Microbes of Power (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) (28 page)

‘Why not shoot them, and have done with it?’ asked Michalis.

‘No, no, no!’ cried Kyprianos. ‘They will not be shot. I have other plans.’

At that Plasiras and Bikelas, followed reluctantly by Michalis and Padakis, slowly approached Shannon and Hill, their revolvers held ready to shoot. Shannon drew himself up, and, noticing the action, with one accord they stood still. At that the burly Secret Service man laughed.

‘What a pity,’ he commented, ‘this little scene can’t be reproduced in a film! It would make a hit as a great comedy success.’

‘Cowards!’ screamed Kyprianos. ‘I will show you.’ He leapt forward, brandishing a hypodermic syringe that he had taken from a case in his pocket. ‘In this little weapon is some of the virus of the disease that cannot be cured and kills agonisingly,’ he snarled
at the Englishmen. ‘Make one little attempt at resistance and into you both will go some. Perhaps you mind not being shot, but this you will mind.’

Shannon’s face paled a little under the bronze. He and Hill, who had also turned white, were forced to accept the inevitable. There was perhaps a chance, they thought, if they allowed themselves to be bound, though there did not seem a great deal of hope now. Still, if it were possible to avoid a hideous death, they preferred anything rather than that. Observing that they intended making no attempt at resistance, the four men became, all at once, very brave. Padakis and Michalis tied Shannon’s hands behind him, until he found it impossible to move them, Kyprianos, Plasiras, and Bikelas standing threateningly by. He was searched, and his revolver taken away. They then made him sit in a chair, his knees and ankles being bound as tightly as his wrists. The process was repeated with Hill. When it was done, Kyprianos broke into a loud, cackling laugh. He bent over Shannon, until his face was only a few inches from the other’s.

‘You were fooled,’ he chuckled, ‘fooled by a man with a hypodermic syringe that contained nothing! Alas! I have none of my precious mixture with me, but I will fetch some now and, as you sit there, you will be injected, and I will watch it begin to act. No one will defy
me
!’

Shannon looked at Hill, and the glance was returned. Neither face contained any fear, only expressions of annoyed aggravation.

‘Don’t be a fool, Kyprianos!’ came sharply from Plasiras. ‘You must not use any more of the virus. Already we are anxious to know what is to happen about – about the body in your room. You are going insane. How can our object be attained if you do this? Even now I fear you have spoilt all.’

‘Have no fear, my friend. I but rid you of your enemies. You will see how I will make all appear well. When these are dead, and I have assured myself that the other man is dead also, there will be no spies left to betray us.’ He went out of the room, returning some minutes later. ‘Where is that other?’ he snarled at Shannon.

‘I really couldn’t tell you,’ was the calm reply, ‘and I certainly wouldn’t, if I could.’

Kyprianos gave vent to a string of oaths, which stopped suddenly when Plasiras asked him what had become of General Radoloff. He stared at the other.

‘I have not seen him for many hours,’ he replied; ‘neither have I seen Doreff or Bruno.’

Bikelas laughed.

‘I think you have frightened them, my Kyprianos,’ he declared. ‘They talk of deserting us.’

‘Then,’ snarled the scientist, ‘they must die for the sake of us who remain.’

‘You talk too much of death,’ complained Michalis. ‘I think it is in your blood and brain, and is making you lose all reason. It is time we—’

‘Drop your pistols, all of you,’ came startlingly in a charming feminine voice, in which a note of resolute command predominated. ‘Do not move, or I will shoot.’

Thalia Ictinos stood in the doorway, still clothed as Hill had last seen her. Her white face was set grimly; her great eyes gleamed fiercely. Without a tremor, she held an automatic pointed at the five conspirators, all of whom, with the exception of Bikelas, had their backs turned to her. Shannon chuckled loudly. The suspicions, which had been renewed in his mind against her by the words spoken by Bikelas, had long since been swept away by the remarks
of Kyprianos concerning the manner he had been watching events. Now she had come to prove her loyalty, trustworthiness, and honour, beyond any shadow of doubt, in the most gallant manner possible. One frail girl against five desperate scoundrels. Hill’s very soul was in his eyes, yet fear was there also; fear of what might happen to her. The four men holding revolvers hesitated; then obeyed orders, allowing the weapons to drop to the floor. Kyprianos turned, and started towards her with a scream of terrible fury, but the automatic, turned unflinchingly on him, brought him up dead.

