Dark vendetta, p.13
Dark Vendetta, page 13
“No, Larren.” Kendall pulled himself out of his lethargy of despair to answer, “You can’t blame yourself for that.” He leaned forward in his seat and went on grimly. “Besides, now that we know that he’s dead, that part of it is all over. The problem now is pure and simple — how much did he tell them?”
“He may not have told them anything.”
“Don’t be a fool!” Kendall spoke the words angrily but almost immediately he clamped his emotions under control again. He went on more quietly. “He didn’t die on them, Larren, he was shot.”
“Not necessarily. Dressler and Reutall have broken away from the tong, remember. The tong was hiding them out before, but now that Dressler has turned them against him they may have made things too hot for him. It’s possible that he and Reutall may have had to get rid of Maclean fast in order to escape back into China before getting decorated with a couple of those fancy hatchets.”
Kendall said slowly, “That’s possible, but even if that was the case I think they would have tried to smuggle Maclean away with them. They wouldn’t have got rid of him until they had got what they wanted. But was Maclean able to satisfy them merely with Vigilant’s position — or was he forced to reveal that Mason’s strike party was on the mainland as well?”
Larren couldn’t answer that, but after a thoughtful pause Kendall spoke again.
“Maclean knew that the important thing was to make sure that the Communists don’t get even the glimmer of suspicion about the strike party,” he mused. “So he would definitely attempt to make Dressler believe that Vigilant’s position was the only thing that he could tell them.” He swung round suddenly on Larren. “You know Dressler better than anyone else, do you think Maclean could have convinced him?”
Larren grimaced. “It’s hard to say because I don’t know Maclean. But I do know that anyone would have a hard task in fooling Dressler. The man’s as cold as a dead fish and as heartless as a block of solid stone, and if he only suspected that Maclean was holding something back he would let Reutall continue his sadistic little experiments.”
Kendall wiped a smear of perspiration away from his temples with the back of his hand and shifted his weight uncomfortably in the close interior of the car. His responsibilities weighed down upon him like an invisible shroud.
He said desperately, “If only we knew where to find those two murdering friends of yours.”
Larren answered him bleakly. “Whatever happened they’re probably back over the frontier by now. They wouldn’t risk staying in Hong Kong with both the police and the tong killers looking for them.”
“You’re most likely right, now that Maclean’s dead they’ve got nothing to keep them here, they’ll have gone back to report.”
Larren hesitated. “What happens if Maclean did spill everything?” he queried at last. “Is there anything we can do to help Mason and his party?”
“There’s nothing,” Kendall almost snarled. “Nothing that will do any good. I’ll see that they’re warned when they next make radio contact with Watchful, but that won’t be until dawn tomorrow, and even if they’re still free they won’t stand any chance of escaping the net once a real search for them gets under way. If Maclean has told everything, then I’m afraid that Paul Mason and his companions have nothing better to look forward to than the inside of a Chinese prison.”
It was not until the early hours of the following morning that Larren finally returned to his hotel. He had spent the whole day with Kendall desperately trying to find some lead that might take them to Dressler, for even though they were almost certain that both Dressler and Reutall were out of their reach they still had to consider the remote possibility that the two men just might have remained in Hong Kong. However, they had achieved nothing. They had badgered the unfortunate Superintendent Chappel into re-questioning every known friend of the dead tong man Cheng Kia in the hope of getting another lead to the missing Maxine, but it had proved to be a waste of their time and his. They had also checked on the movements of every other known Communist agent, or suspected agent, in the twin cities of Hong Kong and Kowloon with equally negative results. And finally they had both visited the jail cell where Nancy Kang was being held, and had received only a fresh string of filthy curses for their pains.
After that they had had no choice but to give up. Kendall had returned to Naval Headquarters in order to receive the latest signal from Mason as soon as it came through, and Larren had decided to snatch a few hours’ sleep before he was needed again. His headache had returned and he knew that he needed a stiff drink and some rest to clear his mind properly.
The desk clerk gave him a sleepy nod as he entered the hotel and climbed the stairs. His room was on the first floor and he paused outside the door to fumble for his key. He twisted the key in the lock and pushed the door open, and as he crossed the threshold his hand reached for the light switch. Before he could find it a massive arm locked swiftly around his throat.
Larren choked hoarsely as the giant figure who had stepped from behind the door dragged him bodily into the room. In the same moment he saw a second dark shape in front of him and then the door was closed behind him and the room was pitch black.
The ferocious armlock on his neck was unbreakable, and before he really had a chance to fight back his left arm was being twisted up behind his back in an equally solid grip.
Then the light clicked on and he saw the slight, ponytailed figure of Maxine facing him with a revolver in her slim hand.
The powerful giant that held him was the Mongol Kolo.
CHAPTER 14: SILENCE
Larren relaxed slowly in the fast grip of the Mongol’s embrace, and for the moment he was unable to move. Maxine was watching him with a wary look in her dark eyes, her small hand held the gun pointing steadily at his middle but the expression on her fragile face was momentarily undecided.
Then suddenly she said, “Release him, Kolo.”
