'This is it,' she said, and turned the handle of the door. 'Oh, damn! My fool maid has locked me out again. She's always doing it. Just wait here, darling, while I run down and get the spare key. I keep it in my mailbox.'
She patted his arm, giving him a bright, fixed smile, then she started down the stairs.
Pete took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and neck. He fumbled for a cigarette, lit it and flicked out the match. Then he moved over to the banister rail and looked down into the hall, two flights below.
The girl had just reached the hall. She paused and looked up. Their eyes met,
and Pete felt a cold wave of fear sweep through him when he saw the scared look on the girl's face. Instinctively he realized he had walked into a trap.
What a mad fool he had been to have accepted her on her face value!
The mob wouldn't want to walk into Sam's bar and kill him in front of witnesses. They would fix it to get him somewhere alone, and through her they had got him alone!
His hand flew to the inside of his coat as he heard a key turn in the lock behind him. He spun round in time to see the door to the girl's apartment was opening slowly.
He didn't hesitate. Swinging up the gun, he fired, aiming to the right and just a little above the door handle. The slug smashed through the door, spraying wood splinters, and Pete heard a gasping groan, then the sound of a heavy fall behind the door.
He spun around and threw himself down the stairs, taking three stairs at a time. He ran blindly along the short passage to the head of the stairs leading to the hall. He took these in two jumps, arriving in the hall with a crash that shook the house.
The girl, her eyes wide with fright, crouched against the wall, her hands crossed over her breasts, her painted mouth wide open in a soundless scream.
He jumped to the front door, stopped as he saw through the glass panels, two men coming up the steps.
He recognized them: Goetz and Buzz Conforti, two of Maurer's expert killers. He sprang back, his heart contracting, then turned and retreated down the passage that ran to the right of the hall.
He reached the girl as she dived for the stairs, grabbed hold of her, turned her so her back was to him, and keeping her against him, his left arm round her waist so she was shielding his body, he continued to back down the passage.
'Scream or try to get away and I'll kill you,' he panted. 'Is there a way out at the back?'
'Let me go!' she gasped, digging her nails into his wrist.
He gave her a chopping blow on her shoulder with the gun barrel, making her squeal.
'Is there a way out at the back ?'
'Yes.'
The front door burst open and Goetz jumped into the hall.
Pete took a hurried shot at him. The girl screamed wildly as she felt the heat of the gun-flash. Goetz dropped down on one knee, his dark, vicious face creased in a snarl.
'Don't shoot!' the girl screamed, waving her hands imploringly as Goetz swung up a .45.
Pete continued to back away, dragging the girl with him. He saw Goetz trying to get the sight of his gun on to him, but Pete kept his head down, hoisting the girl higher so she completely concealed him.
She kicked out wildly, her shoes flying off and her white skirt riding above her thighs.
Pete's back thudded against a door. He fired again at Goetz, a near miss this time, for Goetz's hat flew off.
Goetz's finger squeezed the trigger and the heavy gun went off. He fired three times. The bullets slammed into the girl's writhing body. Pete could feel the shock of them.
The girl stiffened so violently she nearly jerked herself out of his grip, then she went limp; the sudden dead weight almost pulling him off balance.
He groped behind him, found a door handle, turned it and pulled the door open.
Conforti had crawled into the hall by now. As he lifted his gun, Pete fired at him. Not waiting to see the result of his shot, he threw the body of the girl from him, jumped back through the open doorway, slammed the door and ran madly down a small yard, heaved himself over a wooden fence and landed, sobbing for breath, in a twisting, narrow alley.
He sprinted down the alley, hearing the sound of foot-falls behind him. He ran for some hundred yards, following the twisting alley, keeping close to the wooden fence.
Ahead of him he could see the main street with its traffic and crowds. He somehow managed to increase his speed and reached the street just as Goetz turned the last bend in the alley.
Goetz half raised his gun as he caught sight of Pete, but lowered it as Pete vanished round the corner.
Pete dashed through the crowds that thronged the street, pushing people out of his way. He had concealed his gun in his coat pocket, but people stared after him, sensing something was wrong, startled by his sweating, frightened face.
He was out in the open now. Any second a car would overtake him, and he would be cut down. He paused at the edge of the kerb, his chest heaving, while he looked to right and left. He saw a taxi, and he waved frantically. The taxi swung, to the kerb and pulled up beside him.
'The park,' Pete gasped, and wrenched open the cab door.
Hands grabbed his arms from behind and he gave a cry of terror as he looked around. Two big patrolmen had
