Jolene stared at him as she pressed the apartment buzzer.
The same crackling sound emanated from the speaker that Dale remembered from his previous visit and he leaned forward to speak.
'Hi, Miss Verker - Gertrude. Its Dale Mallory here, we met last evening when I visited with Inspector van Riel. I wonder if I may speak with you again, I have a couple more questions.'
The voice was clear, even through the crackling.
'Now?'
Dale looked at Jolene in an accusatory way.
'Yes, please, it won't take long.'
There was a slight pause before the lock buzzed open and Jolene gave a quick tight smile to Dale as she pushed open the door. Standing back, she nodded to Stanley who immediately started ascending the stairs in an overly defensive manner.
'Dale?' Jolene prompted, inviting him in before she quickly fell into step behind him as he started clumping up the narrow staircase to Gertrude's apartment.
Halfway up the staircase, Dale heard a door open above them and as they alighted the landing Getrude was already standing in the hallway, wearing a heavy knitted black and red striped jumper and black jeans, from which protruded some fluffy white slippers.
'Oh, Dale, Mr. Mallory,' Gertrude stuttered, obviously taken slightly aback, 'I thought that you were alone.'
She glanced at the expressionless but heavily featured face of Sergeant Stanley and then gazed at Jolene, looking her up and down in one silent interrogative instant to form an assumptive impression of the woman standing before her.
'Who are these people?' she asked lightly, albeit with a hint of disdain.
'Err, yes,' Dale stammered, 'these are agents from our FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.'
Jolene nodded and voiced a muted 'hi'.
'They wondered if they might ask you a couple of questions regarding the book you kindly returned to us yesterday.'
Gertrude looked at him but said nothing, prompting Dale to fill the silence the same way as he had felt compelled to do the day before.
'It would really help our investigation into the original theft; you'd be doing a great service for us.'
Gertrude pondered for a moment.
'Well, the last time I checked I had not received your payment into my account, but I guess I can help you, sure, come on in.'
She wandered through the gallery kitchen and turned right into the living room, although as she passed the percolator she did not offer coffee as on the previous occasion.
As Dale entered, Gertrude slumped onto the same sofa as before, waving her hand distractedly to indicate to her guests to sit down. Dale squatted onto the edge of the cushion nearest to her as Jolene perched next to him. Rather ominously, Stanley remained standing, one hand clasping the other as his arms hung before him, resembling a nightclub bouncer ready for action.
'So,' Gertrude said perkily, 'how may I help you?'
It was Jolene that edged forward slightly and Dale, sensing her movement, sat back to give her a clear view.
'Miss Verker, hello, I'm Jacqueline Lillard from the FBI, we really just wanted to know who you originally purchased the book from?'
Dale's eyes momentarily flicked sideways at the unexpected use of an alias but he still caught Gertrude pulling a somewhat confused face.
'Are you not working with Inspector van Riel?'
Jolene's brow furrowed.
'Why do you say that?'
'Well, I have already answered that question, last night.'
Jolene glanced at Dale.
'Our investigation is concerned with the US side of things and so we do things separately from the Dutch police. So Inspector van Riel has already spoken with you?'
'Yes, last night, after he picked the book up with Dale, Mr. Mallory. A couple of hours later the Inspector called me and asked me a few questions as part of the investigation.'
'I see,' said Jolene, pausing before evincing her appraisal with a forced but even tone, 'and what did you tell the Inspector?' She took a moment before laughing self-deprecatingly, 'We haven't received his report yet.'
'Well, I bought the book from Mr. Johann Janssens, he runs a book store specialising in rare imprints, Gevonden & Geleverd, that means 'Found and Delivered' in English. I have a card here somewhere -'
Gertrude scrambled to the far end of her sofa and leaned over, rummaging around in a shoulder bag that lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Jolene glanced at Stanley who had already pulled out a mobile phone and was quietly speaking into it.
'I see - and have you known Mr. Janssens very long?' continued Jolene.
