# Triple Cross555

Лев Переводчик Шкловский

168

(172 of 212)

168

+ 110%

NICE CARTER:

then waved to a bellboy as Hood went up in the

rickety old elevator.

I found a telephone booth, dialed the nearest

AXE contact point, gave my emergency priority

code, and ordered a car. AXE moves mountains. The

car arrived in five minutes—an elegant and powerful

Bentley. I was in it and waiting when Jeb Hood

came out and got into the small Triumph the bell-

boy had parked.

Hood wasn't wearing his Stetson now—not even his

cowboy boots. In a dark business suit, and a normal

tie, he looked like a different man—and maybe a dan-

gerous one. He drove off through the evening streets

and ten minutes later we were on the main trunk

road northeast toward East Anglia and the sea.

For a long time I stayed as far back as possible,

letting other cars cut in between us from time to

time, then passing again and pulling up close

enough to be sure of Hood and the Triumph.

where between Colchester and Ipswich I passed

*him, remained ahead through Ipswich, and then let

him pass me again.

Every mile took me farther from London and Sy-

bil Readin

how, that the key was somewhere ahead where Jeb

Hood was going. One small doubt Plawed at my

subconscious—if Denka Vortov was part of Blood

Eagle, was Irina, too? If she was, rd given them an

open season on murder. But she wasn't part of it.

Why? Because we'd once been locked together in a

dark cellar? Yes—as good a reason as any to Imo'"

what a woman had inside her.

I could hear Hawk laughing. Or cursing. Thet/i

kill you, N3, the women. No, not this woman, enemy

or not. If I was wrong, it'd be a little late to apolo

gize.

169

TRIPLE cmcss

The road read Lowestoft when the Triumoh


TRIPLE CROSS

169

The road signs read Lowestoft when the Triumph

left the trunk road and headed straight east on a

secondary road with the strong smell of the North

Sea coming to meet me. Hood drove for some miles,

then turned sharply north, and I could see the dark

sheen of the ocean to the right. We were driving

straight along the shore, with no other cars in sight

in the night.

It was the dangerous time-what was another car

doing on the remote road?-and I fell back as far as I

could. His taillights turned right again. I slowed. We

were so close to the sea, where could he go to the

right? I saw his lights just off the narrow road, shin-

ing on a low, squat, grayish building before they

switched off. I didn't stop, but drove on past.

Some two hundred yards ahead the road curved

away from the sea and I was hidden from where

Hood had parked. I stopped the car and began to

work my way back on foot. I crossed the dark road,

moving up on the low, square building. The Tri-

umph was parked and silent. There was no one out

in the night and the sea wind, and no other build-

in building that was squat and square, and yet

wasn't. It had rounded corners, was all concrete,

had no windows at all, and only a single steel door—

a blockhousel I crept up silently in the night and lis-

tened. There was no sound at all. I tried the door. It

was unlocked. I swung it open, expecting a stiff,

rasping creak, but it swung easily, smooth and oiled.

Inside, I got out Wilhelmina and peered around

It was an old coast defense blockhouse from World

War II days, empty except for a rusted gun mount

without a gun, now filled with debris and spiders.

There was no other door and no one there.

I moved cautiously around the crumbling con-

170


170

+ 110%

NICK CARTER: EILI.MASTER

crete walls, stepping softly. Somewhere far Off, I

heard voices. Echoing voices, from somewhere be-

low. Half way around the perimeter of the walls, I

found the narrow opening hidden from the outside

door by a jutting concrete corner. Inside the open-

ing, narrow iron stairs spiraled down into darkness. I

went down.

The blockhouse was probably part of a network

joined by underground tunnels that stretched up

and down the coast. I went down silently and

reached a metal landing that led into a narrow con-

crete corridor: ne voices were closer now, ahead of

me along the passage. There was faint light that

way. I.

Someone laughed, a metal door clanged, and foot-

steps came along the passage toward me. I saw a

door ahead in the right wall and jumped for it. It

wasn't locked. I slipped through into a small, dark,

closet-like cubicle, closed the door, and leaned

against it, listening.

The footsteps came closer and stopped outside the

door. I stepped back, my Luger ready—and stag-

gered, almost falling!

There was a sudden hum, a creaking scrape, and

a sinking in my belly. I swayed and touched the

walls. They were moving up. No, I was moving

down! The small room was an elevator and I

plunged down and down, and then stopped.

Silence was everywhere. Total, unmoving silence.

nen, from somewhere, a voice spoke. A deep voice,

muffled and metallic. Over a microphone.

'*You searched for Blood Eagle. You have found

Blood Eagle. You are an evil man, Killmaster, and

now you are dead. %ere is no way out. Try, open

the door, search, but there is no way. Tomorrov

other evil men will die. For the future."

TRIPLE CROSS

171


171

The microphone clicked off. Somewhere far above

r thought I heard the faint sound of feet on metal. A

sound that faded into nothing.. For a time, I stood

there listening, holding Wilhelmina, letting my eyes

become accustomed to the total darkness.

I tried the elevator door. It opened. I stepped out

and stood in a large, wide room. As my eyes adjust-

ed, I saw shapes emerge—a jumble of rusted guns, a

small railroad car standing on rusted tracks, bat-

tered boxes covered with spider webs, corroded Shel!

casings in heaps, rotted canvas. All the debris of a

forgotten war.

Then I heard the footsteps.

I whirled, gun out.

Irina stood there in the darlmess, her pistol aimed

at met


CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

She stared at me and lowered her gun.

"You, too?" she said.

I watched her in the gloom. "Lured us boff

bere?"

"Smooth. Separated us and dangled just the righ

bait." She looked around at the ruins far below thc

surface. "You knew the man, Nick? You were sure hc

was the key?"

