'It was made with your branch in Kansas City,’ said Avedissian, trying a last resort.
'Kansas City?' said the voice. 'You didn't say that. I assumed that this was a local arrangement.’
'No,’ said Avedissian, walking a tightrope of nerves.
'One moment, please.’
Avedissian found the delay excruciating. The spectre of police cars already whining their way towards the Lehman place haunted him.
'Hello, caller?'
'I'm still here.’
'We have confirmed the arrangement with Kansas City and have a copy of the voice print. Are you ready?'
'Yes,’ croaked Avedissian, for his mouth had gone dry. He fingered the recorder button in readiness.
'At the tone, give the password…’ bleep.
Click… 'ARCHIMEDES.’
'Transfer is complete, caller. The money has been credited to your account.'
Avedissian put down the phone and felt weak at the knees. It had worked! It had actually worked! There was now twenty-five million dollars in the account he had just opened. He went outside but did not have to tell Kathleen for she read it in his face. She smiled.
They left the Lehman place after breakfast next morning after telling Rosa Lehman that they had had to change their plans and were heading south to St Louis, Missouri. She wished them well and waved to them from the gate as they drove off. They filled the car's tank at a local gas station and bought a route map at the same time, for it was Avedissian's intention to head north-west on country roads, the more remote the better. They had agreed that, whenever they had to stop for petrol or supplies, the child should be kept very much in evidence, thus promoting their image as a family on the move rather than an English couple who might provoke memories of the newspaper article.
The day grew hot and Harry began to get restless as they drove across seemingly endless deserts of corn. Occasionally they would see a farm vehicle in the distance or, more usually, a dust cloud thrown up by something moving along a far-off dirt road but, for the main, they were alone on the road.
'I think he's thirsty,' said Kathleen.
'Me too,’ said Avedissian. 'We'll stop when we find some place.'
The vision of ice-cold Coke was snatched from them by the sound of tortured metal being turned against its will. Avedissian stopped the car and got out, fearing the worst. He was not disappointed. When he looked underneath the differential casing looked red-hot. Blue smoke was curling out from what Avedissian could see was a crack in the metal.
‘The car is finished,' he said. 'We've lost all the oil from the rear axle. It's seized up.'
Kathleen and Harry got out to survey the useless heap of metal and stood in silence before it in the burning heat.
'Do you know where we are?' asked Kathleen quietly.
'Not really.'
'Maybe we can thumb a lift?'
'Maybe,' replied Avedissian but he was thinking of how little traffic they had come across on this route. That had been the whole idea. 'We can’t just leave the car at the side of the road,' he said. The police will find it and identify it as the car from the motel. Innes and NORAID will be waiting for news of the car too. We could have them all down our necks.'
'What do you suggest?' asked Kathleen, looking at the cornfields. There's no place to hide it.'
'We'll get it off the road anyway. Anything that gives us a bit more time.'
Avedissian set the steering wheel and let off the brake. He put his back against the front grille and dug in his heels to get purchase before heaving. Sweat glistened on his face as the car edged slowly back. Kathleen and Harry helped by adding their weight to the wing until, with painful slowness, the rear wheels cleared the apron of the road and eased over the edge on to a slight downhill run.
'Heave!' groaned Avedissian, putting in a final effort to impart as much momentum to the car as possible. It rolled back about twenty feet into the corn and stopped for ever as far as they were concerned. 'Better than nothing,' said Avedissian, doing his best to disguise the path of the car's entry into the corn.
Half an hour passed without any vehicle coming along the road. The sun was now unbearably hot and thirst was becoming a fixation, then Avedissian had an idea. He got up from where they had been sitting at the edge of the road and said, 'Maybe we can drink the contents of the windscreen washer in the car.'
Kathleen watched as Avedissian waded through the corn to reach the car and released the hood to look for the screen wash bottle. He removed the cap and stuck in his fingers before putting them up to his mouth. 'Water!' he exclaimed. 'Plain water!'
The bottle was clamped to the wing valance with a metal band. Avedissian found an adjustable spanner in the back and released it. He brought the bottle over to Harry and Kathleen and they took turns at drinking. 'You're a genius,’ gasped Kathleen after taking her turn.
'If I was I'd know how to get us out of this mess,’ said Avedissian.
'Stop blaming yourself,’ pleaded Kathleen. 'Somebody will be along soon. You'll see.
Avedissian smiled and Kathleen got up to look along the road. She put her hand to her eyes and stood on tip-toe saying, 'That just might be a dust cloud in the distance.’ She was craning her neck as she spoke. She took a few steps forward without looking where she was putting her feet and tripped over a stone to go tumbling down the bank and into a shallow ditch. Avedissian sprang to his feet in alarm but Kathleen laughed and assured him that she was all right. She was sitting up in the ditch looking more embarrassed than injured.
'Out you come,’ smiled Avedissian but the smile froze on his face as he saw something move in the dirt beside her. 'Look out!' he yelled but the warning came too late. The snake had sunk its fangs deep into Kathleen's leg and her scream rent the air. She rolled over in panic and Avedissian could see that the snake had not left her. It was preparing to bite again as he threw himself down the bank and struck out with the adjustable spanner that was still in his hand. The blow did not kill the snake outright but he managed to get a grip on it, holding it firmly behind the head so that it could not strike at him. He held it against a rock to bring down the spanner on its head and destroy it with all the fear and anger he felt behind the blow.
Kathleen was in a state of shock and trembling uncontrollably when Avedissian examined the wound. He did his best to clean it up with water from the screen bottle and encourage bleeding from the site of entry but knew that a great deal of the venom had got into her body. Harry was sitting on the edge of the ditch with terror in his eyes. Something terrible had happened to the lady who was kind to him. Kathleen caught sight of Harry and managed to control her fear and pain. 'It's all right,’ she said, looking directly at him. 'Come!' She held out her hand and Harry came towards her uncertainly and took it. 'Just you sit there,’ she said.
Kathleen turned to Avedissian and asked, 'Am I going to die?'
'I think it was some kind of viper,’ said Avedissian. 'I don't think the bite will be fatal but you will have a lot of pain. We really have to get you to a doctor with anti-serum.’
‘That sounded like the truth,’ said Kathleen.
'It was,’ said Avedissian. He got up and climbed up to the road to look along it in both directions. 'Please, God,’ he murmured. 'Just one lousy car.’
ELEVEN
It was twenty minutes before Avedissian's prayer was answered. At first he thought that his ears were deceiving him but the sound grew louder and louder until he could see the dusty farm truck coming towards them. He left Kathleen by the verge and stood in the middle of the road with his arms raised. The vehicle stopped and the driver, an elderly man wearing bib overalls, looked out of the cab. 'What's your problem?' he asked.
'My wife's been bitten by a snake.'