I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep, which wasn't that hard. On the bed beside me I'd placed Wilhelmina, my 9mm Luger that was a part of me, always strapped into its shoulder holster. Hugo, my pencil-thin stiletto, lay in its sheath along my right forearm. I had taken no special equipment on this job. There hadn't been time, as Hawk had said. The call from the British was urgent and entirely unexpected. On this one there would be just Wilhelmina, Hugo and me. Maybe I wouldn't need either of them. One could always hope.
I slept well. It was a trick I'd taught myself long ago. The morning sun was filtering coldly through the little window when I awakened, and I was at Danders Trading Store as he opened. As I feared, he hadn't a damned thing I could even make fit. I was on my way to the hospital to see Angsley when Hilary Cobb intercepted me. I was in no mood for more of her foolishness.
"Buzz off," I growled, brushing past her.
"Suppose I could help you," she said. "I heard you were robbed last night."
I paused, turned and gave her a long look. I had told the desk clerk at the inn, and he could have relayed it to her, but suddenly my sixth sense told me that wasn't so.
"How could you help me?" I asked quietly. She was very casual and self-controlled.
"I might have some equipment that would fit you," she said airily.
"Such as a heavy-weather parka?" I asked.
"Yes," she said casually.
"And boots that might fit me?"
"They just might," she smiled.
"Maybe you have a rifle, too?"
"I just might," she said smugly. She didn't read the deadliness in my voice. She was too busy being smug and enjoying her own cleverness. "Of course, you'd have to cooperate with me," she added cutely.
You little bitch, I said inwardly to myself. It was obvious what had happened. She'd sent the note, slipped into my room, and made off with my things. I looked at her and silently called her a host of names. Among them was the word "amateur." She was so pleased with her little caper. I decided to teach her a lesson.
"I guess I'll have to cooperate with you," I smiled. "Where do you have my… this equipment you can let me have?"
"In my room," she smiled smugly. I returned her smile and once again she failed to see the deadliness in it Amateur, I said to myself again. "Then you'll cooperate properly?" she questioned again. "Promise."
I smiled, putting some sheepishness into it. "I'll cooperate properly, I promise," I said. "Let's get the stuff. I've got to be on my way."
"We'll be on our way," she corrected, starting off for the inn. I wore a proper air of resignation mixed with reluctant admiration, and she went for it like a fish for a worm. "I guess I underestimated you," I said respectfully, watching her lap it up.
As she opened the door to her room I quickly swept the place, seeing that my stuff was all there. It was neatly piled into a corner. On the bed there was an open traveling bag, and I watched her take off her parka. She was just turning toward me when I had her by the back of the neck, holding her with one big, angry hand. I slammed her face down on the bed, yanked her sweater up and off and tied the sleeves around her, pinning her arms behind her back. She tried to scream but I turned her over and slapped her once, just hard enough to make her teeth rattle. I yanked her to her feet and then slammed her down in a chair. With a stocking I snatched from her open traveling bag, I tied her to the chair and stepped back. Her breasts spilled over the brassiere and her eyes were no longer complacent and smug but full of terror.
"What… what are you going to do?" she stammered. "Please, I… I was only trying to do my job."
I unhooked the bra and whipped it from her. She gasped as though she'd been struck, and I saw tears well up in her eyes. Her breasts were beautifully peaked, full and taut with the flat nipples of the virgin.
"You… you louse," she said through her tears, gasping out the word. "You promised you'd cooperate with me properly."
"I'm cooperating with you properly," I said. "I'm fixing it so you won't have to trudge through all that ice and snow and maybe get into more trouble."
I reached one hand down and cupped it around one breast, full and firm with smooth, youthful skin. She tried to shrink back and shivered. Tears filled her eyes again but her anger fought through them.
"I'll fix you for this, I swear it," she breathed. "You leave me alone, do you hear?"
"I hear," I said, running my thumb over her nipple. She gasped again and tried to pull away. "Now you hear. I could do anything I wanted to do with you," I said, stepping back. "I could teach you what it's like to be a girl or I could just embarrass the hell out of you. Or, I could drop you off a cliff and nobody'd much know or care here. In short, Hilary, honey, you're operating out of your league. You're playing and I'm serious. That's your first lesson. The second one is never trust anyone you've just zinged."
"Give me my clothes," she said, defiance fighting through her fright.
"No dice," I said. "You'll work yourself loose by late afternoon and you can get dressed then. All you'll have is a slight case of chillblains. And one last thing. You're lucky. I can be a much bigger louse'."
I walked out and looked back at her. Her anger had taken over, now that she was sure I wasn't going to rape her. I enjoyed watching her turn different shades of red as I lingered to explore her breasts with my eyes.
"As I said, nice equipment," I commented with a grin. "Go back to Manchester and try using it."
I closed the door, taking my gear with me. Not more than ten minutes later I was suited up and on my way. I'd been given a rough map of the Tesi Pass through the glaciers. The rest was up to me. The cluster of houses grew smaller and more inviting as I struck out down a glacial slope, pack on my back, the Marlin 336 slung over one shoulder. "Hilary Cobb," I said into the wind. "You don't know it but I've done you a helluva favor."
Chapter II
I don't think I ever felt quite so small and alone and overpowered as I made my way through the winding, ice-slick paths of the Himalayan range. I'd quickly lost sight of the village and as I trudged on, the wind tore and whipped at me like some avenging, wrathful spirit bent on destroying the stranger in its land. Behind me, I could make out the towering peak of Everest, tallest of them all, with Lhotse close beside it. To the right of them, across a terrifying series of jagged peaks, stood Makelu and to the left the heaven-scraping Cho Oyu. As I descended deeper into the range, I was surrounded by sheets of ice and vast regions of snow. Gaping crevasses, large enough to lose an army in, loomed up on all sides, and glacial slopes cut through the precariously marked path I followed. The sharp sounds of shifting ice, cracking glaciers and the rumble of snowslides, gave me a feeling of helplessness in the face of nature's awesome strength. I paused to tighten a bootstrap. My fingers stiffened in the time it took me to tighten the laces. I felt the skin of my face grow hard as the wind and the cold combined to give a mask-like texture to my features. And I was descending into the Tesi Pass. I shuddered to think what it was like climbing up toward the tops of those frightening peaks.
I paused at a cluster of ice-free rocks to take out the map and check my position. According to the simplified route traced out, I was in position. A sudden noise startled me and I swung the Marlin from my shoulder to see three tahrs, the Himalayan goats, bounding across the rocky terrain, their reddish, thick coats reflecting the rays of the setting afternoon sun. I watched them move effortlessly up the crags and started to hike on, envying them. The afternoon sun was now gone, hidden behind the towering peaks, and it would be dark very quickly. I hurried my pace and reached the mouth of the route known as Tesi Pass. It wound its way between the great mountains, a narrow ribbon amid the uncharted vastness of glacial ice, rock and snowdrifts. My instructions were to make camp anywhere within the pass and the guide, spotting my campfire, would find me. I picked a spot sheltered from the swirling wind and spent the remaining daylight hours gathering firewood. Amid the towering sentinels of unyielding rock, crowned by eternal snows, twisted, gnarled and mossy rhododendron trees somehow grew in defiance of all natural logic. As I gathered enough small twigs to start the fire and enough larger wood to keep it going, I saw musk deer and pheasant filtering through the trees. As I had enough dried meat in my pack I needed nothing further, and I lugged the wood back to the spot I'd chosen.