"Yeah,» I said. "Suckered good. *

"And I was lulled into overconfidence; we'd fol

lowed the Reading woman all day." She was stil

looking around at the dusty concrete vault, th

long-forgotten equipment. "No one has been dowl

here for many years. Is there any chance for us?"

Tere's always a chance," I said. "Trapping u

like this, they left us with our weapons."

172

•mms

173


173

Her laugh was a little high, edgy. "V%at do we

use them against?"

ØAn elevator brought us down. It works both

ways."

"If they* ve left it working, Nick MAIen they sent

me down from the farmhouse, I'm certain I heard

them smashing the controls up above. They proba-

bly have no more use for these hideaways."

SLet's find out," I said.

I went to the small elevator that had brought me

down and looked for the controls. niere weren't

any, not on the car itself. We searched all around the

shaft. Irina finally spotted a series of broken, cor-

roded switches in the heavy concrete wall some fifty

feet away from the car. She at the faded la-

plates. One set of three switches read Elecator.

Safety precaution," she said. "Against down-

I fried the switches. Nothing happened. I took out

Hugo and shorted across the junctions with the

stiletto blade. Nothing.

"No power," I said. "Okay, the car lowered on

pprt. got to be anchored

cables or some su

up top somewhere.

I went back to the narrow elevator ear. In the

steel ceiling there was the usual small trap door for

reaching the mechanism on top. It was heavier than

normal and it took all I had to push it up and heave

it sideways. I climbed up.

ne black shaft stretched upward, smooth and

without any holds. It was too wide to climb braced

against two sides.

And the cables lay in a tangled heap on the top of

the car.

"Okay," I said, net's think of something else."

We stood out in the wrecked concrete catacombs

174


174

+ 110%

NICX CAR'I*ER: EILLMASTER

among the shadows of the ghostly machinery of long

ago.

Tere must be emergency stairs," Irina said.

We went around the dank walls in opposite direc-

dons. I found the narrow door. It opened hard,

creaking and scraping, with a shower of dirt and dry

rust The shaft reached up into nothing. An empty

shaft, the stairs removed—but a narrow shaftl

"We can brace against both walls," I said. '*Work

our way up easy!"

I went last. Irina climbed like a mountain goat,

her back against one side of the shaft, her legs push-

ing against the other side. The old shaft was a mass

of rust and mineral deposits that showered down on

me, but we went up fast. Then we stopped. Irina

was a shadow above me.

glt's blocked," she said, her voice showing no

tion. gA heaw steel plate. Concrete above it,

wedged solid."

"Can we move it?" I said, looking up.

I didn't argue. If she said no, she knew. We went

back down and stood again in the silence of the

room of ghost shapes. I lit a cigarette and gave her

one. We smoked.

'Tou said something about a farmhouse?" I said.

mu weren't trapped in the same blockhouse I

€No, I was in an old farmhouse. It had a concrete

bunker attached—probably a mmmand post during

the war."

ÜHow did you get here?"

"Along that railroad tunnel back there. I think

there must be a lot of posts and blockhouses all in-

terconnected by the tunnels. But everything I saw

was wrecked, Nick"

TRIPLE CROSS

175


175

(179 of 212)

+ 110%

TRIPLE CROSS

*No way out back that way?"

175

OAII right," I said. EWe11 head on the other way."

The railroad tunnel was low and we had no light.

But the nrsted narrow-gauge tracks led straight on.

Bent over, we went on and on, stumbling over un-

seen debris, squeezing around the small, abandoned

flat cars.

Twice we came to other open rooms beneath

blockhouses. They were also filled with the same

silent ruins of a past struggle. The elevators were

broken and their cables cut, the emergency stairs

were gone and the shafts plugged. In the second

vast room, we found a new menace—live shells scat-

tered over the

"Be careful," I warned. "Better not touch any

shells."

'Why, Nick? At least it would be swift."

We hadn't talked about it, our fate. There was

plenty of air, no enemies. When we died, it would

be of starvation and lack of water. A long, slow

death—hunger and thirst in the heart of England.

Only we wouldn't. We bad our pistols and our cya-

nide pills.

The third vault was the same. NO way out.

rne only change was that the damp and cold were

beginning to creep into us, and Irina had begun to

shiver in her dress. suddenly felt cold, too. Very

cold, raw and chilled to the bone. Maybe it wouldn't

take so long for the hunger and thirst to kill us after

all. StarvaHon weakens, and an endless chill weak-

ens, and together.... I held Irina close against me.

She went on shivering. Once you begin, it becomes

almost impossible to stop without some warmth from

somewhere.

"The elevator," I •aid

176


176

+ 110%

Nrcx CARTER: EILLMASTER

We went into the narrow little elevator car and

closed the steel door. We lay down on the floor, the

closed elevator just long enough to bold me. I held

her. Close, our bodies together from face to ankle,

she slowly stopped shivering as our body warmth

blended and grew there in the shelter of the tiny cu-

bicle.

We lay there for some time, silent, growing warm-

er, and facing death in our minds. Maybe that was

it—lying together in the dark and looking at our own

deaths—but she began to move against me. Softly, al-

most shyly, and then I felt her lips groping for mine.

A passion was growing, in me as well as her, but

something else, too. A soft burning, a tenderness,

and her lips were moist and gentle.

I kissed her—a light and searching kiss—and for me

the growing of need and warmth was more clear,

more insistent, a throbbing pain and heat. My hands

touched her under her skirt, touched the beat of her

strong, smooth thighs. Her hands opened my belt,

opened my clothes, touched me slowly, slowly, her

fingers moving down through the hair of my belly.

