Hell Is Too Crowded - Jack Higgins [22]
"Don't be afraid," he gasped.
The scream died in her throat and she gazed up at him wide-eyed. "But I don't understand, Mr. Brady. Have they released you?"
The Mauser coughed again and the lamp above the door shattered. Brady caught a fleeting glimpse of Haras standing in the entrance to the footpath.
He kicked the door open and pushed Anne Dunning inside and along the corridor. "No time to explain," he said. "There's a man out there with a gun and he's doing his level best to kill me."
As they turned the corner at the end of the corridor, the door burst open and Haras came after them.
Brady paused, one hand gripping the girl's arm. "What's down here?"
"Dressing-rooms," she said.
He pulled her up a flight of stairs to the left and they came out in to the wings at one side of the stage. Haras followed them, running surprisingly well for a man of his weight. A single light illuminated the stage and Brady and the girl went across to the temporary safety of the shadows on the other side.
Brady made to go down a short flight of steps, but she pulled him back. "No good, that door's locked. In here!"
There was another door almost hidden behind some scenery flats and she opened it quickly and dragged him inside. She shot the bolt and they stood there in the darkness and waited.
Haras ran into the wings and paused. After a moment, he went down the steps and tried the door, shaking the handle angrily, and then he returned and went back on stage.
"I'd give a lot to have a gun in my hand right now," Brady said softly.
The girl clicked on the light. The room was crowded with old costumes and scenery, even furniture, the accumulation of the years.
She moved across to a cupboard, opened it, and turned with a .38 calibre revolver in her hand. "Will this do? It's only a stage prop, I'm afraid. We used it in the play. There's a box of blanks here, though."
Brady broke open the chamber and examined it, sudden, nervous excitement stirring inside him. "I might be able to scare the bastard off, if nothing else."
She opened the box of cartridges and he quickly loaded the weapon, then crossed to the door and pulled back the bolt.
She moved to his shoulder as he turned off the light and he was aware of the warmth, of the fragrance of her, so near to him in the darkness.
"You keep well back," he ordered. "This is my affair. I don't want you to get hurt."
He opened the door gently and looked out. Haras was standing in the centre of the stage, staring out into the auditorium.
"It's no use running, Brady," he called. "You can't get away."
"Haras!" Brady said softly.
As the Hungarian turned, Brady raised the revolver and fired and the report seemed deafening. Haras disappeared with surprising speed into the shadows opposite.
Brady crouched down and Anne Dunning moved beside him. "Where's the switch that operates the stage light?" he asked softly.
"Right behind us. Shall I turn it off?"
He nodded and a moment later, the theatre was plunged into darkness.
"I'm coming to get you, Haras!" Brady shouted.
A tongue of flame answered him from the darkness. He fired twice in reply and moved across the stage, crouching. Haras went down the stairs ahead of him and ran along the corridor. As Brady turned the corner, the stage door banged.
It was quiet and somehow peaceful out in the alley with the rain hissing down. Brady stood at the end of the footpath and listened to the echo of the Hungarian's running feet. Faintly from the distance, a car door closed hollowly. A moment later an engine started up.
"That old gun did the trick with a vengeance," Anne Dunning said from behind and her voice was breathless and excited.
As he turned to answer her, a strange, unearthly wailing sounded far away in the darkness, echoing through the night in a dying fall.
He shivered, standing there with the rain falling on him, and a wave of greyness ran through him. The girl looked up, a strange expression on her face. "What is it?"
"The general alarm at Manningham Gaol," he said simply. "It means that