"That's right," I said. "Look how red her wrists are, you're cutting the circulation off."
"Ah! Circulation, is it?" he said. "Is that what's worrying you?"
He hauled off and slugged me. I dropped to one knee and he lacked me in the side. I grunted and fell over.
"There you are, Yank!" he said. "That should improve your ruddy circulation!" He laughed and so did the soccer player. The driver just looked bored.
They left the room. We heard the key turn in the lock and then their footsteps, growing fainter and fainter, as they went back down the stairs.
Ten
"I'm sorry, love. I just can't manage it."
"It's all right," I said. Heather moved away from me and slumped to the floor, her back against the wall. She was very pale and looked completely exhausted.
"We've been in this bloody place for hours and hours now," she said angrily. She had just been attempting, for the sixth time, to unfasten the difficult clasp on the buckle of my belt but her hands were too swollen, she just could not manipulate them well enough, and we needed that belt and the buckle.
"I'm sorry, baby," I said.
"Do you think anyone will ever come?" she asked.
"I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe Jupiter intends to let us die up here but somehow I doubt it. I think he wants to find out how much we know first."
It was daylight; a warm sun filtered through the high barred window in the wall, but the heavy oak door remained shut.
I looked down again at the belt and buckle that Special Effects and Editing had supplied me with. It contained plastic explosives and a tiny disassembled blowgun, but if I couldn't get it off, it was of no use.
"I'm thirsty," Heather said.
I opened my mouth to reply when I heard something on the stairs. It grew louder. Someone was coming up. "Listen," I said, "we have visitors."
A moment later, the key turned in the lock and the door swung open. Elmo Jupiter stood in the doorway, tall and imposing. The driver of the Rolls-Royce stood behind him with a gun.
"Well!" Jupiter said brightly. "We meet again. And so soon."
Heather's eyes darkened. "You bloody bastard!"
Jupiter clucked his tongue. "Such language for a lady." He moved into the room. "I hope you've found the accommodations comfortable."
"If you ever had any feeling for Heather," I said grimly, "you'll bring her some water. And loosen those damned cuffs."
He regarded me coldly. "How delighted I am that you accepted my invitation too," he said smoothly. "You who have made such a determined effort to wreck my plan."
"I didn't succeed," I told him "Your money should be in Switzerland by now. Haven't they told you?"
"They've told me," he said. "I gave your people further instructions, but they haven't acted on them." He pushed his big hand through his dark blond hair. The scar stood out vividly on his neck. "Could it be that SOE is playing cat and mouse with me — Mr. Carter?"
So he knew my true identity. Jupiter's underground intelligence network was certainly top-notch. I could see that he was waiting for my reaction, so I ignored it completely. "Nobody's playing games, Jupiter. But SOE may doubt your motives since we've disappeared. What do you hope to accomplish? Are you doing this for the money, or do you just enjoy killing?"
He laughed at that 'They taught me how to kill and I refined the practice to an art." Suddenly the smile was gone and a different mood struck him. "Yes, I enjoy killing when it removes the leeches from my flesh. I tried to play their game but they held all the high cards you see. Now they must play by my rules. And they must pay, Mr. Carter, in more ways than one. Does that answer your question?"
"Explicitly," I said. "Just one more question: how did Fergus know you were the assassin?"
Jupiter looked at me dumbly. "Fergus? Who's Fergus?"
"Augie Fergus. He was in your commando unit."
Jupiter's eyes lit up with recognition. "Ah, yes. Fergus. I remember him now. Good night fighter." Then he snapped his fingers in recall. "The hospital. Of course. He was wounded in the same action I was. Occupied the bed next to mine. Most of the time we had nothing to do but talk about where we'd go after the war. I remember now. That was when the germ of my plan was born. We were discussing all sorts of ways a man could make a million pounds, and I said how easy it would be to extort the money from the government. Just kill a few cabinet ministers, then demand… oh, I don't remember the figure… for the safety of the rest. You say Fergus knew John Elmore is the assassin? He must have remembered the conversation, then put two and two together. But that doesn't matter now, does it, Mr. Carter?"
"You've got the money," I said. "Let us go and show the government your good faith."
Jupiter started to smile again, but suddenly his face switched and a reflection of pain showed in his cold eyes. He raised his hand to the side of his head.
"The plate," he said harshly. "It causes pain at times. And they are responsible for it, those men who sit in the government. What were they doing during the war, Mr. Carter? While I was having the top of my skull blown off, what were they doing?"
His eyes grew wilder as he continued. "I'll tell you what they were doing. They were sitting in the safety of London. And those same men — how did they repay me for my services? By taxing my business to the limit. Everything I own, all the money I made, went into that business. And now it is on the verge of bankruptcy. It is their fault," he was raging now, "all their fault. But they will pay," he chuckled madly. "They will pay dearly. And the two of you will pay dearly for the difficulties you have caused me. That is why I had you brought here rather than killed immediately. You gave me a very large headache when you barged into my plant with your ridiculous story. The tour was free then, Mr. Carter, but you will pay for it now. You and this lovely creature." He looked hungrily at Heather. "I have plans for you, my dear." He bent down and ran a hand along her thigh; she tried to move away from him.
Anger had been building inside me and when Jupiter touched Heather, it exploded. I came off the floor awkwardly and threw myself at him, knocking him backwards. "Leave her alone, you bastard!" I yelled.
Jupiter's face hardened and madness glinted behind the eyes. The man on the landing moved closer with the gun.
"No!" Jupiter told him.
He closed the distance between us. He was as tall as I and looked as hard as nails. Suddenly he jabbed his fist into my stomach, just under the heart. I grunted in pain as the breath was knocked out of me. I fell back against the wall, Jupiter moving in after me.
I kicked out at his groin but he side-stepped and I caught his thigh instead. He delivered a hard chop over my right ear. I slumped to one knee but managed to stagger back to my feet. Jupiter came at me again. This time the edge of his hand struck me on the neck, the paralyzing blow knocking me to the floor.
"Don't!" I heard Heather scream.
The kick got me in the side. I let out a yell, my whole body aflame with pain. My hands struggled automatically against the handcuffs holding them. I wished as much as I had ever wished for anything that they were free and locked around Jupiter's throat.
He stood over me, breathing heavily. "I'll have more time for you later," he growled.
"This — sort of thing isn't going to — get you your fourteen million pounds," I gasped.
"How kind of you to worry about me, old fellow," Jupiter said acidly. "But I'll get the money and my satisfaction. I've already warned them about further delay. Now I'm going to show them how determined I am. There is going to be a fourth assassination, ahead of schedule."
Heather and I stared at him. His eyes shone brightly and his cheeks were flushed in an ugly way. Elmo Jupiter looked like what he was: a madman.