Midnight Never Comes - PC 04 (v5) Read Free Page A

faintly in his ear.
    Once in the Aegean, diving from a sponge boat off Kyros he had run out of air at sixty feet and, surfacing, had experienced that same sensation of drifting up from the dark places into light, struggling to draw air into tortured lungs.
    The fat man was at his side, supporting him effortlessly with a grip of surprising strength. Chavasse sank into a chair. Again, there was that strange sensation of not being able to draw enough air into his lungs. He took several deep breaths and managed a smile.
    'Sorry about this. I've been ill for rather a long time. I haven't been up for long. Probably walked too far.'
    The expression on the fat man's face didn't alter and the woman said quickly in Chinese. 'All right, uncle, I'll handle this. Finish your meal.'
    'Do you think they will come now?' the fat man said.
    She shrugged. 'I don't know. I'll leave the door open for a little while longer. We will see.' The fat man moved away and she smiled down at Chavasse. 'You must excuse my uncle. He speaks little English.'
    'That's all right. If I could just sit here for a minute.'
    'Coffee?' the girl said. 'Black coffee and perhaps a double brandy?'
    'Just try me.'
    She went behind the bar and took down a bottle of brandy and a glass. At that moment a car drew up outside. She paused, frowning slightly, and peered through the window. Steps sounded on the pavement. She turned and nodded quickly to the fat man.
    'They are here,' she said simply in Chinese.
    As she came round the end of the bar the door opened and four men entered. The leader was at least six feet tall with a hard raw-boned face and restless blue eyes. He wore a three-quarter length car coat in cavalry twill, the fur collar pulled up around his neck.
    He grinned pleasantly. 'Here we are again then,' he said in a soft Irish voice. 'Got it ready for me, dear?'
    'You are wasting your time, Mr. McGuire,' the girl said. 'There is nothing for you here.'
    His three companions were typical young layabouts dressed in the height of current fashion, hair carefully curled over their collars. One of them was an albino with transparent eyelashes that gave him an unpleasant, tainted look.
    'Now don't give us any trouble, darlin',' he said. 'We've been good to you. Twenty quid a week for a place like this? I think you're getting off lightly.'
    She shook her head. 'Not one penny.'
    McGuire sighed heavily and plucked the bottle of brandy from her hand in a sudden quick gesture, tossing it over his shoulder to splinter the mirror at the back of the bar.
    'That's just for an opener,' he said. 'Now you, Terry.'
    The albino struck like a snake, his hand clawing at the high collar of the silken dress, ripping it savagely to the waist, baring one perfect honey-coloured breast. He pulled her close, cupping the breast in one hand and giggled.
    'It's lucky for you I'm not that kind of boy, darlin'.'
    The fat man was already on his feet and Chavasse kicked a chair across to block his way. 'Stay out of this, uncle,' he said quickly in Chinese.
    In the moment of astonished silence which followed, the four men turned quickly to face him. McGuire was still smiling. 'What have we got here, then, a hero?'
    'Let her go,' Chavasse said and the voice seemed to come from somewhere outside him so that he had difficulty in recognising it as his own.
    The albino giggled and when he bared his teeth, they seemed very white against the full red lips and something snapped inside Chavasse, rising up into his throat like bile, threatening to choke him. It was as if all the frustrations of the day, all the pain and anger of six months of ill-health, of hospitals and endless operations had been waiting for this moment to explode in one white hot spasm of anger.
    He pulled out the Walther and fired blindly, shattering another section of the mirror behind the bar. 'I said let her go!'
    The albino sent the girl staggering across the room with a quick shove, his face turning the colour of his hair. 'Look at his