Ник Картер - Assassin - Code Name Vulture

Erika came up behind me and pressed her body against me. “We have so little time alone, Nick.”

“I know,” I said.

Her free hand, the one without the revolver, stroked my shoulder and arm. “When this is over, we’ll hide away in Athens and just eat and sleep and make love.”

“I don’t think our bosses would appreciate that,” I grinned.

“They can go to hell. They can spare us a few days,” she said petulantly.

I turned to her. “We’ll make some time,” I assured her. “I know a nice little hotel where—”

I turned back to the door at the sound of a car engine. At the far end of the drive, before it curved out of sight, a black sedan was approaching. It had a light fixture on its top.

“It’s the police!” Erika said.

“Yes,” I agreed, slowly. “Do you think that Stavros bought off a precinct captain?”

“It would only require a few to go along,” Erika speculated.

“Especially if Stavros sent a couple of his own men along,” I added. “Come on.”

We hurried into the room where the junta members and the general were waiting.

“A police car is pulling up outside,” I said quickly to them. “This looks like Stavros* gambit. Are you all armed?”

They all were but Kriezotou. I gave him Adelfia’s revolver. “Now just sit here as casually as you can, as if you’re engaged in serious discussion. Have your weapons ready, hidden at your sides. Erika, get into that closet there.” She moved quickly.

“I’ll be just outside those French doors,” I continued. “When they all get into the room, we’ll try to take them. If any of you wants to leave now, you can go out the back way.”

I looked at the tight-mouthed officers. They stayed in their place.

“All right. We’ll try to avoid gunplay. Take your cue from me.”

I went through the French doors just as I heard the front door crash open. A servant tried to stop the police, but he was verbally brushed aside. I heard them rattle the locked door of the study where Adelfia was tied and gagged, and then I heard the servant’s voice again. It sounded as if there were several men. A brief moment later, I could see them clearly, they stormed into the living room. There were six — five in uniform and one in plain clothes. All the men in uniform had revolvers on their belts.

“What is the meaning of this?” Kotsikas asked, rising but keeping his gun hidden behind him.

The one in plain clothes stepped forward, a uniformed man with lieutenant’s bars at his side. The plainclothes man was a Stavros bodyguard whom I had seen at the penthouse. The lieutenant was probably the policeman Stavros had bought. There would have to be real police. There would have to be a made-up, but credible story for the press.

“We did not expect you here, General,” the lieutenant said. He looked around the room, probably for Adelfia. “You are all under arrest for treason. We have evidence that you came here to meet with a Communist agent and to arrange for a clandestine agreement with international bandits.” He seemed very nervous.

“That is absurd,” Kotsikas said.

“You are all traitors,” the lieutenant insisted loudly. “And you will be executed as such.” I watched as the lieutenant drew his revolver.

The Stavros man gave a hard grin. “And the execution will occur here,” he said in English. “When you resist arrest.”

“We have not physically resisted arrest,” Kotsikas reminded the younger man.

“No?” the Stavros hood questioned. “Well at least that is the way it will go into the police report That is the way the people will hear it on the radio.”

The lieutenant had aimed the revolver at Kotsikas. I guessed that in a moment all the policemen would have their guns out at a signal from the lieutenant The Stavros man stuck his hand into his jacket and nodded to the lieutenant, who turned toward his men. I stepped quickly into the wide doorway, aiming Wilhelmina at the lieutenant’s chest.

“All right, hold it right there.”

The lieutenant stared at me with surprise etched across his face. The Stavros man had not quite reached his gun and only a couple of uniformed policemen had started to move their hands toward their holsters. Everybody froze and all eyes turned to me.

“Drop the gun,” I ordered the lieutenant. “And you, ease that hand out of your jacket carefully.”

Nobody followed my orders. They were assessing what it would cost them to take me. The closet door opened on their left and Erika stepped out, her Belgian revolver trained on the Stavros man.

“I think you had better do as he says,” she said coolly.

Frustration and anger were building in the faces of the Stavros thug and the police lieutenant as they stared at Erika. I watched their faces closely for a long moment, trying to guess their intent. Then all hell broke loose.

Instead of dropping his gun, the lieutenant aimed it at my chest, and his finger tightened on the trigger. I saw the lightning fast movement and started dropping to the floor. His gun went off like a cannon, and I felt a hot, searing pain rip through the flesh of my left arm. The slug went on past me and shattered the glass of the French door. I hit the floor and rolled behind a chair as the lieutenant fired again, the slug chipping up the wood floor near me.

“Kill them!” he was shouting. “Kill them all!”

At the same moment that the lieutenant had aimed his revolver at me, Stavros’ man had followed through and had drawn his own gun. It was a shiny, black automatic, and he was aiming it at Erika’s head. Erika fired at him but missed as he dropped to one knee. The shot struck one of the policemen in the thigh. The man yelled in pain as he hit the floor.

Two other policemen, crouching low, had their guns half-drawn. The wounded man and another cop dived for cover behind small pieces of furniture.

Kriezotou and the two visiting colonels were still frozen immobile, but Kotsikas had drawn his revolver from its hidden position and fired it now at the lieutenant. The man spun off his feet and crashed across a low table, splintering it as he brought it to the floor with him.

I was raising myself up to firing position. Stavros’ man had just fired at Erika. He missed because he was still off-balance from avoiding her shot and because she had fallen into a quick crouch herself.

Several guns were blasting simultaneously. Kriezotou had finished off one of the policemen, and I got two more. Erika shot Stavros’ hood neatly through the heart.

The lieutenant got ready for his second try at Kotsikas, but I saw the move and rose quickly to one knee. “I wouldn’t do it.”

The remaining policemen gave up the fight. Dropping their guns, they raised their hands above their heads. The lieutenant glanced at them, lowered his own gun, and dropped it to the floor. He looked at the bodies lying motionless, then at me.

“This is an outrage,” he cried hoarsely. “You have obstructed legitimate police work and killed officers in their line of duty. You will not get away with—”

I brought Wilhelmina down across the side of his head, knocking him down. He lay on the floor breathing hard, holding his head. “You need to acquire a little humility,” I growled.

The colonels and Kriezotou were handcuffing the two officers. Erika leaned heavily against the wall. “Are you all right?” I asked.

“Yes, Nick.”

“I am glad I trusted you, Mr. Carter,” Kotsikas said. “We owe you our lives.”

“And the assassination attempt has failed,” Glavani added.

“I shall contact the commissioner of police and have a long talk with him about what has happened here,” Kotsikas said, glancing darkly at the wounded lieutenant.

“I wish you would give me twenty-four hours before you do that, Colonel,” I said. “The head of the octopus is still very much alive. Miss Nystrom and I are going after Stavros.”