The Kremlin File

The girl looked insulted. “Do I look undressed?”

“Stay here with the doctor. If anyone comes, shoot if you have to, but try a con first.”

Lambie and Caco vanished along the dark road. I went down beyond the houses that faced the hill. The cottages were jammed against each other, with another row backed up to them. When there weren’t any more houses, I was in jungle, the lanterns blinking farther ahead. Fern and green creepers cushioned any sound I might make. I flanked the jeep and eased out until I could see the patrol. I couldn’t understand the words but whatever Lambie and Caco were saying must have been hilarious. The soldiers, four of them in a tight group, were doubled over, laughing, their backs toward me. I moved fast, before they turned, the Luger leveled. From close behind them, I said sharply, “There’s a gun on all of you. Don’t move.”

The laughter stopped abruptly. They froze. Lambie backed away, raising his rifle, the gold braid shining in the lantern glow. Caco made a jump for the jeep, tilted into the back and came up with rope. The soldiers’ heads followed him and I had a look at four astonished, frightened faces. Caco tied and gagged the soldiers. As he worked over the last one under Lambie’s rifle, I checked the jeep for gas. It was a relief to find it full.

“Lose them back in the bush while I go for the doctor,” I said. “And get the lanterns out of the road.”

I drove the little vehicle back to the Caddy, wishing for a length of small hose to siphon fuel into the big car. And wishing for light. The headlights on the jeep didn’t work. Mitzy had the rear door of the Cadillac open and Fleming on the edge of the seat ready to be moved. I picked him up and lifted him into the smaller car.

“Going to be a full load in this nutshell,” I told the girl.

She climbed in beside me as I got behind the wheel again and said as I started downhill, “Lambie and Caco can ride the fenders as far as the hotel. Then they can get home by themselves.”

It would have to be that way, but it wasn’t good. Without headlights and without guidance, I couldn’t follow the mountain road. The idea of trying to drive those winding curves in the dark made me shudder. I would have to run the gauntlet of the shore highway.

Lambie and Caco didn’t want to be left behind, but finally gave in.

When they left, I started the jeep again. It was the first chance I’d had to ask Fleming more than the moment demanded. I called over my shoulder to him.

“Do you know what happened to Tara Sawyer? Did they let her leave?”

A groan answered. “No, they did not. The soldiers who took me to prison said she would be held for a million-dollar ransom. Where are you taking me?”

“To Noah.”

Pain and anxiety filled his voice. “Yes, that first. Then I must come down again. The people will listen to me.”

I let him kid himself. I had problems aplenty without arguments and explanations at this point. Not the least of my troubles was Tara Sawyer. I couldn’t let anything happen to her.

I pushed the jeep, the throttle on the floor. The quicker I delivered Fleming and Mitzy, the sooner I could get back to town. I skidded a curve and saw lanterns ahead. A second roadblock.

“Duck,” I told Mitzy. “And hang tight.”

I slowed. I wanted the men ahead to think we would stop, to let me get close enough without arousing their suspicions. Then I could gun through them before they started shooting. After driving in the dark, the lanterns blinded me. I was only thirty feet from the soldiers when I saw it — a massive truck sprouting a small, rapid fire howitzer at the rear. It was parked crosswise and filled the whole road. I was not going to gun through that.

On one side of us the oily waters of the swamp reflected the lanterns. I wouldn’t get far that way. On the other side were palm trees. Palms don’t grow in water so there would be solid ground, but the trees were too close together for comfort, in a staggered pattern up a slope. The jeep could jam between them. But of the choices, this was the only one possible.

I whipped the wheel and kicked the accelerator, bouncing off the road. I heard them yell for me to halt, then a rifle fired. The bullet clicked through palm leaves, high, a warning shot. Mitzy was twisted in the seat, shooting back. I didn’t look. I was dodging trees, dancing that jeep like a Virginia Reel. I sideswiped one tree, bounched off with two wheels off the ground, nearly tipping over. Then the car dropped back and I slammed through a gap, grinding metal on all four fenders. Guns tracked us by sound, but the soldiers couldn’t see us. Beyond the truck I fought back to the road and found another surprise.

They had a jeep there and four men running to it. I cut in just past it with a glimpse of the army piling in. Loud gasps of pain came from Fleming. It was a rough ride until we leveled out. Mitzy fired over Fleming while I got as much speed as possible out of the little car. It wasn’t going to be enough. One of our tires had blown.

Mitzy yelled, “Nick, they’re coming up on us.”