Gerda von Rothe shivered and made an audible sound in her throat. She broke the spell. “Get dressed,” she commanded harshly. “Hurry up. Then we must talk. I must be getting back to the castle.”
She watched him dress. Then she tossed him the Webley, still loaded, and put the Luger away in a holster. She was supremely confident now.
“Come,” she told him. “We will walk a little way. And talk. I think, Jamie, that I may be able to use you. It will be easy work” — the green eyes glinted at him — “and I will pay you well. You are badly in need of money, I think?”
“Yes, ma’am. I surely am.”
She frowned. “Do not call me ma’am — call me Gerda for now. But that does not mean you are to be too familiar, you understand? I am hiring you, Jamie. You and your body. No matter what happens, you are a servant. Nothing more. Is that understood?”
“Yes, m... I mean, yes, Gerda. I understand that. It’s okay by me. I ain’t much, I guess. Just a gold tramp that’s never had any luck.”
She frowned at him. A breeze got into the silver mane and tousled it around her face. She was nearly as tall as he, Nick saw, and would weigh about 150–160. All firmly packed woman. Even in the jodhpurs and plain blouse there was a hint of the Rubensian about her figure.
She was still frowning. “Don’t whine,” she said. “It sickens me. People are what they make themselves, Jamie. You don’t appear to have made much of yourself. I find that a little odd, a man with a body like yours. Why aren’t you a fighter, or a wrestler, something like that. In the old days you could have been a gladiator!”
Nick did not answer. They reached the shallows and she stooped to pick up a stone and toss it over the stream. By now the sun was low in the west.
Gerda von Rothe indicated a flat boulder. “We will sit here and talk, Jamie. Have you a cigarette?”
“Only Mex. They ain’t very good.”
“They’ll do. Give me one.” Imperious. Like a good slave, Nick gave her a cigarette and lit it for her. She blew smoke through the arrogant nose. “This is the place to talk. In the open where no one can get near you.”
Nick, who had a strong feeling that they were being watched at the moment, repressed his smile. If she only knew. He hoped the gunner wouldn’t decide to start sniping again, whether in fun or not. It would ruin everything.
Gerda stared at him through smoke. “You are not an educated man, are you?”
“No. Guess not. I only went to the fifth grade. Why? You need an educated man for the job you are talking about?”
Another frown. “I will ask all the questions, Jamie. You will not ask questions. You will obey orders. To the letter. And that is all you will do.”
“Sure. Of course. But the job — what you want me to do?”
She answered his question with another. “Have you ever killed a man, Jamie?”
Nick could answer that truthfully. “Yes. A couple of times. But always in fair fight.”
Gerda von Rothe nodded. She seemed satisfied. “I want a man killed, Jamie. Perhaps two men. Maybe even more. You will agree to do this? There will be some danger to yourself, I warn you.”
“I don’t mind the danger. I ain’t exactly a stranger to it. But the price will have to be right — I’m not taking a chance on a firing squad for peanuts.”
She leaned toward him, the green eyes as hard as glass on his, and for a moment Nick had the impression of a lioness. “Ten thousand dollars for the first man,” she said softly. “Ten thousand for each one after that. Is that not fair and generous?”
Nick pretended to consider for a moment, then said, “Yeah. That sounds all right. Who do I kill? How? And when?”
Gerda got up. She stretched her big lush body like a cat. She tapped the riding crop on her thigh. “I am not exactly sure yet. I must make a plan. And I will have to get you into the castle. The men I want you to kill are there. They are dangerous men, and very cautious. You will have one chance only. Nothing must go wrong.”
Nick looked down at his ragged clothes. “Your guards wouldn’t let me in the gate.”
“No need for that. You will not come in the front gate. And I have clothes at the castle, everything you will need. Once you are in I can introduce you as... as a transient friend. It will not surprise them. I have... entertained male friends before.”
Nick thought: I’ll just bet you have, baby!
Gerda von Rothe picked up Nick’s wrist with a big, well-manicured hand. She wore no nail polish. She glanced at the handsome wrist watch — he had hoped she would not notice it — and said, “My God, is it that late? I must be getting back.”
The touch of her dry, warm fingers sent an electric current tingling through Nick. He tried to withdraw his hand but she held it tightly. She was staring at the watch. Her eyes were a little narrowed when she looked at him again. “This is quite a watch for a bum.”
It was indeed a very special watch. Nick prayed that the hour hand would not start flickering now. It was in fact a combination watch and DF — directional finder — and the hour hand would flick around instantly to point out the source of any radio transmission within twenty-five miles. The watch, and the beeper in the hilt of his knife, were all the “gadgets” he had been permitted on this mission.
He met her eyes squarely. “It’s a beaut, huh? I stole it in Tampico about a year ago. I figured to hock it, but somehow I never did. Now I won’t have to — after I do this job for you.”
They walked back downstream. She appeared to have forgotten the watch. “You will come to the castle tonight,” she told him. “Come about midnight and stay away from the main gate. There is a smaller gate, a postern, about half a mile north of the gate, that will be to the right, where the fence turns west to the sea. Come to that gate. I will be waiting for you. Be very quiet, very careful. The guards patrol around the inside of the fence every hour and they will have dogs with them. I can do nothing to disrupt the routine. It would make them suspicious. Do you think you can do this? And make no mistakes?”
Nick thought it time to show a little spirit. “I ain’t exactly a moron,” he growled. “Just because I ain’t educated don’t mean I’m a dummy. You just leave it to me.”
Again the hard green stare. Then: “I think perhaps you will do, Jamie. So long as you obey orders and do not try to think for yourself, do not try to understand what is going on.” She laughed shortly. “That would be a mistake, I assure you. It is much too complicated for a man like you. You are a magnificent brute, Jamie, and I expect you to do a brute’s work. Nothing more.”
She let her thigh brush his. She wet her lips with a scarlet tongue. “And I shall reward you as a brute, Jamie. Other than the money, I mean. I can promise that you will not be disappointed.”
They reached the clearing and the pond. The palomino was grazing regally alone, ignoring Jamie as one of the lower classes. The two Dobermans lay panting exactly where they had been left. Well-trained brutes, Nick thought. They showed their fangs at him and snarled as he approached, but did not move.
Gerda von Rothe swung into the saddle, tall and imperious as some female Caesar. Nick, on sudden impulse, put one hand on her thigh, on the inside, between the knee and crotch. He squeezed gently and grinned up at her. “I’ll see you at midnight then, Gerda.”