by Jack Higgins
After he had finished talking there was silence and Mason cursed and said, 'What do you think?'
Hagen shook his head slowly. 'I don't know. There's no proof that it's Kossoff - might just be a sudden invasion by an army patrol.' He shivered suddenly. 'I hope to God it is Kossoff. She'll be better off in his hands than the soldiers'!'
Mason laughed bitterly. 'Just when everything looked so nice.' He stood up. 'Well, when do we put our necks under the sword?'
Hagen smiled tightly. 'The sooner the better. He mightn't expect us to move so fast. Get a Thompson and a few grenades.' As Mason went into the cabin Hagen turned to O'Hara and said: 'I'll leave you here. If we aren't back by dark we shan't be coming. You'll have to try to reach the sea on your own.'
The old man nodded heavily and Mason appeared with the sub-machine-guns. He had several grenades clipped to his belt. Hagen dropped down into the canoe and Mason followed him, seating himself in the stern. Chang scrambled into the prow and he and Mason did the paddling. O'Hara didn't bother to say goodbye as they moved away from the boat and plunged into the reeds and Hagen thought: He doesn't expect to see us again. We're dead already to him. He shivered and gripped the carbine fiercely.
They passed through the reeds and into the waterway and they were at once in another world, away from the quiet of the secret lagoon, back amongst the stench and the mosquitoes. As sweat began to pour down his face Hagen glared around him at the marsh and hated it as he had never done before.
After about half an hour of hard paddling Chang turned his head and told him that the village was now only a few hundred yards away. They entered a long strip of open water, the surface of which was completely covered with lily pads and thick green scum. They were about half-way across the water, the prow of the canoe cutting through the lilies, when an automatic weapon opened up from the shelter of the reeds in front of them. Chang gave a terrible scream and fell backwards against Hagen, his chest and stomach neatly sieved.
Hagen lifted his carbine and sprayed the reeds and from the corner of his eye he was aware of Mason frantically trying to pull the sling of the Tommy-gun over his head. Bullets lifted the water into Hagen's face and he emptied the magazine into the reeds. As he hurriedly fitted another clip, Mason cried out sharply and stood up, his hand over his face, blood pouring through the fingers. For a moment he swayed and then overbalanced into the water and the canoe went with him.
The carbine slipped from Hagen's grasp and he came to the surface gasping for air and half-choked by the foul, evil-smelling water. He saw Mason's face, pale and blood-spattered, and struck out towards him, but he had already disappeared beneath the surface before Hagen could reach the spot.
At that moment a canoe bumped into his back. He lifted his head and caught a confused glimpse of several Chinese faces and, most clearly, a rifle that was raised and lowered very rapidly towards him, and then the whole world rocked in a black explosion laced with coloured lights.
10
He lay with his cheek pillowed on the earth and regarded the boots through half-open eyes. They were battered and filthy and surmounted by greasy, khaki puttees. After a while one of them swung forward and dug into his ribs. He groaned suddenly as pain knifed into him and his vision blurred slightly. He lay in the dirt, fighting for breath, and watched the boots walk across the floor, kick open a door, and disappear. After a minute he felt a little better and dragged himself up into a sitting position.
He was in one corner of a crude hut with clay-daubed walls and an earthen floor. The stench was indescribable, and when his eyes became accustomed to the gloom, he saw that in another corner was a pile of human dung and nearby lay two men. There was a crack in the wall behind him and he pulled himself painfully to his feet and examined his condition.
One side of his skull was badly swollen, the hair matted and sticky with congealed blood. His groping hand scattered a cloud of flies and a shudder ran through him. He gently flexed his muscles and swung his arms, stifling a cry as pain swept through him from the bruise left by that boot in the ribs. He crossed the floor to examine his fellow-prisoners. Nausea flooded through him and he swayed and groped at the wall, but after a moment his senses returned and he knelt down to examine the two men.
