Erika loosened her grip on the trigger of her revolver. Sergiou looked at the corpses, white-faced, as I wiped the blade of Hugo on the blond's jacket. Spencer nodded to me, abandoning the garrote now deeply imbedded in the other man's neck, and moved to the door of the penthouse. I kept Hugo in hand, and Spencer pulled out a special pistol he had mentioned to me earlier. It had been supplied by Special Effects and Editing — an air gun that shot darts. The darts were tipped with curare, a quick-acting poison that AXE had borrowed from the Indians of Colombia.
Sergiou had regained his composure. He went to the door and inserted another key that Minourkos had given him and unlocked the heavy door with it. He looked at me, and I nodded. He pushed the door open silently and stepped aside, since he wasn't to enter the penthouse. He wasn't equipped to help in that phase of the assault.
We all three stepped quickly through the doorway, fanning out as we went Erika held the revolver well out in front of her, ready to fire, but she was just a back-up gun. I didn't want to alert anymore of Stavros' people than was absolutely necessary before we found Stavros himself.
It would have been perfect if Stavros had been in that big living room at the entrance. That would have ended the whole thing very quickly. But, instead, we found the tough Hammer sitting on a long sofa, his back to us, a glass of brandy in his hand. I saw the holster straps from where I stood. He was still armed — a dangerous man.
There was no evidence of life down the interior hallway that led to the bedrooms, but there was the sound of voices from the well-lit office. I was just about to start toward Hammer's back when suddenly two men came from the office into the living room. One was a thick-set gunman with an automatic in a shoulder holster, and the second one was the other fake Madoupas, Yianis Tzanni.
They stopped short when they saw us, and both gazed saucer-eyed at Sergiou. The two imposters stood staring at each other for a brief moment, while Hammer turned to them and saw the looks on their faces. In another split-second, the thug with Tzanni was going for his gun.
Spencer aimed the dart gun and fired. There was a dull popping sound in the room, and a moment later a black metal dart stuck out of the man's neck, just beside the Adam's apple. His jaw began working silently as Tzanni stared at the black object, horrified. Hammer had begun turning and drawing his gun in one cat-like motion.
His eyes focused on me first, and I saw the menace in them as his hand found the gun in his holster. I dropped to one knee and simultaneously swung my arm in an underhand loop, releasing the stiletto. It sliced through the air as silently as a striking snake and hit Hammer in the chest beside his heart. The blade thudded into his body audibly and sank to the hilt.
Hammer's ugly eyes, exposed to me for the first time, since he wasn't wearing the blue-tinted sunglasses, stared hard at me for a moment, incredulous that I had managed to kill him so swiftly. He looked down at the stiletto where crimson seeped from his shirt. He took hold of the knife as if to pull it out, then raised the gun in his hand toward me. But he was dead. He fell face down on the sofa, his long hair covering the bewildered expression on his face.
The other gunman had just stopped twitching on the floor. Tzanni turned to run back into the office, but another dart from the air gun stopped him, catching him high in the back. He grabbed wildly at it, was unable to reach it, and then fell headlong into the doorway to the office, flailing there for a moment, then going limp.
"You should have saved him," I said quietly to Spencer.
I walked over to the doorway and saw that there was no one else in the office. I turned back to the others. I motioned toward the corridor leading to the bedrooms, and Spencer preceded me to it. Erika followed after me.
We explored the rest of the place. Another living area, bedrooms and kitchen We found a gunman eating a sandwich in the kitchen. That is, Spencer found him first. I came in just as he fired the air gun again. He was damned eager with that thing, much the same way Zach had been. The man was hit in the side as he drew a long Welby.32 revolver. The poison didn't work as fast on him for some reason, and he managed to get a shot off. The gun roared in the confines of the room and hit Spencer just under the ribs, throwing him back against the wall. I grabbed a chair and slammed it into the gunman's face just as he was aiming the revolver at me. The chair crashed into him and splintered against his face. The gun went off into the ceiling, and the man hit the floor on his back, losing his weapon. Spencer, grunting against the wall, aimed the air pistol again.
"Hold it, damn it!" I yelled at him.
"What for?" he asked thickly. "The bastard got me."
He aimed the gun again. I slammed the back of my fist into his face, and his head hit the wall. I then chopped down at the gun so that he lost it It clattered on the tile floor of the kitchen, and he looked at me, stunned.
"I said hold it," I growled.
Our eyes locked together for a moment, then he lowered his, grabbing at the wetness under his ribs. It looked like a simple flesh wound, but that wasn't my big concern right now. I went and knelt over the gunman. His eyes were open, and his body was still fighting the poison. He was one of the rare cases that have natural immunity to certain toxic chemicals, which, although not complete, was making the curare kill him slowly rather than instantly. I was glad it was. Maybe I could get some answers.
Erika came into the kitchen just at that moment, her revolver still unfired, "He isn't here," she said.
I grabbed the failing thug by his shirt front and shook him. "Where is Stavros?" I demanded.
The man glared up at me. "What's it to you?" He was another of Stavros' American fanatics, but his hair wasn't as long as Hammer's.
I pulled the Luger from its holster and held it up against the thug's left cheekbone. "If you tell me where he is, I'll see that you get to a doctor in time to save you." That was a lie, of course. "If you refuse, I'll squeeze this trigger. Now."
He looked into my eyes and assessed what he saw. "Hell, okay," he said thickly. The poison was already getting him. "If you'll really save me."
I nodded.
"He went to Mykonos."
I exchanged glances with Erika. The island of Mykonos was one of the two places where Stavros had been building his elite rebel corps. "Now level with me," I said, pushing the Luger tighter against his face. "Did he get word on the colonels?"
The thug sneered at me, then his face was wracked with a sudden pain. "Tzanni called Kotsikas' home. One of the cops answered. Said the lieutenant and our men were okay, and — that the colonels were dead."
"What the hell?" Spencer exclaimed.
Spencer was surprised by the answer, but I wasn't. Colonel Kotsikas had thought fast when the call came and had put one of the policemen on the phone. Kotsikas figured that if he didn't give the penthouse the false message, Stavros would be on his way out there with his own men. Kotsikas hadn't had time to coordinate with us, so went ahead and did what seemed best. It was smart thinking — but the colonel could have had no way of knowing that the answer he forced the cop to give would free Stavros to leave the penthouse before we got there.
"Why would Stavros go to Mykonos?" I asked the dying gunman acidly. "To review the troops?"
Another spasm of pain clutched at him. "Get me a doctor," he gasped.
"Talk first."
He whispered the words. "He called both camps. He wants the troops brought to Athens. The commander at Mykonos said something about not moving his troops until he heard from Minourkos. Stavros was — very angry with him. He flew there to take personal command."
I rose. The man stiffened and shuddered. His face was already turning blue.
"Let's get out of here," I ordered. I turned to Spencer. "You stay here."