Collected Fiction (1940-1963)

by William P. McGivern

  The squad of Japs stopped as if they’d struck an invisible stone wall. They rolled backward, weapons falling from nerveless hands.

  They made no outcry. It was inhuman. The men dropped to the floor in sagging heaps and the imprint of death was on their huddled postures.

  Lellamy turned to Rick with a little bow.

  “Do you appreciate me now?” she smiled. “What can this girl of yours have to match my power?”

  “That’s not the point,” Rick said.

  “Is she as beautiful as I?”

  Rick looked at her with narrowed eyes. She squared her shoulders and smiled confidently at him. Her body was a poem of perfection. From her slim, delicate arched feet to the crowning glory of her hair she was magnificent.

  “She’s more beautiful,” Rick said.

  Lellamy flushed, then she smiled ruefully. “I will do then what I am fitted for. Let us look for more of your enemies.”

  They proceeded through the corridors and her wand was a blazing torch of death. The alarm had been sounded. Small bands of Japs appeared and were cut down instantly. Finally they came to double doors that were secured with a thick metal bar and lock!

  Lellamy raised her wand and the ray struck against the steel surface of the great doors. They melted in fiery radiance, crumbled and fell inward.

  “This is what I am fitted for,” Lellamy said bitterly. “To melt the heart of cold steel, but not the heart of man.”

  They walked forward through the sagging portals and came to a railed balcony that overlooked a vast cavern. Below them stretched a laboratory of intricate perfection.

  Squat Japs worked beside machines which dwarfed them to pigmy proportions. Rows of shining turbines were throbbing with ear-shattering sound. Retorts and crucibles bubbled over huge burners and clouds of gas floated upward.

  There were a hundred men working methodically with the instruments of science. The deafening noise of the operation made them oblivious to the intrusion of the Americans. Obviously the balcony was an observation post from which the work could be inspected.

  “The atomic factory,” Rick said.

  “It must be,” Peter said. “This is where they developed the ray that knocked those planes out of the air. This is the center of the web, apparently. From here they’ll strike anywhere they like.”

  Rick looked at Lellamy. She seemed indifferent to the scene below.

  “These are our enemies,” he said to her. “They are enemies of all men.”

  “I WILL do what you wish,” Lellamy said, with a shrug. “But man is always man’s greatest enemy. Killing these will not help. Man has always been a perfectionist in the trade of warring against his fellow man. If that energy were spent constructively what worlds we could build.”

  She moved closer to the railing and

  raised the wand in her right hand.

  “I obey your will,” she murmured. “I want love and you give me missions of hate. That is the story of men.”

  She closed her eyes and Rick saw a tear on her cheek. The next instant his eyes were blinded with the violent blaze of the ray. Like a broad, incredibly vivid bolt of lightning the ray struck across the laboratory. Flame danced in its wake. Tiny streamers of fire that looked like tricklets of water. They rushed together forming an ever-widening pool of flame.

  The pool widened, deepened, engulfed the laboratory. Above the failing noise of the turbines, over the roar of flame, the despairing anguished shrieks of the men could be heard.

  It lasted a full minute, then Lellamy lowered her arm. The fiery pool began to evaporate, broke into smaller segments, split again into snake-like fingers that writhed, twisted and finally disappeared.

  Rick wet his dry lips. He felt sick as he looked at the blackened laboratory. The men had perished at their machines. They were travestied figures, drawn into weird inhuman shapes by the contraction of seared ligaments. The turbines were silent and ruined, melted into grotesque shapes to match the posture of their silent masters.

  They turned and went back through the sagging, melted doors. They walked a length of corridor to an intersection and were not challenged.

  “I think we have them all,” Peter said.

  “There’s Matsubi and Deveer,” Rick said. “And the girl.”

  “Oh, yes,” Lellamy said, “there is the girl.”

  Rick stopped and took a revolver from a fallen Jap.

  “I’ll handle Deveer and Matsubi myself,” he said. “That’s a job for a gun.”