Gertrude turned to look back over her shoulder.
'Oh yes, many years, ever since I was a little girl. My father was a collector of antiquarian books and knew him very well; he would often take me to the shop on his visits. Mr. Janssens has been very kind in helping me to get my business started.'
She turned back to searching through the bag.
'He gave me advice, taught me how to inspect books properly, he also helps me out with stock now and again. He sells me books way below their market value.'
Stanley caught Jolene's eye and nodded, flipping his cellular phone shut and pocketing it. Jolene smiled and turned to Gertrude who was still hunched over the arm of the sofa.
'Actually Miss Verker, I think that we have what we need for right now. I will go and visit Inspector van Riel and get his report directly, however, would you mind if Mr. Mallory stayed a few more minutes to ask a couple more questions, just for some background material?'
As Gertrude sat upright again, she held up a small white business card clasped between the first two fingers of one hand.
'Oh, sure, alright.'
'We won't bother you any longer,' Jolene said, standing up abruptly, 'we don't want to waste any more of your weekend.'
She put out a reassuring hand as Gertrude made to get up off her sofa.
'We can see ourselves out. Thank-you Miss Verker!'
Jolene nodded to Dale even as Stanley was already marching out to the front door of the apartment.
'We'll be back for you in a short while Mr. Mallory.'
Nodding curtly in acknowledgement, Dale watched Jolene turn and listened to the sharp percussion of her heels as she walked purposefully out through the kitchen. The front door to the apartment double-clicked closed and he was left alone with Gertrude.
'Looks like you were right about watching Verker's apartment, boss, what do you want to do now?'
Akosua turned to Rey who sat, rather pensive, in the driver's seat of their parked VW.
Rey looked up and down the street and back across at the tall brunette woman and the burly shaven headed man as they hurriedly climbed into a waiting Audi. Akosua had confirmed that the man she had tailed from the US Embassy last evening was still inside the building with the Verker girl. He sighed. The old man from the shop would not be found for a while; Rey's visit to the 'Found and Delivered' book store late last night had assured him of that. The question was, what to do right now?
'Alright, they won't be able to get anything further from Janssens' place, but this interest in the girl worries me. They must be US Intelligence; they already have the book and they're paying way too much attention to her. I can't believe that she can tell them anything useful, unless she spoke with Janssens in the mean time. Maybe he told her that he'd had a visit from a couple of guys looking for the book. Point is, we're damned if we intervene and we're damned if we don't.'
'So what do you want to do?'
Rey made a clucking sound as he pocked his tongue off the roof of his mouth.
'Let's take her. It might be overkill but if we have her then we might have some control over events even if it does take this whole thing to the next level. If she's gone then they can't ask her any more questions and at the very least, it draws their attention specifically to her, making them think that she knows more than she does. It might put them off balance and concentrate their efforts in the wrong dire
ction. We must protect Merkur above all else.'
'Yeah,' Akosua chided, 'but it'll draw a lot of attention to us too.'
Rey looked at her and grinned.
'You've been after some real action for months. Now this is your chance!'
He leaned over into the back seat and grabbed the specially prepared medikit cushion that was laying there.
'We may need some zip-ties and there should be some in here, we might need a couple of other goodies too -'
Akosua watched as he rifled through the equipment laden stuffing of the cushion.
'Alright, so how do you want to play it?'
Dale had started writing up a brief summary of Gertrude's movements over the last few days when the door buzzer hummed noisily. They both looked up and Gertrude bounded off her sofa before bouncing though into the kitchen to the intercom.
'Hallo?'
An American drawl spoke quickly.
'We're coming up!'
Gertrude sang a light acknowledgement and pressed the button to unlock the main apartment door. She wandered back into the living room and settled back into her seat, tucking her long legs beneath her.
'Your FBI friends are coming back up.'
'They were quick,' Dale replied distractedly, 'maybe they forgot something!'
He smiled and went back to completing his notes.
