Hunter Killer

Mam'zelle Adele's arrival with the drinks broke the spell.

You see what this means?' he repeated. Although the didacticism was there, the fervour had gone from his voice. I sipped the whisky. No.'

It contradicts all previous theories that Saya de Malha was due to subsidence, not upsurge, of the land mass underneath.' I winced at the academic sophistries. Mam'zelle Adele said, with that odd pitch to her tone,

He's trying to say, the Karoo and Saya de Malha are related.'

What did it matter to me whether the Karoo was or was not related to a bank in the Indian Ocean? At that moment I was more interested in Mam'zelle Adele.

' Where do you figure in this?' I asked her.

The DNI replied before she could answer. Mam'zelle Adele knows the islands. She speaks Creole like a native.

She is my guide on my fossil-hunting expeditions. St Brandon.. She sipped a cloudy drink. It wasn't alcohol but her own mixture of fruit juice and the nectar of coconut-flowers.

The silence was oppressive.

The DNI went on, ' You find these fossil reptiles only in blue shale. This piece was overgrown by coral at Saya de

Malha. It had enormous implications.'

I waited politely. If it had not been for that flash of his while Mam'zelle Adele was fetching the drinks, I would have been bored stiff.

Implications?' , Why, yes-it means I have definitely proved the existence of Limuria.

' I'm afraid I'm not with you.'

He sat swinging a leg. The presence of blue shale in midocean thousands of miles away from the Karoo itself proves the existence of a common tie hundreds of millions of years ago. Here I've found a Karoo creature in Limuria.' He tapped the skull. It shows that Africa was once linked to

Limuria-by land. It is not fantastic now to speak of Limuria as an Indian Ocean Atlantis. Of course, there's a great deal yet to be done, but I am inclined to think the same upheaval which threw up the Karoo mountains was the one which drowned Limuria: under the sea'

Very interesting,' I murmured.

He went off at a tangent, speaking rapidly to Mam'zelle

Adele, asking if dinner was nearly ready, offering me another drink.

She took my glass. There was a lot in her eyes I wanted to understand.

` What were we talking about?' he asked when she had gone.

Here was my cue. The clear eyes watched me intently.

Killers,' I replied. Man the killer.'

Good,' he said. Good.'

There had been a message and I had got it. The voice became more precise, and I knew I was in deep waters.

All man's long tale of killing-' he tapped the grotesque skull-' from this fellow onwards has one short moraclass="underline" kill, first-' he tapped the hooked fangs with a finger-nail' have bigger and better teeth.'

Or-' I said it very slowly= the weapon to end all weapons.'

The voice was gentle, almost prim. The ultimate weapon yes.' The words came from deep inside the man. The soft tones belied the steel beneath.

I put the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. In this age?'

The clear eyes probed me, assessed. Then he walked over to the glass door. It was dark now and the lights of the fleet stood out. The DNI jerked his head towards them. In this

A cold thrill went through me, for Peace had spoken of that slightly world-weary, compassionate tone which the DNI was given to use in times of great crisis.

I joined him. We stood, saying nothing.

Then he sighed, glanced at his watch, and threw open the doors.

A lovely night! I wonder if one gets nights like these anywhere else in the world except South Africa?'

I did not hear Mam'zelle Adele in her soft sandals. She handed us new drinks. The DNI stood looking. No one spoke. Then he said, Turn out that light, will you, John-it rather spoils the effect.'

It was an order, not a request. John, not Garland, or Captain Garland, but John. For him to address me like that, I knew I had surmounted some obstacle he had laid in my path. I was surprised to see Mam'zelle Adele put out a bottle of Glenfiddich and a glass. I turned out the pressure-lamp. My eyes were blinded by its closeness. A soft arm was slipped through mine and Mam'zelle Adele said, Let me guide you.'

She was close. I smelt the sun-smell of her and was glad I had come. I stumbled to the doorway, still half-dazzled.

I didn't see him, only the gleam of the knife.

I jerked aside, dragging Mam'zelle Adele with me. I can35 noned into the door-frame. Then, as he laughed, I froze. It was Geoffrey Peace.

He pulled off the black rubber cap and grinned at the DNI. " Nothing much wrong with John's reflexes, is there?'

I blinked in disbelief. Peace stood on the terrace in the same black rubber suit in which I had seen him in his coffin. A long diving-knife was in his hand. I tried to speak, but the words would not come.

Peace said ruefully. Next time you want an arse-overelbow stunt, you'd better give me some astronaut training beforehand. I thought the bloody thing would never stop cartwheeling.'

The DNI laughed too. You went up a lot higher than I expected.'

Peace said, I'm black and blue, despite the foam rubber.'

The ejector gear work all right?' asked the DNI.

Peace laughed again. If it hadn't, I wouldn't be here now.'

The DNI said, Get inside, will you, Geoffrey? Nobody saw you?'

Peace shook his head.

I gasped, Geoffrey!'

Pour me a whisky, boy, will you, if there's such a thing in the house? Christ, to watch that bloody MacFadden pour the stuff all over my face and I dying for a drink!'

Mam'zelle Adele was still on my arm. Peace's greeting to her was level, comradely. Hello, Mam'zelle Adele.'

She detached herself. Good evening, Commander. Was it a good trip?'

Get me a drink and I'll tell you,' he replied.

Geoffrey – I started again.

He cut me short. The funeral act must have been pretty convincing, judging from your reactions then-and now.'

The DNI locked the glass doors and drew the thick coconutmatting sunblinds. He relit the lamp. Peace glanced at the bottle. Hmmm, Glenffiddich for the returning prodigal.'

My hands shook so that the drink slopped. What is all this about?'

Later,' Peace grinned. What I need is whisky, food, and lack of adulation-in that order.' He swallowed the smooth spirit at a gulp.

Your clothes are in your room,' said Mam'zelle Adele. '

What's to eat?' he demanded.

Varra-varra,' replied the DNI. Varra-varra and turtle steak.'

Excellent! You want to live on those bloody spaceman pills inside a steel coffin for days to appreciate what a square meal means. If I'd been one of those blokes who first got up on to the moon, I'd have come back to earth just for a decent meal.' He laughed and added, ' I nearly indulged in an old Limuria remedy-drink a pint of turtle's blood to restore your own.'

I felt the amused twitch of Mam'zelle Adele's lips was meant for me, as she said, I should have kept some of tonight's dinner gravy for you, then, rather than Scotch-it's. turtle steak'

Peace dropped his gay mood and turned to me. Don't look so damned serious, John-the whole thing was a hoax.

The DNI and I engineered it. I breathed air from Scuba bottles they stacked in the bottom of the coffin. When you mourners weren't grieving over the dear departed, I took a whiff through my face-mask.'

I remembered the sharp hiss I had heard while hiding behind the bar. The CIA man had heard it, too. Peace swung on me as if he were reading my thoughts.

Thanks-for that other business'

Other business?' The DNI was sharp.

I pulled out the Colt with the hocked hammer and held it in my palm. Peace gave a low whistle. The DNI took it while I explained about the intruder. I realized from his reaction that it was not the intruder who had told him about Mac and the Glenfiddich. Adele's eyes never left my face.