Don concealed his dismay as best he could.
"It may have been fascinating to you," he said, "but how does it affect me? I must admit I should be depressed if I thought I was going to spend the rest of my days here."
"You are at liberty to leave whenever you wish, subject to two conditions,'' Alsconi said. "The first is you give me your word you will cease to bother me and you will tell no one what I have told you. You are a man of honour, and I am prepared to accept your word. The other condition is the payment of a ransom for your liberty. You are a rich man and I think it is only fair that you should pay for the trouble you have caused me. I think a contribution from you of five hundred thousand dollars would meet the case. I am in need of dollars at the moment. No doubt you could arrange to transfer that amount from your American bank to your Italian bank fairly quickly."
"And if I don't agree to pay?" Don asked quietly.
"My dear Mr Micklem, other people have said that to me. I assure you it would not be difficult to persuade you to pay.
Don't imagine you will be submitted to any torture. I have no patience with that form of persuasion. There are more subtle methods of persuading a man to do what you wish without inflicting on him physical pain. You have met Dr Englemann?"
"I've met him," Don said.
"Dr Englemann is a brain specialist. Unfortunately for him, his enthusiasm led him into a number of reckless experiments. The police are now looking for him to charge him with murder. He is happy to be under my protection. I am able to finance his experiments, and in return, he does me a number of favours. At the moment he is working on a theory that the mind can be influenced by a series of intricate nerve operations. For instance, if a man has weak powers of concentration, by an ingenious nerve graft these powers can be stimulated. Dr Englemann is only in the theory stage at the moment. He needs men and women to experiment on. Anyone who resists my wishes is handed over to him. Only a month ago I had an obstinate man who refused to pay his ransom. I would like you to see him. I must ask Englemann to show him to you. The operation the doctor attempted was ambitious and a complete failure, but the results interested me. The patient lost the use of his arms, he is unable to talk fluently and his memory appears to be impaired. He is altogether rather a miserable creature, although the doctor finds him still useful for further experiments. So you see, Mr Micklem, it might be disastrous for you if you also tried to resist my wishes. Dr Englemann is very anxious to see if he can rejuvenate the optic nerves. If you refuse to pay your ransom I will offer you to him as a guinea pig. think it is only fair to tell you that although Englemann's theories are brilliant, he has to nerve himself to perform any operation. He is, I am afraid,-inclined to drink far too heavily, and his hand is not as steady as it should be. I feel fairly certain this is the reason why he has had so many failures.
It is possible that if you have the operation you might easily become blind and very possibly paralysed."
Don stared at the fat, smiling face. His own face had lost some of its colour, and his eyes showed the anger that made him want to jump up and get his hands on Alsconi's fat throat.
"You have the advantage now," he said, "but you may not continue to have it. You're not fit to live, Alsconi. If I get the chance I shall kill you. Remember that: you won't have a second warning."
Alsconi chuckled.
"So many people have threatened my life that it ceases to mean anything," he said. He touched a bell on the table beside him and Carlos came into the room. "I shall give you an hour to decide what you will do. If you agree to pay, you will write a letter to your New York bank, authorizing them to pay the money to your bank in Rome. When the money arrives, you will write a cheque for the amount and a covering letter to the bank, stating the bearer of the cheque has your authority to collect the money in bonds. When the bonds are in my hands, you will be immediately released." ¦
"And how do I know that?" Don asked.
"You have my word: a gentleman's agreement. After all, I am prepared to accept your word to say nothing about what has passed between us. You must be prepared to accept mine." He waved his hand. "Take Mr Micklem back to his room, Carlos."
Grinning, the negro came forward, the two wolf-hounds at his heels.
"Come on, bud," he said.
Chapter IX
THE DEAL
Soon after nine o'clock, Felix pushed open Lorelli's bedroom door and entered the small, blue and grey decorated room.
But for the fact the room had no windows and was artificially lighted, no one would have guessed it was thirty feet below ground.
Lorelli had slept late, and was now sitting before her dressing table, brushing her hair. She wore a pale-green silk wrap and her
small, well-shaped feet were in feathered mules. She swung around as Felix came in.
"What's been happening?" she asked, and he was quick to note the anxious note in her voice.
"Plenty," he said and pulling up a chair he sat astride it, resting his arms on its back. "This American we've caught turns out to be Don Micklem. In case you've never heard of him, he's worth two million pounds sterling - not dollars. The old man's pretty pleased we've got him and he's putting the bite on him for half a million dollars."
Lorelli put her hairbrush on the dressing table.
"Is that something to get excited about?" she asked. "If he's worth all that money, why stop at a mere five hundred thousand dollars?"
"This is only the first instalment. It wouldn't be possible to get a bigger sum out of him without currency trouble.
Micklem imagines he is going to go free when he pays up. Between you and me, he isn't going to leave here until there's no more two million, and when he does leave, he'll go feet first with a wreath in his hands."
Lorelli flinched. She got up and walked over to the clothes closet. Slipping off her wrap, she took from the closet a black silk frock. She made a ring of the frock and slid it over her head.
Felix eyed her compact, beautifully proportioned body.
"Doesn't Micklem guess?" Lorelli asked as she smoothed the dress over her hips. She moved back to the dressing table and opening a drawer crammed with costume jewellery, she picked out a string of black and red wooden beads.
"That's what foxes me," Felix said. "From the look of the guy, he should be full of fight, but he isn't. Maybe the old man has thrown a scare into him. He is doing exactly what he has been told to do. He's written a letter to his New York bank, authorizing them to pay the money into his bank in Rome. The old man thought he would kick, but he hasn't. You have the job of delivering the letter to Micklem's secretary. She has to take it to New York."
Lorelli stiffened.
"I have to take it?"
"Yes," Felix said, looking at her. "There's nothing to it..."
"Why can't you take it, or Willie or Carlos?" Lorelli said, her voice rising.
"Don't ask me," Felix said sharply. "The old man said you were to take it."