Greystoke sailed in under a full head of steam as Captain Gringo tallied the supplies they’d brought from the other house in Pattycake’s living room. The British agent barely glanced at Helena, seated near the fireplace, as he scowled at Captain Gringo and said, “I say, this is rather high-handed, even for you! Who gave you permission to throw my own people out and take over their house like this?”
Captain Gringo smiled up at him and said, “We told Pattycake and Sam they could hang around, if they wanted. I seem to make them nervous for some reason. What did they do, run right to you?”
“Naturally. They tell me you barged in on them with a mule load of your own baggage and threatened Sam with bodily harm when he said you weren’t welcome!”
The American shrugged and said, “I only bent his shirt a little. I was about to send word to you, once we were set up here. The Germans started to pester us at the other place and someone broke in while we were out. I remembered this joint was built more like a fort and figured there was a chance Kruger doesn’t have the address.”
Greystoke still looked annoyed as he said, “You’re right about this being a safe hideout, but, dash it all, where are Sam and Patricia to stay?”
The American shrugged and said, “That’s your problem, if they don’t like our company.” They were speaking English, so he added, with a grin, “You probably already know she’s a great lay. I don’t care who sleeps with Sam.”
Greystoke suppressed a smile as he said, “All right, what’s done is done. Where’s Gaston Verrier, who’s this girl, and what was your conversation with Kruger about?”
Captain Gringo stood up, wiping his greasy hands on some cotton waste as he replied, “Gaston went to gather in the fold. We’ve recruited eleven men and it’s safer if we stick together under one roof, now that someone’s playing games. The girl’s an innocent bystander we brought along for safekeeping. She doesn’t know anything, but some moron might rough her up because he thinks she does. Kruger told me you were full of shit and offered to conduct a guided tour of the lowland swamps for us. He gave me a map and some letters of introduction to other Germans in the area.”
“Cheeky blighter!” Frowned Greystoke, adding, “The map is probably designed to lure you into quicksand or some other trap.”
The tall American shook his head and said, “I doubt it. It looks like an official German navy chart. He doesn’t expect us to follow it. He was only trying to build character with me. By the way, he offered me money, too.”
“Good Lord, did you accept it?”
“No, I told him I already had a job. Of course you know that Colonel Delgado’s taking money from both sides?”
“Naturally. Most double agents do. How did you find out about Delgado?”
“Hell, you as much as admitted it and Kruger verified it. I sure like the way you have us working for you in a goldfish bowl. Do you think the guys who spooked Gaston and searched the other house are working for the U.S. Consulate?”
Greystoke went wooden Indian and asked, cautiously, “What makes you suggest that?”
“Nobody from the U.S. Consulate has approached us. They have to know we’re on the scene. Didn’t your guys tail the bunch that busted in when I went to look for Gaston?”
Greystoke started to shake his head. Then he smiled thinly and said, “You’re good, Walker. The agents I had staked out at the other place admired your ploy of putting your things on the roof for safekeeping. How did you spot them?”
“I didn’t. I just knew you’d want to keep an eye on us after advancing part of our pay. I’m going to need more, by the way. The guys Gaston will be bringing in will expect some front money, too.”
“Very well. Just give me their names for my vouchers and—”
“Not on your life!” Captain Gringo cut in, adding, “You told us this was an off-the-books operation and I aim to keep it that way. Gaston’s too old a hand at the game to recruit guys who won’t be useful pros. Some of them have been hiding out, here, and all of them are entitled to some privacy. If this mission goes sour and they have to scatter, they’ll feel better knowing they don’t have to look over their shoulders for anyone but Gaston and me.”
“Dash it all, Walker, I can hardly pay the salaries of eleven men that I can’t verify as existing!”
“Sure you can. You just take the money out of your safe. If you’re afraid Gaston and I mean to screw you out of extra money before we double-cross you and desert, forget the whole deal. We’ve spent some of our advance, but we’ll give you back what’s left and you can get someone else.”
