Микки Спиллейн - The Delta Factor

“After you dumped them out I knew what you were scheming up. I made my mistake in trying to get you and you suckered me into your roadblock. But hell, Morgan, it was a lucky mistake at that. I got back here and found my ticket out all ready and waiting.”

“You bump the pilot of that plane and you’re stranded, Sal.”

That laugh of his was flatter than ever. “Out in the bushes of Australia the only way you get places is by air. I can fly that crate, old buddy. It’s one of my newer accomplishments.”

He was ready now and there was nothing more left to talk about. I said, “It was a sheer waste, Sal. All you should have done was wait me out and you would have had it all to yourself with clear running in front of you. Now you’ll never make it.”

The light was enough to show his face in a frenzied grin. “What makes you think so, Morgan?”

“Because you didn’t come out of the war like the rest of us. What happened tipped you off balance until you hated your own country so much you were going to make it pay through the nose for what you thought it did to you. Others survived the same things, but you never considered that. All you cared about was repayment. That’s why you went after government money instead of any other source.”

I gave him just enough time to let it sink in and added, “Dekker… you’re crazy!”

And with a scream of madness choking in his throat he made the mistake I was waiting for and yanked the gun from Kim’s head, throwing the first shot at me.

I knew what was coming and was moving to the right, the.45 jumping into my hand like it had a life of its own, and when I triggered it the slug blasted his head in half, spattering Kim with a spray of gore.

Before she had time to reflect on it I had her by the arm, got Joey to his feet and Sable running ahead of us toward the plane. Behind us muffled shouts were carried on the wind and somebody sent a wild shot richocheting across the field.

They saw us coming and the twin props coughed into motion. I got them aboard, picked the last two grenades from my belt, pulled the pins and threw them as hard as I could at the cluster of figures running toward us, triggered off the last of the rounds in the.45 in their direction and ran for the door of the plane. The hand that yanked me inside jerked the gun from my fingers, tossed it outside and slammed the door as the Queenaire swung out on the runway under full throttle and lifted off almost at once in the strong breath of Hurricane Frances.

Ten minutes out the sudden morning sun cut through the scud like a knife and we lifted to three thousand feet. The pilot hadn’t had time to top his tanks before takeoff, and bucking the headwind to reach Nuevo Cádiz had depleted his gas supply to a point critical enough to give him barely a margin of safety. He picked up a direct course for Miami, grateful now for the wind at his back.

I sat next to Kim because she wanted it that way. Across the aisle Joey was holding a wet towel to his head, slumped in the window seat with Victor Sable beside him. Behind me was the third guy who came in, sitting there with a gun in his lap because Kim refused to let him shackle me the way he had wanted to.

Below us the sun was sparkling off the water. It was a nice day and in less than an hour we’d be in Miami. Kim sat there watching the day begin, her hands folded in her lap. Her fingers still held the slip of paper the guy behind me handed her, the receipt for my person. Her responsibility had ended and now I belonged to the man with the gun who had one of those bland faces of the professional who would kill if it was necessary and whom you couldn’t fake out with words.

She knew I was looking at her and turned her head and smiled, impulsively reaching over for my hand. She squeezed gently and said, “I heard what he said, Morgan. I’ll tell them everything, you know. They’ll have to release you.”

I shook my head. “You don’t know your own people, baby.”

Her puzzled frown was reflected in her eyes. “I… don’t understand.”

“You’re a woman, my lovely wife. You’re a luscious, sexy doll who’s been running with a wild-assed guy and living with him legally joined in matrimony while we played the game, and women have been known to turn emotional under those conditions and forget what they came for. Right now you even got the look to go with it. In a million years, you couldn’t make them believe we weren’t in the sack together, and when you have your clothes off in the dark on a soft bed a woman is only a woman and a better one if she’s a wife… and when she becomes a wife she’d do anything to save her husband. It’s as simple as that, Kim.”

Anger sparked her eyes open. “There’s Sable and Jolley…”

“Joey’s word would count for nothing. They’d know what he is. And nobody will be talking about Victor Sable. What happened back there never happened at all, officially. There will be rumors and speculation, but the hurricane and the new bunch taking over will confuse the whole issue and even the Reds won’t be able to make any propaganda out of it.

“No, baby, they won’t talk about it and won’t believe you and the only item that could turn the trick would be if Sal Dekker had told us where he planted all that beautiful money.”

For a moment she just stared at me, her eyes shiny with a wet film that welled into twin teardrops in their corners. “But he did, Morgan.”

This time I didn’t understand.

She said, “Where your namesake hid his riches.”

“They never found that, either.”

“Maybe they never tried hard enough.”

I felt all the little hairs on my arms raise up and a tiny prickling sensation eat at my skin. I leaned back against the seat and said, “You know, maybe it would have been pretty damn good at that.”

“What, Morgan?”

“Suppose I could have been cleared? Suppose we had that forty million to turn in and they had to listen to you and take Joey and Sable’s word for it.” I turned my head and looked at her. “What would you do about it now?”

Her smile was wry and she wiped the tears out of her eyes. “Nothing,” she said. “I wouldn’t have to. We’re already married.”

“You mean I wouldn’t have to rape you?”

The smile laughed at me gently and her face was a glorious thing, dirty but beautiful; hair mussed but lovely, those full breasts pouting against the restraint of her clothes and the hem of the dress hiked up comfortably over full round thighs that were too exciting to look at long. “You might call it that,” she said, “but I’d help you.”

My hand squeezed hers. “I love you, Kim.”

The gentle pressure of her fingers said the same as her words. “I love you, Morgan the Raider.”

“I’m thinking again,” I said.

“I know you are,” she told me.

“They don’t call me the Raider for nothing, you know.”

“Naturally not.”

I looked at my watch and leaned over to scan the water below.

“It might take a while, but you’ll have to wait for me.”

She didn’t even know what I was thinking, but whatever it was satisfied her completely. “Forever if I have to.”

“Nobody else?”

“They’d really have to rape me.”

“It’s going to be fun,” I said.

“The best.”

“See you,” I said, and saw the confidence behind the puzzle in her eyes.

I raked my nails across the cut I had gotten from the knife of the guard back at the Rose Castle and started the blood running down my side again. I pulled my shirt away so they could see it wasn’t a phony and winced loudly enough so Sable turned and looked at me. I caught his eyes, hoped my expression conveyed what I wanted when I let them focus on the canvas bag he had at his feet, the one I made him carry, then stood up with my shirt back so the guy behind me could see what had happened.