The Dagger Affair - McDaniel David (хороший книги онлайн бесплатно txt) 📗

Nobody was watching the prisoners, and before they were aware of it Kim Keldur had recovered from the blow that had felled him. Suddenly he sprang from behind them and dashed for the door.

Garnet screamed, and Waverly snapped, "Stop him!" But it was too late. He was through the door, into the flames. There was a long moment of silence. Illya started to say something.

And then the flames dwindled and died.

"He's got it started again!"

"I know where the switch is," said Napoleon grimly. "I'll have to go in there and stop it." And he headed for the door. About ten feet away his feet seemed suddenly gripped by mud, and his breathing grew strained. The light from his flash vanished, and his head was stuffed with cotton. He fell forward, hearing a faint distant voice calling his name.

* * *

"Napoleon!" Illya jumped forward as he saw Solo fall. "He's not only got it going, he's got the Theta up. Give me a rope, quick!"

Garnet dashed to the car and found one in the tool kit. Illya took it and swiftly fashioned a rough loop in one end. Swinging this, he advanced until he began to feel the effect of the fringes of the field. Then he whirled the loop a few times around his head, and threw it. And missed.

Feeling dizzier, he hauled it in and moved back a step. He threw the rope again, and almost caught Napoleon's leg with it. As he leaned forward he almost fell over. The field was expanding! Each time he missed he would have to move back farther, or be caught in the field himself. Fixing every bit of concentration in his mind on the bent leg of his partner, he swung and tossed the rope again — and it caught. He pulled gently to see if it would hold. It did.

Then he put his weight on it, and began to drag Napoleon out of the field. It was expanding faster now; he was over twenty feet from the door and feeling slightly affected by it when he got Napoleon to him.

Napoleon had to be almost carried back to the car, still semiconscious from the effects of the Energy Damper. They stood by the car, wondering if the field would stop, and how soon, and where.

There was nothing left they could do. Cut off the power? The machine itself did that. Once it had started, it was a law unto itself. There was no way to turn it off from the outside, and nothing could function inside that field. A long, jointed level with a system of mirrors and lenses could be reached inside and around corners to the switch — but by the time such a device could be made it would be far too late to do any good.

And the field was still expanding.

Suddenly Baldwin turned to face them, and there was a gun in his hand. "All right," he said. "There's nothing more to be done here. Get into the car and drive as I tell you. You aren't going to like this, but there is no time now for half-measures. With luck and quick work we may have a chance. Illya, drive."

Working with one hand and holding his gun with the other, Baldwin turned on the radio. He fumbled out the microphone and called. A moment later there was an acknowledgment. Illya started the car as Baldwin began to speak into the microphone. He recited a short list of letters and numbers, and concluded tersely with, "Execute — Priority Absolute Prime."

He waited for another acknowledgment, then replaced the mike. He gestured with his gun. "Let us depart. Illya, I want to be half a mile away from here within two minutes."

They were. The Rolls paused near the edge of a golf course at Baldwin's direction, and they looked back. A moment later he pointed to the sky. "There," he said, as a pair of bright lights appeared. "Watch that, gentlemen, and pray. It is our last hope."

It was a large twin-engine cargo plane, landing lights bright, coming in low as though making a landing approach. But it swerved uncertainly as it came down. And it was coming down too steeply for the runway. It was coming down short....

It hit the wall of the hanger just above the ground. There was a great grinding crash which reached them clearly across half a mile of field, and a great flash of light. Two seconds later a giant fist of the shockwave slammed them on the chests as they watched the hanger walls bulge outward horribly for a fraction of a second, and then a shattering roar came as the whole building vanished in a billowing cloud of smoke and flame.

No one moved or spoke for a full minute.

Then Baldwin broke the silence.

"Kinetic energy, directly applied, was the only thing that could affect the machine inside the field. I was not intending to use this, but I knew it could become necessary. I simply arranged for the largest convenient mass with the greatest amount of kinetic energy available — in this case a robot-controlled plane, directed by my wife through a television camera in the nose — to be dropped on the machine. The success of this unfortunately final but ultimately necessary action is now terribly obvious. Mr. Waverly, my apologies for destroying your prize, but I think you see my reasoning."

They drove back toward the site, and arrived almost simultaneously with the fire engines. Many excited questions were asked, but none were directed toward them. The efforts of the firemen were almost totally oriented toward the protection of nearby buildings — those that had been set afire by the blast. The hanger was already more than a total loss. Not more than a few smoldering sticks and a fused mass of metal would remain.

They got out of the car to look at the spot, and said nothing. Napoleon stood with an arm around Garnet's shoulders. He felt them shaking slightly with her suppressed tears, and said gently, "Garnet, he must have died as soon as he threw the switch. The explosion destroyed only the machine."

She turned to face him, and the roaring flames lit her face with red and orange and shone in the drying tear-trails down her cheeks.

"Napoleon, my brother died almost two years ago. Now perhaps he has found his peace at last."

"I'm sure he has," Napoleon said, knowing that somehow that was an inadequate thing to say, and saying it anyway. "I'm sure he has."

Chapter 16: "'The Object Of Power Is Power.'"

There was nothing more to be done. The rounding up of the various members of DAGGER was purely routine, and would be handled by Jerry Davis' men at the San Francisco office of U.N.C.L.E.

The individuals who had contributed money to Keldur would probably never know what happened — eventually they would decide they had been conned, and would be a little more cautious the next time a thin young man with brilliant eyes came asking for contributions to save the world from itself.

Napoleon and Garnet, Illya and Waverly had spent the promised day seeing San Francisco with Baldwin, Irene and Robin, and now it was evening again, and time for them to go.

They had been driven back to the airport in the official Thrush Rolls Royce in plenty of time for Garnet to catch her flight to Los Angeles, and with an hour to spare before the U.N.C.L.E. flight to New York.

"Well," said Baldwin as they stood up from the table in the airport lounge, "our common goals had been achieved, and our alliance is ending."

"Yes, it is," said Waverly. "Tomorrow we will be enemies again. I am afraid if we meet again, it will be with bars between us. Still, I must admit it has been most interesting working with you."

"Thank you; may I say the same? You are a fine man, a good fighter, and a worthy opponent. And Mr. Solo, you showed admirable courage in your attempt to re-enter the hanger."

"Well, I left my automatic in there, and I didn't want to lose it again...."