‘Traitress!’ he spat. ‘I should have disbelieved what you said. All along I have mistrusted you, with your beautiful face and glamorous personality. It was only that which convinced the others tonight that you were innocent, when I had discovered who Kirche was.’

‘What is the meaning of this, Thalia?’ asked Bikelas softly. ‘Is it that you fear for your lover and have come for him?’

‘I have come for both Captain Shannon and Mr Hill,’ returned Thalia firmly.

‘Ah! His name is then Hill, and you know it!’

‘Of course I know it. It did not occur to you, Ivan Plasiras, and you others, that I have been working for your downfall ever since I joined you. But it is so. Now you are finished. Release those gentlemen!’

An exclamation of sheer admiration broke from Shannon. The bravery of it! Never, in all his adventurous life, had he witnessed a woman bearing herself more dauntlessly. Desperately now he and Hill were trying to loosen their bonds, but neither made any headway. The thongs had been tied fiercely, with cruel force.

‘How is it you came here?’ demanded Plasiras. ‘How did you get from the room in which you were locked?’

‘There are ways of getting from locked rooms,’ came the calm
reply. ‘And it may interest you to know that I heard you discuss your plans; the wall is very thin. But I am not here to enter into conversation with you. Michalis, and you, Padakis, unfasten the bonds of my friends.’

It seemed as though she were about to win through. The men addressed stood hesitant a moment or two; then moved slowly towards Hill and Shannon. It was as they were leaning forward to commence on their task that the last vestige of restraint broke in the mind of Nicholas Kyprianos. Thalia, knowing him to be the most dangerous of them all, was watching him with particular attention, but she was unprepared for the cunning action he took. He suddenly threw himself forward as though diving, his outflung hand just reaching and gripping one of her ankles. She fired promptly, but his rapid descent to the floor caused her to miss and, in a moment, she was flung down as he jerked up her foot and unbalanced her. Even then, though she must have been badly shaken, she fought desperately for freedom, but they did not give her a chance. Plasiras and Bikelas, as well as Kyprianos, flung themselves on her and, before long, she was rendered helpless. Padakis was sent to tear more strips from a sheet and, a few minutes later, she was bound as firmly as the two Secret Service men, and flung into a chair. The disaster which had overtaken her caused Shannon and Hill to fight desperately to release themselves. Cries of rage broke from their lips, as they witnessed the treatment meted out to her. Shannon was a terrible sight. Exerting all his magnificent strength, he strove to burst the thongs that held him, until his eyes were swimming in blood, the veins in his temples standing out like great cords. The work had been done too well, however. He felt his shackles give a little, but could accomplish no more. Hill was equally unsuccessful; he moaned aloud at his failure and inability to go to the rescue of
the girl who had dared so much for them. Kyprianos danced about in front of her, uttering cries more animal-like than human in his triumph. Bikelas, Plasiras, and the other two, who had picked up their revolvers, stood by; ugly, entirely unsympathetic smiles on their faces. At length Bikelas spoke.

‘So, my beautiful Thalia,’ he commented in his soft, unctuous tones, ‘you were all the time working for our downfall! This is a great surprise to me. What will Madame think of the disappearance of her companion? For I am afraid you will have to disappear. It will be a matter of the most profound regret to me, my Thalia. You will never realise how I regret it.’

Thalia’s eyes flashed with the utmost scorn.

