Whiff Of Money

'What guarantee have I that you will keep your promise?' Girland came and sat by her side.

'When I make a promise, I keep it. All right... I'm a slut... I'm no good ... I have no morals . . . I'm an alley cat. . . but I do keep a promise.'

Listening to her strained, fierce whispering, Girland was impressed.

'If you don't keep this promise,' he said, 'then there is nothing in this world that can make any sense for you. You'd be better off dead.'

'Oh, stop nagging!' Gilly said angrily. 'When I make a promise I keep itl How many more times do I have to tell you!

But can you get me out of here alive?'

'I can't swear to it, Gilly. Out there are some thirty armed men. We have an electrified wall. We have an expert marksman armed with a sporting rifle who knows how to shoot fast. We have the count who won't let us go easily. A lot of odds .. . but I will try. Without you, I could get out, but with you, the operation slows down, and it will be much more difficult, but not impossible. I'll get you out of this if I possibly can. You haven't any alternative. Without me, you would never get out. With me you stand a good chance. If we fail... it won't matter about your promise. They have killed Rosnold... they have to kill us. It's as simple as that. You will have to do exactly what I tell you. You must try to keep your nerve. This isn't going to be easy ... but it is possible.'

'All right. . . when you get me out of here, I will give you my promise and I will keep it.'

'I'll accept that. Now let's do a little exploring. We have the night before us. Let's find a bed.'

'You don't mean you can even think of sleeping?'

'Why not? We have a long time ahead of us before we leave.'

'Why can't we go tonight?'

'I want those films. When I hand them over to your old man he is going to pay me ten thousand dollars. I need that money. So we stick around here until the films arrive. Then - and not before then - we'll leave.'

'You're crazy!' Gilly's voice shot up a note. 'You'll never get them! They'll never let us walk out of here!'

'Just relax, Gilly. You must have confidence in me. I'm not leaving here without those films. I've told you you have a good chance of getting out of here. Leave this to me. Now come on ... I want to find abed.'

Seeing the line of men coming towards the forest and towards where he was standing, Malik moved silently further into the undergrowth. Each advancing man was carrying a powerful flashlight as well as a shot-gun and the beams of light stabbed into the darkness.

This didn't worry Malik. He would never have ordered a search to be made in this forest in such darkness. To find any fugitive unless he betrayed his presence by noise was impossible in such surroundings.

He looked up at the tree against which he was standing. He could just make out a lower branch within his reach. He stepped back, jumped

and caught hold of the branch. Easily, he hauled himself up, and in a moment he was climbing the tree with the silent agility of a cat. He paused when he was half-way up the tree, straddled a branch and set his back against the trunk.

He waited, looking down, seeing the stabbing beams of the advancing flashlights, hearing the crashing of undergrowth as the men moved forward into the forest. They passed below him and sent on. He lifted his shoulders in contempt.

The search went on for an hour, then the leader of the party finally decided they were wasting time and energy. The men came back through the undergrowth. By now the time was 20.30 hrs and Malik, watching the men as they walked slowly across the lawn back to the Schloss, decided they were thinking of their dinner. He watched them disappear into a side entrance. A heavily-built man, wearing the count's livery, walked up the steps to where two men were sitting, waiting.

'Well?' Von Goltz snapped.

'It is impossible and useless, Excellency,' the man said. He was Sandeuer, von Goltz's trusted major-domo: a man of some forty years of age with a tanned, fleshy face and shifty, cunning eyes. 'We can't hope to find them in this darkness.

Tomorrow .. . yes, but not now.'

'Are you sure you will find them tomorrow?'

Sandeuer bowed.

'It will take a little time, Excellency, but they can't get away. Besides, by tomorrow, they will be hungry and thirsty.'

Von Goltz waved him away. When he had gone, Silk finished his whisky and soda and regarded von Goltz.

'You satisfied?'

Von Goltz shrugged.

'I have to be. They could be anywhere in the forest. Although my men know every centimetre of the ground, Sandeuer is right. In the darkness, it is impossible. When there is light, with the number of men I have, we will find them. Girland is unarmed. I had his clothes and his suitcase searched while he was in the pool. He has no weapons. So... it is a matter of time.'

One of the footmen came out on to the terrace to announce that dinner was served.