Lotus had on a very tight dress that showed her small, firm curves to advantage. The dress was red, the color of passion. She smoothed her hands over her hips. "Do you like the dress?"
"Yes. You look beautiful in it. Too bad it has to be wasted on a guard."
"Don't carry on so. I have forgotten the number of men I have been with." She patted his cheek, stood on tip-toe, and pressed her lips to his. Her body felt warm and soft.
His hands caressed her back, feeling the flesh under the material of her dress. She was naked under the red garment.
"Are you excited?" she whispered.
"Very much."
"We have time, do we not?"
"I can control myself," he said with a grin. "Can't you?"
She stepped back, her face and eyes sad. "I want you to make love to me now. I want to remember it while I'm with him."
His hand caressed her cheek. "I understand."
Her hands lifted the dress, pulled it off her head. She stood naked and unashamed. Her body was slim and perfect, with firm curves. She saw him looking at her with eager eyes, and her own eyes glowed.
His name was Lee Dan and he had been in the army for four years, since he was twenty. He came from a village in the province of Hunan where his father had been the mayor. He could have stayed in the village, working in the fields, but he had found that too dull, so he enlisted. Now he was nothing but a guard for the Germans. The two years he had spent in Manchuria had been profitable, enjoyable, and rather exciting. He had looted with his comrades, encouraged by his officers. He didn't think the people he had shot and stolen from were simple farmers like the people from his own village. He was a soldier and he obeyed orders. These people were against Mao Tse-tung and they had to be punished.
Then he had spent a year near the Indian border. There was talk of an invasion, and he was eager for some action. The invasion never came. It was never explained just who was going to do the invading.
Now, after all that, he had been assigned to guard the wing of the Imperial Palace where the Germans lived.
He and his comrades didn't like the Germans. They acted so superior. They were outcast Germans. Pariahs. They wore plain-looking uniforms and they looked ridiculous. Yet they marched and drilled as if preparing for a great war. What war?
Lee Dan looked up at the moon and shifted his rifle. It was a big, fat, romantic moon. He wished he had a woman.
There was a girl member of the Red Guards who interested him. She had flashing black eyes. He had taken her out twice but could never make any headway. Once she had allowed him to touch her as if she was giving him something precious. He made up his mind that if he took her out again he would demand she go to bed with him or he would never see her again.
A twig snapped and his mind cleared of his thoughts. "Who is that?" he demanded sharply.
"It is only I," a voice came from the shadows. "Lotus."
Lotus. He knew her. She was a prostitute who catered to the Germans. The Germans had all the luck. Lotus was very beautiful. He supposed that she was here to enter the wing where the Germans lived. Well, he wasn't going to let her through. Even if he could, he wouldn't. Just for spite. A Chinese girl going to bed with white men. And Germans.
He saw her in the moonlight, walking toward him. That dress. So tight. Her sharp breasts moved slightly as she walked. He felt like cracking her skull with his rifle butt.
No, he didn't. He didn't feel like that at all.
His body churned with desire. Yes, damn it. He wanted her. What man in his right mind wouldn't want such a beautiful creature. He managed a scowl.
"What do you want?" He made his voice stern.
Lotus stood just a foot away from him. "I think I am lost"
"You can't fool me- You know the Germans live here. You're looking for a German lover for tonight Well, you can t get through. So be off, Chinese slut."
Lotus stiffened. "Raper of women, killer of babies. Watch your tongue or I'll cause you to lose it."
"Just be off. I have my orders."
"I am not looking for Germans." Her voice became soft. "I was lonely. Have you ever been lonely?"
He couldn't believe his ears. Was Lotus making herself available to him? He wasn't that lucky. Then a thought struck him. Yes, of course. It was a matter of money. Perhaps she couldn't find any customers this night so she decided to try the guards. "I have six yuan in my pockets. That is all the money I have."
"I do not wish money, my friend." She laughed lightly.
"What do you wish, then?"
"An hour of your time. If you can spare it?" He looked about him. If he was caught off his post he would be brought up on charges. His superiors were very strict about that And he was under the immediate supervision of the Germans. There was no telling what they would do.
Lee Dan shook his head with much regret. "I am sorry, Lotus. I am on duty. Another night, perhaps?" Curse the luck. After he had wished for such an opportunity Lotus had shown herself but he had to turn down her sweet and generous offer.
"Behind me is thick woods," Lotus reminded him. "A bed of soft grass and we will be comfortable. Nothing happens here. You will be safe. Come." She took his arm.
He shook his head rapidly. "I can't. It is so tempting. But I can't. If I leave my post…"
Lotus raised her skirt slowly. Her slim legs, her slim sleek thighs appeared. Then she took off the dress and she was naked in the moonlight. She passed her hand over her breasts. "I will not offer myself to you again. If you do not come with me you will always regret it. You will dream of me and curse yourself for acting like a child, afraid of nothing. And what if something does happen? Who will know you left your post? No one will know. Unless you tell them. And you are not that foolish, Lee Dan."
Lee Dan raked her body with his hot gimlet eyes. He saw the slight flare of her hips, the line of her thighs, the flat belly, the sharpness of her breasts.
Lotus slowly turned, her dress over her right shoulder, and she walked into the woods. "Come, follow me, Lee Dan. We will go deep in the woods where we won't be seen."
He saw her tight buttocks and the backs of her moving thighs. He cursed himself for being all kinds of a fool.
He was only human.
He started to follow her and then quickened his pace, afraid of losing her in the woods.
Chapter 6
Nick Carter felt ridiculous in the black costume he was wearing, but it was decidedly necessary. He had to get into the wing where the Germans lived without being seen. The costume would help. Off to his left he heard rustling. He knew it was Lotus and the Chinese guard she had seduced from his post. He stayed in the shadows till he reached the courtyard. He darted quickly, a black figure outlined by the moonlight He was inside the wing.
His forehead felt gritty because of the dirt he had smeared on his face. Grin and bear it, my boy. He had the Spanish pistol in his hand and hoped he wouldn't have to use it.
He found a door ajar and crept toward it, and peered in.
There was a man sleeping on the bed, his back to Nick.
Nick prayed it was Bormann. He reached for the pen and widened the door, pushing it inward, stepping over the threshold. He was near the bed now. It was a young man. It wasn't Bormann. He started to turn, but the man suddenly opened his eyes and started to look about.
Nick jabbed at the man's neck with the pen and fingered the clip once. The German froze, fell back, his eyes open and staring.
What lousy luck. Nick swore. He backed out, crept silently down the hall, paused at a door. He was thinking furiously. Should he take another chance? He felt he was stretching his luck. Just one more. What the hell.