They were two of the villagers, both dead. From the looks of it, they had been terribly beaten and thrown into the hut without medical attention of any kind. A cloud of flies lifted from one of the bodies and Hagen turned his head away and vomited. He staggered to his feet and lurched over to the other side of the hut and sat down. The sanitary conditions were an indication not only of the standards of the Chinese soldiery, but also of their stupidity. He reflected that a few short hours of the stifling heat would do unbelievable things to the corpses. A disease could spring up that would sweep through the village. A fly alighted on his face and he brushed it away impatiently and scrambled to his feet.
The door had been left half open. The wearer of the boots must have concluded that Hagen's condition was worse than it actually was and that he would be in no condition to move for some time. Hagen leaned in the doorway, breathing the comparatively pure air and blinking in the strong sunlight. The village lay sleeping in the afternoon heat. Perhaps thirty huts huddled together on an island surrounded by marsh. A shabby, forty-foot motor launch was tied up alongside a rough wooden jetty that stretched out into the water. There was no sign of activity on its deck and from the mast the flag of Red China drooped listlessly in the afternoon heat. The silence was shattered by a sudden scream and a young Chinese girl ran from a nearby hut. She was completely naked. Immediately behind came two soldiers and one of them caught her by the wrist and whirled her round and hit her in the face. The girl crumpled to the ground and the two grinning solders carried her between them back to the hut.
Hagen had stepped back into the gloom of the hut as he watched. He felt sick again. For a terrible moment he had imagined that the girl was Rose and he shuddered as it came to him that such a scene had perhaps already been enacted. For a moment he hesitated and then he straightened his shoulders and stepped out into the sunlight. He paused, looking about him, wondering what to do, and then he heard sharp, excited Chinese voices and three soldiers ran towards him, rifles at the ready.
Bayonets pricked into his unwilling flesh, urging him forward towards a larger and better-made hut, obviously the home of the local headman. He hesitated at the bottom of the half-dozen steps that led up to the small verandah and a boot thudded into him driving him forward. He hesitated again in the doorway, peering into the cool darkness of the hut, and a hand pushed flatly into the small of his back.
Hagen winced as pain tugged at his kidneys and in a sudden upsurge of rage he kicked backwards, his heel connecting satisfactorily with a knee-cap. The Chinese soldier behind him screamed and Hagen twisted to avoid the rifle, and, pulling the man forward, slammed his head twice against the wall. For a moment he stared into the face of death as the bayonets of the other two flickered towards him and then a voice shouted a command in Cantonese. The two soldiers immediately lowered their weapons, and picking up the body of their fallen comrade, dragged it outside. A voice said in English: 'Come in, Captain Hagen. What a violent man you are.' It was Kossoff.
Hagen moved forward and found him sitting in a sort of basket chair at a rude table. There was a chair opposite him and Hagen sat down and helped himself to the gin that stood on the table, drinking from the bottle. He toasted Kossoff silently and drank again. As the liquor flooded through him he felt better. He leaned back in the chair and said: 'All the comforts of home, eh? You boys certainly have it rough working for the proletariat. By the way, you haven't got a cigarette, have you? My last packet got slightly damp.'
The Russian produced a packet of American cigarettes from his pocket and threw them across the table with a quick flip of the fingers. 'You see, my dear Captain, I can supply all your requirements.'
Hagen extracted a cigarette and leaned across for the proffered light. 'What's the mat
ter with your own brands?' he said, indicating the packet of cigarettes.
Kossoff smiled pleasantly. 'But Virginia cigarettes are extremely good. When our time comes we shall undoubtedly take them all for home consumption.'
Hagen smiled, unable to resist baiting the man. 'Careful, Comrade. In Moscow they would call that treason.'
Kossoff smiled and adjusted a cigarette in his elegant holder. 'But we are not in Moscow now, my dear Captain. Here I am in control. I must confess to having no great liking for the locale but I am sure that with your cooperation we can all adjourn speedily to more pleasant surroundings.'
Hagen was interested. There was still a suggestion that a deal could be made. Suddenly he frowned. But why? he thought. He's got all the good cards. I haven't got a hope and he knows it. He smiled at the Russian through smoke and said, 'So there's still a chance for me?'
Kossoff nodded and smiled benignly. 'And for Miss Graham.' He leaned forward and said confidentially: 'I must confess that one of the more charming aspects of this whole business has been making her acquaintance. Such an exquisite bloom to find in this pesthole.'