Then her lips groped closer, harder, like some

hungry little girl, and her legs came up and opening.

She opened wide there on the dark goor of the nar-

row elevator that had us trapped in a dark pit that

could be our grave, and I slid out of my confining

clothes and went into her as if for the first time.

We didn't speak, or fight, or resist each other. We

only thrust up, thrust down, locked and slow, gentle

and long and warm like a single life blending into

an endless moment. If we died in this dank, cold,

concrete tomb, if nothing was ever found of us but

some bones bleached and rotted on the concrete

amidst the rust of the weapons of a long ago war,

TRIPLE CROSS

177


177

there would be floating in the cold dark the warmth

and passion of a last moment of life.

Maybe it was death, the cold face of death

watching us from every corner of the darkness, but

we did not want it to stop, to end, to leave us cold

and alone. But we were human, and all things hu-

man end. We ended.

Ended, drained, silent, and yet we didn't lose it

all. The cold did not come back at once; the warmth

of us remained all around where we lay side by side,

holding each other's hand like young lovers in some

small room together for the first time.

We smoked.

GWe11 make it," I said after a time. "Somehow."

eyes," she said.

€1t's not us. It's the others. The ones Blood Eagle

is going to kill. We can't stop them now."

"At least one will be stopped," Irina said. 'When I

saw the Reading woman was taking me out Of Lon-

don, I managed to pass the word about that ware-

house when she made a stop on the road. Theyll

protect our Defense Minister."

"She stopped on the road?" I said and glanced

toward Irina. "Tt•Vho did you pass the word to?"

She smoked. "Not to Denka, and not to MI-5. I

called the London police and the Foreign Offce."

"All right," I said. "But I've got a pretty good

hunch that there never was going to be an assassina-

tion attempt on your Defense Minister. At least, not

at that warehouse. It was all too easy, Irina, too

open. She led us on a fake trail. She stopped on the

road. Why? So you could report it all?"

She nodded, pressed close against me in the dark

and cold. It seemed to be getting colder again; a

sharp chill was digging into my legs, my back.

"Yes," she said. "When the Reading woman didn't

178


178

+ 110%

NICX CARTn: KILLMASTER

go back to anywhere she'd led us, I began to suspect

it had all been a trick, too. I didn't suspect enough

though, did I?"

"No, neither of us did," I said, "and it looks like

well pay for it. Overconfident, sure of our own

skills, Irina."

They say it happens to all agents sooner or later."

"One way or the other," I agreed. "So she led you

here, right into a trap.-

"Not directly—that's one reason I wasn't alert

enough," Irina said. "She stopped first at another

cottage. A small cottage over near Thetford—inland—

at the edge of an old World War II airfield. Fltlis

area's hill of such old installations. After that stop,

she came here to--r

I had stopped listening the moment she'd said

. near netford at the edge of an old World

War II airfield." I sat up, forgetting my cigarette.

Thetford? You're sure?'

She looked at me. "Yes, rm sure.-

*Irina, that field Is one of our secret bases! '1%e

•AXE airfield nearest to London! Tomorrow no

this moming nowl %ere's a secret top-level meeting

of the security chiefs of NATO and Hawk is coming

to it!"

I didn't care ff revealed his name now; I needed

all the help I could get,

"David Hawk, my boss! He's the target, the top

American leader Blood Eagle wants to They're

going to assassinate Hawk!"


CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I was up. Irina sat without moving.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Is he a good man, Nick?"

eyes," 1 said

She shook her head. "YVhat can we do? Nothing

has changed—there is no way out of here. We cannot

even save ourselves."

I stood there in the dark of the tiny little elevator,

looking down at her as if I wanted her to say some-

thing else. As if different words would somehow

change it all. But it wouldn't. Nothing was going to

change anything now. I sat down. We buddled

there in silence, the chill biting at me, the first thirst

beginning to work deep in my dry throat.

How long did we have? Two days? Three? Maybe

four—we were both strong. But sooner or later it

would happen and before that- we would use our

pills or our guns. And that wasn't what I was think-

180

179


180

+ 110%

CARTER: EILLMASTER

fng about. Thinking about that would do no good- I

was thinking about David Hawk.

I saw him in my mind, landing on the deserted

airfield at dawn this morning. I saw him getting off

the plane out there on the empty runway from an-

other war. There would be one man with him, at

best, and maybe two MI-5 men to meet him, maybe

none at all. Probably none at all, and I saw the faint

glint on the distant rifle in the innocent cottage, and

I saw Hawk fall dead there on that silent, lonely,

windswept runway.

I saw it ali and I sat trapped in a tomb of con-

crete and rusted steel unable to do a thing! Not a

gHdamned thing! I was helpless to stop the murder

of a man Vd worked with too long to even think

about. A man who UUs AXE, who was as important

to America as anyone alive.

Helpless. On the cold floor of a small cubicle, with

the sharp cold driving into my legs and back as if

there was an arctic wind blowing across a treeless

tundra. A cold....

I blinked. A cold wind?

"Irina?"

Like a cold, sharp, knifing wind. From where?

Ulrina," I said. 'The cold. It's so damned cold

here. It wasn't so cold in the other big rooms. It's

much colder in this area. I can feel the cold even in-

side the elevator, blowing right under the door!"

She was up, bent down at the door. "A wind,

Nick, yes! I can feel it blowing along the floor, com-

ing in under the door. nere wasn't any wind in any

of the other rooms. How could there be?"

HOW could there be? We were hundreds of feet

under the surface, down at the bottom of shafts and

tunnels with all the ways up blocked—and yet in this

TRIPLE

181


181

vault-like concrete there was a wind. Not just

a small wind—a sharp, cold, moving wind.

