AS LECHAIM PULLED into the Regas’ driveway, someone called from the shadows “Hey, Lickum!” It was Lothar and he looked nervous as he glanced around continuously.
“What's wrong!” Lechaim asked as he got out of the car.
“Lito! He’s been shot!” Lothar said, pointing in the direction of the patio.
“What!” Lechaim exclaimed as he brushed past and ran to the Filipino who was propped against a wall of the house with his arm covered in blood. The pain was evident on Lito's face as he tried to smile but it came out as a grimace. Lechaim quickly bent over him and examined the wound.
“Can you move your arm?”
“Yes! It missed the bone I think but it fucking hurts!”
“You'll need a doctor!”
“We'll get our own, a sympathizer. Can't afford to have the police involved,” Lito replied and then pursed his lips as Lechaim examined the wound with his fingers. “We'll need to use your phone though to contact him.”
Lito had not mentioned much about the cause he was fighting for and Lechaim briefly wondered what Lito's doctor friend was sympathizing with but it was an idle thought and quickly forgotten.
“Of course! Come on! We'll get you into the house and make that phone call” Lechaim said as he picked Lito up in his arms.
Lito, despite the pain, went to protest but decided against it although he felt like a child as Lechaim carried him with ease to the front door. Lothar grinned at the sight until he saw Lito's eyes which were sending out a warning.
“Lothar!.. keys on my belt...get them and unlock the door,” Lechaim ordered.
“Yah!” the German grunted and fumbled around at Lechaim's hip.
As they went in, Lechaim exclaimed, “Keep the noise down! We don't want to wake up the maids!”
“Yah!” Lothar acknowledged in a conciliatory mood. He knew that Lito would be on his back about the gun, the gun that Lothar should have taken off the little man. Lothar was eager therefore to make amends.
Lechaim put Lito down on a stool in the kitchen and rummaged around in the cupboards until he found what he was looking for, Carlos' first aid kit.
Lito winced as Lechaim carefully removed his shirt. “Get a bowl of water and a cloth or towel of some kind!” he said to the hulk next to him.
Whilst Lothar was doing this, Lechaim searched around again for something that would serve his purpose. He found it, a brown leather belt in one of the clothes cupboards in a bedroom upstairs. Returning to the kitchen, he saw that Lothar had also returned with a bowl and a clean tea towel. Lechaim went to work washing the arm around the wound, then placing the belt around it, he spoke to Lito,
“Hold the belt so! Once the blood stops flowing, you can release the pressure a little!” As Lito looked into his eyes, Lechaim said, “Best I can do for now!”
“Thanks!” Lito muttered. “Sorry about the mess!” he said apologetically as he eyed the stone floor which was becoming bloodied.
“Forget it!” Lechaim replied and then sought to comfort his friend. “I know a little about wounds. It looks as though the bullet went straight through!”
“Great!” Lito murmured sarcastically. “That's a great comfort!” Lito smiled though as he spoke and Lechaim was relieved. The wound was not too serious by the look of it, Lechaim decided, and with some tender loving care - he had Angelina in mind for that - Lito should be all right.
“What happened anyway?” Lechaim thought at last to ask.
“Your friend arrived!” Lito responded. “Unfortunately, he's smarter than he looks. Didn't know he had a gun up his sleeve.
Lechaim looked at him quizzically. “Lothar will explain!” Lito muttered as he screwed his eyes up in pain again.
“Want a drink?” Lechaim asked.
“Yes, something strong!”
“Best not until the doctor's seen you!” Lechaim replied and poured Lito a glass of water from the tap. “Take this, it will help!”
“If you say so!” Lito replied as he eyed the glass in Lechaim's hand. “A 'San Miguel' would go down nicely though.” “Lechaim relented and went to the large refrigerator standing in one corner. “Here!” he said, “if it'll keep you quiet!”
Lito put the bottle of beer to his lips and gulped. “That's better!” he exclaimed as he put the half-finished bottle down. “Now where's that useless specimen gone?”
“Lothar! he's outside. Probably thinks our friend will be back!”
Lito thought for a moment. “He's the same man, I'm sure of it. The one that tried to kill you on Corregidor.” Lito paused and then commented. “You wouldn't think he could harm a fly though!”
“Did he have anyone with him!”
Lito examined his arm as he said, “Don't think so!”
Lechaim saw the pain his friend was in. “That doctor's number. You'd better give it to me.”
While Lechaim was speaking to the doctor on the phone, Lothar walked into the kitchen
“Okay, Lito?” Lothar inquired as he bent over the wounded man.
