Angel's Ransom (18 page)

Blake willed desperately,
Grovel! Let him see you cringe!
Marian stood flat against the bulkhead, her hands spread
wide to brace herself against the lurch of the still rocking
cruiser. The defiance with which she had once faced the
little gunman was all gone now. Her frozen pose was one of
sick fright and insecurity.

She said unsteadily, ‘I was trying to stay on course. I didn’t realize we couldn’t pass so close. I - I’m sorry.’

‘There
’s
nothing to get excited about,’ Blake said. ‘Holtz! Listen to me!’

Holtz swayed in the doorway, scowling, still doubtful. The cruiser
’s
pitching diminished as the wave passed under it.
Blake came back on course, inching the throttles again to
cruising speed. He was careful not to make a too-sudden
move. The palms of his hands were slippery on the spokes of
the wheel.

Holtz said, ‘Get out!’ He made a loose brushing gesture, and came into the pilot-house only far enough to let Marian
slip by him. When she had gone, he stepped back into the
doorway, bracing himself there with his shoulder against the
frame.

Blake flexed his cramped fingers, feeling all at once the accumulation of hours of fatigue and strain. He pulled the
steering chair into place and sat down. It was hard for him
to breathe normally. He felt as if he had been running.

Holtz said broodingly, ‘That
’s
twice I have let you persuade me not to pay her off for you. How many other cheeks do you have to turn, Captain?’

‘It isn’t a matter of turning the other cheek. I’d prefer not to have any more shooting.’

‘The gigolo need not have died. His own stupidity killed him.’

Blake said nothing. He was still trying to control his breathing.

Holtz moved restlessly in the doorway.

‘An intelligent man wouldn’t have tried anything like that,’ he said. ‘You’re intelligent. I know how to handle a
man like you. You behave according to a reasonable pattern.
It
’s
the stupid ones who are unpredictable. When are you
going to make up your mind to come in with me?’

‘Do you predict that I will?’

‘I can make you.’

Blake felt his skin prickle at the drunken, deadly assurance in Holtz
’s
voice. He said, ‘Why do you want me? What good
would I be to you?’

‘I told you. Intelligence. I would not have to insure the regularity of your
behavior
.’ Holtz moved restlessly again.
‘Jules is an ignorant peasant, Roche a brainless rabbit. I
have to take precautions t
o make sure they behave intelli
gently. I can’t trust them.’

‘You seem to have plenty of faith in Roche.’

‘Because of the money? That is only an example of my precautions. If the cautious Swiss banker does not shepherd
all those dollars to Monte Carlo, as I am sure he will, Roche would bring them just the same. I have made him identify
himself so plainly to get the money that he has no hope of
escape without me. He is not too stupid to know that. He will
keep the rendezvous, never fear.’

Behind Blake
’s
back, Holtz made another movement of restlessness.

‘I’ll give you a quarter share. As if you were with us from the beginning.’

‘I’ll want to think about it some more.’

‘Don’t think about it too long, then!’ The gang leader
’s
mood changed with vicious suddenness. ‘I don’t have to
let you
make up your own mind! Su
ppose I promise you that you and
all of your passengers won’t return to Monaco alive unless you
come over to my side ? How long would you have to think then ? ’

‘
Not long.’ Blake was on very thin ice, and knew it. ‘I
want to be sure I know what I’m doing. If I do say I’ll come
over, is that enough?’

Holtz sneered.

‘I would take your word as readily as I would take Roche
’s
. No, no, Captain. You will prove your good faith in
a way that will not permit you to change your mind once
you have joined me, nor betray me afterwards.’

‘How?’

‘
S
imply. You have seen me kill one of your passengers.
I shall watch you kill a second. You may have your choice, but the
sniveling
old woman in her cabin will be the
smallest loss. She will make us partners in crime.’

The doorway was empty when Blake turned his head.

His first reaction to the merciless promise was one of in-credulity. Cold-bloodedness of that degree was incredible, even in a man who had already murdered. But he knew with
increasing conviction that Holtz would be capable of living
up to his threat. The gang leader was not subject to normal
restraints of
behavior
. Only the commands of his own
swollen ego mattered.

For the first time since the seizure of the yacht, Blake began to know panic. He had an irrational feeling that he
would not be able to take his hands from the wheel-spokes if
he tried, unless Holtz withdrew the force of the will holding them there. Whatever whim had first led the little gunman
to consider his recruitment into the gang, the whim was
rapidly becoming a determination. The offer of a full share
in the ransom money gave evidence of that. But the offer had
not served its purpose, and it was almost certain that sooner
or later Holtz would make a flat demand instead. When
that happened, the point of no return would have come for
both of them. In a direct conflict of wills, ego against ego,
Blake would have to be subjugated, either by forced employment on Holtz
’s
terms or by extinguishment. In one event
Laura di Lucca would die, in the other he would die.

The
Angel
rocked smoothly toward the south-west over a calm, dark and empty sea.

Blake fought his panic. The position was not hopeless. The demand had not yet been made. His initial mistake had
been in letting Holtz believe he might consider the gang
leader
’s
offer. Now, before
it was too late, he had to reject
the offer once and for all, before the point of no return was
reached. It would be dangerous, but not as certainly fatal as
the other course.