‘My only sorrow,’ she returned with great spirit, ‘is that the disappearance, of which you speak, will prevent me from seeing or, at least, reading about your execution as a traitor to your country. You fools, do you think you will be safe because you murder these English gentlemen and me? Outside is one arranging now for your apprehension. Before long the Italian police will be here. What then, my fine conspirators?’

‘What is that you say?’ demanded Plasiras sharply, bending forward and shaking her fiercely, while the other three, showing their alarm in their faces, looked on. ‘Who is this one of whom you speak?’

She turned her glorious eyes on her two companions in misfortune.

‘I hope I have not been injudicious, have I, Raymond?’ she asked her lover in English.

‘It won’t do any harm for them to know,’ he returned.

‘What do you say, Hugh?’

‘Not a bit,’ replied Shannon. ‘They won’t escape, anyhow.’

Thoroughly startled, the four men commenced a hurried conference, endeavouring to include Kyprianos in the discussion, but that was, for a long time, beyond their powers. Engrossed in triumphing over the captives, threatening them with the horrible death he intended they should die, he was unable to grasp that his companions were trying to convey to his shattered mind that they themselves were in danger. At length, however, he seemed to understand the purport of their vehement and reiterated statements. He stood and stared at them, his eyebrows raised in such a manner that the permanent look of surprise was exaggerated to a ludicrous extent.

‘Danger! The police here!’ he repeated; became silent, as though debating the point. ‘Then, my comrades, there is no time to be lost,’ he decided, at last, in a shrill, excited voice. ‘They will not be able to die of my virus, which is a great pity. But no matter, their deaths will be very painful and, at the same time, we will be rid of the other bodies.’

‘What do you mean?’ demanded Plasiras, shaking him in his agitation.

Kyprianos pushed the Greek away.

‘Wait! You will see,’ he cried, and darted from the room.

While he was absent, the four remaining men spoke together in uneasy whispers. Bikelas once turned to Thalia, and asked her who it was she had declared was arranging for their arrest by the police. She merely smiled enigmatically, telling him he would know soon enough. Threats, pleas, even promises of liberty failed to obtain more from her. Plasiras held a revolver to her head, and declared he would shoot her there and then, if she did not tell them all she knew.

‘As well one way of dying as another, Ivan Plasiras,’ she replied
with amazing coolness. ‘I have said quite enough; besides, I do not know more than I have told you, except that his name would terrify you if you heard it.’

At that moment Kyprianos returned to the room cackling with excited delight.

‘It is done,’ he told his companions ‘the holocaust has commenced. Come! We will depart while there is yet time.’

They crowded round him with cries of alarm and excitement.

‘What is it? What have you done?’ demanded Bikelas, losing for once his smooth, silky manner of enunciation.

‘What have I done!’ echoed the Cypriot in a high, gleeful voice. ‘I have set fire to the room where I lived. It is burning fiercely. Soon the flames will spread; the body there will be burnt to ashes; then the fire will creep, creep, creep, until this suite also is in flames, and these three people are burnt – slowly – to – death.’

Cries of horror rose involuntarily from the two Englishmen, who were thinking not of themselves but of Thalia. The conspirators took no heed of them. They were far too agitated to spare a thought for anybody but themselves. They upbraided Kyprianos for his madness, cursing and swearing in their terror and dismay. Plasiras abruptly gripped Bikelas by the arm.

‘Come, quickly!’ he cried, ‘or our escape will be cut off.’

‘What of the police?’

‘We must risk them. You do not want to be burnt to death, do you?’

They ran together from the room, followed by the equally terrified Padakis and Michalis. Shannon roared after them fiercely to save the girl, but they did not even spare her a backward glance. Kyprianos stood to gloat over them for a few moments; then, picking up their revolvers and Thalia’s automatic, he, too, followed. He closed and locked the sitting room door, and, a moment later, they heard the front door bang. A deadly silence fell on the flat. Thalia broke it.

‘Please forgive me for being so foolish,’ she begged. ‘I should have been more on the alert for the kind of trick played by that devil.’

‘Good Lord! You’ve nothing to reproach yourself for,’ commented Shannon in tones of real admiration. ‘You’ve been fine, wonderful!’