“No thanks to you!” Lito responded. “Didn't you think to search the man properly?”
Lothar looked rather crestfallen. “Yah, my fault! Sorry, Lito.”
Lito was not mollified by Lothar's apology. “Sorry don't make it right! In the future, make fucking sure, will you!” he snapped as the pain began to get to him.
“Yah!” Lothar replied and avoided Lito's eyes. “I go now! Keep watch?”
“You do that, Lothar! You do that!” Lito said resignedly.
Lito met Lechaim's eyes as Lechaim replaced the phone.
“It's not like Lothar to be that careless!” Lito commented.
“We can all make mistakes!” Lechaim replied aware that the German was embarrassed by his gaff.
As Lothar slunk outside, he was grateful to the Englishman for his support. On the patio, he cast his eyes aloft and contemplated the stars as he cursed himself for being such an idiot.
Across town those same stars watched Sartori arrive back at his hotel.
“What happened?” Sam asked when Sartori let himself in. “Everything all right?”
“No, everything is not all right!”
She could see that he was nervous and worried. Anxious because she had never seen him quite that way before, she then asked, “But, were the Regas in? Is that it?”
“No, they weren't there but Moreno and that German ape of his were!”
“Did they see you?”
He laughed but his laugh had no conviction to it. “They saw me all right. I had to shoot one of them! Moreno! No, it's all right, I didn't kill him. Bodies lying around the place are the last thing we want.” Sartori was a quality marksman and could have killed the Filipino if he had wanted to, but he had deliberately shot him in the shoulder.
“What are we going to do?” she asked uncertainly. She had never seen Sartori concerned before and it was unsettling. There was something else she thought as she watched him take off his jacket. Something that he was not telling her. She forced herself to ask, “Was anyone else there..the Regas perhaps?”
He looked at her for a long while before he spoke. "A man in an old car drove past as I was walking down the road."
“Yes, a man?” she inquired. “What about this man?”
“I thought for a moment it might be Captain Lewis!”
She laughed and he saw it as ridicule. Slapping her hard across the face, he spat, “Don't laugh at me, you bitch!”
“She started crying as she implored, “I'm sorry, darling but I thought you were joking!” Then she stared at him and her eyes opened wide. “You say a man drove past in an old car?”
“Yes, an English model, I think.”
But it wasn't possible, she thought, remembering the antiquated vehicle that Lechaim had driven her around in. She had once pulled his leg about it.
“Lechaim had an old car!”
“I know, I followed it around often enough! It looked to me like the same car.”
“But there was no way out of that tunnel! You said so yourself.”
Sartori had made up his mind. “Give the Regas a ring and ask for Captain Lewis!”
“But they'll recognize my voice.”
He fished around in the pockets of his jacket and took out a packet of cigarettes he had purchased minutes before in the hotel lobby. She could only look at him in amazement as he lit one because she had never seen him smoke before. That was better, he sighed, as he inhaled the soothing fumes. It had been years since he had needed one, but he needed it now to calm his nerves
“Just do as I say.”
She wasn't about to argue with him again so she picked up the phone and asked for an outside line.
Lechaim was in the garden talking to Lothar when he heard the ringing in the kitchen. Thinking it might be the Regas, he went in and plucked the phone from the wall.
“Lechaim here!”
He heard a gasp at the other end and then someone breathing heavily.
“Hello! hello! Anyone there?” and then he was greeted by a man's voice that he recognized at once.
“Captain Lewis!”
“Yes!” he said, waiting expectantly.
“I don't believe that you are Captain Lewis! Who are you?” the man demanded, the voice sounded uncertain, almost afraid
“I'm Captain Lewis, creep! The same Captain Lewis you left on Corregidor.”
There was silence at the other end and Lechaim wasn't certain whether the man had gone.
Eventually, the other man spoke again. “But, but how did you get out of the tunnel?” the voice asked incredulously.
Lechaim paused while he considered the question, then he gave a low laugh which made Sartori shiver. “I changed into a bird and flew out!”
There was more silence and then the man’s voice took on a new tone. “If you want your girlfriend back alive, you'd better do what I say!”
Suddenly Lechaim was alert. He had forgotten in the excitement of the moment about Maxine. His spirits lifted as he realized that she might be still alive.
“You have her?”
“She's with me now!”
“Put her on so I know that she's still alive.”
More silence and then Maxine came down the phone. “Lechaim, darling, is that you?”
Lechaim then heard her scream, her pain was real enough.
“Maxine! Maxine!” Lechaim could only say helplessly.
When the man came back, Lechaim threatened, “If you hurt her, you creep, I'll kill you very slowly indeed.”