He saw Greystoke didn’t like that suggestion and added, “Next time, it might be a good idea not to let Delgado sit in as you set it up. I’ve been meaning to ask you about that bush-league move, by the way. Why did you have me meet Delgado, knowing he was a double agent?”
Greystoke grimaced and said, “He’s more than a double agent. He’s the head of Costa Rican Intelligence. I thought you said you knew the Great Game.”
Captain Gringo thought before he slowly nodded and said, “You’re right. It would be dangerous to have an armed patrol the Costa Rican Army didn’t know about moving through their woods.”
“Delgado brought the captured German weapons to us, too, doubtless so he could report what we were going to do about it to his German friends.”
“You agree that Spandau and the other junk was a plant?”
Greystoke shrugged and said, “We just don’t know. It works as well two ways. Innocent junior Costa Rican soldiers may have stumbled over a real landing and Delgado, knowing it was too late for a cover-up, may have brought it to our attention before we could ask his superiors about it.”
“That’s reasonable. What’s your second choice?”
“Kruger may have some razzle-dazzle shell game in mind. If it was a plant, as you suspect, it’s obvious that they hope to trick us into looking in the wrong area. Naturally, you intend to have a good look at every likely stretch of coast?”
Captain Gringo said, “That’s another thing I’m bugged about. The country’s not very big, as countries go, but the coast down there runs over a hundred miles as the crow flies, and we’re not crows.”
“Quite. But you don’t have to cover every inch of the shoreline. Many of the swamps and lagoons are too shallow for ocean-going craft to put in. A submarine base requires even deeper water, if one intends to sneak in and out submerged, eh what?”
The American nodded and said, “I figure a submerged Holland boat would just clear a twenty-foot bottom. They run on electric batteries underwater, right?”
“Of course. For surface cruising they switch to an internal combustion engine. It’s the motor power every navy seems to be having trouble with. The petrol engine hasn’t really been perfected to where it’s as reliable as steam, but they tell me an underwater steamboat won’t work, either.”
“Let’s get back to those batteries. Are they liable to need a shore-based powerhouse to recharge their batteries or can they do it with the gas-buggy engines aboard the sub?”
Greystoke looked uncertain and replied, “I don’t really know. The Navy chaps I spoke with failed to mention the matter.”
Captain Gringo sighed and muttered, “Jesus, we don’t even know what we’re looking for.”
Greystoke said, “Of course you do. There has to be a harbor. There’ll be shore-based personnel with supply depots, ammo dumps, and all that rot. Naturally, it will be invisible from the sea, but a few hundred feet of seaside jungle growth would do the job. There’s no high ground along the coast and—”
“Do you think you could get us an observation balloon?” The American cut in.
Greystoke looked surprised and asked, “A what, for God’s sake?”
“A balloon. Come on, don’t tell me the British don’t have observation balloons. We used them in the Civil War and both the French and Germans used them back in ’seventy during the siege of Paris.”
Greystoke shrugged and said, “I assume they may have some such thing, back home in Blighty. I’ve never seen one in Costa Rica. How on earth could you use such a thing in the jungle, anyway?”
Captain Gringo said, “I’ve been thinking about that steam launch Kruger mentioned. Naturally, I’d hesitate to ask for a German one, but if you could get me one, and a balloon, we could just steam down the coast, towing an observer a mile above us. Nobody’s liable to expect anyone looking down on a jungle clearing.” He grinned wolfishly and added, “If I could get above them with a machine gun and some dynamite the job would be a cinch.”
Greystoke shook his head wearily and said, “They told me you had a vivid imagination, but this is too much. Who ever heard of attacking anyone from the sky?”
“Jules Verne? I know it sounds wild, but it would sure beat taking them on with a handful of men slogging through the muck. More important, it would give us a sporting chance of finding the damned place!”
Greystoke shook his head again and said, “I’m sorry if I seem old-fashioned to you, but I’m afraid you’ll just have to muddle through the usual way. I can get you a boat, but a balloon is out of the question. It would take weeks to ship one in and I can just imagine what they’d say at Whitehall if I sent such a request.”
