Redfalcon, page 8
She tilted her chin. ‘I do not see it so. You are no scholar. Though you did not state your rank, you are quite obviously a soldier.’
Almost instinctively I drew my shoulders back. ‘Yes, I have been.’
‘In that case you can persuade the other soldiers to let me be on my way. Is that not so?’
‘That might be possible,’ I conceded mildly, ‘but first you have to tell me exactly what Dr Lasalle is looking for.’
She gave me a hard glare, her fingers tapping absently on her bowstring. ‘I do not believe I am obliged to do any such thing.’
I drew a deep breath to sustain my patience. ‘Look, let me be open with you. I know that you have been helping Lasalle search for something, perhaps a weapon, referred to by the code name red falcon.’
Karissa Adriatis stared at me in silence, her grey eyes wide with surprise. Then she laughed, a long rich laugh such as a goddess might utter in mocking the foolishness of mortals.
‘Redfalcon is neither a thing nor a weapon,’ she informed me in a voice bubbling with mirth. ‘Redfalcon is a man.’
I was quite taken aback by this unexpected information. ‘A man? Then who on earth is he?’
She raised a sardonic eyebrow. ‘That I will tell you when you have arranged my passage to Morocco.’ With that she caught up her bow and marched back into the hotel.
When I re-entered the lobby, the clerk at reception waved me over and handed me a key. ‘Your two friends are in the room next door,’ he informed me. ‘Coffee has already been sent up.’
I found Dougal leaning on the rail of their terrace, gulping his coffee as he gazed down at the town. With evening closing in, lights were starting to flicker on all over the tight little streets that plunged dizzyingly down the steep flank of the Rock. I poured myself some coffee and joined him.
‘Funny, isn’t it, to see all those lights?’ He gestured with his cup at the scene below. ‘No blackout here.’
‘No, they’re safe from bombing so long as the Spaniards keep out of the fight.’ The lighted streets were like the after-image of a bygone age, a reminder that normal life was still a tenuous possibility. ‘Where’s Jaikie hiding himself?’
‘Oh, he and Sid got to talking about motorbikes, so the chief took him off to show him one.’
‘The chief strikes me as a good man,’ I said. ‘I’m glad we have him here to help us out.’
‘So how did it go with this Adriatis woman?’
I gave him the gist of my encounter and he shook his head disparagingly. ‘She sounds like a stiff-necked sort, a bit like my aunt Aggie. She could start an argument in an empty room, she was that contrary.’
‘To be fair, she thinks she’s just setting out on an archaeological dig,’ I explained, ‘and we’re sticking our noses into something that’s none of our business. She doesn’t see any connection to the war, and for all we know she may be right.’
Dougal wrinkled his nose. ‘Just what you’d expect, I suppose, from some wizened prune who spends all her time among a lot of dusty books. So what do you make of this Redfalcon? Do you suppose it’s a code name for another enemy spy?’
‘The name turns up in the records of the Knights of St John,’ I pointed out, ‘so if he’s an enemy spy, he must be a few hundred years old.’
‘In that case he’d be getting a bit past it, sure enough,’ Dougal joked.
At that moment Jaikie hailed us from the doorway and we joined him inside. I settled into the one chair while the two young Scots sat on the edge of their beds. Jaikie sipped his coffee and told us that there was a small garage at the back of the hotel where they kept a motorcycle for use by army couriers.
‘It’s a Norton 19, and a pretty old one at that. It looks as if they’ve been taking good care of it, though. What about you, sir? How did your meeting go?’
I brought him up to date on our situation, and a crease of concern formed between his sharp eyes. ‘It sounds as though we may be stuck with her if we want to follow this thing through.’
Dougal made a sour face. ‘Och, we’ll not be wanting to drag a teacher woman along on a caper like this. It’s going to be a hard road and she’ll not be up to it.’
I could not help but smile as I recalled the many times my dear Mary had intervened in my own adventures and how often I had depended on her courage and ingenuity. ‘Dougal, I think you may be surprised by exactly how much a determined woman is capable of.’
