Десмонд Бэгли - The Vivero Letter

Smith’s face went very pale and he swallowed nervously. Fowler said, ‘Jeez; he’s right, Smitty! That’s out.’

There was a sudden strength in Fallon’s voice. ‘This is impossible, Wheale; you’re dragging up bogies. Do you realize what a stink there would be if Gatt went through with this... this mass murder? Do you think that a man can disappear with no questions asked? He’d never go through with it.’

‘No? Who else but us knows that Gatt is here? He’s experienced — he has an organization. I’ll bet he can whistle up a hundred witnesses to prove he’s in Mexico City right now. He’ll make damned sure that there is no one to tie him up with this thing.’

Katherine’s face was pale. ‘But when they find us... find our bodies... they’ll know that...’

‘I’m sorry, Katherine,’ I said. ‘But they won’t find us. You could bury an army in Quintana Roo and the bodies would never be found. We’ll just disappear.’

Halstead said, ‘You’ve put your finger on it, Wheale. Who else but us knows that Gatt is here? And the only reason we know is because of your say-so. I haven’t seen him, and neither has anyone else — except you. I think you’re trying to stampede us into something.’

I stared at him. ‘And why the devil should I want to do that?’

He shrugged elaborately. ‘You pushed your way into this expedition right from the start. Also, you’ve been very interested in the cash value of everything we’ve found. I don’t think I have to say much more, do I?’

‘No, you bloody well don’t,’ I snapped. ‘And you’d better not or I’ll ram your teeth down your throat.’ All the others were looking at me in silence, letting me know that this was a charge that had to be answered. ‘If I wanted to stampede you why would I prevent Smith going off? Why would I want to keep us together?’

Rudetsky blew out his breath explosively and looked at Halstead with dislike. ‘Jesus! For a minute this guy had me going. I ought to have known better.’ Halstead stirred uneasily under the implied contempt, and Rudetsky said to me, ‘So what do we do, Mr. Wheale?’

I was about to say, ‘Why ask me?’ but one look at Fallon made me change my mind. He was oddly shrunken and stared blindly in front of him, contemplating some interior vision. What he was thinking I don’t know and I’d hate to guess, but it was evident that we couldn’t rely on him for a lead. Halstead couldn’t lead a blind man across a street, while Rudetsky was a good sergeant type, super-efficient when told what to do — but he had to be told. And Smith and Fowler would follow Rudetsky.

I have never been a leader of men because I never particularly wanted to lead anyone anywhere. I was always of the opinion that a man should make his own way and that if he used the brains God gave him, then he didn’t have to follow in anyone’s footsteps and, by the same token, neither should he expect anyone to follow him. I was a lone wolf, a rampant individualist, and it was because of that, perhaps, I was labelled grey and colourless. I didn’t take the trouble to convert anyone to my point of view, an activity which seems to be a passionate preoccupation with others, and it was put down to lack of anything worthwhile to say — quite wrongly.

And now, in the quiet hut, everyone seemed to be waiting for me to take over — to do something positive. Everyone except Fallon, who had withdrawn, and Halstead, of course, who would be actively against me for whatever peculiar reasons occurred to his warped mind. Rudetsky said in a pleading voice, ‘We gotta do something.’

‘Gatt will be moving in very soon,’ I said. ‘What weapons have we?’

‘There’s a shotgun and a rifle,’ said Rudetsky. ‘Those are camp stores. And I have a handgun of my own packed in my kit.’

‘I have a revolver,’ said Fowler.

I looked around. ‘Any more?’

Fallon shook his head slowly and Halstead just regarded me with an unwinking stare. Katherine said, ‘Paul has a pistol.’

‘A shotgun, a rifle and three pistols. That’s a start, anyway. Joe, which hut do you think is most easily dependable?’

‘Are you thinking of having a battle?’ asked Halstead. ‘If Gatt is out there — which I doubt — you won’t stand a chance. I think you’re nuts.’

‘Would you prefer to let Gatt cut your throat? Offer your neck to the knife? Well, Joe?’

‘Your hut might be best,’ said Rudetsky. ‘It’s near to the cenote , which means they can’t get close in back.’

I looked at the empty shelves. ‘Where’s all the loot?’

‘I packed it all up,’ said Fallon. ‘Ready to go when the helicopter came in.’

‘Then you’ll have to unpack it again,’ I said. ‘We’ve got to get rid of it.’

Halstead jerked upright. ‘Goddamn it, what are you going to do? That material is priceless.’

‘No, it’s not,’ I said bluntly. ‘It has a price on it — seven lives! Gatt may kill us for it, if he can get it. But if we can put it out of his reach he may not consider seven murders worth the candle.’

Fowler said, ‘That figures. But what are you going to do with it?’

‘Dump the lot back into the cenote ,’ I said brutally. ‘He’ll never get it out without a lengthy diving operation, and I don’t think he’ll stick around to try.’

Halstead went frantic. ‘You can’t do that,’ he shouted. ‘We may never be able to retrieve it.’

‘Why not? Most of it came out of the cenote in the first place. It won’t be lost forever. Come to that — I don’t give a damn if it is; and neither do these men here. Not if it saves our lives.’

‘Hell, no!’ said Rudetsky. ‘I say dump the stuff.’

Halstead appealed to Fallon. ‘You can’t let them do this.’

Fallon looked up. ‘Jemmy appears to have taken charge. He’ll do what he must.’ His mouth twisted into a ghastly simulacrum of a smile. ‘And I don’t think you can stop him, Paul.’

‘The cave,’ said Katherine suddenly. ‘We can put it in the cave.’

Halstead’s head jerked round. ‘What cave?’ he demanded suspiciously.

There’s an underwater cave about sixty-five feet down in the cenote ,’ I said. ‘That’s a good idea, Katherine. It’ll be as safe and unavailable there as anywhere else.’

‘I’ll help you,’ she said.

‘You’ll do no such thing,’ snapped Halstead. ‘You’ll not lend a hand to this crazy scheme.’

She looked at him levelly. ‘I’m not taking orders from you any more, Paul. I’m going my own way for a change. I’m going to do what I think is right. Uaxuanoc has destroyed you, Paul; it has warped you into something other than the man I married, and I’m not going to be used as a tool for your crazy obsessions. I think we’re finished — you and I.’

He hit her — not a slap with an open palm, but with his clenched fist. It caught her under the jaw and lifted her clean across the hut to fall in a tumbled heap by the wall.

I wasted no time in thoughts of fair fights and Queensberry Rules, but grabbed a bottle from the table and crowned him hard. The bottle didn’t break but it didn’t do him any good. He gasped and his knees buckled under him, but he didn’t go down, so I laid the bottle across his head again and he collapsed to the floor.

‘All right,’ I said, breathing hard and hefting the bottle, ‘has anyone else any arguments?’

Rudetsky grunted deep in his chest. ‘You did all right,’ he said. ‘I’ve been wanting to do that for weeks.’ He helped Fowler to lift Katherine to her feet, and brought her to a chair by the table. Nobody worried about Halstead; they just let him lie where he fell.

Katherine was dizzy and shaken, and Fallon poured out a stiff drink for her. ‘I pleaded with you not to have him along,’ he said in a low voice.