Captain Gringo shrugged and dropped it. They exchanged a few more words of small talk and then Greystoke left, apparently satisfied for the moment.
The moment they were alone again, Helena got up from her seat and came over to him with hurt tears in her eyes. In Spanish, she said,
“You do not trust me. You think I might betray your secrets.”
He frowned down at her and asked, “What are you talking about, querida? Who said we didn’t trust you?”
“I may be only a simple girl, but I am no fool. First you insisted I come with you, so that you could keep an eye on me. Now you have a most important conversation in English, so I will not understand.”
He laughed and said, “Greystoke doesn’t make such sense in English. I’m sorry, but I didn’t even think of you when he barged in like that.”
“Does that Englishman not speak Spanish?”
“I suppose so, but, as I said, we don’t seem able to agree in any language. We were just arguing about unimportant details.”
She shook her head and insisted, “I understood enough to know he asked something about me.”
Captain Gringo sighed and said, “Oh, for God’s sake. He asked who you were and I told him not to worry about you. I said you were nice. He could see for himself that you’re pretty.”
It didn’t work. She still looked as sad-eyed as a kicked cocker spaniel as she asked, “If you trust me, for why do you refuse to tell me what this is all about? Every time I ask why we are rushing about like this you say it is not important. Who do you think I am spying for?”
She started to cry and he took her in his arms to comfort her as he soothed, “Hey, we’re just trying to protect you. Gaston and I have a few dangerous secrets, although, come to think about it, it’s hard to keep anything secret around here. We just think the less you know the safer you’ll be.”
She snuggled her face against his chest and said, “I was safe where I was, I thought. I don’t know where I am, now. What am I doing here? Who will clean house for la señora in the morn-mg?
He realized he’d just missed a chance to ask Greystoke if they didn’t need a maid or something at the British Consulate. He repressed a curse and patted her quivering shoulder as he said, “Forget la señora. We’re going to get you a decent job and a nicer place to stay before we leave.”
“You are leaving? Where are you going? Can’t I come along?”
“No. It’s too far and too dangerous. Since you think I’m keeping dark secrets from you, I’ll tell you this much; it’s a mission like your father used to go on, for money.”
She sobbed and said, “No, I don’t want you to go. They will kill you as they killed my father and I will be alone again!”
Captain Gringo pursed his lips as he wondered what on earth he’d started, here. The little blonde couldn’t be falling for him. He had enough trouble on his plate already!
He was suddenly aware of the effect her breasts against him were heaving and moved her gently away. She was pretty as a picture, but there were girls a man could love and leave, and girls who deserved a better break.
He was still holding Helena at arms’ length when Gaston burst in on them, followed by what looked like a cross between a pirate crew and the sweepings of a flophouse. Gaston grinned and said, “Ah, youth, I hope we have not arrived at an inconvenient time, my old and rare?”
Captain Gringo let go of Helena and swung around to face Gaston and the men he’d brought. He said, “Howdy, gents, I was hoping for more of you.”
Gaston said, “Frisco Murphy had second thoughts when I mentioned machine guns. He says machine guns make him nervous.”
Gaston turned his head to start his introductions, saw the motley crew was standing in a ragged clump and snapped, “God damn! I told you we were hiring soldiers! Don’t any of you know enough to line up and stand at attention when meeting your commanding officer?”
The ragged-looking men began to shuffle themselves into some semblance of a line, save for one burly man in a striped seaman’s shirt who dismissed Captain Gringo with a sullen glance, frowned down at Gaston, and said, “I don’t go for that military shit, Shorty.”
Gaston shrugged and kicked him in the balls. As the man doubled over, gasping in agony, Gaston rabbit punched him across the back of his neck, driving him to the floor, then jumped on his head with both boot heels. As he bounced off, he glared like a bandy rooster at the other dumfounded men and asked, “Are there any other questions?”
Nobody answered. The ten men left were standing at attention, not looking at the spreading pool of blood near Gaston’s feet.
