Sad Wind From the Sea - Jack Higgins [17]
He was tired when he reached his hotel. There was a smart-looking Chinese girl at the desk now. He asked her where the man was and she said that he'd left in a hurry. Her uncle, who was the proprietor, had been compelled to ask her to come at very short notice. It was really most inconvenient. Hagen agreed with her and went up to his room. Suddenly he was more tired than he had been in a long, long time. He flung himself down on the bed and lay staring at the ceiling and after a while it moved a little and then he was asleep.
He awakened suddenly and completely. Because he was not aware of the thing that had disturbed him, his hand slipped under the pillow and curled around the butt of the automatic. There was an urgent tapping on the door and the Chinese girl's voice said: 'Captain Hagen! Come quickly! There's an urgent telephone call.'
'Who is it?' he said through the door.
'No name. Lady say very urgent.'
He jerked open the door and rushed past her, taking the stairs three at a time. He stood at the desk and spoke into the receiver, 'Hagen here.'
'Mark, this is Clara. I'm sending Lee for you in a car. You'd better get here fast. They've kidnapped your girlfriend.'
Somehow her voice suddenly drifted away into the distance. For a moment he swayed as for the first time he realized that the girl was important to him, and then he recovered and said: 'Thanks, Clara. I'll be with you in fifteen minutes.'
He dropped the receiver and turned and ran past the astonished girl up the stairs to his room.
4
He had barely finished dressing when he heard the car brake to a halt outside. He ran downstairs, wrenched open the door, and scrambled into the rear seat. Before he could get the door closed the car had roared away from the kerb. They turned a corner on two wheels, scattering pedestrians, and then Lee turned into a maze of quiet back streets, driving like a demon.
Hagen had never felt so frustrated in his life as he did during the fifteen minutes it took them to reach Clara Boydell's place. He was desperately anxious to know what had happened and the only man who could tell him was unable to speak. He wondered what time it was and decided it must be about one in the morning. And then his waiting was over and the car turned in at the gates of Clara's house and skidded to a halt, scattering gravel.
The place was ablaze with lights and raucous with merriment as always. He ran up the steps and through the front door. A maid was waiting for him and pointed upstairs. He went up, two at a time, and suddenly Clara appeared at the top, a livid bruise on one of her cheeks. She was more angry than he had ever seen her. 'This way,' she grated and led the way down the corridor to the room Rose had been occupying.
The door of the room was standing open and the lock hung at a crazy angle. Hagen stepped into the room and glanced about him. As far as he could see everything appeared to be in reasonable order. There was only one thing missing - Rose. He slumped down on to the bed and fumbled in his pocket for a cigarette. He could only find an empty packet and he made quite an operation out of examining the packet and smoothing it between his fingers because a little voice inside was telling him to keep calm and to get a grip on his nerves. If he was to get the girl back it would need ice-cold thinking.
Clara offered him a cheroot and he lit it and inhaled the smoke gratefully. It seemed to put new life into him and he felt more calm. He squinted at Clara through the blue smoke. 'How did you get that bruise?'
She exploded. 'I got smacked down. Me, Clara Boydell, smacked in the puss by a little yellow bastard.' She went purple with rage at the memory.
'Simmer down,' Hagen said. 'If I ever run into him I'll give him your warmest regards. Now tell me exactly what happened.'
She shrugged. 'There isn't much to tell. About midnight a party of Chinese - four of them, I think - asked to see