By the time the sound of eleven striking was born faintly to him on the still night air, he was thoroughly jumpy, but he realized that if Rex and the Duke did make a belated appearance and he had already driven off, they would be stranded in a hopeless situation, so he determined to stick it out.
A moment later his quick ear caught the sound of footsteps near the corner of the wall, and a tall figure stepped up to the car, peering at him in the darkness.
Simon gave a sigh of relief. It could be no one but Rex, and that must be the Duke behind him.
“That you?” he whispered.
“Sure — Yakovkin told us there’d be a car to meet us — but we’re almighty late; and we’ve had an accident.”
“Never mind — hurry! — where’s Richard?”
“Hang on one moment.”
“For God’s sake be quick,” urged Simon, as they left him without further explanation, “the police may be on us at any moment!”
He waited impatiently... then shadows moved again in the darkness. Rex and the Duke were carrying what looked like a body between them — Simon’s heart almost stopped — was that Richard? In another moment he knew that it was.
The others were propping him up in the back of the car. His head lolled helplessly; there was blood on his face.
“What’s happened?” asked Simon anxiously, as he moved into the next seat. “Rex, you’d better drive; my leg is still pretty dicky.”
“I coshed him,” Rex admitted, as he took the wheel. “Didn’t know who it was in that hellish place.”
“He... he isn’t dead, is he?” Simon’s voice quivered slightly.
“We don’t know yet,” De Richleau answered from the back. “I’ll look after him — drive on now,” he added urgently, “we’ll talk later.”
Rex turned the car round away from the river, and soon they were out on the main highway heading for Birdichy and the frontier. It was a big, modern, powerful car, and the telegraph poles flashed past on either side as they roared through the darkness. They had over a hundred and eighty miles to go, so Rex was taking no chances, but settled down to a steady even pace.
As soon as they were free of the outskirts of Kiev the Duke pulled the flashlight from his pocket and began to examine Richard’s head. Never in his life had Rex felt so wretched — he could not possibly have known who the man with the light was — had not even the least idea that Richard was in Russia. Now, perhaps, he had killed one of his best friends!
“Say, how is he?” he asked anxiously.
“He is alive,” came the Duke’s quiet reassurance, “we must be thankful that you only struck him with that small marlinspike. If it had been an iron bar his head would have cracked like an eggshell. How did he come to be in Russia, Simon?”
“He came over to look for us. I thought Valeria Petrovna had got you both safe out of it until he turned up in Kiev yesterday. He planned your escape. Is he badly hurt?”
“I can find no cut on his head — his hat saved him, I think — the blood is only from his nose.”
“How on earth did it happen?”
“It was in those darned caves,” Rex explained. “They sure gave me the shivers — stuffed full of corpses propped up against the walls. Our light died on us — then it was hell! I’ll tell the world — so hot we couldn’t breathe, too. I figured we were there for keeps, but we spotted a guy coming down the corridor. I bumped him, and the Duke snatched his light.”
“He must have got worried when you didn’t turn up and gone down to look for you.”
“It was fortunate for us that he did,” commented the Duke. “If he had not we should have died for a certainty. I was afraid, too, that if we got out you would not be there. Leshkin has been to Moscow and seen Stalin; you were to have been arrested again tonight!”
Simon laughed jerkily.
“It’s a fact,” added Rex; “the old baby-killer told us that himself. There was going to be a shooting party for the bunch of us tomorrow!”
“Well, we’re out of that muddle for the moment I only hope he doesn’t run into Marie Lou!”
“Marie Lou? Was she around as well?” exclaimed Rex. “If that’s so, why isn’t she on in this party?”
“She was,” Simon informed him, “but Richard didn’t want her to be mixed up in this — ”
“Say, not so fast! — you wait a minute.” Rex began to slow down the car. “We can’t leave her to get out alone.”
Simon shook his head. “It’s quite all right. Richard made special arrangements for her. She’s got a British passport now; he married her the other day in Vienna.”
“Holy smoke! You don’t mean that?”
“I do. He said that it was so that he could get her back into Russia to act as his interpreter, but if you ask me he’s crazy about her!”
De Richleau leant forward. “If that is so, surely it is all the more reason that he should have been careful for her safety. Are you certain that he meant her to travel alone?”
“Um,” Simon nodded. “Told me so himself — said she was going to leave the country in the proper way.”
“Well — if you are sure of that — but I do not care to think of that child alone in Kiev.”
“She’ll be on the train by now,” Simon assured him.
The car bore on into the night They were beginning to climb now, up easy gradients, to higher ground. Richard began to groan loudly.
“He’s coming round,” said the Duke. “I doubt if he’ll know what he’s saying at first. I wish I had some morphia; sleep is the best thing for him at the moment.”
“Here — take these.” Simon delved into his pocket and produced a small bottle. “They’re sleeping-tablets that Valeria Petrovna got for me — there’s medinol in them, I think.”
Richard swayed forward. He looked dazedly round, then sank back with a moan, shutting his eyes quickly.
“Take these,” said the Duke gently, spilling a couple of the tablets into his palm.
“Where... where are we?” muttered Richard.
Rex turned round to grin at him. “Sorry, Richard — hadn’t a notion it was you — ’fraid I nearly bumped you off!”
Richard moved his head painfully from side to side, groaned again, and tried to put his hand up to his head. It fell back helplessly. “Where are we?” he asked again.
“We’re in the car — you saved us all, Richard — we’re making for the frontier,” said the Duke.
“No... no...” Richard struggled to sit up again. “Stop the car — I’m going by ’plane.”
Rex laughed. “I’d just hate to be a passenger in your ’plane tonight, Richard. You couldn’t push a pram after the swipe I gave you!”
“I... don’t mind leaving... the ’plane,” Richard muttered, “if we... all get away... safely.”
“Don’t you worry, Richard, we’re all here. You take these and have a good sleep till we get to the frontier.” The Duke pushed the tablets into his mouth. He sank back on to the cushions of the car. “Yes... the frontier... make the frontier...” his voice sank into indistinct mutterings — in a few moments he was fast asleep.
“D’you reckon they’ll send out a warning about us?” Rex asked, after a long silence.
“Not about you and me,” the Duke replied. “With Yakovkin on guard, it is unlikely that they will discover our escape till the morning — but I am afraid there will be trouble about Simon.”
“Certain to be if Leshkin meant to arrest me again tonight,” Simon agreed, pessimistically; “they’ll find the car missing, and try and trace us by that — probably try and hold us up on the road.”