Dr Fu Manchu came in, and began, step by feline step, slowly, to approach the cringing woman. His taloned fingers opened and closed as though itching to clutch her throat. A pair of those stocky Burmese whom he used as bodyguards stepped in behind him. They carried heavy automatics, "Little serpent!" he hissed in Chinese. "Bred of an evil mother. Why have I cherished you so long? Again and again you have struck at me, treacherously. Again and again I have relented in my purpose to destroy you."
Fah Lo Suee shrank back and back. Relentlessly, he contin ued to draw nearer. Without removing that deathly glance from her face, he spoke aside:
"One movement, Nayland Smith, and it will be your last." He advanced another step towards his daughter. "I know, now, but too late, why you begged to be transferred from Java and sent here upon this mission. To betray me! To ruin my labours! To seek out this man — my deadliest enemy — for whom your sensual infatuation has already cost me so dearlyl"
"It isn't true!"
The words came as a whisper, from blanched lips.
"Be silent. Prepare to die with dignity."
As if this sentence of death, for it was no less, had struck some new chord in that complex soul. Pah Lo Suee raised her dark head, and pale, motionless, faced the terrible Doctor.
"You have seen death by the Wire Jacket, in the Six Gates of Wisdom. Such a death as this you merit." Fah Lo Suee did not flinch — but Nayland Smith did. "Since you must die tonight, this cannot be. When your body is found, it will be known that in death as in life you belonged to the SiFan."
From an inner pocket, Dr Fu Manchu took out a small metal box, opened it and snapped up a blue flame. It emitted a slight hissing sound. Nayland Smith clenched his fists, but the bodyguard had drawn nearer. Two barrels were jammed into his ribs.
Fu Manchu delicately extracted a metal seal from the box; grasped Fah Lo Suee with his left arm and pressed the seal to her shoulder. She uttered never a sound. But Smith had a glimpse of clenched white teeth between parted lips.
A muffled explosion shook the cellar. The lamp went out. Harkness' raiding party had blasted one of the steel doors.
Out of utter darkness, Fu Manchu spoke:
"Your last triumph. Sir Denis! My careful plans to force the United States government to act with me, and not against me, are shattered. And so, we must part."
The presence of the pistol barrels prohibited any action. Nayland Smith stood still. A theory which he had always held that Dr Fu Manchu could see in the dark, was now strengthened. Horror, a frenzied imagination, might have been responsible. But he thought those emerald green eyes were visibly watching him!
Then, they were gone.
A sharp order in what he recognised as a Shan dialect was spoken. There were faint movements.
The beam of a lamp was directed fully upon him from the hidden opening. The two men retired, covering him all the time. The light was switched off. ' "Good-by, Sir Denis," he heard, in that unforgettable voice.
Silence.
Drenched in perspiration, he threw off the green gown, dragged out his pocket torch, snapped it on and ran to the draped wall.
He wrenched the hangings bodily from their moorings, and began feverishly, to examine the surface behind.
He could find no trace of the concealed door.
But he was still searching for it, when clinging arms crept around him. He turned. And, before he could resist her, Fah Lo Suee's lips were locked to his own.
"Our long battles are over, Denis!" It was a breathless whisper. "We shall die together."
A second explosion rocked the cellar.
Nayland Smith freed himself — but gently. There was madness in that possessive kiss, and he had seen, indelibly seared on one white shoulder, the sign of the Si-Fan:
"What of the stairs?" He spoke hoarsely.
"The door at the top is locked. Those in charge will have escaped. Forgive me for all that has been in the past — for this, too. Promise, when the end comes, that you will hold me in your arms. My courage — might fail."
"I am far from beaten, yetl"
"But listeni"
Nayland Smith listened… to a sound which chilled his heart.
"The cellars are being flooded!"
"Yes. We have four minutes… "
A beam of light suddenly split the gloom, glittered evilly on rivulets of water pouring across the floor.
"Oh, God! he has returned!"
This time, Nayland Smith's automatic was ready as the hidden door slid noiselessly open. A cloaked figure stood there, stooping, peering in. Behind him, someone held a bright lamp.
"Who?.."
He was checked by a wild cry from Fah Lo Sueel "Huan! Oh, my dearest old friend! God bless you! Dear Father Huan!"
She ran across and threw herself into the extended arms of Huan Tsung — for indeed it was that ancient mandarin who stood there. He clasped her, tenderly, stooping a wrinkled face to kiss her hair.
"Little white lily blossom! How your heart beats." He spoke Chinese, in which Fah Lo Suee had spoken. "Almost you adventured too greatly. But time heals all things — even the wrath of Dr Fu Manchu. And a day must come when Excellency will rejoice to learn that his beloved daughter did not die the death of a drowned rat."
"Where is he?"
Fah Lo Suee's face was hidden against Huan Tsung's shoulder.
"I have induced Excellency, in this great urgency, to rejoin the plane in which we came — a mode of travel unsuited to my advanced years." He raised twinkling old eyes and spoke in English. "Sir Denis — you have never failed to exhibit towards me the most correct and formal courtesy. In return, I wish to give you some advice, and to make my own position clear."
"He must go free!" Fah Lo Suee raised her eyes to the parchment face. "I insist, he must go, tool"
Huang Tsung stroked her hair. But he was watching Nay-land Smith.
"Beyond doubt. Sir Denis, those distinguished men now held at headquarters will be detained until these cellars have been pumped out. I fear, if your body should be found here, our five friends would proceed from prison to the execution shed."
"I agree," Smith rapped.
"But, failing such a discovery, it is not clear to me what charge can be preferred against them. You can do us no more harm than you have done already. Even if these men could be identified as members of our Order, they have committed no breach of the penal code with which I am familiar."
Nayland Smith remained silent. He knew exactly what the master diplomat was going to say.
"And I believe. Sir Denis, you yourself, an officer of the law, would hesitate to identify any one of them?"
It was an evasion, but in the circumstances, an acceptable evasion.
"Since I have not seen their faces, legally it would be improper for me to do so."
"A prudent decision. I fear they will be marked men. Yet, as no crime has been committed here tonight, I trust they will be released. But we are wasting time. The water already approaches my knees, which, as I am subject to rheumatism, is regrettable." He turned Fah Lo Suee about so that she faced the stair. "My daughter tells me that she promised to be waiting for you. Members of my family always fulfil their promises. Here she is."
It was Mai Cha who stood holding-the light.
Fah Lo Suee twisted around, looked back.
"You promised… "
"Precede me. Lily Blossom, with Mai Cha. Sir Denis is safe."
"But ** "Precede me, child!"
The suave diplomat had become submerged. It was the word of command, spoken by one used to obedience.
Fah Lo Suee looked back once more, but Nayland Smith and old General Huan Tsung Chao were lost in shadows far behind.
It was an incredible maze of passages through which Nay-land Smith was led by his aged guide. Once they came out under the stars, in a narrow court, crossed it and entered a house beyond. Here, again, they descended to cellars, finally to climb up to an odorous Chinese grocery store.