Midnight Never Comes - Jack Higgins [43]
'Where in the hell were you?' he demanded savagely.
'Sheltering under a tree from the rain,' she said. 'It's been pretty foul waiting here. I'm soaked to the skin.'
She got into the boat and he pushed it out into deep water and scrambled over the stern. At the same moment the engine of the motor boat coughed into life. Chavasse waited, listening to its sound fade across the loch, then he started to paddle.
Asta leaned forward. 'I was beginning to get worried. When the motor boat turned up, I didn't know what to think. Who was it?'
'Your step-father and Murdoch. They've got a bunch of goons in the basement of the tower dressed as German soldiers.'
'But why?'
'God knows. The only thing I know for certain is that Boris Souvorin, a Russian rocket engineer who's been working for the British Government and who disappeared from his home a week ago, is locked in the room at the top of the tower, awaiting a quick passage to Russia.'
She drew in her breath sharply. 'You're sure of this?'
He nodded. 'I've just been talking to him. Unfortunately his window was barred and I couldn't very well take on the whole crew single-handed.'
'What are you going to do?'
'I'll get back to Ardmurchan Lodge as quickly as possible, but it'll take time to get in touch with my people--set things in motion and so forth.'
'Can I help?'
He hesitated, but it had to be said. 'You could, you could help a lot. You see it's unlikely that we'll be ready to move in on Donner before tomorrow and whatever happens, I don't want him to suspect that there's anything wrong before then.'
'And you'd like me to go back to Glenmore House as if nothing had happened?'
'I hate asking you,' he said. 'But if Donner finds you missing, he's bound to start looking for you. That could upset everything.'
The boat grounded and he went over the side and dragged it up on to the sand. She stepped out and turned to face him. 'I'd better be off then,' she said calmly. 'I think I can get back in without being seen.'
Chavasse unzipped the front of his rubber suit and took out a Smith & Wesson .38 magnum. 'Take this. I don't know if you've ever used one, but it might come in handy.'
She reached up to kiss him and then she was gone like a shadow into the curtain of rain. He stood looking after her for a moment and then he dragged the boat off the sandbar and pushed it out of sight under the bushes. He left the aqualung inside so that he had no weight to carry and started to run, following the shore towards the point where the river emptied into the loch.
He found the path and ran along it, brushing through ferns heavy with the rain. Whatever else happened now, speed was essential.
Somewhere thunder rumbled and beyond the mountains, sheet lightning flickered across the sky and then the rain increased into a solid monsoon-like downpour that killed all sound, dashing against his face with icy force.
When he came over the edge of the hollow fifteen minutes later and looked down at the lodge, it lay in darkness except for a thin streak of light showing at the French windows to the terrace at the rear.
He came out of the wood, opened the wicket gate in the wall and hurried across the lawn. The French window stood open slightly, the velvet curtain lifting as the rain drove against it.
He pushed open the window and stepped inside. The lamp on the table was out, but the room was illuminated by the light from the blazing log fire. Flames flickered across the oak-beamed ceiling, casting fantastic shadows that writhed and twisted constantly and the whisky in the glass on the small table beside Colonel Craig in his wing-backed chair, gleamed amber and gold.
Chavasse took a step towards him and stumbled, falling to one knee. George Gunn lay sprawled beside the table, eyes fixed and staring, the head turned so far to one side that it could only mean that his neck was broken.