The Mongol hesitated and then slackened his grip on Larren’s arm and throat. Maxine gave him a sharp look and somewhat reluctantly he stepped back out of the way.
Larren drew a deep breath and gingerly explored around his throat with his fingers. The massive Kolo was watching him closely with obvious distrust; he was wearing a cheap shirt and a pair of normal trousers, and he looked somewhat clumsy compared to the picture he had presented in the brief loincloth when he had attempted to kill Larren at the tong temple at Cheng Kia’s home. The bald dome of his head was shining beneath the electric light above him, and his solid features looked strangely petulant, as though he had hoped that Maxine would give him another chance to use his bare and murderous hands.
Maxine said quietly, “I came to thank you, Simon, for saving my life aboard the junk.”
Larren looked at the revolver in her hand and then at the waiting Mongol.
“Is that all?”
“No.” Her face was troubled and she came slightly nearer. “I also came to warn you, to give you a chance to save your friends. The man named Maclean broke down under Reutall’s torturing, and he told them that there are five men on the mainland of China who are trying to reach your sunken submarine and destroy the most important pieces of her equipment. So now Dressler and Reutall have gone back to China to make sure that your friends are either captured or killed.”
Larren’s unsmiling mouth became a fraction harder as he looked into her dark eyes, and something in the unflinching sadness that he saw there told him that she spoke the truth. He suddenly knew too that she would not use the gun, and he turned and took a few paces to the small table that held his medicinal whisky. Kolo tensed eagerly, but when he received no sign from Maxine he relaxed.
Larren poured himself a large, neat drink and poured it down his throat in one long movement. So now we know, he thought bitterly, Mason and his men are walking right into a trap. He turned very slowly to face Maxine again and said:
“Thank you, Maxine. But why the gun?”
She said slowly, “The police are searching for me because of my activities with Red Hatchet Tong. Your people want me too.”
He shrugged. “You can put it away. I won’t turn you in.”
Her eyes studied him for a few moments and then she abruptly lowered the gun. She had a small handbag in her free hand and she slipped the gun inside and snapped the clasp shut. Then she looked at him again. Her face was lightly powdered and she wore another high-necked dress with the traditional slit up one thigh. She waited silently for him to speak.
He said at last, “How can you be sure that Maclean told everything? I thought that you had finished with Dressler.”
“I was not finished — if I could have found him I would have killed him.” Her voice was cold and hard. “However, I could not find out where he had gone. He fled from the junk and vanished completely. I would not know now what had happened if he had not taken Kolo with him.”
Larren spared another glance for her silent bodyguard, and when he turned his gaze back to Maxine he found that she had moved suddenly closer.
She said hesitantly. “Kolo was ashore when you and I fled from the junk, and when he returned Dressler was preparing to move.” She looked into Larren’s face as though she half expected him to disbelieve her story and went on. “Dressler needed Kolo’s strength to help him to carry Maclean away, so he told him that you had escaped and that Tao Shen and I were chasing you. He also claimed that I had said that Kolo was to follow his orders, so my poor Kolo obeyed him.”
Larren suddenly realised that she was concerned for the giant, and was trying to clear him of any blame over Maclean’s death.
“They ordered Kolo to carry Maclean aboard an empty sampan.” Maxine fidgeted as she spoke. “Then Kolo poled them out into the harbour and they sailed to some other junk shelter in one of the bays around the New Territories. He was there when they tortured Maclean and he heard Maclean tell them all that he knew. Then Dressler shot your friend and dumped the body in the harbour. They sailed back into the bay and Dressler spoke of returning to China and settling with your other friends.”
Maxine faltered again and then said, “It was after this that Kolo began to realise that all was not well. He could not understand why neither I nor Tao Shen had returned. So when Reutall and Dressler left him he found his way back to Kowloon, and from there he went to another of our concealed temples. The guardians there knew where to find me and I hurried over there to fetch him. I made him tell me all that he could remember, and then I came over here to warn you.”
Larren said slowly, “Is he certain that Dressler and Reutall have already left Hong Kong?”
“He is as certain as it is possible for him to be. His is a devoted servant. He has protected me ever since I was a child. He did nothing to help your Commander Maclean because he was told that I wished him to obey Dressler.” She licked her lips delicately and added, “Kolo is not really cruel, he has nothing but his great strength and he enjoys the use of his muscles, but he would not harm anyone unless I ordered it.”
Larren slowly poured himself another drink, he was not particularly interested in Kolo and his mind was busy with the problem of Reutall and Dressler. He wanted those two men badly — wanted to watch them die as Andrea had died — and now the thought that they had again escaped him stirred a pool of bitterness inside him. He threw the drink back angrily and suddenly decided to get drunk.
Maxine’s hand closed with an unexpected firmness over his wrist as he reached again for the bottle, and he hesitated, looking into her eyes and finding them again filled with sadness.
She said softly: “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Larren said nothing, but he made no effort to resist as she pulled his hand away from the whisky bottle. He thought of Andrea again, but forced himself to recognise that there were stronger, living loyalties that must be placed above his own dark vendetta; he still had a job to do for Alan Kendall.
He cleared his mind and looked down at Maxine.
