to have them wake up and raise hell at the critical moment. Now I can be sure they’ll both sleep till morning.”

  “But—” She licked her lips. “But they’re hurt! They need a doctor! They should be in the hospital!”

  That’s the trouble with amateurs: they’re inconsistent. A few minutes ago she’d been trying to beat the guy’s brains out, and now she was worrying about his health.

  “Look—” I said as the telephone rang.

  Gail glanced at me quickly. I went over to pick up the instrument as it jangled again.

  “Yes?” I said.

  “This is the manager,” a deep female voice said. “Is everything all right in there?”

  “Certainly,” I said. “Why shouldn’t everything be all right?”

  “We’ve had a complaint, sir, from one of the neighboring rooms about a disturbance—”

  I hesitated, wondering whether to pretend that we’d been having a drunken argument, or just looking for a lost collar button. But there’s no percentage in putting on an act when you don’t have to. It was time to call in the brass and let them fight it out, anyway.

  I asked curtly, “What’s your name?”

  “What... Why, I’m Mrs. Meadows. I own this place; that is, my husband and I own it.”

  “Where’s your husband?”

  Her voice said bitterly, “Where is he always? If you find out, let me know. Or don’t bother. I’m not that interested any longer.”

  “I see,” I said. “Well, Mrs. Meadows, as a matter of fact everything is not all right, and I’d like you to get me Washington, D.C. The number is...”

  I gave her the number, or one of them. She hesitated. “I... There’s not going to be any trouble, is there? I mean—”

  “I’m trying to avoid trouble and publicity, Mrs. Meadows.”

  “But how do I know... I mean, who are you?”

  In my next incarnation, I decided, I’d pick a world that wasn’t populated by smart and suspicious women. I said, “You can listen in through your switchboard, can’t you?”

  “I assure you, sir,” she said stiffly, “I never listen to private calls.”

  “Well, listen to this one,” I said. “It’s all right, as long as you don’t gossip about what you hear. After I’ve finished talking to my chief in Washington, you can ask him any questions you like. Now put my call through, please.”

  I identified myself to the girl in the Washington office in a way that let her know there was not only a witness in the room from which I was speaking, there was also an ear on the wire. She’d pass the word to Mac. A minute later I heard his voice.

  “Yes?”

  “This is Matt, sir,” I said. The fact that I didn’t use my code name was a further warning.

  “Yes, Matt?” he said. The repetition of the name meant he was reading my signals loud and clear.

  “Calling from Carrizozo, New Mexico,” I said. “Room 14, Turquoise Motel, Mrs. Meadows, manager. Mrs. Meadows is listening and would like identification and reassurance when we’ve finished talking.”

  “Very well.”

  “First, you were to submit some information concerning a certain scientific gentleman, a specialist in vibrations. How was it received?”

  “Not well,” he said dryly. “I was informed that the matter was well in hand, and that we should mind our own business. As for the gentleman in question, he’s supposed to be a good man who’s been working a little too hard. That is the word for publication.”

  So that was the dope on Naldi. Publicly he was supposed to be showing symptoms of overwork; privately he was being watched, and it was none of our damn business.

  “That brings us,” I said, “to the description of two people and a vehicle that had received unexpected circulation locally. You were going to investigate, remember?”

  “I remember. The investigation was fruitless.” His voice was grim. “It is the same department that refused us access to its records recently. We will receive no cooperation from that quarter.”

  “Don’t be too sure, sir,” I said. “Give them a ring and tell them I’ve got two of their boys here and would like them hauled away. I think they’ll cooperate to that extent.”

  There was a little pause. Mac spoke softly, far away. “Was that necessary?”

  “Not at all, sir,” I said. “I could easily have stood still and let them shoot me full of bullet holes. They had the equipment and, as far as I could make out, the desire. There wasn’t much time to investigate motives, and the room was dark.”

  “Give me an idea of the approximate extent of the damage.”

  “One lacerated scalp and probable concussion,” I said. “Fracture unlikely but possible. One set of badly damaged ribs with probable internal injuries. Some plastic surgery may be required on this one. Both have received Injection C and are sleeping peacefully.”

  “There was no warning?”

  “No preliminary conversation whatever. When I opened the door, it was as if I’d dynamited Boulder Dam. They poured all over me.”

  “You have no idea what they wanted?”

  “No, sir. Maybe you can find out from the other end.”

  “Maybe. You can be certain I will try. Are you all right?”

  “It’s kind of you to ask, sir,” I said. “It was close, but I had help. I’m fine.”

  “How much time do you want?”

  “Half an hour ought to do it. Better not make it much longer. We’d hate to lose either of them, wouldn’t we? And see if you can straighten things out so I don’t fall over any more of them, sir. It confuses the issue badly.”

  “I’ll endeavor to do that,” he said grimly, and I thought there might be some activity in Washington in the near future. “Now let me speak to Mrs. Meadows,” he said. “Mrs. Meadows, now that you have heard this conversation, I advise you to forget it. Somebody will call on you
shortly with credentials I think you will find adequate...”

  I laid the phone down and looked at Gail. “Well, now you know how it’s done,” I said. “If you’re wondering why we let the lady listen in, that’s psychology. If we’d kept her off the line—if we could have—she’d have been curious and suspicious. Since she was allowed to listen to important government secrets, she may be proud and scared enough to keep her mouth shut... What’s the matter?”

  She was watching me in a preoccupied way, frowning a little. “Injection C,” she said. “Does that mean there are Injections A and B, too?”

  “Don’t be nosy,” I said. “But since you ask, A is permanent and very quick, but leaves traces. B is slower but can’t be detected in the body after a short time—it can pass for heart failure if you set it up right. One that’s both instantaneous and undetectable is in the works. Does that answer your question?”

  She shivered slightly. “I’m sorry I asked. You’re not... not a very nice person, are you, Matt?”

  “I’m terrible,” I said, “but you’ve known that since El Paso, so let’s just pass up the subject of me and how awful I am. Right now I’d like to know how you made out. We haven’t got much time; we want to be out of here before the rescue squad arrives.”

  She was looking at me blankly. “How I made out?”

  “You went on a mission, remember? A secret, mysterious mission. Something you didn’t want to tell me about; you wanted to do it by yourself. You wanted to help.”

  There was a little silence, and something in the room seemed to change. Something went out of it suddenly, something that had been warm and friendly and kind of nice. She went phony on me is the best way I can describe it.

  “Heavens, I’d completely forgotten!” she gasped. “Coming in and seeing you fighting like that just drove it plumb out of my mind... Matt, darling, I’ve got it!”

  “Got what?”