13
A THIEF IN THE NIGHT
When later I took to my bed, the room felt stifling, so I left the door to the balcony open in order to let a light breeze waft through. Still stiff from the five-hour flight, I was glad to lie down at last, but my sleep was haunted by dreams of clashing swords and a crimson bird of prey swooping low over a desert blasted by the sun and littered with desiccated skeletons.
I stirred from these nocturnal visions to a gradual awareness that I was no longer alone in the room. Some intruder was creeping about in small, stealthy movements. I had fallen asleep facing the wall and could see nothing when I opened my eyes. I remained perfectly still, feigning sleep as best I could, so as not to alert my unseen visitor to the fact that he was detected. While my vision adjusted to the darkness, I kept my ears attuned to his progress as he roved across the tiled floor, making barely enough sound to alert any but the most danger-honed senses.
Speculation set my pulse racing. Had some agent of Ravenstein followed us from England, or did he have henchmen already established here on the Rock? Whoever my visitor was, I wondered what his intent could be. So far he had made no attempt to strike at me, and so far as I could judge he had halted at the other end of the room by the small table where I had taken my supper. If the intruder were armed, it would serve me best to strike swiftly and without warning, so I braced myself to make a sudden leap and catch him unawares.
Just then my unseen adversary uttered a high chuckling sound, like a chortle of malicious glee. That evil laugh launched me into action. Flinging aside the flimsy sheet, I jumped out of the bed and launched myself across the room with both hands outstretched to seize the interloper and fling him to the floor.
I caught only a flicker of motion among the shadows as he nimbly eluded my grasp, leaving me to slam bruisingly into the edge of the table. Biting back a grunt of pain, I turned to swing at him, but my fist lashed through the empty air as my opponent dodged aside. With astonishing speed he scampered away and hopped out on to the balcony.
Here the wan moonlight gave me my first clear sight of the intruder. I was taken aback to see that he was no more than a child, a small hairy one at that. Squatting on his haunches, he clutched in his little hands a date stolen from the bowl on the table, and as I watched he began gnawing at it with sharp, tiny teeth.
For a few seconds I gaped at the apparition in mute surprise, then the truth struck me and I laughed at my foolishness. The furry shape with the tiny hands and the bright eyes that now blinked at me so innocently was one of Gibraltar’s famous Barbary apes. Lured by the scent of unguarded fruit, he had clambered up into my room and was now enjoying his well-earned prize. He once again emitted the chittering noise that I had interpreted as a high-pitched chuckle, then swung over the railing and vanished into the night.
Shaking my head in mingled relief and embarrassment, I walked out on to the balcony to take in a deep draught of night air. How ironic it was that my defensive reaction had been triggered by one of Gibraltar’s living tokens of good fortune, a creature some might even count as one of the Rock’s defenders.
Popular legend held that if the apes should ever leave Gibraltar, the British would be forced to leave too. In fact their presence was considered so vital to the local morale, Churchill had ordered that their population be supported in every possible way.
Only a few lights still shone in the streets of the town, and the moon cast a pale wash over the red rooftops descending all the way down to the harbour. Suddenly my attention was caught by a movement in the street directly below me.
A pair of shadowy figures emerged furtively into the moonlight. Between them they were supporting the unconscious form of a young woman whom they bundled into the back of a shabby car. Even at a glimpse, I could tell from her long black hair that their victim could only be Karissa Adriatis, subdued no doubt by chloroform or some other drug.
As the two men clambered into the vehicle I gripped the rail in frustration. It was too far to jump, and any outcry I made would only hasten their getaway. Bounding back into the room, I snatched up some clothes and darted into the corridor. I scrambled into my trousers while using my shoulder to bash open the door to the next room.
‘Up you get, boys! Adriatis has been grabbed!’
Woken in mid-snore, Dougal rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a thud. Instantly alert, Jaikie sprang to his feet in his undershirt and shorts.
‘You mean kidnapped?’ he exclaimed.
‘I saw her being bundled into a car down in the street,’ I confirmed. ‘Jaikie, didn’t you say there was a motorcycle out back?’