The front door to the apartment had been left unlatched and after a sharp creak as it swung open there came the familiar heavy foot steps of Stanley followed by the sharp heels of Jolene, marching over the kitchen floor tiles.
Dale glanced up first and just stopped. In the door frame was a tall heavy-set man with closely cropped hair just like Sergeant Stanley's, however, despite the resemblance it clearly was not the Marine who had accompanied Jolene that now blocked the entrance to the kitchen. The man looked impassive and very definitely, threatening.
'Who are you?' Gertrude blurted out, sounding somewhat alarmed.
The man said nothing he just calmly advanced into the room, the open space at the door taken by an attractive black woman with shaven bleached blonde hair.
Dale understood that something was wrong, it was clear that Gertrude was now very anxious and her question had made it obvious that the two unexpected visitors were not just friends who had decided to pop in for an impromptu visit. He stood up quickly and made to move forwards, but as he did so the big man suddenly thrust out his hands, the open palms aimed at Dale's head and groin.
Dale reacted quickly, jabbing an arm up to cover his face against the attack, however, it became apparent that the big man's initial move had been a feint purely to trigger Dale's instinctive reaction to take a defensive pose.
Quickly scrambling up onto the seat cushions, Gertrude heaved against the backrest, her movement making the whole sofa rock backward. She started to shout agitatedly as in a split second the intruder advanced, grabbing Dale's blocking arm and using it to spin him about as he side stepped swiftly behind the smaller man.
In the process, the big man locked the inner crook of his free elbow around his captive's windpipe, released the twisted defensive arm to flail ineffectively in the air as he brought his newly available forearm into place to create a vice-like choke-hold about Dale's neck, one arm gripping the other and pulling tight to squeeze with lethal force.
The sudden smash of a boot into the back of one of Dale's knees made him buckle and he felt himself being lumbered with the weight of his attacker, driving him down to his knees and allowing his assailant to increase the leverage for his hold.
Terrified and panicking, Gertrude had pulled her gaze away from the awful scene of violence that was taking place right before her in her own living room to meet the baleful stare of the now ominously sinister black woman who had followed the big man into the room. Her eyes bore right through Gertrude and it took a second for her to realise that the female intruder not only had a hair colour that contrasted starkly with her dark skin, but that she had the most extraordinarily vivid ice blue eyes that gave a coldly penetrating quality to her stare.
Gertrude looked back to Dale, to the big man with his arms locked about his neck, an expression of concentrated intent cast upon his face. The struggle continued and Dale's face was ironically turning a livid shade of red even though the blood supply to his head was actually being cut off and his brain deprived of oxygen by the the human tourniquet applied to his throat.
The combatants had already been locked together in their latent wrestling for around thirty seconds, more than enough time for Dale's squirming efforts to free himself to reduce to a series of pathetic slaps at the fleshy neck brace, weakly scrabbling at the carotid choke hold applied to his neck.
Dale was effectively sliding into a hypoxic condition in his brain, the compression of his carotid arteries inducing unconsciousness without the necessity to block his airway. A well-applied choke hold was capable of subduing a victim within seconds, however, if incorrectly administered it could quickly lead to a stroke, irreversible brain damage and ultimately, death.
After a further short interval of diminishing endeavours, the smaller man slumped and the bigger man expertly recognised the sudden relaxation, releasing the hold enough to bestow only unconsciousness upon his victim rather than anything approaching fatality. The brutal intruder glanced behind and then stepped back, dragging and somewhat gently laying out Dale's inert torso to rest upon the cushions of the sofa, lifting the deadened legs and swinging them about to jut over the arm rest, deliberately ensuring that they remained elevated slightly higher than the head.
Gertrude was stunned by her own reaction. Had the admittedly violent scene been intensely emotional, full of chaotic rage, she knew that she could have coped with it and would even have intervened. However, the intruders were cold, meticulous, devoid of any demonstrative anger and the effect had been to lock her into a fearful and powerless trance like a rabbit transfixed by the headlights of an oncoming car.
