Show EAN S 7 I 1 iq fa r conspiracy TRE THE b 1 BRENDA CONRAD TRE THE ass beautiful STORY daughter SO 1744 WIB of m aruie york wealthy ne w S newspaper publisher goes 0 to auert 0 on an a for her rather paper al also 0 0 on R the are pete wit ie PO T r ter on 1 her fathers lat 11 paper PP now n a U 8 t army intelligence t mieuel valera a puerta rican educated in the united states state whose orders to report to an army camp were ere ab raptly cancelled Rich atil taussig Tau an en engineer elneer hose identity as ag a german cerman agent Is inspected gus peeled but not yet proved and ru tell sell porter a yount Amerl american c an eno engineer nees md and his hi wife sue pete Is 13 6 suspicious u s of 0 valera but when they quarrel flu arrel over him anne thinks it Is because pete peta li Is jealous of her valera CHAPTER X lie he sat completely stunned as she got up and made her way through the crowded tables out onto the street no one had more than glanced up as they would naturally glance up at hair like that in a latin country in a corner of his mind pete was aware that she was like that if she had to make a scene in in public nobody would be aware of it there was something in breeding then suddenly he found himself getting very angry if that was all the sense she had to hell with her lie he picked up his fork and took a mouthful of the tender aromatic dish in front of him it stuck in his throat like a lump of wet dough and he had to struggle to get it down ile he had to get out of there he thought and go find her she responsible for what shed been saying she probably even know what shed been telling him anyway it sale safe for her to be out on the streets in in the dark poverty and squalor and unrest did strange things to even innately kind and gentle people he signalled signal led the waiter paid the bill and got out as unobtrusively as he could not until he was on the I 1 sidewalk did he think of the man who had been watching them at the end of the bar ile he looked back taussig was gone he at any of the tables some kind of deeply rooted instinct stirred inside pete returned he turned and hurried burned up to his parked car the man watching it got up from the running 9 board and opened the door did you see the young lady pete asked askern hoping to god the man understood english la senorita rubia he asked pete nodded the man smiled and pointed up aupp the street then he shrugged she had gone up the street that was all he knew pete made that much out of his spanish also that she was beautiful A ai bonita kept going round and round in in his mind as he drove through the narrow streets and dimly lighted alleys A couple of soldiers with the armband of the military police had seen her crossing allen alien street but the two standing on the corner of brau street had not seen her maybe she took a ii i i sir sir one of them gug suggested helpfully pete nodded of course it was what she would do he told himself nevertheless he drove on around the plaza again she was probably out at the granada by this time she a child she might even have gone back to the restaurant tau rant he drove down the hiu hill again the man on the curb watching the cars shook his head she come come that way pete turned left at the next net corner and started out toward the granada anne went blindly up the street it was true she thought all of it was true but not what shed been saying to pete wilcox miguel valera was a puerto ato rl ri can that meant that he was a citizen of the united states and whatever his devotion to his father in in times like these with his country putting it had into defense if he for it lie he was against it at they had cancelled his army orders and they have done that without reasons they were probably watching him furthermore and pete wilcox wilco was probably one of those doing it that was why he was at the meeting the night before she stopped short suddenly sud derly aware that the street was aier almost dark empty except for a few P pe L ole sitting in unlighted doorways an and d that she che had no idea where she was they must think I 1 im razy crazy anne anna thought she started walking again listening to the hollow echo of her heels on the pavement the people she passed in the doorways stopped talking as she went by AU all movement or sound seemed to be centered in herself it if she put her h hand a nd out she knew she could touch t the he rich pregnant silence all about her she sha came to a comer looked along the street with no som ense of familiarity croc crossed sed over and went up a hw hiu toward the light on the ext intersection it was noisier now she hesitated looked back and stopped abruptly A mart man was goerg along alon the street shed just crossed his white trouser legs flapped ground around h his ankle s as L ho he walked it was taussig and along quickly in the ho he was going street looking first to 0 one e side S li if lie he wag afraid aid then to the other as of something t that hat might spring out rf of the dark opened doorways door wa s for ha in instant a chill finger ser t touched her h heart she stepped back into the shadow sil adow of a shop OP door and waited ile he seen h her ile e 1 see that far anyway ay she ehe realized rea i the th significance enin cance of his thick ri i glasses fully occurred to her until she saw him peer ajl myopically into the mirror behind the he bar before he turned ed and spoke to her she knew now that lie he haan hadn t seen her from the pier or up the hill in front of the forta leza iza it was an armor of invisibility that gave her a quick impulsive courage or rather a foolhardiness verging merging on sheer madness even then she hesitated the phosphorescent glow of the rising moon softened the solid planes of the ancient spanish facades pressing close against the cramped side walks and shimmered darkly laiq aid on the glazed cobblestones cobblestone s the street was empty and yet sh she e had an eerie sense that it was not empty a sense of the shadowy substance ot of life rhythmically pulsating of unheard voices and watching eyes and unseen feet echoing softly through the night from some strident periphery diminishing waves of noise and color beat in until only their muted overtones seeped through into the narrow street it was the first time anne had had the feeling that san juan was a completely foreign city as foreign as paris or marseilles or tunis all the veneer that made it part of the new world was gone just then all except the disappearing figure of mr richard oil A L the cat came silently out from the he dark recesses taussig at the intersection below her and the cigarette ads plastered in m the window in front of her she crossed the road went down back the way shed