Hagen controlled himself with difficulty and schooled a smile to his face. 'Yes, she's quite a girl.'
The Russian nodded. 'Unfortunately, rather stubborn.' As Hagen leaned forward he raised a hand. 'Oh, don't alarm yourself, Captain. She is quite unharmed. I have no intention of hurting her - yet.'
For some time there was silence and Hagen moved uneasily in the rough chair. What was Kossoff playing at? Why the cat-and-mouse game? He stubbed his cigarette carefully and said: 'What about my friend? Did your boys bring him in?'
Kossoff gently shook his head. 'They didn't even look for the body. They considered that a bullet in the head was all they could be expected to do for him.' He sighed despairingly. 'They are just savages, you know - ignorant savages. Children really.'
Hagen grimaced and said bitterly, 'Yes - children.'
The Russian tapped the table with one elegant hand and said reflectively, 'It's a very great pity.'
His voice sighed out of the quiet and Hagen listened to him in a curiously detached sort of way and thought of other things at the same time. 'What is?'
'The fact that we are on opposite sides.' He chuckled and continued: 'After all, Captain Hagen, I am not a political idealist; I am not a fanatic. I am a man who likes the good things of life and I have always adjusted myself to the prevailing circumstances. In that way I have survived - comfortably. You might say that I am a sort of opportunist. I thought that we had at least that much in common but you have disappointed me, my friend. I cannot understand your attitude to this affair.' There was a curious note of regret in his voice.
Hagen's brain worked overtime, creating and rejecting plans to meet the situation. He only replied to keep the conversation going: 'You can't trust anybody these days, Kossoff. You should know that more than anyone.'
Steps moved behind him and a voice spoke in clipped English. 'This is really a waste of time, Comrade. We are getting nowhere.'
Hagen turned his head. Behind him stood a small, balding Chinese officer in wrinkled uniform. The man wiped sweat from his pockmarked, evil face, and Kossoff said: 'Allow me to introduce Captain Tsen. He has been good enough to co-operate with me in this business.'
Hagen turned back to Kossoff and said: 'He's quite right, of course. We are getting nowhere.'
Kossoff smiled and blew smoke up to the ceiling in a long, delicate plume. 'Somewhere in those damned reeds is your boat. Presumably you've got the gold. The time has come for us to make terms.' His smile widened and he looked directly at Hagen. 'Your attitude to this whole affair has always puzzled me, as I said before, but now I have a theory. Let us experiment.' He raised his voice and shouted in Cantonese, 'Send in the lady.'
Hagen reached for the gin bottle and took another pull and then a door opened in the darkness at the rear of the room. When he lowered his eyes he saw Rose step slowly forward. For a moment she hesitated and then her eyes widened in recognition and she stumbled forward and fell into his arms as he rose to meet her. 'It's all right, angel,' he said, and patted her head awkwardly. 'It's going to be fine.'
Kossoff laughed softly and said: 'But who would have thought it? The young lovers.'
Hagen looked at him over her shoulder and said, 'Okay, what happens now?'
Tsen moved forward quickly and wrenched the girl away from him. He slapped Hagen back-handed across the face. 'You will lead us to your boat!' he screamed.
Hagen took a pace forward and out of the corner of his eye saw the automatic appear in Kossoff's hand. 'Why should I?' he said. 'You'll kill us anyway.' Captain Tsen lifted his foot up smartly into Hagen's groin.
As he writhed on the floor he was dimly aware of Kossoff's voice snarling viciously at the captain. 'You fool!' he screamed. 'We need him in one piece. That isn't the way to handle this man. If you want your share you'd better leave things to me.'
And then it all came clear to Hagen so that even through the agony that gripped his loins with fire, he managed to smile, mirthlessly, through clenched teeth. After a few moments he hauled himself up and stood leaning on the table. He began to laugh. It was all so plain now. The reason for the lack of naval forces to prevent his entry into the marshes. The one shabby motor launch, the handful of soldiers. He laughed again and said to Kossoff: 'You bloody twister. I might have known. You want the gold for yourself.'