Jaikie slipped on a pair of sandals and headed for the corridor. ‘Yes, sir. Let’s give her a try.’
‘Find Stark,’ I ordered Dougal as he clambered to his feet and rubbed his eyes. ‘He knows the place and can organise a search.’
‘Right you are, sir,’ Dougal acknowledged blearily as I hurried after Jaikie and followed him downstairs.
The young Scot vaulted nimbly down three steps at a time, leaving me struggling to catch up.
Over his shoulder he asked, ‘Do you suppose they’ll try to get her off Gib?’
‘I’m sure of it,’ I replied. ‘If they wanted her dead they would have done it already.’
Jaikie paused briefly in mid-stride. ‘Well, they can’t drive over into Spain. The border’s too heavily guarded.’
‘I’ll bet they have a boat somewhere,’ I told him. ‘They couldn’t get past the harbour patrols, so that leaves the beaches on the west side under the cliffs.’
Exiting the hotel by a rear door we charged into a small garage where I saw the motorcycle Jaikie had told us about. He plucked the keys from a hook on the wall and flung himself on to the saddle. As he gunned the engine, I climbed up behind and wrapped my arms around his waist. ‘Do you reckon we can catch up with them?’ I asked as the machine lurched forward.
‘We can if we take a short cut,’ Jaikie answered briskly.
We roared out of the garage and whipped around the front of the hotel. A short distance along the road, Jaikie swerved sharply into his short cut. In front of us a flight of worn stone steps plunged steeply all the way down to the waterfront. Nothing daunted, Jaikie pitched us head-long down the precipitous slope. I clung on for dear life as we shot down in a series of bone-jarring bumps, sometimes bouncing into the air before the tyres found purchase again.
‘Are you sure you know where you’re going?’ My voice emerged through gritted teeth.
‘I bought myself a map of the place and I’ve studied it pretty closely,’ Jaikie answered confidently.
I was ready to take his word for it. Scouting out new territory was one of Jaikie’s major skills.
We continued our downward plunge at dizzying speed. In the back of my mind was the worry that if I was mistaken in my deductions, instead of racing to the girl’s rescue we might be speeding away from wherever she was being held. Resolutely I quashed my doubts, trusting to the hunting instinct which had guided me so well in the past.
With a final bruising jolt we reached the bottom of the stairway and swung left on to the main road. Leaning into the throttle, Jaikie sent us rocketing past the harbour’s edge where lines of loading cranes stood gaunt against the night sky, looming over us like guardian giants. Peering over his shoulder, I spotted the mouth of a tunnel ahead to the left. When we reached it Jaikie veered sharply into its depths. ‘This cuts right through the rock to the other side,’ he told me, shouting over the noise of the bike.
Thick lengths of electrical cable ran down the concrete walls, strung with lamps that shot past us in white streaks as we accelerated to full speed. The tunnel amplified the roar of our engine to a banshee howl until we came flying out of the far end. We skirted the narrow coast, feverishly scanning the sandy coves to our right. Abruptly I spotted a familiar car parked on the roadside up ahead.
I gave Jaikie a slap on the arm. ‘There they are, Jaikie. On that beach down there!’
On a stretch of shingle that shimmered in the moon-light two men were visible. They were slinging a limp figure into a rowing boat, which they then shoved towards the sea. Fixing his keen eyes on our quarry, Jaikie took us bumping down on to the beach, racing to catch them before they could get afloat.
At the sound of our approach the men pulled up short and jabbered excitedly in Italian. While one continued heaving the boat towards the water, the other waved to us to keep back and yanked a pistol from his belt.
Bending low in the saddle, Jaikie pressed our machine to its maximum speed. Crouching behind him, I saw the gunman take hasty aim. The first bullet went wide, zinging past my ear, but the second blew out our single headlight.
Plunged into sudden darkness, we slewed sideways and struck a rock. The motorcycle bucked like a startled stallion, flinging both of us into the air. We splatted down face first in the sand while the bike keeled over on to its side, its wheels spinning helplessly.
