Dennis Wheatley - Unholy Crusade

Judging the window to be on the staircase, he clambered up to it and, holding his breath, peered in. It was so dark inside that at first he could not make out whether he was staring on to a landing or into a bedroom; so for several long, anxious moments he hung there, listening intently for snores or heavy breathing. No sound reached him and by then, his eyes having become accustomed to the darkness, he felt fairly certain that, if he was looking into a room, it had no furniture in it.

The window was not open wide enough for him to get in, so he pushed it up a few inches. As he did so the old frame gave a loud creak that, in the silence of the night, sounded as if it would rouse the dead. Again he froze and hung there, expecting every moment to hear the running footsteps of someone coming to investigate. But the stillness remained unbroken. Reassured, after a long wait he wriggled over the sill and tiptoed forward. Then, by the dim light, he saw that he had been right. He had come in on the landing. Ten minutes later he was in bed and fast asleep.

On the following afternoon, feeling considerably easier in his mind than he had been during his first day as Alberuque's guest, Adam was sitting in the library reading an early edition of Bernal Diaz's famous True History of the Conquest of New Spain when the dumb lay brother came in and handed him a small sheet of paper on which was written: `The Senorita Enriquez will arrive at the garden gate to visit you at four o'clock.'

Adam's first reaction was delight, but it was swiftly followed by uneasiness. It was over ten days since he had seen Chela and they had parted on far from happy terms. The night after his rescue from the police by Father Suarez, he had declared to her that nothing would induce him to lend himself further to Don Alberuque's plans and that had resulted in their having a furious row. The following morning she had come to him submissively and begged him to talk things over, but they had never done so, because she had gone off to Merida to buy a hacksaw with which to cut off his handcuffs and before she returned he had again been arrested.

The question was, what front should he present to her now? That she had agreed to come to see him at all implied that she still

cared for him and he knew that he was still in love with her. But Alberuque would have informed her of the present situation that, under duress, he had again consented to play. To tell her that he did not mean to, let alone that if he got half a chance he intended to bust the whole movement wide open, was out of the question; yet the idea of pretending that he was now reconciled to appear again as Quetzalcoatl, and so win her confidence by deception, was most repugnant to him.

After some thought, he decided that he must compromise with his conscience. She could hardly expect him to approve the massacre at the prison or to be happy at having been coerced by Alberuque into doing as the Monsignor wished. But he could pretend resignation to force majeure, and it was clearly his duty to get what he could out of her.

Well before four o'clock he was out, pacing up and down the broad open space of the garden that lay in front of the big barn, keeping an anxious eye on the gate. True to Mexican form, it was not until nearly half past that one of the Indians who had been posted on the gate let Chela in.

Halting abruptly in his pacing, Adam turned and strode towards her. She was dressed in a coat and skirt of scarlet Thai silk and had an absurd hat perched on her black hair. She looked more lovely than ever. Displaying her even, white teeth in a ravishing smile, she ignored the guard and cried:

`Oh, darling! How lovely to see you.'

At the very sight of her, Adam's heart had begun to beat faster. His eyes drank in her superb figure and the grace with which she moved. All the emotions she had previously aroused in him again came to the surface. Seizing both her outstretched hands in his, he said

`I can hardly believe that I'm not dreaming. There have been times when I feared I'd never see you again.'

`I know.' She shook her head. `I've been worried out of my wits about you. I can't tell you how delighted I was when Don Alberuque telephoned me to say that you were free and are at one with us again. Naturally, you were upset about things going wrong at Uxmal, but I felt certain that when you had had a chance to think matters over you wouldn't let me down.'

So, Adam thought, Alberuque has not put her fully in the picture. She believes that I have come round and am now willing to play their game out for them. Aloud, he said, `Don Alberuque has been most kind, particularly in agreeing that you should be allowed to come to see me in this monastic haunt.'

She made a wry face. `It's a world apart from our villa at

Acapulco, isn't it? And I'm forbidden the house. Still, surely there must be some place where we could… well, talk in private?'

He glanced over his shoulder. `There's the barn. In it there is a helicopter; but unless the mechanic is working on the engine, no one is likely to be there.'

`Let's explore it, then.' She took his hand and they walked over to the barn. As he had expected, it was deserted. Without his aid she ran up the ladder to the open loft where the bales of hay were stacked. He followed, wrenched the bands from one of the bales and spread out the hay to make a couch for them. Picking her up in his arms, he gave her a long kiss on the mouth, then lowered her to the hay. She pulled him down beside her, twined her fingers in his hair, and whispered

`Darling, I've wanted you so terribly.'

`And I you. It seems an age since we last made love.'

He had one arm round her and was leaning over looking down into her dark, limpid eyes. She closed one of them in a wicked wink. `I prefer a bed, but there could be worse places than this.'

`Some people refer to it as a “roll in the hay”,' he laughed. `Come on, let's.'

Her slim fingers were already at her waist, undoing her skirt. Wriggling out of it, she spread it beneath her. Eagerly he bared her breasts and kissed one of them. For a few minutes they dallied, exciting each other to a fervour, then she threw back her head and pulled him more closely to her.

Suddenly she gave a little cry. 'No! Stop! You're hurting me.' Raising himself, he looked down at her in surprise. `But… but it never has before.'

'No, darling. Not there. It's something hard under your left arm. It was digging into my breast.'

In his excitement he had forgotten the small automatic strapped under his left armpit. Quickly he unbuttoned the strap of the holster and pulled it out.

As she saw the weapon her eyes widened and she said, `So you are carrying a gun. Where did you get it?

'I…' He hesitated a moment, then inspiration came to him and he lied. `During that ghastly battle at the prison. There was a dead detective lying in the corridor with his coat open. When I spotted it I thought it might be useful in getting away, so I took it from him.'

She nodded. `I see. Yes. What a terrible business that was. Just as at Uxmal, everything went wrong. Don Alberuque told me. His men were only supposed to hold up the Governor of the prison

at pistol point and force him to release you. But someone lost his

head. I was horrified, because it is such a blot on our movement.'

Adam did not doubt for one moment that she was telling what she believed to be the truth. To learn that Alberuque had not made her a party to the deliberate massacre and the murder of the warder as a means of blackmailing him, was a great relief. Kissing her again, he said

`My sweet, the whole affair was utterly horrible. But there is nothing we can do about it now.'

Adam had laid aside his gun. The discovery of it had temporarily poured cold water on their passion, but they were still eager for each other. Thrusting from their minds the thought of that night of blood, they renewed their caresses and five minutes later were locked in the divine embrace.