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.When they stopped for a short breather, she said: "You're thinking ofInstrood?"He nodded."Not that it's likely that anyone'll have harmed him.But that's not a chancewe should take.And I saw Rockham heading this way."They saw some fallen men, and once the Saint pointed savagely and gripped thegirl's arm."Look at those poor bastards! A couple of Yates's men  and they look likegoners.What the hell does Pelton think he's playing at?" he blazed.She shrugged, as if to say that Pelton's ways were mysterious, and not formere mortals to question; and the Saint's mouth set in a still harder line asthey ran on towards the gaunt grey structure that was the house.Further on he pointed again at two more prone figures, this time in theLowlanders' uniform"The two men I detailed to relieve the guard on Instrood," he said."I wonderwhat happened to the two Paras they were relieving."They approached the house cautiously, from the rear.The Saint kicked open theback door while they stood as well clear as they could of anything that mightcome through it.Nothing did, and they were about to go in, when suddenly sheclutched at his arm, dragging him aside a a split second before the crack of ashot.But the bullet didn't smash its way into the wall where the Saint had been;and neither did it dissipate its lethal energy by ploughing into the Sainthimself.It ended up somewhere in the depths of Lembick's skull.They took in the scene, and understood it, in less than the blink of an eye,as a camera occasionally captures a moment of such graphically telling summaryas to make comment totally superfluous.They saw Lembick, with his gun pointing to where Simon Templar had been andwith an unsightly hole in his forehead; and they saw Rockham, his own gunlevelled in his hand.Rockham had dealt out his own ruthless punishment toLembick for the mistake that had spiked the mission.That was all; and after that one single snapshot instant the Saint and RuthBarnaby dived into the house, and Rockham's next bullet came spewing out ofthe gun to splinter harmlessly into the wood of the door as the Saint slammedit behind them."My turn to thank you," he said gently; and after such a narrow escape asthat, they would have been less than human if for a few seconds he hadn't puthis arms around her and felt her cling to him with an answering warmth, evenwhile his eyes, and his gun, had to stay unwaveringly on the door.She detached herself and said: "This is a business assignment, Simon."And her eyes were as cool and their expression as detached as ever.Page 86ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlHe nodded briskly."You know where to look for Instrood?""Yes.""All right.I'll stay here in case Rockham decides to come after us.And, Ruth go carefully.""I'm a trained agent, remember?" she said, and moved off with the Sten gunheld at the ready.The Saint hadn't the smallest doubt that Rockham would come after them.Whenshe had gone he backed away from the door, in the same direction, andstationed himself in the big hallway, near the foot of the stairs, where hecould watch for an approach from either front or back.What he was not expecting was an approach from above.Rockham must have climbed up a fire escape and gone in by an upstairs window,then crept to the staircase.He was halfway down before Simon whirled at thefaint sound.But it was too late  Rockham already had the drop on him, andthe hollow snout of Rockham's gun could be seen from the receiving end to bepointed accurately enough to score on any standing target.Therefore the only escape would be if, at the instant of explosion, the targetwas not standing where it had been.If there had been time to think about it all, the Saint might well have had toconclude that the moment he had cheated so many times in his career ofdevil-may-care outlawry had come at last to claim him.But then, if he had hadtime to think, he would have taken too long to act, however hopelessly.He had time for neither.He had only the eye-searing moment, the microcosmicinstant of realisation, as he watched John Rockham's knuckle whitening on thetrigger.In the only possible ultimate instant, he flung himself aside.The crash of the shot was deafening, but he felt no impact.Rolling away, however, and before he could get back on his feet, and while hewas still bringing his own gun to bear, he saw that Rockham was already stillin place and balanced for a follow-up shot, which now could hardly be made tomiss completely.14Click.It was odd, the way Simon Templar took a measurable fraction of time to graspthe simple reality of what had happened.The gun should have gone off with theloud bang which unsilenced examples of the species usually make.The old sawthat the one which kills you is the one you never hear may be true if it killsyou instantly, although there are no surviving witnesses to testify to it, butyou may certainly hear the one that wounds you.Instead, this one had explodedinto only this absurd, derisory little click.And there he was, alive andwell, facing the man who had pulled the trigger.And he was holding a gun of his own.He swung it slowly up and aimed it unwaveringly at a point a few inches belowRockham's collarbone."That was a tough break for you," he said in his own voice."And I've beenluckier than perhaps I deserve."Rockham smiled faintly."You were certainly careless.But then, so was I.I should have kept count."Rockham had paled for a moment as Simon's gun came up, but otherwise hiscomposure was almost unruffled."I rather think you did.And I think I knowwhy you haven't shot me yet.You're out of ammunition yourself." He gesturedat the revolver."Am I right?""Maybe, maybe not, You've only one way to find out.And it's your kind ofgamble, Rockham."Rockham edged a step closer."Who are you?" He asked the question in simple curiosity, without malice."My name is Simon Templar.And I shall have no compunction about shooting youif you don't stay exactly where you are."Page 87ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlThe other man stared for a moment.And then he laughed  a rich bass chucklethat was full of genuine amusement."The Saint! And you announced yourself literally when you arrived to  enlist.It's perfect! My congratulations.But you  you're working for these people,the authorities ?""For the moment," Simon said, "I'm afraid I am.""I didn't think the Saint was an organisation man."Simon looked at him steadily and said nothing." If you'd come after me for yourself," Rockham said, "I might haveunderstood."Simon looked at him in silence for a while longer, his mind full of so manythoughts that he would not have been able to give expression to them all evenif he had wanted to; and when he spoke it was to say just one thing whichwould have to stand for all the others which were unspoken."In a funny sort of way," he said slowly, "it was for myself, that I got intothis.Maybe I was wrong to take the job  I honestly don't know.But there wasa man I once worked with, a couple of thousand years ago.We went through alot together  and when I heard that your organisation had killed him anddumped his body in the river, I had to try to do something about it.It wasthat simple [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]