'Gertrude, you must come with us.'
The man had spoken, gently, assuredly, almost protectively.
'Gertrude, now!'
He had barked her first name and it made her snap out of her confusion. The man took her wrist but he did not forcefully pull her from the sofa, he simply applied firm pressure. The black woman came closer, placing what looked like a pen between her teeth that she had previously held hidden behind her back. She moved toward Gertrude and grabbed one of her wrists, twisting it outward to bare the sensitive underside of the forearm.
As she held the arm tightly, Akosua took the pen from her mouth and pressed it against the flesh, carefully aligning it with one of the thin blue antecubital vein lines beneath the white skin. She quickly clicked the button on the top of the pen but instead of a ball-point popping out to press down into the flesh, a needle flashed out and started injecting something directly into Gertrude's venal system.
The result was instantaneous, the sharp pain making Gertrude react with a burst of energy.
'What is that?' she screamed. 'What are you doing to me?'
Akosua smiled reassuringly as she held the needle in place for a while, Rey gripping Gertrude tightly to contain her initial struggling.
'Don't worry; I know what I'm doing. This is a benzodiazepine derivative, it will act as a sedative and an amnesiac but it will wear off in three to four hours. You'll be alright, we want you to be calm; we're not here to hurt you. You're quite safe with us.'
Although having been injected for only a few seconds, Gertrude could already feel the first signs of the drug coursing through her body. Akosua examined her intently, detecting the tell-tale eye movements and reactions that indicated that the sedative was having the desired effect.
'Gertrude? Can you hear me Gertrude?'
She clicked her fingers and Gertrude finally looked up, already displaying a diminished level of responsiveness which would allow them to control her.
'Is she alright?' Rey asked.
Akosua nodded, peering into Gertrude's eye
s and checking her pulse, noting that it had elevated slightly.
'Yeah, she's fine, we can take her out now, she won't cause any trouble.'
Together, they bundled through the kitchen and out to the landing, hurrying down to the main apartment door in a fixed chain, Rey gently reassuring Gertrude and urging her on, as if aiding in her evacuation from a fire.
Gertrude hypnotically complied, the physical grips to her wrists were one thing but she felt confused by the assurances and authoritative tone of the voice being used, not quite knowing whether she was being rescued or restrained. She stumbled along, held up by the big man and the black woman who had injected her. What had she said? Bendopine? Benzidane? Something - She just could not focus and simply complied with the two strangers carrying her along.
The oddly interlinked trio had reached the kerb and started to cross, both Rey and Akosua bunching up tightly against Gertrude as they veered toward their car parked on the opposite side of the road. Just as they reached the halfway point, a fumbling crash followed by a loud grunt sounded from behind them, drawing the immediate attention of the two human props who were both surprised to see Dale staggering up to his feet, hanging onto the door into which he had slammed as he stumbled down the last few steps of the apartment block.
'I'll take him,' said Akosua, her tone calm and professional but with an ominous hint of finality about it.
Without breaking step, Rey pincered Gertrude in a grip about her shoulders and continued marching her to the car. His charge woozily glanced back and saw Dale emerge from the apartment, dazed but clearly intent on heading toward the black woman who was now standing in the middle of the road.
Dale coughed as he came closer, he took a deep breath to ready himself, bunching his hands into fists as he came into range and immediately shooting out a punch aimed at Akosua's face. She simply dodged the badly timed flail and rammed a flat palm straight into Dale's nose in response.
Already shaken with the affects of oxygen deprivation and with his eyes now watering from the stunning jab to his nose, Dale staggered back a couple of steps, his hands instinctively flying to cover his face. He shook his head and noted a trickle of blood running freely from his nostrils and splashing into his cupped palms. He looked at the black woman, cool and insolent, who simply raised her eyebrows in a jeering assessment of his actions.
Sun of the Sleepless Page 18