Bill for the Use of a Body Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’d rather die.’
    She was standing just below Julian; so had he had any ammunition for his pistol and been able to nerve himself for such a terrible act, he could easily have put a bullet through her head. Instead of wasting words to tell her that he couldn’t, he cried, ‘Do as I say! Come up to me. Not by the window. Get up on the table and I’ll pull you up. That will be quicker.’
    With sudden resolution the girl put one foot on a chair and the other on the table. But in her haste she slipped, lost her balance and measured her length on the floor. As she did so Julian subconsciously registered the fact that she was much taller than he had thought when looking down on her, and a strong, well-built young woman with long shapely legs. Next moment she had regained her feet and scrambled up on to the table.
    She had locked the door before dragging the writing desk across it, but the howling Japanese outside had just fired a burst that had shot the lock away. As the desk was not a very heavy one there was not a moment to be lost. The girl held her arms high and went up on her toes. Reaching down, Julian found that he could get a comfortable grasp on her wrists. Next moment, as he took the strain, he realised that when he had told her to let him pull her up he had both forgotten the wound in his forearm and greatly underestimated the dead weight of such a big girl’s body. Tensing his shoulders, he heaved todraw her upwards. A sharp pain shot through his arm and blood from the reopened wound began to flow down to his wrist. Only by gritting his teeth and exerting his utmost strength was he able to lift her clear of the table.
    Staring up into his face, the girl sensed his sudden doubt of his ability to drag her through the skylight. Her bright blue eyes wide with terror, she yelled at him, ‘Pull me up! Don’t let them get me! Pull me up. For Christ’s sake pull me up!’
    For an agonising two minutes that seemed an eternity Julian strove to raise her further. His muscles hurt intolerably and big beads of perspiration had broken out on his forehead, but he could not raise her even another few inches.
    The sound of cracking wood now mingled with that of the blows from rifle butts on the door. The girl cast a swift glance over her shoulder. She saw that the writing desk had been forced back and that the Japs now had the door a little open. Frantically, she screamed at Julian, ‘You bloody fool! If you hadn’t the strength to pull me up you should have let me go out through the window. Oh, make an effort! Save me from them! Save me!’
    Sweat was running into Julian’s eyes, his heart felt as though it was about to burst, but she seemed to weigh a ton and it was all he could do to hold her dangling there.
    With a yell of triumph the leading Jap forced his small body through the partly open door. In two springs he had reached the table and seised the girl by the legs. As she tried to kick herself free she gave a last despairing wail. ‘Drop me! Drop me and shoot me!’
    Julian did not wilfully let go her wrists. The extra strain of the Jap pulling at her legs and her kicking out tore them from his grasp. She fell with a crash among the crockery on the table but slid off it on to her feet. Too utterly distressed and horrified at the failure of his attempt to get her out, Julian temporarily forgot that he wasexposed to a bullet and continued to stare down through the open skylight.
    Three more Japs had charged into the room, their faces sweaty from their exertions and the alcohol they had drunk. One of them struck the girl in the eye with his fist. With a moan she went over backwards on to the sofa. Almost as she fell the whole pack was on her. One of them ripped her blouse down from the neck, exposing one of her fine breasts; another put his foot on her stomach and, grasping her skirt with both hands, tore a large strip of it away, revealing her long slender