woman who would appreciate them.’ Her thumb caressed the gaudy diamond on her finger.
I knew what she intended and I was contemptibly relieved when she decided to try a little mental torture first. ‘Wouldn’t you like to know how your other friends are faring?’
I shrugged. ‘You haven’t got Schmidt or you would have said so. Feisal . . . I assume Feisal is dead.’
‘Oh, no,’ Mary said softly. ‘He’s still alive. He may never walk again, but that won’t concern him after they hang him for treason.’ The tip of her little pink tongue showed between her parted lips. She was having such a good time she didn’t even hear the voices outside.
There’s a poem about a highwayman who came riding, riding, up to the old inn door. The soldiers used his sweetheart as a decoy, tying her to a chair with a rifle pointed at her breast. She managed to get one finger around the trigger, and when she heard him coming she pulled – ‘and warned him with her death.’
I always wondered why she didn’t just yell.
Oh, well, maybe he couldn’t have heard her over the pounding of his horse’s hooves. Or maybe it didn’t fit the metre. I didn’t have a rifle at my breast. Anyhow, John knew the soldiers were there.
I threw my head back and opened my mouth and screamed. But the name I called was not that of my lover. ‘Max! Hey, Max!’
John was the first one through the door, but Max was right behind him. It wasn’t until much later that I understood the significance of that sequence.
The Pavlonian conditioning didn’t seem to be as strong as Mary had believed. After a few steps John stopped. He had only glanced at me; his eyes were fixed on Mary.
‘More melodrama,’ Max said in exasperation. ‘How weary I am of this! You were forbidden to come here, Mary. Mr Tregarth is willing to cooperate. You will only irritate him if you persist in this nonsense.’
‘I am already irritated,’ John said. His eyes returned to my face. ‘Are you – ’
‘Fine, just fine,’ I said, stretching my mouth into a smile. My cheek hurt. ‘I do hope you have a couple of aces up your sleeve, because if you haven’t, this was not one of your brighter moves.’
He was still wearing Keith’s suit, but he had washed the cheap dye out of his hair. Avoiding my eyes, he remarked, to the room in general, ‘She tends to babble when she’s nervous. Mary does affect people that way. Get her out of here.’
Blenkiron was the next to arrive. ‘Damn it,’ he exclaimed. ‘Mary, I told you – ’
She laughed contemptuously. ‘What a conveniently bad memory you have, Larry.’
‘Well, I certainly didn’t give you permission to . . .’ He couldn’t even say the ugly words. ‘I’m sorry, Vicky. I told her to stay with you but I never authorized . . .’
‘Swell,’ I said. ‘So how about untying me?’
Nobody reacted to that naive suggestion. Mary backed off a few steps and Max said, with poorly concealed exasperation, ‘Can we now discuss the situation in a reasonable way? You have the pectoral, Mr Tregarth?’
‘You know I haven’t,’ John said. ‘You watched Rudi search me.’
‘Where is it?’
‘None of your damned business. Now, Maxie, don’t lose your temper. That pectoral is my ace in the hole. You don’t suppose I’ll meekly hand it over without getting something in return, do you?’
‘Need I ask what?’
‘Surely not. And please don’t insult my intelligence by suggesting you’ll turn her loose after I deliver the goods. I want her out of here and safely back at the Embassy. As soon as she telephones to say she’s there, and the ambassador confirms it, I’ll get the pectoral for you.’
‘We could force you to tell us,’ Max said.
‘You could certainly try,’ John said agreeably. Leaning against a chest of drawers, hands in his pockets, he was putting on a pretty good imitation of languid self-confidence, but the tension that vibrated along every nerve was evident to me at least. He was trying very hard not to look at me.
‘But it’s not the most efficient method of attaining your ends,’ he went on. ‘You know me well, Maxie; do you suppose I give a damn about the museum or the tomb or any bloody antiquity on the face of the earth? I’ll even go through with the robbery, if that’s what you want.’