  “We’d better go with you,” Peter said.

  “I’ll handle it alone,” Rick said tonelessly.

  Lellamy shrugged. “Very well. We will look for more of your enemies in this region.”

  Rick nodded and walked toward the elevator.

  CHAPTER VIII

  HE GOT off at Matsubi’s level. With the gun in his right hand he walked toward the door of the office. He waited a minute before the door, then tried the knob. It turned in his hand. He kicked it open and stepped into the room.

  Matsubi and Deveer were, standing in front of a huge lighted chart, their backs to him. On the chart was a replica of the scene he had just left, the blackened, blasted laboratory.

  Deveer turned quickly at the sound of Rick’s entrance. His hand started for his hip.

  “Go ahead,” Rick said coldly. “Go for it. I’ll spot you another second then let you have it right in the guts.”

  Matsubi turned, his face a mask of rage.

  “You have destroyed years of work, you madman,” he said. His lips were flecked with foam and his eyes were gleaming with maniacal light. “Our laboratory was built with the lives of hundreds of men. And you have destroyed it in an instant.”

  “That’s right,” Rick said. He kicked the door shut behind him and put his back against it. “We’ve wiped out your rotten little nest, Matsubi.” His eyes flicked to Deveer.

  “You’re worse than these rotten bastards,” he said bitterly. “You threw Peter to the wolves to save your hide, then joined up with the idea of getting me out of the way. What do you think he’d have done to you after we were out of the way, you silly fool?”

  Deveer’s broad face was impassive. “I took a chance,” he said without emotion. “I could have made a big guy out of myself. I could have done the pushing around for a change. It didn’t turn out that way. Like everything else in my life. I grab for something and it looks good. When I get it in my hand it melts away to nothing. I’m not crying. Cut out the speeches and pull the trigger.”

  “The girl, first,” Peter said. “Where is she?”

  Matsubi licked his lips and then he smiled horribly.

  “You aren’t going to pull the trigger,” he said, with a deliberate shake of his head. “I know where the girl is. If you kill me you’ll never find her, believe me. Your position is an odd one, isn’t it?”

  “I can shoot you a few times for fun,” Rick said. “That might make you talkative. Ever see a man-with a bullet through his stomach? Or maybe the groin? I’ve had guys beg me to kill them just because they stopped one in the leg. Do you want.me to try that?”

  “I know of no way to stop you,” Matsubi said. “You may shoot me as much as you like but it will not get you the girl. But I have a proposition. Do you want to listen?”

  “Nothing is going to save you,” Rick said.

  “That is quite true,” Matsubi said. “But I can hope for one small favor for telling you where the girl is:”

  “Spit it out,” Rick said.

  “All my life I have been a collector. My last obsession was with stones and jewels. You have in your pocket a black stone I would like to own for my last minutes on earth. Give me the stone and I will take you to the girl.

  After that I can only throw myself on your mercy.”

  “I have no mercy,” Rick said.

  “But you have the stone, eh?”

  “How do you know I have it?”

  Matsubi nodded toward the illuminated chart on the wall. “This int
erested development told me. I was able to follow your movements from the time you eluded my men. I saw you pick up the stone from the altar in the grotto. It is beautiful. I want to enjoy it for my last moments.”

  Rick took the stone from his pocket, glanced at it. It shone brilliantly. He tossed it up and down in his hand for a moment. He suspected a trick. But it was a chance he’d have to take if he wanted to see the American girl again. He tossed the stone to Matsubi.

  The Japanese caught it and Rick swung his gun squarely on him. He was ready for anything, but Matsubi merely smiled delightedly at the stone, then dropped it into his pocket.

  “I will keep my word. I will take you to the girl.”

  “Okay, walk ahead of me,” Rick said, “You too, Deveer.”

  MATSUBI walked to the door and opened it. Deveer followed him into the corridor. “You have nothing to fear,” Matsubi said. “My followers are dead. We are helpless. What do you propose to do with us?”

