nothing. At the door mentioned by Lohmann they took up positions close to the wall on each side. Bond knocked gently.
'All right, who is it?' called a man's sleepy voice.
'Lohmann,' said Bond in a grunt.
The length of the ensuing silence made him bite his lip. Then, 'Hold on, I'm coming.'
Within, a bed-spring twanged. The heel of a shoe scraped the floor. A female voice muttered something indistinguishable. The man yawned deeply. There was silence for half a minute. Then footfalls approached the door, a key turned in the lock, light flooded into the passage and De Graaf, buttoning his shirt, marched confidently out.
Bond just had time to notice the deep parallel scratches on the gunman's left cheek before Litsas grabbed him and clapped a large hand over his mouth. Bond stepped forward and looked into the dilated eyes. 'This is for the Hammonds,' he hissed, and drove the knife in. De Graaf's body gave one great throe, as if he had touched a live terminal, then went totally limp. Bond turned aside at once and stepped into the room.
Ariadne, under a thin coverlet on the floor, jerked to a sitting position and stared at him, but Bond's attention was all on the swarthy blonde in the bed. She too had sat up, showing herself to be naked to the waist at least. Bond hardly saw. He gazed into her bewildered dark eyes and brought his bloodstained knife forward as he approached.
'If you make a sound I'll kill you,' he told her.
'Not... no, I stay quiet.' The hand she held out palm foremost was trembling. With the other she pulled the sheet over her breasts.
Bond stood near her at the head of the bed. Ariadne, wearing brassiere and panties, got up and came over to him. Their hands touched, then gripped.
'Are you all right?' she asked. 'Your voice sounds funny.'
'I'm all right.' There were a thousand things he longed to say and he could not get any of them said. 'What about you?'
'I don't mind anything now you're here. We must gag this bitch, I suppose. If it were my decision I'd shut her up for always. How are you, Niko? I thought you were dead.'
'A bit better than that.' Litsas had dumped De Graaf's body in a corner of the room. He now held a revolver, a sawn-off Smith & Wesson Centennial Airweight. 'We should get- ' He broke off abruptly.
They all heard distant footsteps crossing the stone-paved hall and beginning to mount the stairs.
'That's our second man,' said Bond.
As he stood for a moment irresolute, Ariadne sprang into action. She swung her fist and cracked Doni Madan hard under the jaw. Doni's head jerked back and hit the headboard of the bed. Within five seconds Ariadne was under her coverlet again. Litsas had put himself out of view beside a battered wardrobe and Bond had slipped behind the door.
Evgeny had no chance at all. He crossed the threshold, caught sight of De Graaf's body, exclaimed, began to move forward and took the knife under the fifth rib, his mouth muffled by Bond's left forearm.
'Great - but too quick and clean,' said Ariadne, looking down at the bodies. 'Anyway, I hope it hurt like hell for both of them - the bastards!'
Bond caught her hand again. 'Forget about them,' he said. 'Now listen. The house is clear for the moment. I'm going to get my chief along here. Where's the key of this room?'
'It'll be in the pocket of the tall one.'
'You and my chief are to lock yourselves in and stay till I come for you. No,' - as Ariadne started to protest - 'we've only one gun and one knife and we're two to one already. Niko will explain. Gag that girl and tie her up.'
'It'll be a pleasure.'
When Bond returned with M, Doni Madan, still senseless from Ariadne's blow, had been dealt with and a sheet thrown over the two bodies. M was clearly dazed with strain and a sleepless night. He had obeyed Bond's summons and followed him along the passages in total silence. He sat slumped on the edge of the bed, a nerve jumping in his neck. Bond looked anxiously at him.
Ariadne caught the look. 'He'll be all right, I promise you.' She put her arms round Bond and kissed him. 'Now go finish them.'
'What now?' asked Litsas as they moved off.
'Trench mortar operated by von Richter. His boy-friend on the hill spotting for him.'
'Clever, eh? But easy to miss.'
'They've trained a lot. Look, there.'
A window on the landing gave a view of the firing-point. By now there was enough light to make out the stubby shape of the trench mortar, two and a half feet of canted-over stovepipe clamped to the rectangular base- plate. There was a movement in the shadows that must have been von Richter. The possible plans were few. Bond picked the quickest one. 'Take the gun, Niko, go out by the terrace at the back of the house and work your way round above him. You'll be able to get a shot at him from there. I'll come at him from the sea end. If I can't get close enough to rush him I can certainly distract his attention from you.'
'Be careful. I'll have to be close with this bloody sawn-off barrel, or I might hit you. Has he got a gun?'
'Don't know.'
'Give me five minutes.'
