[Magazine 1966-­08] - The Cat and Mouse Affair - Davis Robert Hart (книги читать бесплатно без регистрации TXT) 📗

"I think not," a voice said from the dark behind him.

"Such pigs always have an escape route. They would not stay to fight with us," the major said.

"They are down there," the voice said. "I say we use the grenades."

"Coward! Grenades for such pigs? Next you will say send for the artillery!"

"If there was artillery, I would say send for the artillery," the hidden voice said.

"I say they have run like the dogs they are, Lieutenant," the major said.

The major still stood there with the flashlight on himself. He looked down at the silent and motionless floor of the box canyon. The major took a step closer to the slope down the to canyon floor.

"Shoot, pigs! Look, I stand here! I have a light! Shoot! Even you must see me! Shoot me, you pigs!"

Nothing moved in the night.

"They are gone," the major said. "No dog of a guerilla could resist shooting at me."

The major began to walk down the slope, the flashlight still held on his arrogant face. In his other hand he held his pistol. He walked slowly down, his eyes alert and jumping from shadow to shadow below on the canyon floor, but his face set in a sneer of courage.

"Look! I defy you! Shoot, pigs!"

The major stepped farther down the slope. Behind the major, faint against the night sky, other heads appeared to watch. Down in the canyon, Illya touched Solo on the shoulder. The small blond nodded up toward the slowly descending major.

"Napoleon! I know him. He's the tall man in black who was watching the prison the night the Stengali was killed trying to escape! The one who tried to ambush me."

On the slope of the canyon, the tall major continued down. He began to move faster now. His arrogant face broke into a small smile. He had started in bravado, and now it looked like he had been right. The Stengali were gone, and he would make good his display of courage. It would impress his men very much.

"Pig dogs! Where are you? Do you fear one man? Come on, you dogs; shoot if you dare!"

There was neither sound nor movement from the rocks on the canyon floor. The major turned to look up the slope.

Now the hidden lieutenant stood there on the crest.

"You see, they are gone! We would have been up there hiding forever. They cannot have gone far. There must be some way out through the closed end."

"Perhaps you are right, my major," the lieutenant said from above.

The major laughed scornfully. "Men do not say perhaps. Come, there is no danger."

The major turned and walked three more steps down. He was almost on the canyon floor. Illya and Solo sensed movement to their right. Max Steng rested his rifle on a boulder.

"Pigs!" the major shouted.

The single shot echoed up and down the canyon.

The major pitched forward on his face and skidded down to the bottom of the canyon. He neither moved nor spoke again. Max Steng lowered his rifle.

The second shot killed the wary lieutenant, who had not been as wary as his intelligence had told him to be. The lieutenant rolled halfway down the canyon wall and stuck against a boulder.

"A brave man," Max Steng said ironically.

A wild fusillade of shots filled the night from all sides of the canyon. Hidden in the night, the soldiers up on the mountain poured fire down into the canyon.

The Stengali did not answer. Hidden behind their rocks they were invulnerable. After a time the firing died down. Someone up above had realized that the fire was doing no good.

Then the troops above started down.

The Stengali waited.

The troops came on; they reached a spot halfway down. Two soldiers paused to make sure the lieutenant was indeed dead.

The Stengali opened fire.

Caught on the slope, the soldiers were no match. Half of them fled back up the hill, leaving bodies all over the slope. The other half dove for cover. There, on the slope, they lay pinned down by the accurate fire of the Stengali.

"Move out," Max Steng whispered.

The word was whispered down the line of hidden guerillas. Half continued to fire. The other half left their places, and, hidden by the boulders, moved silently away into the dark at the closed end of the canyon. Illya Kuryakin watched admiringly.

"I thought they would have a way out," the small Russian said. "A good trick, Napoleon."

"Sit in what looks like a box canyon and keep the enemy from covering one side," Solo said.

Another half of the Stengali slipped away. On the slopes the pinned-down soldiers were quiet. Up on the crest there was movement as the soldiers regrouped. More Stengali slipped away. Now there were only a few guerillas left—and Max Steng. Staying with his last men. The small, bearded leader hissed to Illya and Solo.

"Come."

The two agents followed Steng. The last guerillas fired a heavy fire, then turned and slipped back into the dark. Illya and Solo followed Steng through the rocks in the night. They reached the sheer wall at the box end and found a narrow crevice. They went through the crevice into a dark tunnel.

Five minutes later they emerged on the far side on a small slope downward to the jungle. Illya pointed up and to the left. Solo looked and saw the tall mountain with the white scar—they were very close to the Stengali caves.

"Very clever," Solo said.

But the soldiers proved to be clever, too. As Illya and Solo followed Steng down the slope, there was sudden movement on the mountain behind them. Soldiers poured down—they had guessed the only escape route.

Firing broke out all across the mountain and the jungle. Illya and Solo followed Max Steng into the cover of the jungle. They passed a line of Stengali fanned out in skirmish order among the trees and brush to cover the retreat of the others. But ahead there was also firing.

Max Steng moved among his men, giving low orders. The guerillas moved in silence and precision, fighting an open fight and retreating slowly toward the other firing ahead. Mr. Smith was there, calmly directing the fight. The Stengali had fallen into a bad situation, but they were handling it like the veterans they were.

Illya and Solo watched the progress of the running fight. No one was bothering with them now. Clearly, the attacking soldiers were out to destroy the Stengali if they could. Illya and Solo looked at each other. Here was their chance. Silently, the two agents slipped away into the jungle.

They had gone perhaps a hundred yards when they heard the sharp click of a bolt being drawn on an automatic weapon. Ahead, in a clearing, they saw soldiers in uniform pouring through the night toward them. They searched for an escape.

"Here! Quick!" a voice hissed.

A face peered out from the bushes. Illya and Solo did not pause to ask questions. They ran into the bushes and found a deep hole. They jumped down into the hole. Someone pulled a cover over the hole. Moments later there was the sound of voices above. The soldiers were searching for them.

In the hole they squatted with their unseen benefactor. The soldiers above beat the bushes. Then the voices moved away. Solo lighted his small ring flashlight. A dark man they had never seen grinned at them.

"Ah, Mr. Solo and Mr. Kuryakin, a pleasure to meet you!" the man said. "A greater pleasure to be of service. I think we will be safe now."

Illya narrowed his sharp eyes. "Who might you be?"

"Ah, allow me to introduce myself. I am Ahmed Bengali, a member of the security police. As you can see, I have been working undercover with this regiment."

"For the premier?" Solo said.