Rose moved to his side and gently eased him back into the chair and Kossoff laughed pleasantly. 'But of course. Has it taken you so long to discover that? After all, it is one desire that we have in common.'
There was a short, electric silence and Rose said in a low, angry voice, 'That's a lie.'
Kossoff smiled gently. 'Ask him. Surely you were not so naive as to believe that everything he did was for love.'
She turned and looked straight into Hagen's eyes. There was a puzzled frown on her forehead. 'Tell him it isn't true, Mark.'
For a moment he wanted to lie. It would have been easy to refute the charge and she would have believed him because she wanted to believe, but suddenly he felt sick. Sick of the whole damned thing. He dropped his eyes and reached blindly for another cigarette from Kossoff's packet. 'No, he's right, angel,' he said. 'The man's one hundred per cent correct.'
She turned away quickly. For a moment he waited, expecting a blow, but when he raised his eyes he saw that she was gazing out of the window with a strange expression on her face. She said slowly, 'You won't get any help from us - from either of us.' She moved her head and looked directly into Hagen's eyes.
For a moment he held her gaze and then he shivered and a queer fatalism ran through him. He stood up. 'She's right, Kossoff,' he said. 'You can scour the marshes from now till Domesday.'
Kossoff bowed suddenly from the waist. 'I salute you, my dear,' he said to Rose. 'You are a most remarkable young woman.' He made a gesture to Tsen who nodded and went out quickly through the front door.
Hagen suddenly felt weary and in a funny way he was happy. He grinned tiredly. From the beginning he had known deep inside him that the girl would never agree to use the gold for a wrong purpose. For the first time he realized what it must have meant to her. Her father had died for it. It had been placed in his charge as a trust and the trust had passed on to her. Hagen smiled briefly. To think that in this world he should have found someone who still lived by a code. Honour! It had been a long time since he had forced himself to face the implications of that word. From outside came a shouted command and Kossoff said: 'Please come out on to the verandah. There is something I would like you to watch.'
They moved outside and stood at the top of the steps, and twenty or thirty yards away there were four soldiers standing to attention. On the ground a fisherman, one of the villagers, was pegged-out, face downwards, his legs wrenched cruelly apart. The man was quite naked. A few paces to the rear of him Captain Tsen was standing. In one hand he carried a three-foot bamboo pole, the end sharpened and p
ointed like a needle. Kossoff nodded and Tsen got down on his knees beside the unfortunate fisherman.
Rose turned away at once. She tried to rush into the hut but Kossoff barred the way. She turned to Hagen and buried her head against his shoulder. The screams were unbelievable. For a few moments Hagen gazed in fascinated horror and then he looked at Kossoff. The Russian was observing the scene with a detached interest. There was not the slightest trace of sadism in his face. He snapped a command and two soldiers moved forward and stood at the bottom of the steps. For a moment Hagen went cold and then Kossoff said, 'Follow me, please.'
They crossed the open space and moved back towards the prison but Hagen said, 'Now what?'
They paused outside the hut and the Russian gazed up at him seriously. 'You've got half an hour,' he said. 'The girl can stay with you. The attractions inside may help her to make up her mind.' He turned and gestured towards the little group in front of the headman's hut. 'I don't need to threaten. If, when I come for you in half an hour, you are not prepared to lead us to your boat, then one of you will have to be next.' A strange expression was in his eyes as he added: 'Believe me, Hagen. I do not want to do it. Don't make me.' He walked away and the two soldiers pushed Hagen and the girl into the hut and closed the door.
Hagen led her into the corner that was farthest away from the two bodies and held her very close as her whole body shook with sobs. After a while she seemed a little better but when she spoke there was still horror in her voice. 'That was unbelievable,' she said. 'It was like something out of a horrible dream.'
He pulled her down into the corner. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'It won't happen to you, I'll see to that.'
'You're going to tell him?' Her voice was very quiet.
He nodded. 'He doesn't make idle threats. He'll carry out his promise.'
She was silent for a while and finally said: 'Mark, why did you deceive me? I trusted you. I really did.'