"Did they agree?" Felix asked.

"Of course they did, but it's my bet she'll never see the dough. She said she would work out a plan how to get him out. She's going to see them again Thursday night. She's going to show them where the alarms are and tell them about the guards."

Felix leaned forward. There was sweat on his face.

"Listen, Willie, if you're lying, I'll kill you," he said in a low vicious voice.

Willie flinched and cringed back.

"I'm giving it to you straight'," he whined.

Felix took out his handkerchief and wiped his face.

"What are they going to do - tell the police?"

"No. Lorelli made them promise to keep the police out of it."

Felix moved away from Willie.

"You haven't told anyone about this?" he asked.

"No," Willie said.

"You didn't tell Jacopo?"

"Of course I didn't. It's not his business." Willie began to feel a little more sure of himself now that Felix seemed to have got over the shock. He picked up his safety razor and began to sc.r.a.pe the stubble off his chin. "The old man ought to be pleased when I tell him. I'm going to ask him for a raise. He ought to come across."

Felix scarcely heard him. This was the end of Lorelli, he thought. Alsconi would hand her over to Englemann. The thought turned him sick. He suddenly realized just how much Lorelli meant to him; the realization came as a shock.

This might be his end too. Alsconi might not believe he hadn't anything to do with it. He might even think he had put Lorelli up to asking for the money. Fie glanced over at Willie who was now washing his face. There was nothing he could offer Willie that would make him hold his tongue. He knew that. Willie was a rat, and he'd be mad to trust him.

He would take everything he was offered, and still go to Alsconi. If he was to save Lorelli, Willie had to be fixed, and he was suddenly determined to save her.

As Willie began to dry his face on a grubby towel, he said, "What do you think will happen to her? Think Englemann will work on her?"

Felix shrugged.

"I don't know," he said, forcing his voice to sound harsh, "and I don't care. She's asked for it and she'll get it."

Willie nodded.

"That's the way I figured it," he said. "It's nothing to do with me what happens to her. Think I could ask the old man for a bonus?" He opened a drawer and took out a clean shirt. "There's a car I saw in Florence the other week. If the old man sh.e.l.ls out, I might be able to buy it."

"He'll give you something," Felix said and wandered over to where Willie's gun was hanging. He got between Willie and the gun. "Don't press him. If he doesn't offer you anything, I'll have a word with him."

Willie's face brightened.

"You will? That's fine. It's time I had a bit more money. I work hard enough for what I get."

Felix's hand went behind him, his fingers closed around the b.u.t.t of Willie's gun and gently eased it out of the holster. He let the gun slip through his fingers until he was holding it by its barrel.

"You'd better hurry," he said. "The old man won't give you anything if you keep him waiting much longer."

Willie shook the shirt out of its folds and slipped into it.

"Yes," he said. "I've been too long already."

He turned to the mirror and began to comb his thin, greasy hair. He saw in the mirror Felix had moved forward. Their eyes met in the reflection of the mirror. The expression he saw on Felix's face suddenly turned him cold. He saw Felix's hand flash up. He opened his mouth to shout, but he knew he had left it too late. Then the b.u.t.t of the gun smashed down on the top of his head and he fell limply forward, bouncing against the toilet basin. His dying body slid to the floor.

Eleven: The Tunnel.

About ten minutes after Englemann had gone, Don unlocked the bracelet around his ankle and got to his feet. He knew he was taking a risk of being discovered, but he couldn't continue to sit and do nothing. He couldn't resist the temptation to explore.

He crossed the cave and stood at the mouth of the tunnel, peering into the darkness. Luck favoured him. His sharp eyes caught the glint of metal high up against the wall, and taking out his cigarette lighter, he thumbed the flame alight. In a bracket attached to the wall was clipped a long, chromium-plated flashlight; probably put there, he thought, in case of an electric power failure. The beam of the light, when he pressed down on the b.u.t.ton, was powerful and told him the battery was comparatively new. He set off down the tunnel, pa.s.sing the ramp on his left and continued on for some fifty yards before he came to a steel door that blocked any further progress. There was a rubber-covered b.u.t.ton near the door, but although he pressed it several times, there was no response and baffled, he stepped away from the door to examine it from head to foot in the light of his torch. It was set flush with the rock face, and when he pushed against it, it was immovable. He made his way back to the ramp, and climbing it, he reached the door he knew led into the corridor where Englemann's surgery was as well as the control room if what Lorelli had told him was correct. He pressed on the rubber-headed b.u.t.ton he found by the door, heard a faint click and the door moved inwards. He peered into the brightly lit corridor. It was a temptation to go forward, but he resisted it. At least he knew he could get to the control room when he wanted to, but this wasn't the time. He would wait until Lorelli contacted him that night. He took hold of the steel rail on the door and pulled the door shut, then he went down the ramp to the tunnel again.

Having nothing better to do, he began a careful examination of the walls of the tunnel and he quickly made a discovery.

Let into the stone wall at eye level and roughly about twenty feet apart were a number of small steel plates with small k.n.o.bs in the centre of them. He took hold of one of the k.n.o.bs and found the plate slid back, making a peephole that looked directly into a room equipped as an office. There was no one in the room, and Don closed the plate. He went along to the next plate and moved that aside. He found himself looking into Lorelli's bedroom.

Lorelli was seated at her desk. She was engrossed with pencil and paper, and Don guessed she was preparing a plan of the underground fortress which she had promised him.

He was about to call to her, when he heard a sound from the door. Lorelli started, dropped her pencil, grabbed up the sheet of paper she had been drawing on and pushed it into the top drawer of the desk.

The door rattled impatiently and Felix called, "Open up. I want to talk to you."