come turned the corner and slipped into the shad owed rectangle cast by buildings gs against the rising moon mr taussig was going along on the sidewalk now almost at the end of the block looking up at the doorways As anne started to go farther along he turned and came cam e back she stepped deeper into the shadow A man came around the corner looked at her and walked on looking back twice before he turned into a doorway anne stopped stepped back still more with a vague feeling that she might be running a serious risk and yet a definite feeling that she go not until shed at least seen where taussig was going ile he had stopped and gone back again anne saw him look at a shuttered balcony ov over er an arched entrance that must have been for a carriage or coach in the old days theu the he was wa gone almost at once and she saw the dark oblong cluse close behind him the man who had passed her came out on the sidewalk again ile he was standing there looking at her she realized with a little shock that in spite of bevc everything ry mr Taus sigs presence in the street had been an unconscious protection A sudden panic of terror gripped her constricting her throat making makin g her body taut and as cold as ice the eerie spell of the ancient streets was gone an acute sense of physical danger ald taken its place she had an almost ove overwhelming rw heLming impulse e to turn and run QS as fast is as she could and controlled it sharply it was the most dangerous thing she could do she clenched her fists tightly to ma make ke her hands stop trembling and forced herself to mo move ve quietly and at a reasonable pa pace ce toward the corner perhaps it if she crossed the street out of 0 the shadows she took a step toward the curb and stopped A man fhe bhe noticed before was moving along the other side sae ot of the str street beet going quickly in the di taussig had gone ile he had come out of no door shed seen or heard open but it that so much as a vague sense ol of familiar familiarity she caught her breath sharply and moved back into the shadow again all her terror forgotten aware only of a sudden nauseating sinking of her heart it wa was 3 miguel ile he was going to the same place that taussig had gone to she knew that even before lie ho stopped at the arched entrance she went forward a little hesitating hc silat aware that the impulse shed had to follow mr air taussig had not come in relation to miguel she want to know any more now a all 11 SI she I 1 e wanted to do was get away il as s quickly as she could she took two wo more unsteady steps and be came aware then with a shock of abject fright that the min man been watching her was beside her saying something she know what all she knew was that th the shadows were suddenly olive alive and and horrible and then she was running breathless her heart pounding running toward miguel into what it matter so terrified that she could not hear her 0 own w n footsteps or those behind her overtaking her before she could reach the door and miguel and safe ty she put her liana hand out fumbling for the knob there was none nothing but a blank painted wall a narrow rectangle set in one of the leaves it gave as she pushed against it and she stumbled in and thrust it to behl behind nd her pressing the weight of her body against it she closed her eyes listening desperately pera tely there was no sound nothing either inside or out only the pounding of her heart in her ears she opened lier her eyes and looked ahead of her the faint silver light from the sky sifted down into a shadowy inner courtyard beyond the dark tunnel of the archway the only sign of life wai a cat walking slowly across the cobbled yard its eyes like red coals as it passed into the dark she could see another arched passage on the other side of the court with an iron grille in front of it perhaps the two men had gone through there she hesitated not daring to go forward not knowing A faint fresh odor of cigar smoke seeped through the heavy musty dankness of the tunnel her heart skipped a beat there was no mistaking it and they were there then instantly everything changed again she took a step forward her hand touching the cool smooth pa tina of the stone wall and crept along beside it slowly and soundlessly until she got almost to tho the end she could see sec the stone stairway leading up tip to the first floor gal lery the cat c came a me silently out from tha dark recesses and went up the steps the fragrance of the cigar smoke was plainer now but as far as anne could see there was no light anywhere her body went suddenly tense as she heard a sound somewhere above tier her as if somebody had moved a chair across the floor she se slipped to the other side of the tunnel measured the distance between her and the stone stairway and crept silently along the wall under the shadow of the overhanging eaves she put her foot out gingerly to be sure tile the cobbles under the steps were smooth and solid she took another step forward and put out her hand and for an instant everything reeled horribly her hand touched something soft and alive and when she tried desperately to tear it away it was caught miguell miguel I 1 she tried to scream but her voice was strangled in her paralyzed throat annet annel annel it is miguell she know how long it was before the sound got through to her all she knew was that shed stopped struggling and that lie he was holding her tightly against him for a moment before he released her slip sho leaned back against agali the cold stone wall trembling convulsively trying to keep from being sick she see him but she could feel his body close to hers and his hh hand holding her wrist steadying her he whispered then ho he said between his teeth that damned cat it was against her ankles purring soft softly ay she wits was numbly aware of it and of its eyes like tiny burning opals shining up at her miguels Ml guels grip on her wrist relaxed his hand slipped down taking hers holding it tightly i be quiet his voice was hardly a breath against her hair the Th thhyra cyra y I 1 re coming anne turned hothead her bead in the dark A little gasp broke from her throat as the meaning of it came to her in a blinding flash of understanding miguel was watching them too watching taussig what he had been doing in his room she put her hand up to her cheek it was wet the tears pouring out of her eyes and running down her cheeks miguel whispered gent ly suddenly miguels miguela fingers contracted sharply on hers they were coming now she held her breath and waited A door opened thero there was the sound of footsteps on the wood floor of the gallery and of quiet vo voices ices they were coming down the stairs their heels grating on the worn stone TO BE |