  “I’m going to kill you both,” Rick said harshly. “I’ll give you a gun and a chance to go for it. “You’ll never make it. That much I can promise.”

  “All men must die,” Matsubi said with a sigh.

  He and Deveer walked together, Rick a few feet behind. They went down two levels in the elevator, then followed a corridor to a large bare room. Inside this room Matsubi stopped.

  He pointed to a closed door on the far side of the room.

  “Your young woman is in there,” he said. “I have kept my word,” he added, with a slight smile.

  Rick glanced at Deveer. “Unbuckle your gun belt,” he said. “Kick the gun across the room.”

  Deveer obeyed without expression.

  Rick ordered them both then to a corner of the room where he covered them while he crossed and opened the door. When they reached the corner he stepped quickly to the door and jerked it open.

  There was a light in the ceiling of the room. The room was small, square and unfurnished, except for a narrow cot. Clare Holloway, the American girl, was lying on this cot.

  Rick stared at her and he felt the blood suddenly hammering in his temples. His face stiffened and then his stomach twisted in a spasm of nausea.

  The girl on the cot was unconscious. Her eyes were closed and only the faint rise and fall of her breast indicated that she was still alive.

  She shouldn’t be alive, he thought with dull horror. No human being should be alive in that condition.

  She had been mutilated beyond recognition. His mind was unable to absorb the full horror of her appearance. Thoughts flicked through his consciousness in splintered fractions.

  She was naked, except for a white loin cloth. Her body had been burned horribly. He pressed his hands against his temples and his thoughts flashed like the dancing of a kaleidoscope.

  Her legs, were contracted, shrivelled. The flesh of her body was blackened and the mutilation had been performed by a perverted madman.

  SOMEONE had devoted himself to this task. Someone had lingered over this orgy of sadism, perfecting each monstrosity, laboring over each detail with the zeal of a fanatic.

  Her face had been left untouched. It rose from the hideously ruined body like a fair white flower. But the lines of pain in that unconscious face told their own story.

  He had no way of knowing how long he stood there. Time lost-its meaning. And through his mind there came a strange sound.

  He heard it dully. It seemed out of place, horribly so. It was as incongruous as the sound of a harsh oath “S before a shrine; the rasping of a file during a symphony; a mocking laugh against the sounds of weeping.

  The sound became identified. The sound was laughter.

  He turned and Matsubi chuckled again.

  “A masterpiece, is it not?” he said lightly.

  There was no reason left in Rick’s mind. This thing that was laughing must be destroyed. Its body broken its features smashed, its ability to laugh stilled forever.

  He raised his gun slowly, blindly. He never fired the shot. There was a flash before his eyes and a numbing force struck his arm. He cried out involuntarily, and he heard the gun strike the floor with a metallic ring.

  Standing before him was Lellamy! There was an anguished expression on her beautiful face.

  “You gave away our power with the black talisman,” she said. “I am helpless now. He who holds the stone holds me. He who holds me commands my power.”

  Matsubi came to her side. His chuckle sounded again. He looked at Lellamy and then at Rick.

  “My men caught an old man named Lento when they were searching for you. Lento told us the story of the black stone. I regarded it as a child’s fantasy. But it was worth trying. I seem now to have summoned a most valuable assistant.”

  He paused and began to smile. “I am in a very good position again. With the obedience of this creature I may recoup what you have caused me to lose. Your stupidity and wantonness has ruined a lifetime of work. There was some satisfaction for me when I saw your face after you had looked on the American girl.”

  Rick had trouble speaking. The rage and sickness in him was like something evil.

  “Why did you do that?” he choked.

  “I didn’t do it,” Matsubi smiled. “I gave her to Major Kok. I instructed him to hold her until we captured you.

  I thought that you might be more cooperative if we had her as a lever.” He stopped and sighed. “I was a fool to trust the major. He couldn’t restrain himself with such a delicate responsive subject. He began to play with her, I understand. Lightly and carefully. But the excitement of such pleasures is a powerful stimulant. He lost his control and finally produced the frightfully perfect result you have witnessed. I had to have him shot’” he concluded casually.