"I'm coming," Lorelli said. She hurriedly undid the b.u.t.tons of her dress and mussed up her hair, then she ran over to the door and unlocked it. "I was changing."

"Since when do you lock the door when you're changing?" Felix asked, coming in and closing the door.

"I just turned the key without thinking." She moved over to the dressing table, sat down and began to brush her hair.

"What is it?"

Felix sat on the bed. He lit a cigarette and blew a thin stream of smoke towards the ceiling.

"Alsconi was asking what happened at the villa," he said.

The hairbrush she was using nearly slipped out of Lorelli's hand. She put it down and picked up a comb.

"He seemed to think it went off too easily," Felix went on. "I told him you had no trouble: that's right, isn't it?"

"Of course," Lorelli said curtly. "I told you what happened. You don't want me to go over it again, do you?"

"So it's definite the money will be paid into the Banca de Roma in four or five days?"

"Yes; anyway that's what Micklem's secretary said." Lorelli finished combing her hair. She reached for her handbag, opened it and took out her cigarette case. She lit a cigarette.

Felix saw her .25 automatic in the bag.

"That's fine," he said and got to his feet. "The old man's still a little doubtful about you, but I told him how well you carried this job out. I'm pleased with you." He came over to the dressing table. "I think I'll give you a new handbag as a reward for your cleverness." He picked up the handbag, moving a shade faster than Lorelli, whose hand had darted out to s.n.a.t.c.h the bag out of his reach. "This one's getting shabby."

"Please put it down!" Lorelli exclaimed, her voice shrill.

Felix looked at her. She saw then how cold, white and set his face was.

"You sound jumpy." He turned the bag over. "I think one of those new lizard skin jobs would suit you." He opened the bag and took out the .25.

Lorelli sat very still, staring up at him, her eyes wide open.

"You're spoiling the shape of the bag, carrying this in it," Felix went on. He put the bag on the dressing table, holding the gun in his right hand, the barrel pointing at Lorelli's feet.

She didn't say anything. She was rigid, her hands gripped between her knees.

"It's a nice little toy," Felix went on, turning the gun over. "At close quarters it could do a lot of damage." He slid out the clip, emptied the six bullets into his hand, removed the bullet from the breech, put the empty clip back and laid the gun down on the dressing table. "Safer unloaded, don't you think?" he went on and stood the seven bullets in a row by the gun.

Lorelli watched every movement, her heart beating so violently she had difficulty in breathing.

"Yes, I must see about a new handbag for you," Felix said and wandered back to the bed and sat down.

Lorelli felt sick with relief. For a horrible moment, she had wondered if Felix had guessed she was betraying him. The business with the gun shook her nerve. She picked up a nail buffer and began to polish her nails.

A long silence hung over the room. She looked out of the corners of her eyes at him. He was leaning back, his head against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. The expression on his face set her heart thumping again.

"I was worrying about you," he said suddenly. "It's a funny thing for me to worry about anyone, but I was about you."

"What do you mean?" she asked sharply. "What is there to worry about?"

"Odd, isn't it?" Felix said, ignoring her question. "You're the only woman I've really ever cared for. When I first met you, I had no idea I could get so fond of you. I sometimes wonder if you're as much in love with me as I am with you.

Are you?"

Lorelli touched her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. The expression on his face, the tension in the room and these odd words warned her something badly was wrong.

"Aren't you being sentimental?" she said huskily. "You can't measure love. How can I possibly know if I love you more than you love me?"

He stubbed out his cigarette.

"Yes, I guess that's right, but you do still love me, don't you?"

"Yes, of course." He looked over at her.

"Felix! What is it? Why are you looking like that at me?" Lorelli cried. "What's the matter?"

"You know you said you wanted to go to Buenos Aires? I've been thinking about that. If we did decide to go, what would we do for money?"

Lorelli stared at him. "But you said you wouldn't go."

"I can change my mind, can't I? If I thought we could get hold of some money..." he broke off and shrugged. "It costs a lot to live in hiding. Then there are the fares. We would have to fly. That costs money."

Felix's face hardened.

"Just how much money have you?"

"A half a million lire. It would be enough to get us there and to keep us for a month until I found something to do."

Felix shook his head.

"It's not enough. Alsconi would hunt for us. We need much more than that to be safe. You wouldn't dare earn a living. He has spies everywhere. You'd be spotted."

"It would be enough. Oh, Felix, please come with me." She leaned forward and beat her clenched fists on her knees.

"You must come with me!"

"Will you go alone if I don't come with you?" Felix asked, not looking at her.

There was a long pause. She hesitated, then controlling her agitation, she said, "No, I wouldn't leave you. Of course, I wouldn't, but you will come with me, won't you?"

Felix stood up.

"Well, at least I have the answer to my other question," he said. "Now I know just how much you love me."

"I hope you do," Lorelli said.

He came over to her.

"So you didn't see Willie at the Trioni villa?" he said in a quiet, conversational tone.

For a moment, Lorelli didn't get the impact, then she felt as if a splinter of ice had been driven into her heart. She stared at Felix, her face blanching under her make-up, her eyes wide with terror.

"Willie?" she gasped. "Was he at the villa?"

"Of course," Felix said. "You don't imagine I'd let you go there without someone to take care of you in case there was trouble, do you?"

"Oh!"

She jumped to her feet and looked wildly around the room as if looking for a means of escape.

"Willie has just got back," Felix said, watching her. "Alsconi is waiting for him. He wants Willie to confirm you had no trouble at the villa."

Lorelli backed away from his fixed, glaring stare.

"You mad little fool!" he went on, his voice suddenly out of control. "Do you imagine you can get away with this?" He went to her and crowded her against the wall. "Do you?" His hands closed over her shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh. "Willie heard everything that was said."