‘I remember what you said when last we met,’ Malik went on from out of the darkness, ‘that we are professionals and the little stinkers who pull the strings are the amateurs. I’ve often thought about that. We both have to earn a living, do what we are told… I much more than you, but there comes a time when it is possible to hit back at the little stinkers. You walked out on Dorey… I have my chance now to get even with Kovski.’
‘Comrade Kovski… how is he?’ Girland asked lightly.
‘Better than he is going to be,’ Malik said grimly. ‘He has given me the assignment to find out why Sherman came to Paris, why Dorey gave you a movie projector and why you have come to Bavaria.’
‘How are you progressing?’
‘Well enough.’ Malik drew on his cigarette, and for a brief moment the glowing end of the cigarette lit up his square, Slavonic features. ‘This girl has made a pornographic film. With this film, she is blackmailing her father. She is a member of an anti-war organisation, run by Rosnold, a pornographic photographer who is now dead.
Sherman went to Dorey for help. Dorey realised he couldn’t make this official so he appealed to you. You followed these two to Garmisch. Somehow Herman Radnitz heard of this. This is his Schloss. You were invited… you fell for the invitation and now you are trapped here. I followed you here. I saw Rosnold shot. I saw a man leave in Rosnold’s car.
He is being followed. I climbed over the wall and here I am.’
Girland grinned in the darkness.
‘Pretty sound work, Malik,’ he said. ‘You’re right on the beam. The man using Rosnold’s car has gone to get the films…there are three of them. When they have them, they will knock the girl on the head and that will conclude the operation.’
‘Knock you on the head too?’
‘Certain to.’
‘Why wait? We can leave now,’ Malik said. ‘We can get down by the rope. I came up by it. There are three men guarding the lodge at the gates. That is where the switch is operating the current to the walls. You and I could take them easily and we are away. My gun is silenced.’
‘The girl couldn’t get down the rope’
‘Does she matter? Why not leave her?’
‘No… besides, there is a slight complication.’ Girland grinned in the darkness. Tm not leaving until I get those three films. The girl and I remain here until the messenger returns. He won’t be back before 18.00 hrs. tomorrow.’
‘I see. Sherman is paying you of course.’
‘Why else do you imagine I’m sticking my neck out?’
Malik dropped the butt of his cigarette on the floor and put his foot on it.
‘You have always been obsessed by money.’
‘Aren’t you?’
‘No… because in my country you don’t have much money… you don’t get the chance to put a value on it. So you will stay here until the films arrive… then what do you propose to do?’
‘ Get them and walk out.’
‘Then what do you propose to do?’ Malik repeated, a note of
impatience in his voice.
‘What I said. I’ll stick a gun in the count’s well-fed back and make him drive us out of here.’
Malik remained silent for a long moment.
‘So I have to stay here with you until 18.00 hrs. tomorrow?’
‘You don’t have to.’
‘I said I would help you. You can’t do this on your own with the girl. You need someone to guard your back. A quick shot through the back of your head and the operation fails. There is an expert gunman here. Did you see how he picked off Rosnold? A perfect shot through the head. You wouldn’t stand a chance.’
Girland rubbed his jaw.
‘I’m going to get those films. They are worth ten thousand dollars to me. I’m going to wait for them to arrive.’
Malik flashed on his flashlight and looked at his cheap Czech watch. The time was 02.00 hrs.
‘Then we have sixteen hours to wait,’ he said.
That’s about right.’
‘Without food?’
I’ll get some from downstairs later.’
‘Don’t under-rate that gunman. He is a first-class shot.’
Girland stood up.
‘So you are sticking with me?’
‘Yes.’
‘I can use you… thanks. Let’s get some sleep. There’s abed in the room next to this one. Sleep lightly.’
‘I don’t need sleep,’ Malik said curtly. ‘You take the bed. I’ll keep watch.’
Girland wasn’t going to argue about this. He liked his sleep.
He went down the room to where Gilly was waiting.
‘Come on… we’re going back to the four-poster. Malik will keep watch,’ he said to her.
She followed him silently past Malik. They paused in tjie doorway, saw the guard was still sleeping at the head of the stairs and slipped silently into the room they had previously occupied. They stretched out on the bed.
‘I don’t understand,’ Gilly said as she lay beside Girland. ‘Is that man really a Russian agent?
‘He’s probably the best of all their agents.’
‘Then what is he doing here?’
‘Russia wouldn’t welcome your father as President. Don’t bother your brains about it. I’m going to sleep.’ Gilly half sat up.
‘But how could the Russians get to know about me?’
‘The Russians always make capital out of reckless and stupid acts,’ Girland said. ‘You’ve handed them something on a plate, but don’t bother your brains about it. I’m going to sleep.’
He was asleep long before Gilly finally drifted off into an uneasy doze. The hours ticked away. At six-thirty, the first light of the dawn came through the slots in the wooden shutters and Girland came awake.
He yawned, stretched and slid off the bed.
Gilly started up.
‘Wait here,’ he said and moved silently to the door. He eased it open and looked down the long corridor. The guard was gone. He looked towards the double doors of the banqueting room. Malik was sitting in the half-open doorway, smoking.
‘The guard left half an hour ago,’ Malik said softly. ‘There’s a bathroom right opposite. I’ve been doing a little exploring.’
He got to his feet and joined Girland.
‘Nothing happened?’
Malik shook his head.
‘That rope might not bluff them. They could search the whole place.’
‘We’ll wait until they do.’
Having made his toilet, Girland returned to the bedroom and led Gilly to the bathroom.
‘The guards have gone,’ he told her. ‘Go ahead, but be quick.’
It was while she was in the bathroom, they heard sounds of activity going on downstairs. Girland went cautiously down the corridor and peered over the banister rail. He could see the fourth and third stair heads. No one was guarding them.
He could hear the murmur of voices from the ground floor, but couldn’t hear what was being said. He returned to Malik.
Gilly came from the bathroom. In the dim light coming through the shutters, she looked pale and scared.
‘They will find the rope pretty soon,’ Girlandsaid. ‘Now the staircase isn’t guarded, we’ll go up to the next floor. They are certain to come up here.’
Malik nodded.
The three moved down the corridor, paused at the foot of the staircase leading to the sixth floor, listened, then Girland drawing his gun, went up silently. Edging around the bend in the staircase, he assured himself no one was up there and he signalled for Gilly and Malik to come up.
‘We’ll wait here and see what happens,’ he said and sat down on the carpet, his back against the wall, just out of sight of the stair head. The other two joined him. T could do with a pint of coffee with eggs and lashings of bacon,’ he went on.
Malik eyed him, but said nothing. He disapproved of such weakness. Gilly grimaced. The thought of food, in her present state of panic, revolted her.