And a wind has to blow from somewhere.

Tet's find out," I said.

We left the dark elevator and stood out in the

large vault room. There was no mistaking the sharp

cold now. The temperature had dropped noticeably

even since we had gone into the elevator and there

was no mistaking that a wind was blowing against

our legs and faces.

"It's coming from the tunnel ahead!"

ne tunnel we hadn't reached yet.

-Careful, there could be someone up there."

g An opening, Nick? Or a fan?"

Think positive," I said. a An opening."

We moved along the low tunnel slowly, silently,

following the rusted old narrow gauge tracks. I

quickly became aware of differences in this tunnel.

First, it curved sharply to the right—toward the sea.

Second, it was danker, almost wet along the walls.

And the wind blew steadily from straight ahead.

After the sharp curve to the right, the low passage

curved again—to the left, straightening out into its

original direction. We became conscious of a sound,

a noise. Steady and unduladng, it was a low rumble

as rhythmic as a giant steam pump—or the ceaseless

surge of the sea. It seemed to be all around, like a

presence, low and insistent, and I could feel it

through the tunnel wall.

"It's close," Irina said.

"Yes," r

Then we came out into another of the vast, con-

crete vault rooms. But this one was different. There

seemed to be no elevator, no way up, and not one

but two low tunnels leading out Of it. One, with the

narrow tracks continuing on into it, led away from

182


****** Result for Image/Page 1 ******

182

(186 of 212)

182

+ 110%

rrcx CARTÄ: KILLMASTER

where the sea had to be. The other, without track,

opened to the right directly toward the sea. The

floor of this second tunnel was wet, and the wind

was blowing out of it strong and steady, almost a

gale.

'There's got to be an opening to the. outside," I

said.

We pltmged into the dank tunnel, groping in the

moisture and slime that coated the walls—and

bumped into the iron gate!

"It's blocked, Nick," Irina said, as close to despair

as Vd ever heard her.

It was blocked. I felt all around. An Iron grid, like

some ancient portcullis, blocked the whole passage

from floor to ceiling, wall to wall. It was not set into

the floor, but hinged like a gate and fastened with a

large, heavy, rusted padlock.

"We should have hown they wouldn't be stupid

enough not to have explored to be sure there was no

way out," Irina said.

"Yes, but they've made a mistake anyway. A com-

bination mistake. They knew there was no

unblocked way out and they knew there was no one

we could use our weapons against, so they didn't

bother to fry to get our guns! But with our guns we

can shoot open that lock!"

Irina looked at the lock. EI don't know. It's a big

lock, strong, and rusted solid. How much ammo do

we have between us?"

"With any luck, we won't need more than one

shot," I said. "Wait here."

I ran back through the big rooms and the narrow

tunnels to where we'd seen the live shells scattered

around. I gingerly grabbed four of them, carried

them gently back again through the tunnels and

vault-like underground rooms. When shells

TRIPLE aoss

been abandoned for a long time, chemical

have

183


183

been abandoned for a long time, chemical and

mechanical changes can take place, and there's no

way of being sure how delicate such a shell might

But made it without exploding myself and re-

joined Irina at the iron grid in the dark tunnel. Now

I had to hope that the shells weren't duds.

alt's damned close in here," Irina warned.

Tet's see what good shots we are," I said.

eVVhat's your range?"

urn the dark? Not very far."

•It's a big target."

I set one of the shells jammed into the Vid

against the heavy lock, estimated its exact distance

down from the ceiling, and in from the left wall, and

backed step by step up the wet tunnel to where it

opened into the large room. It was some ten yards.

An easy range for me, and for Irina—in the light. I

lay down, motioned her back against the wall of the

big room, and took aim. Jn the dark I could just

make out the grid and what I hoped was the shell—a

live shell, I prayed.

"Hold onto your pants!"

I squeezed off the shot, and rolled. Would—?

The explosion shattered the silence of the vaulted

room like a great, impossible hammer blow after the

hours of silence. Against the wall, I covered my ears

and gritted my teeth against the sudden shock as

dust and rock chips and acrid smoke billowed out of

the tunnel. uthen the worst subsided and the echoes

of the explosion began drifting away, I got up. We

entered the tunnel.

The gate still stood across the passage—but the

lock was gone, the metal around it twisted and bro-

ken. I against the grid. It gave, but moved

184


184

+ 110%

CARTER: EILI.MASI*ER

only inches. Irina joined me and together we heaved

as hard as we could. The grid shifted, grated, and

swung open with a screech of rusted hinges.

The passage was opent

We didn't waste time on words and hurried along

the wet tunnel against the growing wind, emerging

in a high, cold, wet chamber. It wasn't a room,but

was a natural cave, with its top all but hidden in

darkness and a deep pool of black water covering

one side—the side nearest the sea. The pool rose and

fell in surges, the sea itself coming in under the rock

wall.

"Nick! Up there!"

Irina pointed to a long, narrow opening in the

high rock wall, the stone and earth around it fes-

tooned with caked salt and seaweed, dripping water.

Even as I looked, a surge of spray spumed in,

whipped on the wind.

"It's a steep climb," Irina said, ubut we can make

We did, clawing and scrambling from crevice to

root to jutting rock ledge. uthen we reached the

jagged opening in the wall it was much wider and

higher than it bad seemed from the bottom, and a

sea gale blew through from the dark coast night.

"Careful," I warned. "No telling where it opens, or

what we can hold onto out there."

The slippery break in the sea cliff was about ten

feet through, and we crawled cautiously. We came

out Into the spray-whipped night, and below I saw

where the black, surging sea flashed in sullen black

and white against the base of the dirt cliff. Above, I

saw why, with the tunnel blocked back at the iron

grid, the people of Blood Eagle had failed to close

the opening—it was hidden from above by a sharp

overhang.

