Part 28 (2/2)
Suddenly there were distant cries of disuessed that the pursuit had blundered into the glutinous ht, and grinned
”Okay, Chubby, let's get on,” I whispered, and as we stood there was a new sound from a different direction
The sound was e, for it came from the seaward side of the island, but it was the ununfire
Chubby and I froze into listerung attitudes and the sound was repeated, another long tearing burst of h we listened for three or four minutes
”Coer and we ran on up the slope towards the southern ht, and I was too preoccupied to feel any quale and stepped at last into the deep rock crack where I had arranged to meet Sherry
The shelter was silent and deserted but I called without hope, ”Sherry! Are you there, love?”
There was no reply from the shadows, and I turned back to Chubby
”They had a good lead on us They should have been here,” and only then did that burst of
I removed the binoculars from the haversack and then thrust it away into a crack in the rock
”They've run into trouble, Chubby,” I told hio and find out what happened”
Once ere off the ledge we struck out through the jumble of broken rock towards the seaward side of the island, but even in my haste and dreadful anxiety for Sherry's safety, I moved with stealth and ere careful not to show ourselves to a watcher in the groves or on the beaches below us
As we crossed the divide of the ridge a new vista opened before us, the curve of the beach and the jagged black sweep of Gunfire Reef I halted instantly and pulled Chubby down beside me, as we crouched into cover
Anchored in a position to coh Gunfire Reef was the arshi+p ofto it froures
”God damn it,” I muttered, ”they really had it planned Manny Resnick has teaet here while Manny hit the beach, Dada was covering the channel, so we couldn't make a bolt for it like we did before”
”And he had un fire
Manny Resnick sailed Mandrake into the bay to flush us, and Dada had the back door covered”
What about Miss Sherry and Angelo? Do you think they got away?
Did Dada's men catch theroaned, and cursedstayed with her I stood up and focused the binoculars on the motor-boat as it crawled across the clear waters of the outer lagoon to the anchored crash boat
”I can't see them” Even with the aid of the binoculars, the occupants of the dinghy werebeyond thelare off the water dazzled nize individuals
”They itation I had left the cover of the rocks, and was seeking a better vantage point,about on the skyline Out in the open Iwhite feather of gunsmoke blow from the mounted quick-firer on the bows of the crash boat, and I heard the shell cos ”Get down!” I shouted at Chubby, and threw st the rocks
The shell burst in very close, with the bright hot glare like the brief opening of a furnace door -Shrapnel and rock fragments trilled and whined around us, and I jumped to my feet
”Run!” I yelled at Chubby, and we jinked back over the skyline just as the next shell passed over us, hty crack of passing shot
Chubby iping a se
”Okay?” I asked ”A scratch, that's all Bit of a rock frag down to find out what happened to the others No point both of us taking a chance You wait here”
”You're wasting tio” He hefted the rifle and led the way down the peak I thought of taking the FN away froshot when fired with his closedeyes technique Then I left it Itany cover there was and searching ahead beforeforward However, the island was silent except for the sough and clatter of the ind in the tops of the palms andnobody as we moved up the seaward side of the island
I cut the spoor left by Angelo and Sherry as they crossed the saddle, above the ca footsteps had bitten deep into the fluffy soil, Sherry's selo's broad bare feet
We followed them down the slope, and suddenly they shi+ed off the track They had dropped the water-can here and, turning abruptly, had separated slightly, as though they had run side by side for sixty yards
There we found Angelo, and he was never going to enjoy his share of the spoils He had been hit by three of the soft heavy-calibre slugs They had torn through the thin fabric of his shi+rt, and opened huge dark wounds in his back and chest
He had bled copiously but the sandy soil had absorbedinto a thick black crust The flies were asse on the long dark lashes around his wide open and startled eyes
Following her tracks I sahere Sherry had run on for twenty paces, and -then the little idiot had turned back and gone to kneel beside where Angelo lay I cursed her for that She ed in that useless and extravagant gesture
They had caught her as she knelt beside the body and dragged her down through the pal slideher feet in and tried to resist
Without leaving the shelter of the trees, I looked down the s their tracks to where the marks of the e
They had taken her out to the crash boat, and I crouched behind a pile of driftwood and dried palraceful little shi+p
Even as I watched she weighed anchor, picked up speed and passed slowly down the length of the island to round the point and enter the inner lagoon where Mandrake was still lying at anchor
I straightened up and slipped back through the grove to where I had left Chubby He had laid the carbine aside and he sat with Angelo's body in his ar, fat glistening tears slid wearily down the seamed brown cheeks and fell from his jaet the thick dark curls of the boy in his aruard over them while Chubby wept for both of us I envied hi surcease My own grief was as fierce as Chubby's, for I had loved Angelo as much, but it was down deep inside where it hurt o, man” He stood up with ”the boy still in his arully that was choked with rank vegetation we laid Angelo in a shallow grave that we scraped with our hands, and we covered him with a blanket of branches and leaves that I cut withmyself to throw sand into his unprotected face, and the leaves entler shroud
Chubby wiped away his tears with the open palot Sherry,” I told him quietly ”She is aboard the crash boat” ”Is she hurt?” he asked
”I don't think so, not yet”
”What do you want to do now, Harry?” he asked, and the question was answered for me
Somewhere far off towards the cae to a point where we could see down into the inner lagoon and landward side of the island
Mandrake lay where I had last seen her and the Zinballa crash boat was anchored a hundred yards closer to the shore They had seized the whaleboat and were using her to land men on the beach- They were all armed, and uniformed- They set off immediately into the palm trees and the whaleboat ran back to Mandrake
I Put the binoculars on to Mandrake and saw that there were developlasses I recognized Manny Resnick in a white opens neck shi+rt and blue slacks as he clie She wore dark glasses, a Yellow scarf around her pale blonde hair and an euts as I recognized thee that I had seen loaded into the Rolls at Curzon Street was brought out on to the deck by two of Manny's thugs and it also was passed down into the whaleboat