He could hear Maxine moaning in the background as Sartori replied. “The day after tomorrow at Saint Nicholas Church. Ten in the evening! Got it!”
“Ten in the evening, the day after tomorrow, Saint Nicholas Church! Now put Maxine back on!” but the phone went dead.
Sartori replaced the phone and stared at the sobbing woman. “Sorry about that!” he said as he saw the blister forming on her arm from the cigarette. “I had to make it sound real!”
She was oblivious to the pain, however, as she looked at him. “But how can he be still alive?”
“Someone must have dug him out. It's the only explanation! Wait a minute! That explosion on the island after we left! That's it!” But even as he said it he wasn't convinced. The explosion had been considerable, not the sort of charge that anyone in their right mind would use to release a man from a tunnel.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Do,” he replied, “I'm going to kill the Captain once and for all! That's what I'm going to do, but first, we need more men. Phone Carl Petersen in Hong Kong and have him send two men!”
“But the Cardinal told you to keep our trip a secret.”
He sighed and slapped her again. “Can't you do one single thing I ask without questioning it?”
She reached for the phone and placed a call to the organization's head office for South-East Asia.
Over in Forbes Park Lechaim poured himself a drink of malt whisky from Carlos' cocktail cabinet and was about to gulp it down when Lito's doctor arrived closely followed by the Regas which was also the cue for the appearance of the three housegirls. The young women in their basement dwellings had heard the men in the house earlier but knew it was all right because they could hear Captain Lewis with them. Now that the Regas were home, however, it was time for them to come out of their burrow and prepare an evening meal.
“What's been going on?” Carlos' voice echoed down the corridor and Lechaim, after showing the doctor into the kitchen where Lito was still sitting, went out to meet them.
Lito saw him disappear and then looked at the mess on the floor with some trepidation while the doctor made a clucking noise of disapproval which only added to Lito’s depression. Angelina's sister, Eva, would be none too pleased with the mess, Lito thought, and if he were to have any chance with Angelina, he needed to stay in Eva's good books. One of the housegirls, half asleep, decided to wander into the kitchen at that moment. As soon as she saw the blood on the floor and Lito crouched over on a stool, she let out a piercing scream and ran out again.
“What the...” Carlos exclaimed, startled by the screaming maid that ran past him.
“It’s all right!” Lechaim said. “Nothing to worry about!” He ushered Carlos and his family into the front room and told the maids to go back to bed.
“Better get the kids to bed as well!” he suggested to Eva and she nodded. For once she wasn't about to give him an argument, he was too grim for that.
“Regina!” please take the boys up! I'll be there in a few minutes!” Eva said to one of the departing girls.
Regina nodded dumbly and took the two children, who were still bemused by the long car ride, up the stairs. Both were too tired to wonder what the two strangers were doing there in their parents' house and why one of them looked like a monster.
They had seated themselves and were waiting for Lechaim to provide them with an explanation as to what was going on when Angelina gave a little cry of alarm. Through the window, the monster was staring at them. The three of them could only stare back in astonishment and a little terror at the menace that Lothar posed.
“Don’t worry!” Lechaim exclaimed. “It’s only Lothar! He’s on our side!”
“Our side?” Carlos asked as he tore his eyes from the hulk outside. “Exactly what is going on, Lechaim?”
“It's a long story but basically, in a nutshell, someone tried to kill me earlier today on Corregidor. Maxine has been kidnapped and someone tried to blow up your house earlier and, oh, yes, Lito has been shot!” In the circumstances, Lechaim thought it best to be as flippant as possible.
“What!” they exclaimed in unison as Angelina tightened her grip on her sister's arm.
Before they could ask him anything, Lechaim called Lothar from the front patio.
“This is a friend, Lothar Hartmann. Your bodyguard for the next few days!”
“Yah!” Lothar confirmed, pleased that Lechaim had referred to him as his friend. The Regas eyed Lothar with some consternation as he showed his teeth. They were one of his better features.
“Oh, one other thing. “Lito's now in the kitchen receiving treatment.”
Angelina was the first to respond. “Lito! Is he all right?” she asked anxiously.”
“Flesh wound, nothing more, but he'll need to rest up for a few days”
As he said it, he looked across at Eva who, he knew, was about to protest at this invasion of their house and privacy “I think I should also mention that Lothar and Lito probably saved your lives tonight!”
“You mean,” Carlos replied, “that someone was going to blow the house up with us in it?”
“Afraid so! Lito and Lothar prevented it but Lito stopped a bullet in the process!”
“But how did Lito and Lothar know?” Carlos then enquired.