‘Marvellous!’ added Hill. ‘How did you know they were here, Thalia?’

‘When I left you,’ she related, ‘I returned to find that everyone had packed in a great hurry. I was told to do the same. No explanation was given to me, and I thought I had better not ask too much. Also I thought it would be good to go with them, so that I could afterwards let you know. I wrote a quick letter, opened wide the window that your attention would be drawn to it, if you came to search for me, and put the letter in a flower pot. The baggage was taken away down the fire escape from the bathroom window, which also goes up by the bathroom window of Kyprianos’ flat. I could not take much; the hurry was too great. I think the action of Kyprianos in putting the sickness into the secretary had frightened them greatly. We went out to a little bungalow only five minutes away. There Madame Bikelas, who was weeping, and I were put into a room together. I did not go to bed; I was too much anxious. I was called after many hours, told what Kyprianos had discovered about Raymond and questioned – oh, most unmercifully. I pretended to be broken-hearted at what they told me, and convinced them that I was innocent. But they locked me in a room alone, and did not realise that I could hear through the wall the plans they were making. When they had gone, I tried to get out, but, for a long time, I could not. At last Madame Bikelas heard me. She came, and unlocked the door, not knowing that I had been shut in for
a purpose. I did not wait to give her any explanation, but came quickly here. And all for nothing it seems.’ Then that amazing girl smiled at Hill – a wonderful, courageous smile. ‘I can, at least, die with you, my Raymond, and with you, my friend Hugh.’

Both men felt suddenly very humble in the presence of such sublime courage. There was not a trace of fear in her countenance and manner. Faced with a terrible, cruel death, she was displaying a fortitude that was beyond description. All the time she was speaking, Shannon and Hill were fighting desperately to release themselves from their bonds, but the more they struggled the tighter they seemed to become. Repeatedly they shouted for help, singly and together, but were either not heard, or the other people in the building were too concerned about their own safety to take heed.

‘You are not going to die, Thalia,’ vowed Hugh, ‘if we can help it.’

They quickly became conscious that the fire was bearing down on them. It must have obtained a rapid hold on the other suite. Momentarily the room in which they were imprisoned grew hotter, until it was almost unbearable. It was certain that before long the wall between the two flats would crash down; then! The two men looked at each other with horrified eyes, the perspiration running in streams down their faces. Each felt they must save Thalia somehow, but second by second the hope grew fainter. If they had not been locked in that apartment, they might have hopped to the dining room, and while one held a knife between his teeth, the other could have rubbed the thongs binding his wrists to and fro on the edge, until he was free.

Despairing of breaking loose – Shannon, in his herculean efforts, knew he had opened afresh two of his wounds – the big Secret Service man shuffled across to the door, and threw himself
repeatedly against it in an endeavour to burst it open. It was strongly constructed, however, and, with arms, knees, and ankles bound together, he was unable to put anything like full physical force into his exertions. Hill hopped across to his assistance, and together they tried. Shannon lost his balance and fell. It took him several precious minutes to accomplish the difficult task of regaining his feet, but he succeeded, when the others felt it was hopeless for him to try. He noticed then, with a thrill of horror, that the wall was cracking; fissures began to appear, growing larger every second. Giving one great despairing effort which seemed to be tearing the muscles of his arms to shreds, he felt the thongs round his wrists give a little, and cried out with joy. Gathering himself together for one stupendous endeavour, he put all the strength he could muster into wrenching his hands apart. A terrific strain, another; then the thongs were suddenly split asunder. Thalia gave a little cry of joy and amazement. Even in that hour of stress she was able to wonder at the mighty strength that had accomplished such a feat.