“It might help if you could tell me how the tong came to be mixed up with Dressler and Reutall?”
For a moment it seemed that he had asked the wrong question, one that she would refuse to answer.
But at last she said:
“It was through my brother Cheng, he was a leader of the tong but in the last few years he had also become a firm Communist. Cheng was an idealist who could see only the hopeless dreams of Communism and not the stark realities. He began to use his power as a tong man to help the Communists, and at first there was big trouble between him and other leaders of the tong. Then Dressler came, and brought with him flowery promises to say that in return for help now the leaders of Red Hatchet Tong would be granted high places in the new government when the British lease expires and the Chinese regain Hong Kong; the sons of Red Hatchet Tong would wield the same power as our fathers and with these promises Cheng gained the support of the tong for Dressler.”
Maxine drew an angry breath and added vehemently. “It was a black day for us when we listened to Dressler. Now my brother Cheng is dead; Tao Shen is dead; the police are forcing us back underground; and we now know that Dressler’s word meant nothing.”
Larren said slowly, “I’m sorry.” He listened to his own words and realised that it was incredible that he should be standing here and expressing sympathy with the ritual killers who had butchered Maclean’s wife, daughter and servants. But as far as Maxine Kia was concerned he knew that he was sincere.
Maxine sensed something of his thoughts for she said in a low voice. “Perhaps I am a bad woman for owing loyalty to the tong; but both my father and my brother were powerful tong men, and the vivid words of men who can speak well can make any action — even murder — seem justified when it is done to aid a political ideal.”
Larren’s mind strayed back to the dark days of 1944 when he too had butchered with a knife while in enemy territory, and he knew that he of all people could pass no judgment on Maxine Kia. He said simply:
“What you have told me may be of help to Lieutenant-Commander Kendall, and I’ll pass it on. At least we now know for certain that Dressler has gone back to China, and that’ll save us from chasing our tails around Hong Kong. I wish I knew how to thank you.”
Maxine hesitated, the deep gaze of her dark eyes searching his face. Then she turned to face the waiting Mongol.
“Go outside, Kolo. Wait for me there,” she ordered quietly.
The Mongol stared at her and then turned his resentful eyes towards Larren.
“It’s all right, Kolo. I shall be quite safe.”
Slowly the giant turned away and went to the door. He stopped there and looked back over his shoulder, the perspiration glistened on the gleaming dome of his head and his eyes held a look of distrust. He shook his head uncomprehendingly and then obediently closed the door behind him.
Larren remained waiting as Maxine moved close against him.
“Simon,” she faltered. “There is so much that I have to thank you for too.”
Without waiting for an answer she swept her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to find his mouth with her lips. Larren held her gently, feeling her arms link behind him as her slim body trembled in his arms. Her seeking lips were soft and pliant under his own and her eyes were closed below the light arc of her brows. She answered his returning kiss with a feverish intensity that gave an unexpected strength and suppleness to her tightly-clinging body, and slowly his arms lost their gentleness as he crushed her against his chest.
“Simon —” she moaned his name fretfully through their kiss — “Simon — Oh, Simon…”
Larren’s hand moved lightly in responsive searching, caressing the trembling lines of her shoulders and tracing the soft contours of her body. He felt the smooth flesh of her thigh where her dress was slit above the top of her stocking and his touch sent a shiver of ecstasy throughout her limbs.
Their mouths parted for an instant and she pleaded huskily:
“Take me, Simon. If you want me, take me. Dressler would have killed me if you had not saved me from him, and I owe you everything. Everything, Simon, my body, heart and soul.”
His fingers found the zip that released her dress and he pulled it down, and as the material fell away from her shoulders the begging eagerness of her taut body told him that it was more than gratitude that spurred her on. There was nothing submissive or dutiful about her approach, there was just a raw and striving hunger; she needed him far more than he needed her.
However, as the dress settled in a whispering heap on the floor, Larren swung one arm beneath her knees and lifted her up. He had to push the bedroom door open with his knee and her lips were still locked against his own as he carried her inside.
Larren’s head was again aching when he returned to Naval Headquarters a few hours later, and he tried unsuccessfully to convince himself that the episode with Maxine Kia had refreshed him as much as would the brief sleep he had intended to snatch. Now he had to report to Alan Kendall.
The young Lieutenant-Commander had moved permanently into the office that had been Maclean’s, and Larren found him slumped wearily behind his big desk. He looked up as Larren came in and Larren saw lines of tiredness etched around the other’s face; Kendall had obviously had no sleep either.
“Any developments?” Larren asked.
Kendall shook his head. “I’m waiting for Watchful to report by radio. They’ll warn Mason of what’s happened here when he contacts them — that’s if he’s still in any position to make contact.”
Larren sat down and quietly outlined all that Maxine had told him. Kendall listened, his face growing gradually harder.
At last the Naval man said, “It’s no more than we expected. It was futile of us to hope otherwise.”
There was silence in the large office, and neither man was willing to break it. They had failed Mason and his men and there was nothing to say that would have any point or meaning. Outside the large window the dawn was breaking, a dim fading of the darkness that failed to bring any cheer into the room where the two men sat.