  Deveer was standing beside Matsubi now. He had come up on him silently. His face was impassive and set.

  “We’re in charge again, eh?” he said.

  “Yes, yes,” Matsubi said. “We will eliminate the two Americans and go to work. Perhaps our plans will still materialize.”

  “The American girl is dead?”

  “I believe she is alive. The major was too much a scientist, to let her die. I imagine he could have used her for years.” He looked at the red haired Lellamy and then at Rick. “Your time is at hand,” he said slowly. Glancing again at Lellamy, he said, “If I order you to destroy him, you will do so?”

  “I will be forced to,” Lellamy said tonelessly.

  “In that case,” Matsubi said, “I order you to destroy him immediately.”

  Lellamy’s anguished eyes met Rick’s. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then she raised the wand in her hand.

  DEEVER moved then, with incredible speed. He drove hard into Matsubi, knocking him to the ground. He sprawled on top of him, his right hand clawing for the Jap’s pocket. His hand came out clutching the egg-sized black stone.

  “Hold everything!” he growled.

  Matsubi scrambled for the gun Deveer had kicked across the room. Deveer dove after him.

  Rick dropped to one knee and scooped up his gun. The tension within him was gone. He was a smoothly functioning, nerveless machine.

  He shot Matsubi in the back of the head. Deveer wheeled around and Rick fired again. The second shot caught Deveer in the chest. He went backward, coughing, a surprised, hurt look on his face.

  Lellamy stooped and picked the black stone from his fingers.

  Deveer hoisted himself painfully on one elbow. His eyes met Rick’s and he grinned tightly.

  “Like everything else I grab,” he said, gasping painfully. “It turns out to be no good. I came around, Rick, but it was too late. When I got what happened to the kid I was waiting for a break. I got it when Matsubi was concentrating on you. I’m glad you got me, though. I’ve been a heel and it’s time for me to make that last landing.”

  He grinned and then his face tightened with pain. He raised one hand slowly in a salute. Halfway to his forehead the hand stopped, fell limp.

  Deveer died.
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  Lellamy came to Rick’s side. She held out the stone but he shook his head miserably. He went to the door of the room the girl was lying in and forced himself to look at her again.

  “This is she?” Lellamy whispered.

  Rick nodded. He couldn’t trust himself to speak.

  “And you love her?”

  “Yes.”

  Lellamy looked at him and there was pain now in her eyes. “I have offered you love,” she said softly. “You gave me missions of hate. I will do something for you now that has something in it of love.”

  SHE stepped past Rick into the room.

  The wand rose in the air and a soft lambent beam poured from its tip. She played the gentle beam over the girl’s body, moved it slowly back and forth.

  Where the beam touched it healed. The flesh gleamed pink and fresh, the twisted limbs filled and relaxed. The girl’s breathing became even and regular as her beauty returned, as the ravages faded, disappeared and were replaced with the original loveliness.

  Finally Lellamy passed the beam over the girl’s face and the lines of pain were slowly erased.

  The beam faded then and Lellamy lowered the wand to her side. “The memory of it will be gone from her mind,” she said. “She may dream of it and be terrified, but when she wakes it will be dream. Be kind to her.”

  Rick went to his knees beside the bed, caught the girl in his arms. She opened her eyes, then put her arms about his neck.

  “Rick, Rick,” she whispered. “Where have you been?”

  “It’s okay now,” he said.

  “Yes, it’s all right now,” she said. She hugged him again and then she was aware of her unclad condition. She gave a little cry. “It will be when I get decent, anyway.”

  “I’ll find you something,” he said.

  He turned and Lellamy smiled at him. There was patience and wisdom and loneliness in the smile. “Will you take me back to the grotto, Rick?” she said softly.

  “Yes,” he said slowly.

  “We will find the one you call Peter. I would like him to come, too. On the way we will tell your love of what has happened.”