Passage by Night - Jack Higgins [30]
For a moment, something flickered in the fat man's eyes and there was a curious quality of stillness about his whole body, and then he started to laugh, head thrown back, the flesh dancing across his great frame. When he finally gained control, there were tears in his eyes.
'My dear Senor Manning,' he said, wiping them away with his silk handkerchief. 'You know, I really think I'm going to enjoy you.'
11
The Man in the Vaults
As the jeep pulled out of the ravine, Manning got his first full view of the fortress. It was perched spectacularly on the edge of a small plateau which jutted from the side of the mountain like a shelf. Beyond it, there were only the cliffs dropping a hundred feet into the sea.
He was in the rear seat, an armed soldier on either side of him, and Rojas sat up front with the driver. The walls of the ancient fortress were pierced for cannon and the gates stood open. They slowed for the sentry to raise a long wooden swing bar and Rojas turned and smiled.
'Spectacular, is it not, Senor Manning?' Manning looked up at the great archway and the grim towers beyond. 'All it needs are a couple of heads on spikes over the gate.'
'An old English custom, I believe. To encourage the others. Any particular head you'd like to see up there?'
'Kurt Viner's would do for a start.'
Rojas chuckled harshly. 'That's what I like about you. Straight to the point. No beating about the bush.'
'It didn't take much working out,' Manning said as the jeep moved forward. 'It couldn't be anyone else.'
'A logical deduction. Such a pleasure to deal with a man of intelligence.'
The jeep turned in a half-circle and braked sharply before an arched door. They all got out and Rojas said to the driver, 'When Lieutenant Motilina arrives with the old man and the girl, tell him to take them straight to my office. I'll be along later.'
He went up the steps through the arched doorway and Manning followed, the two guards just behind him. A broad flight of stone steps lifted into the gloom. On the left was the door of what must obviously be the guardroom and Rojas opened it and went inside.
Two soldiers sat at the table playing cards while a young sergeant lay on one of the narrow cots reading a magazine. One of the players cursed and threw down his cards. The other laughed, his hands reaching out for the stake money in the centre of the table, and then he saw Rojas.
They jumped to their feet, one of them knocking over a chair in his haste and the sergeant came forward, buttoning his tunic hurriedly.
He clicked his heels together and saluted. 'Your pleasure, colonel?'
'Get your keys and take us down below,' Rojas said. 'I want to look at the man in the vaults.'
The young sergeant took a bunch of keys from a board and led the way outside. He flicked on an electric light switch, exposing an iron-barred gate previously shrouded in the shadows and opened it.
A broad flight of shallow stone steps dropped down into darkness and the sergeant switched on another light and led the way. Manning was at once conscious of the extreme cold, and shivered. Water trickled down the walls and dripped constantly from the vaulted stone ceiling, making the flags slippery and treacherous.
Rojas was surprisingly surefooted and when they reached the bottom, he paused to light another cigar. 'The oldest part of the fortress. 1523. How do you like it?'
'Why don't you cut the polite conversation and get to the point?' Manning said.
'I intend to.' Rojas moved after the sergeant. 'Tell me, what was the excuse you gave Captain Melos for wanting to come to San Juan? To take a few photographs, wasn't it?'
'You know damn well why I came.'
Rojas chuckled, the sound re-echoing eerily between the stone walls. 'But of course I do. How stupid of me.'
The sergeant halted outside an iron-bound door and unlocked it quickly. He took a flashlight from his pocket, handed it to Rojas and stood to one side.
'After you, my friend,' Rojas said.
Manning moved cautiously into the darkness. It was