(mms

185


185

(189 of 212)

+ 110%

"Left," Trina said.

185

Spray drenching us, we crawled left where the

opening became a narrow dirt ledge that angled up-

ward and around the curve of the cliff face. Beyond

the curve the land above dipped down to meet the

dirt ledge and we stood up on a rolling, grassy field

in the deep dark before dawn.

"Hurry, damn it!" I urged.

nere was nothing in sight, no house and no

bunkers, and we stumbled across the soft, grassy

field in the dark until we reached the narrow, black-

top coast road. At the early morning hour it was

deserted; there was no sound of movement any-

where. To tbe left across the dark fields I saw a

church steeple.

There must be a village!"

We trotted along the dark road and came to n cot-

tage before the village. A car was parked beside the

road. 'ITere was no time for hesitation. I went to

jump the ignition.

"Nickl The keys are in it!"

nere was plenty of gas and we drove south, then

west on the back highway with signposts pointing to

Thetford. I drove fast in the darkness, racing the

faint gay already tinging the eastern horizon. We

raced past deserted crossroads, the road winding

among the flat fields of the East Anglian fen coun-

try•

It was already dawn across the broad land with

its lines of distant trees when I saw the old landing

field ahead—and heard the roar of the small jetl

The jet was sweeping down for its landing.

"Over there! fiat cottage!" Irina cried.

I saw the small cottage with windows that faced

the runway just where Hawk's jet would have to

186


186

(190 of 212)

186

+ 110%

CARTER: XT.X.MASTER

stop and where Hawk would get out. ne MI-5 car

already parked and waiting.

The jet touched dourn and raced along the run-

way toward the waiting car not a hundred yards

from the cottage.


CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The jet was half way down the old blacktop runway,

its brakes already biting, its wheels kicking up puffs

of dust at every screech of rubber as it slowed.

We couldn't make it! Not in time. Not before the

jet came to a stop, and Hawk got out, and....

I wrenched the steering wheel around savagely,

left the road, and careened acrßs the fields.

The small cottage was closer than the runway.

I tore the car through the hedges, over the rutted

fields, and straight toward the cottage that stood

silent in the dawn. Fifty fæt from the cottage I saw

the barrel of the rifle come out the window that

faced the runway—and the car plunged into a deep

ditch and came to a banging, shuddering stop!

"Out!" yelled.

Irina was bleeding from a gash on ber head, but

she leaped out of the ditch right behind me. My left

188

187


188

+ 110%

NICX CARTER: Eli..1..MASTER

arm hung numb where it had slammed against the

door, but we didn't have time to think about in-

juries.

Out on the runway the small Navy jet was skid-

ding to a stop as it reached the MI-5 car.

We ran straight toward the cottage in the gray

dawn, our guns out and cocked.

On the runway the MI-5 men were unaware of us,

watching the jet come to a shuddering stop. All our

noise was totally covered by the roar of the jet.

There was no way we could make them hear if we

shouted all morning!

€Nickt We're going to be too late!"

On the small jet, the door was opening!

I didn't know if Sybil Reading in the cottage, and

anyone else who was with her, had seen or heard us.

Probably not, with the noise of the jet and their eyes

fixed on their target. I prayed thefd wait until they

had a perfect shot.

nere was only one way to by to save Hawk.

I stopped, took careful aim, and fired at the jetl

"Fire, Irinat- I yelled. "At the jet! Make 'em dive!"

We both fired again as Hawk appeared in the jet

doorway.

Hawk dove out of the jet, crawled and scrambled

for the cover of the MI-5 car. The MI-5 men were

down and firing back at us. Someone was firing from

the jet. I didn't have time to make sure Hawk was

unhit so far.

"Keep firing," I yelled t; Irina, -and keep your

head down!"

She nodded and I ran on toward the cottage. Bul-

lets kicked up around me in the rapidly lightening

dawn—bullets from the runway. I'd been spotted by

the Navy and MI-5.

Then I heard the rifle firing. At the field, not •at

TRIPLE CROSS

189


189

me. Not yet. On the field they'd spotted the rifle fir-

ing from the cottage, turned some of their fire on it.

I ran on.

I was almost at the mttage when the rifle stopped

firing toward the field. Something buzzed angrily

past my left ear. Again! fiefd seen me. I had no

time to stop and think about it, or even to hesitate.

I hit the cottage door ori the dead run, knocked

the door flying in, and staggered into the small cot-

tage room.

My speed saved me.

I had a quick glimpse of two contorted faces--one

was a dark-eyed boy with a pistol, the other a

woman with a rifle—Sybil Reading. ney both fired

at me as I hurled into the room.

And both their whistling behind me.

I flung myself over a table, twisted as I hit, felt

the agonizing pain in my shoulder, and squeezed off

three shots.

ne boy was flung backwards, his right

arm bloody, his pistol flying away.

Sybil Reading had a round, red eye in the center

of her forehead. The rifle dropped, clattering on the

door, and she sprawled on her back, dead.

I staggered up. The dark-eyed boy crawled for his

pistol. 1%ey gave up hard, these Blood Eagles. I

Hcked the boys gun away, covered him.

That's it, sonny," I snarled, the sound of a savage

animal in my throat. It was a time of blood, and I

was an animal now.

The boy kept on trying. I kicked him in the head.

He lay

I heard feet running up to the cottage. staggered

behind the open door. No one was going to wait for

explanations. The two MI-5 men pounded into the

room, skidded to a stop.

190


190

+ 110%

CARTn:

Treeze it!" I said, hard and cold. "Right there.

