Nick Carter: The Omega Terror

Now the bastard was getting poetic. I looked back into his eyes, and I think it bothered him a little that I was at his level. He was accustomed to looking down on people.

“How?” I asked.

He grinned again. He drew the big automatic from its holster at his side. “Would this do?”

I looked at the gun. A slug from it would tear Gabrielle in half. But I had to make him think I was willing to do it. It would give us both an opportunity to fight back, anyway, if luck was with us. “I think that ought to be sufficient,” I said. “When do I do it?”

“As soon as possible,” he said.

I thought a moment. Now was as good a time as any to make a break for it. Maybe the darkness would help if I could get outside.

“I’ll do it now,” I said, putting an edge of tension in my voice.

Djenina looked surprised. “Very well.”

“I want to get it over with,” I said. “But I want to do it my way. Leave the cuffs on me,” I told him. “Take us both outside together into a remote corner of the garden. I want her to think that you’re executing us both. Take the cuffs off at the last moment and give me the gun while she’s facing away from me. I don’t want her to know I’m doing it.”

Djenina had an ugly look on his face. “I didn’t put you down as a squeamish man, Carter. Not after the killing you have obviously done.”

“Let’s just say that I’ve been intimate with her too recently,” I said.

“Ah. I see your point.” He seemed to accept the explanation. “It is difficult to dispose of a mistress, I agree. Very well, let’s get the girl”

We went into the hall, and the situation was explained to the soldier on guard there who then unlocked the door to Gabrielle’s room. She was sitting in a chair when they went to get her.

“Come with us,” the guard commanded.

When she got out into the hall she looked at the handcuffs still on my wrists. “What is happening?” she asked.

“They’re taking us for a walk in the garden,” I said.

“Then you did not accept his offer?”

“No,” I said honestly.

I thought I saw a slight smirk on the soldier’s mouth.

“The two of you leave me no choice,” Djenina said to Gabrielle. “Come. Let’s get on with it.”

“I’m sorry, Gabrielle. That it turned out this way, I mean.”

We moved down the stairs and out of the house. Both Djenina and the soldier had their guns out.

At the corner of the house we were joined by the chauffeur-soldier who had stood guard outside the building. He unslung the submachine gun and moved beside us with the ugly muzzle pointed at my chest. There were three guns on us, all capable of blowing holes the size of Moroccan tea saucers in our bodies.

In just moments we were in a lonely corner of the grounds. There was plenty of shadow and cover, if I got the opportunity to use it. But in the clearing where we stood, the high moon cast a silver, eerie light on all of us. In the cut shrubs nearby, a cicada rasped in the darkness.

“This is far enough,” General Djenina said. He had just whispered something into the chauffeur’s ear, and I hoped he had told the man not to use the submachine gun on me so long as I shot the girl. “Remove Mr. Carter’s handcuffs. A man should not have to face his maker bound like an animal”

The orderly stuck the automatic pistol into his belt and took a key from his pocket. Djenina was watching my face closely, and I noted that his gun was on me. He had no intention of trusting me until I had killed the girl. And maybe not even then. Anyway, I did some more acting for him. I sneaked a look at Gabrielle when she was not looking, a guilty look, and I sighed heavily.

“All right, stand together beside that tree there,” Djenina commanded. We did as he said. Gabrielle’s face was drawn taut with fear. She was certain she was going to die. And I knew there was at least a good chance of it.

The man with the submachine gun had the weapon aimed at us. Djenina and the orderly stood somewhat closer, flanking us.

“The girl first,” Djenina said. “Turn around, you.”

Gabrielle glared at him. “I will not. You must face me if you will kill me.”

Djenina saw an irony in her words, since it was I who had said I did not want to face her. He grinned slightly at me, and then the smile dissolved. “All right, Carter. No more games. Do what you have to do.”

Gabrielle looked at me quizzically. The orderly came over, studied me for a moment as if he did not trust me, then handed me the automatic. Gabrielle looked at me and I returned the look.

“What is this, Nick?” she asked.

“You don’t need to explain, Carter,” Djenina said harshly. “Just kill her.”

Gabrielle’s mouth fell slightly open. “ Mon dieu! ” she breathed. Then she hauled off and slapped me hard across the face. “Go ahead, you bastard. Pull the trigger!” she hissed.

Her reaction to the situation helped the credibility of the whole thing. The chauffeur laughed and dropped the level of his gun slightly.

“All right, I will,” I said grimly. I winked at her. Before she had a chance to grasp the meaning of that gesture, I shoved her to the ground.

In the same movement, I dropped into a crouch, whirled toward the chauffeur and squeezed the trigger of the big pistol. If the general had just been testing me, and the gun was empty, I was in big trouble. But the gun exploded in the clearing, roaring in our ears. The chauffeur was hit in the chest. He jumped straight back but didn’t fall His hand tightened in a reflex action over the submachine gun, and it began chattering in the night, spraying the area with lead.

The general, meanwhile, had returned fire with his service pistol as soon as I shot the chauffeur. A slug ripped across my side, tearing flesh under my shirt and knocking me to the ground beside Gabrielle.

It was probably fortunate that the general hit me. In the next split-second, the submachine gun sprayed the place where I had been crouching, chipping into the tree trunk behind us. The General and the orderly hit the ground too, as the big gun clattered in a wide circle, the chauffeur’s eyes glazed as the crimson stain brightened the front of his shirt. Bullets whined and spattered around us, but nobody was hit. Then the chauffeur fell onto his back and the firing was over.

“Get behind the tree!” I yelled at Gabrielle.

The general was aiming at me again and swearing violently under his breath. He was cursing himself, I figured for trusting me. But just as he was about to fire again, the orderly dived at me from my blind side and bowled me over.

Luckily, I did not lose the gun. We rolled and thrashed on the ground, and I caught a glimpse of the general moving about, trying to get a shot at me. I slugged the orderly in the face, but he hung on to me desperately, grabbing at the gun in my hand. He smashed my hand back against the tree trunk, and my grip loosened on the pistol, but I didn’t lose it.

Gabrielle had followed orders and crawled behind the tree. As Djenina found me in his sights again, she stood up quickly and hurled a chunk of dead wood at the general. She hit him on the shoulder, not hard enough to hurt him, but his attention was temporarily distracted.

Djenina fired at Gabrielle, and I heard the slug chip into the wood of the tree trunk near her. Then she ducked back behind cover.

Now Djenina turned the pistol toward me again, anger flaring in his eyes. He found me again in the sights as the orderly and I struggled for possession of the other gun. At that moment, I smashed my left fist into the orderly’s throat. He gasped and lost his balance. I twisted him between Djenina and myself just as Djenina fired once more.

The gun roared, and the orderly’s eyes saucered. He gasped and blood spurted from the corner of his mouth. He slumped against me, dead.