Hamilton, Donald - Matt Helm 14 by The Intriguers (v1.1)

or inside treachery. But in our line of business we try to
think of all contingencies, and no experienced agent is going to put himself into
a place, even a forty-thousand-acre place, that he can't slip out of secretly
if necessary.
                I took the flashlight from the girl
and, after some careful consideration, aimed it at a bush that was out of range
of the TV monitor I'd seen on my long-ago tour of inspection. Hoping the
installation hadn't been changed in the years that had passed-I should have
been told, but that didn't necessarily mean I would have been-I pressed the
button for three long flashes. I paused, gave two short squirts of light, and
stuck the torch, as our British friends call it, into my pocket.
                Then I waited. I guess I was
expecting something to go wrong: alarms to ring, searchlights to glare, savage
hounds to come baying along the wire. Nothing of the sort happened. There was merely
a soft rustle in the brush off to the right.
                A woman's voice whispered,
"Give me a word, whoever you are."
                "Would Ragnarok do?" I asked.
                "No, but you're close. Try some
other Armageddon."
                "How about Gotterdämmerung ?"
                A slim figure in pants stood up,
brushed the dust off her clothes, and came forward. "I hope you've got
some water," the low voice said. "Or ice-cold beer for a preference.
God, this is a miserable dry country to hide out hi!"
     

          Chapter IX
     
                There was a water jug in the car-in
that part of the country, it's standard 'auto equipment, along with a
shovel-but we had to wait until we got back to the boat and its built-in
icebox, which I had replenished in San Carlos, before we could supply the beer.
While the fugitive was quenching the remainder of her thirst with Carta Blanca, I hitched up the rig. Then I came forward
once more, reached behind the front seat of the wagon, and produced a paper bag
which I handed him.
                "There's a hamburger," I
said. "Cold, but better than nothing. I figured you might be hungry. But
you'd better eat while we drive; I'd like to get as far from here as possible
as fast as possible."
                "Yes, of course. You didn't
think to bring me any clothes?"
                I'd thought it pretty damn
considerate of me to buy an extra hamburger.
                I said, "We've been a little
too busy to go shopping, lady. We practically had to fight our way in here
tooth and nail. Two men died that you might live. I considered it a pretty good
trade at the time, but I could change my mind."
                The woman laughed softly in the
darkness. "I'm very sorry; I apologize. It was sweet of you to think of
the hamburger. I'll take the back seat; I'm too dirty to associate with
civilized people. Before we start, is there any more of that wonderful Mexican
beer?" As I was getting the station wagon rolling, starting up very
cautiously so the rear wheels wouldn't dig down into the sand of the arroyo,
her voice came from behind me: "Oh, I almost forgot. I know we should get
out of here, but there's something. .. . What are our chances of sneaking up to
the front gate; and have you got any night glasses?"
                "I've got a pretty good pair of
seven-by-fifties," I said. "But as for the front gate, if the guards
are doing any kind of a job, we haven't got a chance in the world of getting
through-"
                "I didn't say through, I said
to. Just close enough for you to get a good look with your binoculars. There's
been a sort of conference at the ranch. It should be breaking up about now,
judging by what I overheard, and I think you might be interested in identifying
one or two of the participants as they drive out."
                I glanced at her over my shoulder.
Even in the gloom of the car,