The attention of them all was drawn with consternation to the wall, part of which, at that moment, crashed in, leaving a gap, through which shot a great, hungry flame, scorching them with its savage heat. Shannon’s hands were far too numbed to allow him to make an attempt at undoing either the bonds of his companions or those round his own ankles. He concentrated his attention on the door, therefore, being able to get more force into his plunges against it. It continued to withstand the repeated shocks, however, while more and more of the wall crumbled in. Volumes of smoke choked them, great crackling flames darted nearer and nearer. Part of Thalia’s flimsy dress caught fire, but, with a cry of agony, Hill threw himself against her as she now crouched by the door. His action put out the flame, but they both fell over. Shannon bent, and
lifted them up. Pictures, carpet, chairs were now blazing fiercely. It seemed to them the end, and their eyes looked mutely, tragically into those of each other. It was at that terrible moment that, above the roar of the flames, they heard a voice, followed by a pounding on the door.

‘Anyone there?’ came in Sir Leonard’s well-known tones. It is impossible to describe their joy. As with one voice they cried out to denote their presence. ‘Key’s gone,’ he shouted back. ‘Stand away from the lock, I’m going to blow it in.’

Shannon drew Thalia to him, Hill crouched by his side.

‘All clear,’ roared the former.

There came two deafening reverberations, the second following so quickly on the first that they sounded practically as one. The door was flung open, and Sir Leonard, standing there, revolver in hand, took in the situation at a glance. He lifted Thalia in his one arm as easily as though she had been a child; carried her quickly away from the flames. Shannon and Hill hopped along after them. Placing the girl in a chair, Wallace went hurriedly in search of a knife, found one, and quickly cut away their bonds. He then hustled them from the burning flat. They only escaped just in time. Outside, they found a good deal of the corridor blazing, completely cutting off their descent by the stairs. Their only hope rested in the elevators, though the space between was already on fire. However, they got across safely, each of the men keeping a watchful eye on Thalia’s dress. There a great shock awaited them. They had hardly reached the doors, when the electric system failed. Useless now to expect to escape in an elevator. It was a weird, fearsome scene; tongues of flame lighting up the darkness with a vivid, terrifying light; clouds of smoke rolling round them, choking them, causing the burning tears to run from their eyes.

‘There’s only one thing for it,’ snapped Sir Leonard, who had examined the elevator shafts to discover that both lifts were below them, thus barring the way. ‘We’ll have to climb up. You first, Shannon, with Thalia. You’d better carry her over your shoulder to save time.’

‘I think I can climb,’ she observed quietly.

Thalia found at that moment that, when Sir Leonard gave an order, it was obeyed without question. Her remark was ignored. Shannon hoisted her on his shoulder, as though she were a kitten, passed through the doorway, and commenced to climb up the shaft. Hill was ordered to follow him, Wallace bringing up the rear. Halfway up, Thalia gave a little exclamation of horror.

‘Oh, the poor Sir Leonard!’ she cried. ‘How can he climb with but one hand to use?’

‘Don’t worry,’ comforted Shannon; ‘he can manage with that one as well as I can with two.’

Nevertheless, she waited anxiously on the next floor when Hugh set her down; smiled gladly at the coming of Hill, but with marked relief as Sir Leonard appeared directly after him.

‘I was afraid for you,’ she said softly, patting the artificial arm.

The darkness hid his frown – one of Sir Leonard’s few weaknesses is that he is sensitive about the false member. He hates any compassionate references to it – but he was soon smiling with admiration.

‘Have you no nerves, young woman?’ he asked.

‘She has no thought or fear for herself, sir, at all,’ put in Shannon. ‘Her anxieties are all for others.’

‘And to think,’ commented Wallace, ‘that I was once led to believe that you were cruel, heartless, and self-centred! What a fool I was! Come on! The fire hasn’t broken through to this floor, but it
soon will. We’re not out of the wood yet by any means.’

Thalia took his arm, and they hastened together to the stairs, and up to the fourth and last floor, the others following them. The roar of the flames below was not so loud or terrifying up there. They thought to hear a faraway, confused murmur of many excited voices, the clang of bells. Apparently fire engines were on the scene.

‘Have all the other people escaped?’ asked Thalia, as Sir Leonard hurried her along a corridor to the end of the building.