He was weighing the relative risks when he heard, faintly, a woman
’s
strident, agonizing scream. It was abruptly
silenced, and did not come again.

In the urgency of the moment he did not think of his orders against leaving the wheel. Throttling the motors, he
abandoned the cruiser to her drift and ran aft on the boat-deck. The scream had come from the salon. He saw another
shadow hurrying that way as he swung down the ladder to
the deck below, and caught up with Freddy in the open
doorway of the salon.

Three people were inside. With blood streaming from a deep gash under his eye, Holtz stood over Laura di Lucca
’s
unconscious body, holding the Walther clubbed. Jules,
pistol in hand, his hair rumpled, stood head and shoulders
out of the cabin companionway. An ordinary table fork lay
on the carpet inches from Laura di Lucca
’s
limply out-stretched fingers.

Holtz bared his teeth in the wolf grin when he saw Blake.

‘Don’t look so worried, Captain. She
’s
still alive. I haven’t forgotten our arrangement.’

Jules growled, ‘What happened?’

‘S
he tried to blind
me when I came through the door
way.’ Holtz brushed at his bloody cheek with the back of his hand. ‘Where were you? I told you to stay by the radio.’

‘A man needs sleep sometimes,
’Jules answered sullenly.

‘The captain survives without it.’ Holtz did not seem to
be particularly upset by the attack. He brushed at his cheek
again. ‘Take her below, lock her in her cabin, then bring me
something to stop this bleeding.’

Jules stuffed his gun in his belt and bent to pick up the unconscious woman. Holtz went to the open bar, poured
himself an oversized glass of brandy, and raised it in mock
salute to the two men in the doorway.

‘To your good health, messieurs. I should say, to your continued good health. Will you join me in a cognac,
Mr
Farr?’

Wordlessly, Freddy shook his head. Holtz shrugged and tossed the brandy off at a gulp.

‘I shall not force my hospitality on you. Captain, why have you left the wheel?’

Blake indicated the companionway down which Jules had carried the unconscious woman. ‘You’d better let me look at
her. She may need attention.’

‘S
he has received attention.’ Holtz grinned at his own
humor
, moistening a finger with brandy to dab at the still-bleeding cut on his cheek. Violence seemed to have changed
his drunken moodiness almost to geniality. ‘Go back to your
post. You have not yet acquired any special privileges.’

He poured another brandy. Blake hesitated for a moment, then turned away.

Freddy followed him. When they were together in the pilot-house he said uncomfortably, ‘Nobody has got around
to telling me I can’t come here if I feel like it, and right now
I feel like it, Sam. If you don’t mind.’

It sounded almost humble, coming from Freddy. Blake said, ‘I can use your company. I’m about ready to pass out
on my feet.’

‘We make a good pair.’ Freddy smiled wanly. ‘You have trouble staying awake on black coffee, I can’t go to sleep
without a shot.’

‘You turned Holtz down when he offered you one.’

‘I did, didn’t I?’ There was frank surprise in Freddy
’s
voice. ‘This morning I’d have crawled to get it, even from a
rat like that. The hard-way cure really works, if you live
through it. Do you want me to take the wheel for a while?’

‘Thanks, no. You can’t stay here for any length of time. Holtz or Jules will be up to run you off.’

Freddy grunted meaninglessly and began to prowl the pilot-house. His broken finger seemed to preoccupy him.
He kept taking the bandaged hand out of its sling and testing the movement of his fingers.

Blake felt fatigue wash ov
er him again as soon as the conv
ersation lagged. His mind was as numb as his body was tired. He had much to think about, with an unconscious and
perhaps badly injured woman to add to other responsibilities, but he could not bring himself to concentrate. Without
rest, it was impossible.

Freddy said,
‘S
am.’

‘Yes?’

‘I’ve got to ask you a couple of questions. Don’t get sore.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘What did Holtz mean when he said he hadn’t forgotten your arrangement? And that you hadn’t acquired any
special privileges - yet?’

Blake studied a faint far-off sweep of illumination in the sky that
signaled
a lighthouse. The Balearics lay over
the horizon. Jules would be altering course again soon.
The time was not far off when the
Angel
would have to turn
back, toward the rendezvous and the end of the ordeal,
one way or another, for all of them - if the end did not come
sooner.

He told Freddy of Holtz
’s
offer, and of the threat that had not yet become a promise.

‘He
’s
joking!’ Freddy said it without conviction. ‘It
’s
impossible! Nobody can be that bloodthirsty! Even killing
Bruno, he had to have an excuse!’

‘He doesn’t need an excuse to kill. He likes it. He
’s
let you and me and Marian get by with minor rebellions, so
far, because it does his ego good to humble us, and our
opposition has been minor. Bruno
’s
was major, a direct
challenge. Bruno needed more than humbling. He got
it.’

‘You think he’ll kill you if you don’t kill Laura?’

‘He would kill me if he had ordered me to kill her and I refused. It hasn’t got that far yet. I can still head it off.’
Blake rubbed his tired eyes. ‘If I could think clearly, I’d
know what to do.’