The Cross of Gold Affair - Davies Fredric - Страница 34

Chapter 14

“Why should I lie?”

TOTAL DARKNESS filled the Space House. Walls, built to keep unwanted trespassers from glimpsing any Thrush activity, acted just as well to keep what little night light there was along the deserted beachfront from illuminating any of Porpoise’s lair. Arnold, his fingers acting as his eyes, quickly laid out his master’s rubber suit, while Apis, freed from the dead control console, trod silently toward the Spaceship

Room. He flexed the long rippling muscles of his back and shoulders and grinned expectantly.

A small explosion told Apis of the opening of the spacelock, and he sped towards the entrance to the maze. His eyes began to adjust to the translucent glow of the glassite ceiling. Dim shadows took on various shades of black and gray where only black had been before.

A blow across his kidneys and a two-handed chop to his neck stopped him. He reached out blindly with both hands as his unseen attacker delivered a karate kick that would have disabled a lesser man.

Illya, having delivered the three blows, traveled on, leaving Apis for Napoleon to finish off. His own target was Porpoise, and accordingly he wasn’t wasting time with underlings, much as he would have liked to even up the score a bit for Apis’s water games.

Apis stretched his arms out wide, groping for anything or anybody. Napoleon watched the progress of the blind giant and met him with a running leap that placed both of his feet in Apis’s face.

The big man stumbled back, regained his balance and bellowed, “Where are you? I’m gonna kill you when I find out”

Napoleon braced himself and answered, “Here I am, Apis, right in front of you. Come and get me.”

Apis charged and Napoleon swung to one side, kicking the running giant just above the ankle. Both of his feet knocked from under him, Apis spun and flew, hitting the deck face first. He rolled over himself, snapping his head full around; Napoleon was mentally counting him out when the giant struggled back to his feet.

“That’s funny, it’s supposed to be the bigger they are the harder they fall,” Napoleon muttered.

“Solo, is that you?” Apis asked, not really believing he was going to get the chance to repay Napoleon for the dunking he had received earlier.

“It’s me, all right. What’s keeping you up?” Napoleon delivered another kick, this time to the solar plexus. Apis batted aside the foot and sent Napoleon sprawling. Following the sound of the U.N.C.L.E. agent, Apis walked right into a

double handed blow that nearly fractured Napoleon’s knuckles. Apis grinned and slammed out with both fists. The wall behind Napoleon vibrated and cracked from the force of the double blow.

Napoleon realized that the fight was using up precious minutes. Illya would probably appreciate a bit more help than was being offered in handling Porpoise and the rest of the Thrushes trapped in the darkened space house.

“Come on, chum,” he directed Apis; “let’s get out into the light were we can see what’s happening.”

Apis was quite happy to fight it out in the dark, but if Napoleon wanted to go to where there was light, Apis would follow. Napoleon talked and taunted Apis back toward the opening to the Spaceship Room.

“Stand still, Solo. I wanta break you in two,” Apis bellowed at the specter before him.

“I’m standing still, chum. Come on ahead.”

“You promise, you aren’t going to dodge me?”

“Why should I lie?”

Apis lowered his head and charged. Napoleon brought both fists up from the floor in a reverse pile-driver blow that straightened the giant out. Apis, still rushing, felt as if his nose had been smashed. Napoleon dropped backward, lifting his feet into the giant’s gut, and sailed him on over, through the broken spacelock and into the maze beyond.

The crash following bespoke the loss of at least two more mirrors and parts of the Space display. Napoleon felt even more confident in counting Apis out as he raced along the dark corridors to his partner’s aid.

Apis dragged himself out of the wreckage and stumbled around the room. He found the Spacelock by pure chance and fell back through the opening. He pulled open a locker and emptied it out onto the floor. By feel he found and donned a strange three-lensed contraption with twin horns looping up from behind. He flicked a switch, and the two infrared beams over his head came to life. The room, viewed through the lenses of the Thrush night-sight helmet, seemed to be fully lit.

Apis clutched one of the legs of a nearby stool, and by

twisting it once, ripped it loose. He swung it once to check the balance, and then set out after Napoleon.

The U.N.C.L.E. agent, after making a couple of wrong turns, found himself coming into the radio room. The extensive electronics and the carpeted floor acted as heat dampers. Despite his goggles, much of the room was too dimly lit to see. He slowly felt his way forward, step by step; the only sounds he heard were those of his own breathing. Part of the room glowed and slowly dimmed as the heat beam traveled on.

Suddenly he heard a half-animal growl and heavy footsteps behind him. Napoleon spun, to see the indestructible Apis charging, his short club raised to strike. The U.N.C.L.E. agent dived across a flat table covered with tools and rolled to safety beyond as Apis smashed the club into the shadows.

The eerie glow wavered, rising as the beams from Apis’s headpiece struck, and falling off as the room sucked away the heat. Apis charged again, and Napoleon met the flashing club with a metal stool. Apis missed his target and struck a metal rung with his wrist. The stool, bent and warped, was tom from Napoleon’s grip, while Apis raised the club for a second blow. Napoleon brought his right fist up to the giant’s jaw, and then danced aside.

Apis checked for a moment, and then swung around to pin the U.N.C.L.E. agent in the twin beams. Solo backed slowly away, taking on a karate stance. The giant stepped forward and brought the club full around. Napoleon wavered back and then forward. He put one hand under the giant’s elbow as the club passed and swung a foot between the spread legs. A lift and swing, and Apis, already off balance, crashed backwards through the matched radios. Napoleon brought a tapedeck down on the giant’s head, and repeated the blow as Apis tried to shake free. The twin infrared beams went out, Napoleon struck twice more, and Apis slumped back, unconscious.

“Very good, Solo,” Arnold said from the doorway. “Now all you have to face is me.”

The small Thrush was also wearing one of the night-sight helmets. In one hand he carried a slender wand, in the other

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a light cloth. Napoleon dropped the shattered tape transport on slumbering Apis, and turned to face his new foe.

“You’ve got to be kidding, Arnold,” Napoleon said with a smile. “After that, you ought to be a vacation.” He leaped forward as he spoke, and the small Thrush drifted to one side in a perfect Veronica. Napoleon reached out to grasp his foe and the slender rod spoke. It hummed as Arnold spun it through the air and it popped once as he touched Napoleon on the right wrist. The wrist bone cracked on impact, and a numbing pain ran up Napoleon’s arm.

Arnold stepped forward and tapped Napoleon twice on the side with the humming wand. Two ribs cracked from the blows. The U.N.C.L.E. agent fell back as Arnold pressed on across the room, the wand in his hand humming like a wasp, and striking like a hawk.

Napoleon reached down and grasped Apis’s impromptu club. He swung it forward, taking on a fencing stance. Arnold’s wand hummed and danced, and Napoleon thrust and parried in a counter. The pain in his side and wrist was nothing to the concentration he was putting into stopping that deadly little wand.

With a shift of tactics, Arnold flicked the cloth toward Napoleon’s eyes. He caught the cloth on his make-do foil, and Arnold slashed forward with the wand. The stool-leg j club vibrated, stung Napoleon’s fingers, and flew across the | room. Napoleon feinted to follow, and, as Arnold countered, struck with his damaged hand. The blow was too light; Arnold fell back and then slashed out with the spinning wand again.