The Living Death Read Free

unloading. The London docks, unlike any others in the world, did not jut out from the Thames but consisted of five huge, man-made areas set back from the river and reached by narrow passageways. In these vast complexes, London could accommodate over a hundred oceangoing liners and cargo vessels at one time. Vicky threaded the Sunbeam through the sections alive with lights and activities, turning into an area that was dark, deserted and silent. The vessels moored there were equally silent and dark, obviously out of service. I felt a warning chill sweep over me, the hairs on the back of my neck starting to rise. It was a reliable sign of trouble and danger. There was no explaining it. Call it extra-sensory perception, sixth sense, experience, give it any name you like, but it was a built-in part of me that defied rational explanation. I was damned glad for it, don't get me wrong, but every now and then even I wondered what made it operate so unfailingly. Right now, for example, there was no reason for it to start ticking. It was only logical that the kind of meeting that was planned would be held in some dark, out-of-the-way spot. The whole business, by its very nature, would be a dark and secret thing. It was to be expected, and yet I felt that sense of impending danger, a premonition that it was twelve o'clock and all was not so well. I felt for Wilhelmina, my Luger, safely in my shoulder holster. It was reassuring. Along my right forearm, in its leather sheath, Hugo, the thin stiletto, added a further touch of reassurance.
    Vicky stopped the car, peered out the window, and in the darkness I could see her chewing her lips nervously.
    "This is the place," she said. "Pier 77." The dark hull of a freighter loomed up on one side, its cargo booms giant claws reaching up into the night. A low, flat warehouse lined the opposite side of the dock. A half-dozen crates and boxes stood at one edge, alongside the hull of the ship.
    "You first," I said. "I'll get out on your side."
    "Me?" she said, her voice both fearful and defiant. "Not me, luv. I've done me job. I'm not getting out, not in this creepy place."
    "You're getting out," I said, putting one hand behind her back. She looked at me and I could see her eyes were round and wide with fright. What she saw in mine frightened her more. She pulled the door open and swung out of the car. I was right behind her and I'd just straightened up beside her when the shots came, two, maybe three of them. They whizzed past my ear and plunked into the car with a dull thud. Vicky screamed and I threw her to the ground with me. Despite her terror, I saw her squeezing herself under the car. I lay quietly, face down. It had happened too fast for me to see where the shots had come from, except to note that they came from different directions. Only the fact that I had gotten out of the car on Vicky's side and blended in with the dark shape of the car had prevented them from being directly on target. They'd been fractions away from it, as it was. If I tried to get up and run for it they'd ventilate me in seconds. I continued to lie still, still as a dead man.
    In a minute, I heard footsteps approaching, one pair of footsteps. They were cautious and competent. I'd been mentally reconstructing what little I'd been able to take in of the spot. The dark hull of the merchantman was closest to me, just beyond the row of packing crates. The footsteps stopped and a hand reached down to turn me over. Certain the other hand would have a gun in it, I let him turn me half over, limply, and then, pressing into the cobblestones of the dock with my heels, I flung myself into a roll, catching him at the ankles with the full weight of my body. His feet were swept out from under him and he toppled forward across me. I heard the gun explode and the high-pitched whine of the bullet as it richocheted off the pavement at close range. Before he could get to his knees I'd reached the row of packing crates and dived behind them.