Read Online The Avenger 33 - The Blood Countess by Kenneth Robeson - Free Book Online Page B

Lowering the torch to her side so it illuminated the steps, Erika began to descend. “We tend to believe dungeons and torture chambers are relics of a remote past. The Nazis have shown us such things are very much possible in our own time.”
    Closing the door behind him, Cole proceeded to follow Erika down the narrow stone stairs. He had to duck every few steps because of the wrought-iron candle holders set into the stone wall at his left at regular intervals. “How’d you manage to haul the the books down here in the first place?”
    “Oh, one of our guards lent a hand. I don’t like to ask for too many favors from them, since they work a long hard shift, each of them.”
    “You believe Elizabeth is really in danger?”
    “What she knows could seriously harm one of the Nazis’ best-planned escape routes,” said Erika, the flashlight swinging at her side. “In the event that they lose the war, a great many of them will want to get out of the country—SS men, concentration camp officials, even those at the very top of the regime.”
    “That’s what Elizabeth knows about?”
    “She was given the details by a key underground agent in Europe—accurate details, I believe.”
    “But once she tells the stuff to somebody, she’ll be safe.”
    “Liz went through a very difficult ordeal. I doubt she’ll ever fully get over some of the shocks she suffered. It’s had an effect on her memory. Right now, she can’t remember all the details of the plan.”
    “I didn’t realize that. Means she didn’t tell Richard much.”
    “Not yet, no.”
    “Still, wouldn’t it be simpler for the Nazi blokes to change their plan, since they seem to know that she knows?”
    “From what I can tell, they’ve spent considerable time and a great amount of money to establish this particular escape corridor. To them, killing one girl is much easier and much cheaper than an entire new plan.”
    “Even so— Hey!”
    The flashlight had gone out.
    Cole was in total darkness, still a hundred feet above the ground. “Miss Mowler?”
    No answer.
    Cole was searching his pockets for matches when two strong hands pushed him hard in the chest.

CHAPTER XVIII

Dropping In
    The wind shook rain from the tree branches and tossed it directly down Smitty’s collar. “I’m thinking about all them posters I used to see in travel-agency windows before the war,” he said. “They always showed Panazuela as being full of sunshine and dames with bananas in their hats.”
    MacMurdie, oblivious to the weather, was watching the small black box he clutched in his hand. “This Bulcão lad is leading us a merry chase. I feel like a fox-hunting laird.”
    “I feel like a shower-room floor.”
    They were working their way, afoot, through the night forest. When Mac had got hold of the fleeing Bulcão back at the warehouse, he’d attached a tiny tracking bug to the man’s clothes. The box he held in his hand, an invention of Smitty’s, was picking up the bug’s signal and leading them straight to Bulcão.
    “What could that skurlie be bound for?”
    “Ain’t there supposed to be some kind of junked temple out in these parts?”
    “Aye, I’d forgotten that.”
    “Maybe the local Nazis hang out there.”
    MacMurdie consulted the box again. “We’re getting closer, which means Bulcão has stopped.”
    Lightning crackled up ahead, and thunder boomed.
    “Look at that!” said the giant. “Must be the temple ruins.”
    “Could nae be anything else,” said MacMurdie after his brief glimpse of the standing remains of the once vast stone building. “ ’Tis a safe bet our lad is within.”
    “Kind of spooky, ain’t it?” said the giant, rubbing at the back of his damp neck. “I get a funny feeling when I’m around some real old joint like this temple. I mean, these guys built it, and they strutted around inside. They must have figured they were hot stuff. And now it’s all gone, it’s just a pile of rock with the weeds growing all