‘Yes; I think so,’ he replied.

It was his intention to descend with his companions by means of a fire escape at the rear of the building, which he had noticed during his investigations. It was farthest away from the burning part of the house and, therefore, the safest. The other, running down past the bathroom of the flat that had been occupied by Kyprianos, was out of the question. A good deal of it was probably, by that time, a mass of twisted metal.

They had almost reached their objective when, from behind, came a tearing, rending, altogether terrifying sound. The faces of the three men paled; their lips set more firmly. They knew what had happened. The centre of the building had caved in. If the fire escape was impassable, their condition would have become desperate again. Shannon, at a word from Wallace, flung open the window at the end of the corridor. Outside were the iron steps descending to the ground and safety. Sir Leonard glanced down. Dawn had broken, but, under ordinary circumstances, it would have been too dark to have seen much. As it was, the fire supplied a fearsome illumination. A tongue of flame was licking hungrily from a window below.

‘Hurry! You first, Thalia,’ he cried.

She obeyed at once, being helped through the window on to
the escape. Hill went next; then Shannon; Sir Leonard insisted upon going last. Thalia had reached the danger spot, and Hill was guiding her by, when, with a great crack, part of the wall fell in, tilting the section of the ladder on which was the girl over at an acute angle. To the intense horror of the men following her, she was thrown through the gap down into what appeared a raging furnace. Hill gave a great cry of anguish and, at imminent peril of following her, leant inwards. Almost at once he had drawn back, was looking up, the flickering light showing an expression of hope on his face.

‘She is lying across a rafter not more than six feet down,’ he cried. ‘I’m going after her.’

‘Don’t be a fool!’ snapped Shannon huskily. ‘She can’t be alive in that – you’ll go too.’

‘She is, I tell you. She’s lying between two separate fires. I can get her, before she’s—’

He said no more, but started to climb into the very maw of the hungry flames. Shannon grasped his arm, and drew him back, whereupon he tried fiercely to shake off the grip, at the imminent risk of precipitating them all into the furnace. The fire escape swayed drunkenly.

‘Let him go,’ shouted Wallace. ‘Hold him by his ankles. If he goes down head first, he might be able to reach.’

There took place perhaps one of the most thrilling rescues it is possible to imagine. Crowds of people were now watching below, and they were dumbfounded by the spectacle they witnessed. A man being lowered head first, literally into the heart of the flames, by another, whose mighty form, shown up luridly by the fierce flickering light below, looked more than human. One leg twined round the uneven ladder to give him a grip, he was bent inwards, holding Hill’s ankles at the extreme limit of his reach. His face
scorching, his hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes sizzling he saw, through the smoke and flame, Hill’s hands clasp the girl. Exerting his colossal strength, Sir Leonard assisting as best he could, he commenced to raise them together from the inferno. Gradually he was able to move his grip from Hill’s ankles to his thighs; then to his waist. At last, with a final great effort, he lifted them to safety. Thalia’s clothing was almost burnt from her body, yet she appeared little injured herself; Hill was in a worse condition than she. Wallace quickly removed his jacket, wrapping it round her. They got her past the danger point, Shannon carrying her in his arms.

‘It was a miracle,’ he heard her murmur, as she fainted dead away.

Wallace assisted Hill and, at last, they reached safety. Willing hands relieved Shannon of his precious burden. Some kindly soul hurried up with a blanket, which was wrapped round the girl, Sir Leonard’s jacket being returned to him. She was carried into a neighbouring house, Hill going with her, where a doctor was immediately in attendance on them. Wallace and Shannon were surrounded by an excited, applauding crowd. It was publicity of a kind they did not desire, but they could not very well avoid it. They were grateful for the fact that the police, who had arrived on the scene, were too busy to spare time just then to ask awkward questions. Eventually they escaped from their admirers – Shannon, of course, was the real object of the hero-worship – by joining Thalia and Hill in the house to which they had been taken.