On the Friday morning, the very thought of going to the pool sent a wave of sickness through him, but he had somehow to get through the hours until the afternoon; so he decided to take the Ford out for a run. He had at first intended to hire one of the garage hands to drive him into Pirgos and back, but on
i 253 second thoughts he did not see why he should not drive himself. There were no high cliffs with dangerous bends on the way and, as the town was not a big one, he felt confident that he would be able to get through the traffic safely. The only snag was that he had no licence. As long as Stephanie had been with him while he was driving they could, he thought, have got away with it, had a policeman pulled them up, by saying that he had taken the wheel only for a short lesson. Should he be challenged while alone in charge of the car, he would find himself in trouble; but he decided to chance that.
His morning's spin on his own considerably increased his confidence, and after an early lunch he set out for Pirgos. At that hour the traffic in the town was at its lowest ebb; so he got through it without any difficulty, and by ten past two he halted the car at the side of the road alongside the group of tamarisks where, on his previous visit, Stephanie had waited for him. He then followed the same procedure of going down to the beach and walking slowly along it, stopping now and then as though he were collecting shells.
When he reached the wall of the ruined factory, he stood for a couple of minutes listening intently. No sound came to him, other than the gentle breaking of the surf on the shore; so it seemed that no work was at present in progress and that, as he had hoped, the Czechs had adopted the Greek custom of knocking off during the hottest hours of the day.
With high hopes now of succeeding in his intent, he walked quietly but quickly to the nearest gap in the wall. From some yards away, he saw that the barbed wire had been removed and the opening was in the process of being bricked up. A low wall about three feet high already filled the lower portion of the gap, and an unfinished row of bricks with still-fresh mortar below them showed that somebody had been working on it that morning.
Partially concealed by standing close up to the jagged edge of the original wall at one side of the gap, he cautiously peered round it. As he had supposed, all the machinery was at a standstill and, to his delight, no one was about. By stepping over the new low piece of wall, he had only to turn from side to side, so that his camera covered different sections of the yard, to take pictures that would show the whole of it. Taking out his camera, he took care not to knock the freshly laid top course of bricks, and stepped over into the yard. His camera clicked twice, then a whistle blew.
Next moment, men came running at him from all directions: from the little house, from sheds and from behind the big machine that had been installed near the derrick in the middle of the yard. Swivelling round, he dived for the gap in the wall. In his stride he put his foot down on the side of a square board on which there was a small mound of hardening mortar. His camera flew from his hand, and he fell across the length of newly made wall, dislodging half a dozen of the last-laid bricks.
Desperately he heaved himself upright, but only to find that two men had either been lying hidden in the long grass outside the wall, or had just dashed round there from some other opening. As he faced them, one of them sprang at him, aiming a blow at his head with a stout length of wood. He raised his arm to parry the blow, but the men in the yard had now come up behind him. They seized him by the shoulders and swung him round. He found himself face to face with Barak. The face of the tall, good-looking Czech still carried a symbol of the pasting Robbie had given it. The bruises had disappeared, but his nose had been broken and was now slightly crooked. While two other men hung on to Robbie's arms, Barak hit him again and again under the jaw until he slumped down unconscious.
21
Twelve Hours to Live
Robbie came to with a shock. A bucket of cold water had been dashed into his face to bring him round. His first sensation was only of a terrible pain in his chin and neck, as though the one had been broken and the other dislocated. Then, as his eyes focused, he saw Barak's face still in front of, but now above, his. He realized then that he was sitting on a stout wooden chair and that his arms and legs were bound to it. As he painfully turned his head from side to side, he became aware that he was being regarded with cold curiosity or casual amusement by a number of men on both sides of Barak. He saw, too, that he was in a shed, facing its half-open door, but there was plenty of light because the sun was streaming down on him through a great hole in the roof.
When his eyes had been open for a few moments, Barak grabbed a handful of his shirt and tie and shook him, so that excruciating pain ran through his neck and head. But he heard him snarl in Czech: 'Wake up! Wake up! I am impatient to talk to you.'
'Stop!' Robbie croaked. 'For God's.sake stop, and I'll listen.'
Barak released him, then spoke sharply to the other men, ordering them out of the shed. All but one of them trooped out, and the exception was standing a yard or so away from Robbie's left shoulder. Screwing his head round, Robbie got a quick glimpse of him. First he saw a fat little paunch, then the pink face and pig's features of Cepicka.
'Now, Mr. Grenn,' Barak began in a harsh voice. This meeting with you gives me very special pleasure. You have caused us a considerable amount of trouble, and we are determined that you shall cause us no more. I warned you in Patras to keep your nose out of our affairs. You chose to ignore my' warning, but I should have thought your narrow escape from having to spend some months in hospital in Corinth would have made you see sense. Had you a grain of intelligence in that thick head of yours, nothing would have induced you to come here again after learning yesterday that the lady you knew as Miss Stephanopou-los is a Czech agent. But that is just why you must be regarded as dangerous. By your amateurish blunderings, you may learn much more about our secrets than the N.A.T.O. professionals who are paid to do the job. Therefore, Mr. Grenn, now that you have so stupidly thrown yourself into our arms, we should be lacking in our duty to our country if we failed to take this opportunity to eliminate you.'
'Do you mean . . . that you intend to kill me?' Robbie asked hoarsely.
'Exactly,' Barak nodded and drew a finger along one side of his little tooth-brush moustache, 'and I cannot say that I am in the least sorry that your folly has landed you in this situation where your death has become necessary to protect the interests of my country. In fact, Mr. Cepicka and I spent most of last night in a train coming from Athens, on the off-chance that, within the next few days, you would pay this place another visit. You see, I wished to be, as I think you say in England, "in at the kill".'
'You bloody swine,' Robbie muttered.
Barak gave a slightly twisted smile, then shook a warning finger in front of Robbie's nose. 'Do not become abusive, Mr. Grenn, otherwise I might forget myself. Or, rather, recall too vividly that I have a personal score to settle with you. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to smash your face to pulp; but we have to remember that we are in a foreign country. Therefore your body, should it be washed up, must show no marks of violence in excess of such buffets it might receive through being thrown about by the waves.'
'So . . . so . . . you're going to drown me?'
'Yes. Presently I shall send one of my people into the town to buy the largest size in men's swimming trunks for you. At the quietest hour—shall we say three o'clock in the morning— Mr. Cepicka and I will come to you here. We shall take off your clothes and put you into the swimming trunks, then we shall take you down to the motor-boat we have here in our little harbour, run you out to sea and drop you overboard.'