“I asked them to come over and make certain you were all safe just in case! Fortunately, Lothar collared the man before he could rig the gas cylinder.”
“But if you were on Corregidor?”
“Ship to shore radio to Lito's contact in Manila!”
Before Carlos could inquire further, his wife exclaimed, “Who would want to do such a thing? Kill us, I mean?”
“It's me they're really after, I'm afraid!” Lechaim said. “But you have, it seems, got in the way!”
“Who are they?” Carlos asked.
“Tonight, it was one man, the same one that tried to kill me on Corregidor, but he's obviously working for an organization!” Lechaim replied.
“But why do they want to kill you?” Carlos enquired..
“I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with what happened to me in Ireland.”
“Revenge, you mean, by the IRA?” Eva chimed in.
“Possibly, but I'm still not certain. After all, there was no proof that the IRA was involved that night. That's why I want to take this man alive.”
“Alive!” Eva exclaimed. “But you don't mean you were thinking of killing him?”
Lechaim's answer made her blood run cold. “This man is evil, Eva. He would gladly have blown you and your family to kingdom come if Lothar and Lito hadn't stopped him! Yes, I’ll kill him if I have to!”
Carlos got them all a drink and poured another for himself while Lechaim then told them of how his day had unfolded. While Lechaim was telling his story, Lito joined them looking sheepish and Angelina immediately began fussing over him.
“Where's your doctor friend?” Carlos asked. “I wanted to offer him a drink!”
“He's gone! Didn't want to get involved, so to speak!”
Carlos nodded and then turned his attention back to Lechaim who was telling of his adventures on Corregidor.
“But what caused the explosion?” Lito asked.
“An unexploded shell I would guess!” Lechaim said. “There must be thousands lying around on the island. Something set it off! The heat of the sun probably!”
“Lucky for you though!” Carlos answered.
Eva shuddered as she realized that Lechaim could still be lying on Corregidor now, and she began to tremble as the thought crossed her mind that they too would have been killed but for Lechaim's friends. Eva had been thinking a lot about Lito and his menacing companion these last few minutes. Rough, diamonds they might be, she concluded, but she had so much to thank them for. Like most Latins Eva was a person that reacted on pure emotion and she could not contain herself now.
Lito saw Eva approach him and became apprehensive, mindful that Angelina was sitting on the arm of his chair with her hand resting on his good arm. Was her sister about to make a scene, he wondered. It therefore came as a surprise when Eva bent over him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Thank you!” Eva whispered. Thank you, so very much, Lito!” Before Lito had quite recovered from the unexpectedness of her action, and thought to respond, Eva had passed on.
Lothar standing impassively to one side, with his arms folded across his chest, looking like a huge genie that had just popped out of a bottle, suddenly found her gazing up at him. “Thank you! thank you, Lothar!” Eva said in that low quite voice of hers, “so very much for giving my family back to me!” and she placed her hand on his arm, reached up on tip toe and kissed him on the cheek too.
Like many big men, Lothar was really a marshmallow inside.
“Okay pretty lady!” he growled as his eyes watered and he shuffled his feet. Watching the graceful woman walk away, he vowed that if anyone were to hurt these people, particularly the angel that had just kissed him, he Lothar Hartmann, like Lickum say on phone earlier, “would kill them slow”.
Lothar would be putty in her hands now, Lechaim thought as he watched Lothar's reaction to Eva's genuine gesture of appreciation. It's strange how some women can have this affect on men; a desire to protect while others can bring out the worst in a man's nature. Then something else stuck Lechaim as odd, Lothar hadn't sworn since the Regas had returned home, some sort of record for him.
“Look! I think we'd better get Lito to bed!” Lechaim suggested.
“Yes,” Eva agreed. “Angelina, take him to one of the guest rooms!” Lito tried to protest but Angelina would have none of it. An arm around him for support, Angelina led Lito away.
Eva caught Lechaim looking at her with that amused look on his face again.
“Well, hero” she said, “and what are you staring at?”
“Hey, pretty lady!” he mocked, “don't start on me. Bad men, I can handle, but you're something else!”
She stuck her arm through his. “Come on, help me tuck the boys in!”
Looking at them, Carlos realized that Eva was as close to Lechaim as he and it warmed his heart.
Turning to the incredible hulk lurking at his side, Carlos stuck out his hand.
“What my wife said, it goes for me as well! Many thanks!”
“Okay!” Lothar replied as he gripped the hand he had been offered feeling suddenly like part of the family.
“Want a drink?” Carlos inquired as he tried to get some feeling back into his hand.