Gaston turned on one heel, saluted Captain Gringo, and snapped, “Recon patrol ready for your inspection, Captain.”
The girl, Helena, had retreated to her corner in horror. Captain Gringo swallowed the green taste in his mouth and said, “At ease, men. Is that guy dead, Gaston?”
Gaston didn’t look down as he nodded and said, “Mais oui. I felt his skull give under my heels. I explained that we were mounting a military expedition, but I do not think he understood me, hein?”
Captain Gringo didn’t answer as he looked the other men over. Most of them looked hungry and some were over the hill in age. But they stood quietly at parade rest with the impassive faces of old soldiers, old prison cons, or other old hands at sudden violence. He knew Gaston’s brutality had been the right move. This tough gang of alley fighters liked to know who was boss. He wondered how Gaston could have picked one who’d misbehave right off. Knowing Gaston, the sly pro might well have planned things that way, but he couldn’t ask him in front of the men, so he told Gaston to call the roll.
He nodded curtly at each man in turn as Gaston introduced them. They all went by names like Bomber Girty or The Detroit Harp. He didn’t try to memorize them. They’d get better acquainted along the way. He waited until the last, an ashen-faced kid called T.B. Jones had been presented. Then he said, “Okay, guys. Gaston will chow you in the kitchen and show you where you can flop. You know the mission. We’ll issue you your arms and partial pay in the morning. Then we’re moving out. Are there any questions?”
The younger one called T.B. cleared his throat and asked, “Sir? Can I ask what we’re going to do about this dead guy?”
Captain Gringo shook his head and said, “No. You didn’t see him die and you won’t know where he’s buried if anyone should ever ask. Anyone else have a question?”
The Detroit Harp asked, “Would the captain be after telling us where we’re going and who we’re to fight? Gaston never mentioned.”
The tall American said, “You’ll find out along the way. You know Gaston or you wouldn’t be here. You may know my rep, you may not. Suffice to say, neither of us commit suicide if we can avoid it. The money we’re offering should tell a pro that it will be tough and dirty. We’re going into jungle to fight against odds. This is not the usual viva libertad operation where you get to shoot at pigs and chickens. The guys I’m leading you against will be trained regulars, not bandits or guerrillas. One thing more: as Gaston just pointed out, this is a military operation. We’ll be operating under the usual ‘Articles of War.’ Deserters, looters, or rapists will be shot. ‘Misbehavior Before the Enemy’ or refusal to obey a direct order rates the same. If any of this is too rich for your blood, you can leave right now and I promise not to let Gaston jump on your head. Anybody want out?”
Nobody but The Detroit Harp said anything, and he said, “Sure, ain’t it grand to be back in the old army? We’re with yez, Captain Gringo.”
He nodded and told Gaston to feed and quarter the recruits. Gaston shot a glance at the man he’d stomped and the tall American said, “I’ll take care of that. You can pull K.P. for. not asking permission first.”
“What about the girl? Can’t she feed them?”
“No. I told you to. Let’s move it out, Lieutenant.”
Gaston shrugged and started herding the men from the room. As they left, Helena gasped, “That was terrible! Is that man really dead?”
Captain Gringo sighed and said, “I’m afraid so. It was an old drill sergeant’s trick, although they seldom carry it this far. You set one known malcontent up to let the others know you mean business. He must have known this guy was a stupid thug we couldn’t use, anyway. Why don’t you go to bed, kitten? You look tired and there’s no reason for you to see any more, here.”
The girl looked confused and asked, “For where am I to sleep?”
He pointed at an archway with his chin and said, “First bedroom to the left. You’ll be able to lock yourself in.”
“I am frightened. Where are you and the others going to sleep?”
“My room’s next to yours. I’ll be close by if you need me. But I don’t think you will. I’m sure they all know better, now.”
Helena left, uncertainly. Captain Gringo waited until he was alone with the body and stepped over to it. The man Gaston had apparently just murdered in cold blood sat up and said, “Is it safe to leave, now?”