The kidnappers had almost reached the water, and even as we caught our breath another bullet flew blindly over our heads. ‘We can’t let them get away,’ I gasped, spitting out grit. ‘We’ll split up and come at him from two sides so he’ll have to divide his shots.’
‘Right-o, sir,’ Jaikie acknowledged. He scrambled a few yards to his right before leaping to his feet and sprinting at the enemy. I jumped up and rushed the gunman from the other direction. He stumbled backwards to keep up with his companion, who had got the boat to the very edge of the sea. As he loosed off another wild shot, something extraordinary happened.
Shaking off the effects of the drug, Karissa Adriatis heaved herself out of the bottom of the boat and rose up behind her abductors. With her dark hair fluttering in the wind like a black flame and her eyes ablaze in the moon-light, she looked every inch an avenging Fury out of Greek legend, poised to visit her vengeance upon the presumption of men.
Snatching up an oar in both hands, she took a mighty swing at the gunman. The oar smacked him squarely across the head and down he went, the gun flying from his numbed hand to splash into the water. As she swayed unsteadily, the second man seized hold of her weapon and snatched it out of her grasp. Losing her balance, Karissa toppled forward and tumbled across the sand.
Seeing that we were almost upon him, the Italian flung the oar into the boat and hauled his companion up by the collar. Together they thrust the boat into the water and hopped aboard. Rowing furiously, they pulled away as Jaikie and I dropped to our knees beside the girl.
She was lapsing in and out of consciousness, and as we lifted her carefully up the beach I could hear her muttering under her breath in Greek. Whether she was giving thanks for her rescue or calling down curses on her would-be abductors was more than I could tell.
‘She doesn’t seem injured,’ Jaikie observed with some relief. ‘I think she’s going to be all right.’
I nodded. ‘They underestimated her. She’s a remarkably determined young woman.’
‘There’s no doubt of that,’ Jaikie grinned, recalling the vicious blow she had struck. ‘They should have listened to Virgil’s advice to beware of Greeks.’
I was wondering how to get her back to the hotel when Chief Stark’s car pulled up beside the kidnappers’ abandoned vehicle. Dougal jumped out of the passenger seat and ran across the sand to join us.
‘Have I missed all the fun?’ he exclaimed, looking out at the rowing boat, which was dwindling into the distance.
‘It wasn’t what I would call fun,’ I answered, ‘but we managed to keep Dr Adriatis out of the clutches of Ravenstein’s men.’
‘Do you think that’s who they were?’ asked Jaikie.
‘I’m sure of it,’ I stated flatly. ‘Who else would know that she had important information worth taking the risk of abducting her for?’
Rubbing his jaw, Dougal gazed down at the young woman in obvious admiration. ‘Whether she knows anything or not, she would make quite a prize.’
Chief Stark joined the party and quickly assessed the situation. ‘Well, sir, it looks as though we both worked out where the rats would be keeping their boat. Great minds and all that, eh?’
‘Chief, I take that as a great compliment,’ I told him.
Bending down, he peered at the girl. ‘I don’t think I’d be wrong in saying the lady would be a sight more comfortable in her bed,’ he advised. ‘Once we get her back to the hotel I’ll fetch the doc in, just to be on the safe side.’
‘Leave this to me,’ said Dougal. Before anyone else could make a move, he had gathered Karissa Adriatis up in his arms and conveyed her to the car as gently as a mother carrying a baby. We all followed along as he laid her carefully on the back seat and quietly closed the door.
He turned to face me with a reproachful frown. ‘Really, sir, you never let on she was so bonnie.’
14
THE WARRIORS OF GOD
Following a night of little rest, we shared a late breakfast on the hotel terrace with our new acquaintance Dr Karissa Adriatis. She had shooed away the medic who tried to examine her and mixed her own tonic of fruit juice, honey and fresh herbs from the hotel kitchen. As a result she declared herself ready to hunt her attackers down with her bow and stick them with arrows like wild pigs.
‘You’ll have to turn into a mermaid to do that,’ I said. ‘They’re long gone out to sea.’