‘You will?’ Blenkiron said eagerly. ‘But you said – ’
John raised an eyebrow. ‘I didn’t object to robbing the museum. The thing that put me off a bit was a strong suspicion that I wouldn’t survive the attempt. I’m willing to take my chances with the ordinary security system, but I object to being shot or stabbed in the back by one of my purported assistants.’
Max looked a little embarrassed. ‘I was against that,’ he said. ‘I felt sure you would expect something of the sort and there really was no need – ’
John cut him off. He was looking at Max, but I knew he was aware of every move Mary made and every breath she took. She was the most unstable and unpredictable factor in the structure of mutual self-interest he was building with such agonizing deliberation. I was afraid to move or speak for fear of shaking it. And I knew why he wouldn’t look at me.
‘There was no need,’ John agreed. ‘You’re a businessman, Max, and Mr Blenkiron’s sole concern is making off with his pretty toys. My sole interest is my survival and Vicky’s. My proposal will accomplish all those admirable aims, but you will have to make up your minds without delay. Herr Schmidt has an appointment with the director of the museum in’ – he glanced at the cheap watch that had replaced his – ‘in an hour and a quarter. If he hasn’t heard from me before he leaves his present location he will take the pectoral with him and then, if you will excuse a cliche, the die will be cast. There’s barely time for Vicky to reach the Embassy providing she leaves within the next five minutes.’
Max’s eyes narrowed. ‘We must discuss this. It requires consultation.’
‘It’s your own fault,’ John said. ‘You oughtn’t to have selected such a remote hideout. Cairo traffic is difficult at any time of day or night.’
Maybe there was something to that business about auras. I could almost see the taut lines of tension crisscrossing the empty air like a cat’s cradle of coloured yarn. The strain of manipulating them was beginning to tell on John; his nonchalant pose hadn’t changed but his face was beaded with perspiration.
‘It sounds reasonable to me,’ Blenkiron said slowly. ‘So long as we have Tregarth, the others won’t risk – ’
‘You fools,’ Mary said suddenly. ‘Can’t you see what he’s doing?’
She had been standing quietly, hands folded and head bowed. It was her old pose of sweet submissiveness and the men, bless their chauvinist hearts, had dismissed her from consideration. But I had been afraid of this, and so had John. He straightened, taking his hands out of his pockets, but before he could speak Blenkiron said angrily, ‘Be still. You’ve already caused enough trouble.’
‘You sentimental idiot!’ She took a step forward. Her hands were empty, clasped and twisting. ‘Too fine- minded to hurt a woman, is that it? And you, Max, you’re getting soft too. I’m afraid I won’t be able to give you a favourable efficiency report on this job. Are you really stupid enough to let him hypnotize you into giving up the one thing that will force him to cooperate? I’ll show you how to get what you want. Hold on to him, Max.’
She didn’t wait to see him comply with her order. It would never have occurred to her that he might not.
Who needs a knife when she’s got diamonds? They are harder than steel. She had twisted the ring around and when her hand struck my face the stone opened up a long stinging cut.
When I opened my eyes John had her by the throat. I could see her mouth gaping in a struggle for air, her cheeks darkening.
Max hadn’t moved.
John could have snapped her neck with one twist of those long skilled hands. When he released his hold she crumpled bonelessly to the floor, but she was still alive. I heard the rattle of painfully drawn breath. John’s hands fell to his sides. I couldn’t see his face; his back was to me.
Max sighed. ‘You surprise me, Mr Tregarth. Mr Blenkiron, I think perhaps you had better run along.’
Larry’s features were drawn with disgust and horror. ‘Yes, yes, perhaps I had,’ he mumbled. ‘The boat will be in shortly; I’ll just go down to the dock and . . . You’ll make the – the arrangements, Max?’
‘Don’t concern yourself, Mr Blenkiron. I’ll handle everything.’
‘You’re a very competent man, Max. I leave everything in your hands. Vicky, I – uh – you’ll be fine. I hope we meet again under more – uh – pleasant circumstances.’
The door closed.