Captain Gringo muttered, “I might have known. Come on, get lost. If I see you again before we march those other suckers out of town you’ll really be dead!”
The man in the seaman’s sweater rolled lightly to his feet and said, “Gaston said I’d get paid for my cackle bladder act.”
Captain Gringo grabbed him by the arm and hustled him out to the patio as he reached in his pocket for some money. He said, “I’m supposed to be disposing of your remains, you idiot! Take this, blow, and for God’s sake stay out of sight! Where the fuck did Gaston ever find you?”
The actor palmed the money and put it in his pants as he explained, “We shared a cell one time. I’m a con man, not a crazy hired gun. Are you really going to lead that bunch of bums into battle?”
“That’s not your problem, unless you want to come along.”
“I was just about to say adios!”
Captain Gringo was smiling as he went back inside. The “blood” on the floor was starting to dry like the real thing. He knew the trick of holding a rubber bladder filled with substitute blood in one’s mouth until it was time to “die” for the suckers. But the guy had been good. He’d been watching and he’d missed the way Gaston pulled his blows. He was going to have to have a word with Gaston. Surprises made a man nervous when he had so many other things on his mind.
He didn’t feel up to more dramatics and it was late as hell. He knew Gaston would play it right when they came back to find the “body” gone. If the recruits weren’t impressed enough by now, he was too tired to think up further fun and games.
He went to his room, barred the door behind him, and groped his way to the bed in the dark. It wasn’t the room he’d had Pattycake in. He’d selected what seemed to be a guest room with that in mind. The English girl’s room still reeked of her perfume and he didn’t want to go to sleep with an erection.
He sat on the bed and shucked off his boots and duds, hanging the gunbelt over a bedpost. The clean sheets felt good on his naked rear as he slid into bed and groped for a pillow. His hand came down on a head of hair and he stiffened in the dark. Helena’s familiar voice asked, “Is that you, Deek?”
He said, “Of course. I told you this was my room. What are you doing here, Helena?”
“For favor, I was frightened. I am also cross with you about the way you have been treating me.”
As he half sat and half reclined on his side of the bed, Helena moved closer and her thigh against his hip was naked. He said, “You sure have a funny way of acting cross, Helena. Do you have anything on at all?”
“Por favor, I do not own the nightgown. I am used to sleeping naked.”
He edged away and said, “Listen, Kid, I said I’d be a big brother to you, but this is pushing your luck.”
“Do you still think I am a spy?”
“No, but would you be insulted if I thought you were a virgin?”
She signed and said, “Alas, that is true. I have been waiting for a real caballero, even though the other girls tease me about it. They say a nineteen-year-old virgin is a crime against nature. But I have never met a man like you before.”
“Honey, you haven’t met a man you should be in bed with yet!”
She sobbed in the darkness and said, “I knew it! You still don’t trust me, do you?”
“Hey, I trust you. I just don’t trust me! Somebody around here has to act like a responsible adult, Helena. I don’t think you know what you’re doing. Are you sure you’re a virgin? You sure don’t act like any virgin I’ve ever met!”
“I don’t know how to act. You will have to teach me, and then I will be your woman forever, no?”
Ice water couldn’t have done it better. Captain Gringo sat up straighter and said, “That did it. Where the hell are your clothes?”
She sobbed, “Please don’t hurt me! I thought I could convince you I was trustworthy by giving myself to you, but I see you still think I am bad!”
Without considering his own biology, the big American reached out to comfort her, wound up with a hand on her firm young breast, and quickly moved his hand into a more seemly position around her quivering shoulder. Helena snuggled closer, pressing herself to his side. He could feel her pubic hairs against his own thigh and gritted his teeth to mutter, “God give me strength!”
She started crying with her face against his chest. He patted her and said, “Hey, it’s all right. Nobody’s going to hurt you. Everybody likes you. Nobody thinks you’re anything but a sweet little thing. In the morning, before we leave, I’ll buy you some decent clothes and leave you with some money and a safe place to stay.”