Look at the set-up! ene rifle, the telescopic sight.

Look at who had the rifle. Think about David Hawk

Think about two people hiding in this cottage at a

secret airfield no one knew about!"

The two MI-5 men stood motionless, staring at

the scene. One of them lowered his pistol. I got a

real break* Jones!

"Carter?" the big, shaggy MI-5 man said.

The other MI-5 man said, "Majorl It's Reading!

Dead!"

"Reading?" Jones said. "We have wondered a bit

lately, not quite all kosher there. Blood Eagle, Car-

"She had to be," I said. •Hawk?"

"Bruised and dirty, that's all," Jones said.

I watched him. He started to turn. Two Navy men

stood in the doorway—with a dirty, scraped, and

furious David Hawk

"What in hell is ... N3? Can you tell me—" He

stopped; he'd seen the rifle and the dead Sybil

Reading.

The high American offcial,D I said. Took in the

mirror."

ØMe?" He stood there. mood Eagle wanted to

Idll me?"

I saw a faint tremble. Then be found one of his

stogies, lit it and stood smoking. The Navy men and

the other MI-5 man worked over the dark-eyed boy.

Jones looked around.

"Someone else fired at us out there," he said.

"With me," I said. "Soviet agent, Irina Kolchak"

Jones went out. Hawk smoked.

Tank you, Killmaster," he said. That was all.

nen, "How? How did she know? How did anyone

know rd be in England at all?"

nrPLE mass

191


191

eney knew," I said. "And they knew when and

where.-

-Impossible! Tbe Navy didn't know where we'd

land. The MI-5 men didn't know who they were

meeting. Not even the President knew. Only you,

N3, only you."

"Someone else," I said. *And there're more tar-

gets."

Hawk looked toward the boy. •He'd know.»

•Maybe, maybe not," I snid I the

youth who made me kill him in the Athens alley.

-But he won't tell. Where are you meeting the other

NATO security chiefs?"

gEdmund's Hall, a few miles south of here."

We went out toward the MI-5 car. Jones met us.

"No one out there. No blood, but she's gone," he

said.

Irina? Had I told her? No, and yet. • . ?

"Come onr I snapped.

The estate of an earl, Edmurffs Hall was a sprawl-

ing house of two hundred rooms isolated on a vast

estate. The guards passed us through, saluting Hawk.

"You'd better alert them about Irina Kilchak," I

said to Jones. He nodded and went off. I turned to

Hawk. There's supposed to be an English target;

let's find General Wyndham.*

Hawk nodded, then spoke to a security offcer. ne

offcer led us up a wide staircase to the second floor

and along the upper hall to a room at the far end.

We went in. General F.E.A. Wyndham up

from where he worked at a small desk. '1%e small,

peppery chief of MI-5 sat back slowly, looked at

David Hawk, and smiled.

192


192

+ 110%

NICX CARTER:

ÜDavid, you're here,- be said calmly. - And Carter,

- I almost wasn't, Frank,- Hawk said, and told the

crisp little General what had happened.

"What!" Wyndham's cavalryman's mustache bris-

tled. "In England? With my men how? How did

they know?"

The security offcer had gone, but I kept an eye

on the door of the room.

"Maybe you can tell us, General," I Said.

Wyndham shook his head furiously, "No, I can't

'The assassin was an MI-5 agent," I said. -sybil

Reading."

"Reading?" The General blinked. e Ah, so there

was something smelly about her! Damn me, we sus-

pected something, but I couldn't believe it! Stupidl

David, I apologize. Has she told who she was work-

ing with?"

"She's dead," I said.

gAh, unfortunate," Wyndham said, sbaldng his

head.

"Is it?" I said. I had my gun out. Tor who, Gen-

Wyndham looked at my gun, then at me, and

then at Hawk. He didn't turn a hair; his small, cool

face was without expression. Hawk stared at me.

"N3! You can't suspect—I"

€No one knew where or when Hawk was coming,

or even that he was coming at all," I said to Wynd-

ham. "Only me, and even I didn't actually know

where he would land, and you, Generals You knew

all of it. Hawk said no one knew, but he forgot

about you. Because of all people you are most above

suspicion."

"Thank you, Killmaster," the General said drily.

TRIPLE CROSS

193


193

•Absolutely above suspicion," I said. So much so

that you didn't even exist as a possibility in Hawk's

mind. But you're the only person on earth who hew

it all. First, that Hawk was coming to England, be-

cause you're part of the NATO meeting. Second,

Then he was coming, because you knew his arrival

time both as a NATO security chief and as MI-5

chief who had to have him met. Third, where he was

coming in, because you had to send your men to

meet him."

Hawk exploded, Tarter! Ws impossible! Not

Wyndham, no. Franks known me for twenty years!

Worked with met England is our strongest ally!"

*Maybe it's not England he's working for now," I

said. don't know that yet, but I do know one

thing—he's the only man who could bave known

where to send that assassin."

"Yes," Wyndham agreed, taking out his pipe.

agree. rm the only possible person who could have

told."

*Frank!" Hawk said. "You--"

General Wyndham filled his pipe. He lit it slowly

and calmly, as if deep in thought. Hawk got out an.

other one of his cigars and lit it furiously while I

watched the General.

"But I didn't tell,- Wyndham said at last. never

spoke of David, or even of AXE, at MI-5. I wrote

nothing down, so no one could have seen the facts.

Only I knew where and when David was arriving,

yet I told no one at all."

He spoke matter-of-factly, quiet and cool, just an-

other little problem. Nerves of steel, but did they

control total honesty or a very good actor? I stepped

closer to him.

