Run, Spy, Run

The man had been badly hurt the night before but he was as strong as a bull and struggling with the wild, intense fury of a wounded animal.

"Julie! The Luger!"

Judas kicked savagely at Nick and squirmed with his body like some thick-shouldered serpent. Nick held on and then suddenly ducked and pulled the heavy body down over his shoulders. Then he was up again. Dimly, he saw sweat on the globular face. The massive arm muscles strained with effort. Nick kept turning and turning…At last the thick fingers straightened and the snub-nosed gun dropped on the floor. Nick scooped it up and leapt back, pointing at Judas.

"Don't shoot!" Judas screamed at him. "Don't shoot! I tell you you'll die and Harcourt will die!" He bounced back on his feet and reached out his hand.

Coldly, Nick shot at it.

Judas grunted, tried to clutch his hand, but had nothing to clutch it with. Blood drooled down a shapeless mass protruding from his left sleeve.

Julie was on the far side of the overturned table with the Luger in her hand. The look of disgust had been wiped away by a look of astonishment — and then hope.

Judas was still trying frantically to do something with his hand, but the mask of pain had become a mask of hatred.

Through his bared teeth he said, "For that, Cane, you die."

"You're as dead as we are, Judas. Deader. And now we really have some talking to do. Sit down. Sit down."

Judas sat, not taking his agonized eyes off Carter's face.

"Yes, we have some talking, Cane." His thin voice came from a distance. "Perhaps I am as dead as you.

But remember what you said last night? I'll take you with me."

"Is that the cellar door?" Nick gestured with the gun.

"Forget the cellar door. I am less a bluffer than you turned out to be. Pay close attention to what I say. This house and all it holds is prepared for instant destruction." He paused and swallowed painfully.

"Keep your eyes on both doors, Julie," Nick cut in. "We may have company coming."

"No company, Cane. Just Death. Even now, as we sit here talking, there are strategically planted magneto charges all over the structure. Oh, there's no need to sneer. I'm an expert in demolitions. Big ones, anyway." The white-hot hatred still flashed in his eyes. "Those charges, in turn, will trigger a full payload of TNT. A payload sufficient to raze this entire block of houses." He was talking very slowly and deliberately. "It is timed to the minute. For this one, there will be no mistake. I set it myself. We made our appointment for nine. I allowed you twenty minutes to arrive and allotted a half hour for our transaction. Do you have the time now, Mr. Cane? It must be nearly up."

"Julie?" Nick kept his eyes on Judas.

"Ten… nine minutes to ten," she reported.

"And ten minutes to make our farewells. It seems I planned it fairly accurately."

"Just what are you trying to bargain for, Judas?"

"My life, Cane. We can all leave here alive. Or none of us need leave at all. Even if you killed me now you could never find the device in time — and I am sure you would not leave Harcourt in the cellar to the tender mercies of TNT. No, Mr. Cane. You will have to let me disarm the device — or die."

Julie sneered. "Fu Manchu rides again and falls on face. He's bluffing, Peter. Worse than you did."

Judas' bandaged head sprang angrily in her direction.

"Am I, dear lady? Very well. But don't forget that Cane's gambit was no bluff; it was a very treacherous trap. Wait another eight minutes and we shall all see for ourselves if what I say is true."

Nick's mind was racing.

"You don't want to die either, Judas. Why should we believe you'd rig a scheme like this?"

"You can believe it, Cane, because you can see I have none of my colleagues with me. They don't want to die. As for me, I am a fatalist. I was a physical tragedy at birth, and later — you see my hand. My hands, perhaps I ought to say. Aside from that…" His strange eyes shone. "I have always hoped to die by demolition. Not just to be mutilated, but to die grandly in a vast explosion of my own making. To expire like a flaming Roman candle strikes me as a glorious finale to a brilliant career. Wouldn't you say?"

"I'd say he's either crazy or stalling for time," said Julie harshly. "Make him show you the timer, Peter. We've got to get Harcourt out of here."

Nick shook his head. "So far we've had no proof that Harcourt really is here. I asked you, Judas — where is he?"

Judas sighed. "In the cellar, my dear Cane. I told you that. Yes, that's the cellar door. But do hurry if you want to look. Time grows short. We have less than seven minutes."

"Julie. Go and see. Keep that Luger cocked. Quick, now."

She darted to the door and flung it open. Her high heels clattered down the stairs.

Blood was seeping through Judas' right pocket.

Within seconds Julia was back, breathing quickly.

"He's there all right. Tied down to the table and out like a light. But breathing. Shall I cut him loose?"

"Yes. Need a knife?"

"No, I…"