She wriggled closer, innocently unaware of what her pelvic movements were doing to him in the dark, and asked. “Why can’t I be your woman, Deek?”
He said, “You saw what happened to your mother, kid. No decent girl should ever get mixed up with a guy like me.”
“If you were not such a violent person, would you want me for your woman?”
“I’d sure consider it. But I’m a wanted man on the run and you deserve something better.”
“Could not I be your woman for just a little while, Deek?”
He said, “We’d both hate ourselves in the morning. You’re not supposed to throw your virginity away on a one-night stand, kid.”
“I know. The padre at the church said one could burn in hell forever for being so wicked. But I do not feel wicked, Deek. I have never been in a man’s arms like this before. I had no idea if felt so good to be naked together. What is supposed to happen next?”
“You’re supposed to get dressed. This is ridiculous! Didn’t your mother ever warn you about guys like me?”
“She told me, once, that to be in the arms of a man one loves is to be in heaven.” She moved her groin against him, experimentally, and added, “I think Mother was right. Something very strange is happening between my legs. Do you mind my doing this, Deek?”
“No, but if you don’t stop, I’m liable to do something your mother wouldn’t approve of.”
Even as he said it, he felt his engorged erection responding and the girl said, “I hear your heart beating fast inside your chest. Is it not supposed to do this when a man is in love?”
He said, “Aw, hell!” and snuggled down beside her, running his free hand over her curves as he kissed her full on the lips.
Helena responded eagerly and flattened herself against him as they lay face to face on their sides. She gasped as she felt his erection against her soft belly and said, “Oh, I’m afraid again! I did not know it would feel so big!”
He murmured, “Easy, I won’t go all the way.”
“Then what are you doing to me?” She asked, as he started to pet her between the thighs. He asked, “Do you want me to stop?” and she replied, “I don’t think so. Everything you have done, so far, feels wonderful. Aren’t you supposed to start hurting me, now?”
“I don’t want to hurt you, honey. But you’re right. You’re too little for me.”
Her internal muscles contracted on the one finger he’d slipped inside and she moaned, “Oh, that feels so nice. It does not hurt at all!”
He got another finger in and started stroking faster. She gasped and asked, “What is happening? I feel so strange! It feels like I have to go, but, Oh, my God, what are you doing?”
He fingered her through a full orgasm as he soothed, “You’re not going, You’re coming. Do you want me to stop?”
“Oh, no! Never! Nobody ever told me it felt like that! No wonder my mother stayed with my father all those years! Is it supposed to feel that good with your real thing instead of your fingers?”
He rolled gently atop her and suggested, “Let’s find out. Tell me if it starts to hurt you and I’ll stop.”
“You promise? I was told some men could not stop, once they had started, and … oh, you’re touching me with it!”
He stopped, fighting to control his passion as he held back with just the head gripped in her pulsating opening. And then his flesh betrayed him and he felt a spurt of semen getting away from him as he gritted his teeth. The extra lubrication and pressure popped something inside her and he was suddenly in all the way and coming without having to move. She gasped, “Oh, it’s too big!”
“Am I hurting you?”
“Yes, I mean no. I don’t know what I mean, it feels so strange and that thing is happening to me again!”
He started moving, gently, as Helena’s flesh expanded and contracted around his shaft. She was moaning like a puma in heat and started to move her hips instinctively as she sighed, “Oh, I think we must be fucking, no?”
“I’m afraid so. I really ought to be horsewhipped for this, but I’m only human.”
She laughed and said, “It sounds like such a dirty thing when they talk about it around the well. But I really think I like to fuck.”
“I never would have guessed.”
“Does this mean I will always be your woman, forever, Deek?”
He grimaced, grateful for the darkness, and said, “Forever is a long time, Querida. Just think about here and now.”
She wrapped her legs around him, taking it deeper, and growled, “You will never get away from me,” in mock ferocity. He didn’t answer. He was coming again. But some small sane corner of his brain was telling him he was an idiot and asking how the hell he was going to explain all this in the cold gray light of dawn!