Elt had to be you,D I said, watching his eyes, •yet

it wasn't. You told no one, yet you must have told

194


194

+ 110%

Nrcx CARTER: KILLMASI'ER

someone. S%o? Hawk couldn't even think of you as

someone who hew because you were so far above

suspicion as to simply not exist. Who did you talk to

so far ah:yve suspicion you can't think about him? A

mental blæk.¯

-No one, Carter,- Wyndham said flatly.

Sybil Reading? She was one of your people.-

"Absolutely not. First, she was far too low in rank;

I hardly ever saw her. Second, we had some worries

about her. Sbe was behaving a bit strangely, had al-

ways been a bit unstable. Rather a fanatic do-

gooder who ne General stared

into space like a man slapped, stunned. AMY Godt

Couldhe..r

He stared at us. € A few months ago I mentioned

David's work, and.... Yesterday! Here, in this room!

He lives only a few miles away I told him he had

to meet David! He had to meet a great man who--"

-Who did you tell, Generall Who--- I snapped.

And I heard the door I whirled, crouched

with my Luger aimed—but it wasn't the outside room

door I'd heard!

00 not move, Mr. Carter. No one will move.

Place your gun on the floor and step back, or Hawk

dies now!"

I hesitated.

"SchneU! Quicklyr

I put the Luger on the floor, stepped back, and

turned.

In the open doorway to an adjoining room, Al-

fredo Stroesser smiled at me, his pistol large in his

dark band.


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I looked at General Wyndham. *'You told Stroesser?

Why!"

"No," Wyndham said. ONot Stroesser, I told—"

Someone moved behind Alfredo Stroesser and

came slowly into our room from the next.

•ne General told me, Carter," John Ross said.

ne famous philosopher and Nobel laureate came

fn past Stroesser, his massive frame filling the narrow

doorway, his thick red hair catching the light. His

sharp eyes were more brilliant than ever, shining

with a kind of inner fire.

"Above suspicion, damn me!" General Wyndham

said, his voice shaking with anger. ÜMy life-long

friend, a gentle man! great lover of peace, the

brilliant philosopher, the lover of all humanity! I

wanted him to know that there were many ways to

work for peace, that even the secret chief of an ul-

196

195


196

+ 110%

yrcx KILLMASTER

tra-secret intelligence organization could be a force

for peace'*

"I'm sorry I had to betray your confidence,

Frank' John Ross said, his voice almost sad. "But I

had no choice. Hawk is an evil man like all the other

secret police killers! fie same as the Gestapo; the

NKVD. Stroesser knows that better than most men

and I have learned the truth."

Stroesser said, 'No IEtter than the Gestapo, than

my evil father! They must all diel*

"You gave Hawk to me, Frank, and I had to

destroy his evil as we destroyed the other evils!"

Ross said, intoned it almost like a ritual chant, a reli-

gious sutra.

Wyndham goaned, "David, rm sorry. I was a

fool! An old, stupid, incompetent fool!"

'We all make mistakes," Hawk said. gHow could

how that the geat John Ross bad become a

Her?"

"No!" John Ross cried, his eyes burning in the

room. €Not killers, not for hate or vengeance! Savers!

For the futurel Do you think we wanted to HI? We

bate violence and killing, but there are diseases that

can only be cured by destroying the virus, destroy-

ing the evil! They were all evil men—warmongers,

weapons tycoons, violent politicians, advocates of

militant conflict, military nationalists, saber-rattlers

and super-patriots who would start wars to gain

their ends! ney had to be destroyed so that the

world could find peace! Peace for all!"

"We worked for peace everywhere, we worked

year after year with hope,- Stroesser said bitterly,

the big gun waving in his hand. "Everywhere the

evil, violent leaders blocked us, tried to destroy us!

We were the hope of the world and they blocked ust

They fought us, lied about us, our people! The

TRIPLE CROSS

197


197

time came when the cancer had to be attacked by

its own methods; the cancer had to be cut out,

destroyed!"

"Destroy the breeders of violence," John Ross in-

toned. "Crush those who grew fat on hate and vio-

lence, who lived by violence, who worked always

against the hope of peace!"

It was an old, endless story. The vigilante mind.

The fanatic mind. A hope, a good cause, a dream, a

belief becomes so important that it's almost a reli-

gion, and the enemies of a reli$on are evil itself. En-

emies so evil that destroying them is good, a neces-

sity, a commandment.

"So you became a killer to stop killing," I said. "A

violent gang to stop violence. Built a crazy group of

fanatics who went out and committed horrors in the

name of stopping horror! So lost in your own

damned dreams that you lost sight of reality, went

out to build peace and love on killing and hate!"

"Insane," General Wyndham said. "Completely

insane. You snapped inside, John, have gone crazy.

But there's still time. Give yourselves up before—"

"Evil!" John Ross boomed out. "Don't you see

your evil? All three of you? Can't you hear your-

selves? We are peace, and you attack us! You want

to destroy us!" The massive philosopher's eyes nar-

rowed. "But you will not. We will save you from

your ovvn evil."

Messianic and paranoid. It's what happens to fa-

natics in all causes. The saviors of the world, and

persecuted. Everyone their enemy, and they would

save everyone from their own error.

"Hawk escaped at the airfield," Stroesser said.

will not escape again. No evil will escape us now."

I heard something in his voice. And suddenly re-

alized something. Ross couldn't have known Hawk

198


198

+ 110%

NICX CARTER:

and I would come here to meet General Wyndham,

couldn't have known so soon that Sybil Reading had

failed at the airfield.

"You were here," I said. ØWaiting. You didn't come

here after Hawk and me." And I hew! "The assassi-

nation of the high British offciall Wyndhaml The

General is your target too!"

"Secret police are all evil," Stroesser said.

Wyndham stared at John Ross. "John? Is Carter

right? You came here to HI me? For your

Eagles?"

"I know that you are unaware of your evil, so

many are unaware, but that must not prevent us

from saving the world," John Ross said. "You don't

think I could send anyone else for you, do you,

Frank? You're my friend. I must do this myself. I

owe you that, Frank."

Ross had a gun. Wyndham looked at it, but the

only thing on his face was sadness. A terrible sadness

for John Ross.

Tou're insane, John. Completely insane.

Ross grew red, his eyes wild. -we are fruthl I am

the future! ne hope of the world! Through me, us,

the world will be reborn in truth and love and jus-

tice!"

Hi.s massive frame shook with violent emotion. He

was losing control, slipping into his paranoia and fa-

naticism deeper and deeper. I glanced at Stroesser.

His eyes were blazing, too. They were on the edge of

exploding, and that could be both good and bad for

us. We might have only minutes, seconds....

"Insane," I said harshly. "Like Stroesser's Nazi fa-

theri Just like his father, a crazy kller and—"

"My father was evil! Evil!" Stroesser cried, swing-

ing his big gun toward me.

TRIPLE

199


199

*Evil must die!" John Ross said, his voice rising

ney raised their guns, aimed straight at us!

Our only chance was that there were three of us,

and two of them! If I jumped, maybe they'd both

shoot at me, and Hawk and Wyndham could get

Irina stood in the open outside door. She had her

Ross and Stroesser saw only Hawk, Wyndham

and me. They aimed at us!

"Ross!" Irina shouted out. eyou're insanel Ill kill

you! Stroesser!"

She had shouted, revealed herself, to save us! She

shot to save us. Stroesser staggered back and turned

his gun. Ross turned on her.

She shot, missing Ross.

Ross and Stroesser fired at her. Fired again.

She came on.

I jumped at Stroesser while he fired at her and got

his neck in my hands. He swung around, firing

wildly. Hawk went down. Wyndham leaped at John

Ross. I braced and twisted hard.

I heard Stroesser's neck snap and he went limp.

John Ross still fired.

Irina was down.

Wyndham had Ross, struggled for the gun, and

got it. He shot Ross down.

There was no more firing, and a long, echoing

silence.

looked down at where Trina lay in a pool of

blood. Outside, voices shouted, feet ran toward the

"Stroesser's dead," Hawk said, holding his wound-

ed arm.

"Ross is alive," Wyndham said. "But not for long."

I went on looking down at Irina. She'd shouted

CARTER:


200

(204 of 212)

+ 110%

NICX CARTER: EILI.aMAs•rn

out to save our lives, exposed herself to save us.

She'd saved us. And she was dead.

Hawk stood fn the wind of the observation platform

at Heathrow Airport. It was morning of the next

day. I had my bag and stood watching the jets land

and take Off.

"It's what happens with extremists," Hawk said.

Tven extremists for peace, for lovel They come to

think that only they can save the world, and they go

"Save me from too much good," I said.

ÜAII of Ross's Peace Institute weren't Involved fn

the Blood Eagle group, but most were," Hawk said.

Tana got Mike Rush involved about a year ago; he

was a big catch for the vigilantes. had a lot of

young militants like the one you had to Ell in

Athens, and the one at the cottage. Ross sent that

kid in Athens to get you. He was afraid of you all

along."

damn near blew it. Irina saved us."

"Vortov says shell get a medal," Hawk said. «Jeb

Hood just got mixed up with them as he said, didn't

know what Blood Eagle was really doing. Suderman

was just digging for anything that would help him

make a buck, and Diana Rush had him marked as a

future target. The Embassy man, Cuming, was bum-

bling around for the of the service. Curious!"

"And Colonel Draja saw a chance for a buck"

'Well, we've got 'em all; Blood Eagle's finished,"

Hawk said. "You've got your next assignment. Do

this one a little better, N3; you nearly got me Idlled

by being slow and getting frapped like an amateur!"

"Itll do you good," I said. *You need a little

TRIPLE


201

blood, a close call or two, to make you remember

what we face out in the field."

"Maybe, but don't make it a habit," Hawk said.

He walked me to my jet. A scruffy-looking man in

worn twed no one could have gußsed was the

chief of an outfit as deadly as AXE. We hoped no

one could guess, Eagle had too close.

One leak was too much.

"Wyndham?" I asked.

ÜResigned,» Hawk said. He didn't sound happy.

tried to talk him out of it, but be wouldn't listen.

Said the head of MI-5 had to be above mistakes as

well as suspicion."

-He's right," I said.

I was fæling bitter. Blood Eagle, John Ross and

his insanity, and General Wyndham's slip had killed

a lot of good people. Diane and Irina. Criminal

waste!

On the jet I sat alone at a window seat. I thought

about Diana, and about Irina. I didn't want to think

about Irina too much. With Irina maybe... ?

The dark-haired girl came along the aisle. Ar-

menian, with dark skin and very long very

dark hair. Not blonde at all. Very dark eyes that

looked me over. A girl who stopped, and looked me

up and down, and smiled, and then went on. A

woman, not a grl. Like Irina. Damn!

I had my orders in a sealed envelope. To bell with

the orders for now, for today. Let them stay sealed

one day more.

I got up and followed the dark girl. Just a woman.

No job, no duty in her eyes. I hoped not. I hoped

that when she'd lookd me up and down she'd had

nothing on her mind except what might be down

there in my pants.

Interested just in me.

202


202

+ 110%

NICK CARTER: RII.LMASTER

For once.

I followed her back to the pub section. She was

alone. I sat down with her. And hoped to hell that

when I touched her I wouldn't find anything under

her clothes except her.