Midnight Never Comes - PC 04 (v5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and hazel eyes.
    'Mr. Chavasse, sir?' she said enquiringly, 'I've come to change the bed linen.'
    'It's a hell of a funny time for that, isn't it?' Chavasse said.
    'It should have been taken care of this afternoon, sir, but I believe you left word that you weren't to be disturbed.'
    He grinned suddenly. 'I was forgetting. You're new, aren't you?'
    She moved past him into the flat and nodded. 'That's right, sir.'
    Chavasse closed the door. 'And what might your name be?'
    'Peggy, sir.'
    She had a faint Irish accent and smiled, colour staining her cheeks. Chavasse was suddenly aware of his nakedness and grinned. 'Sony, but you caught me in the shower. I'll leave you to it.'
    He returned to the bathroom and stepped back into the shower. His stomach was aching for food and he faced the rest of the evening with pleasant anticipation, wondering where to eat, going over the possible choices one after the other in his mind.
    He turned off the shower, stepped out of the stall and was at once aware of a strange sound in the living-room. He paused, frowning, then wrapped a towel about his waist and went through quickly.
    Peggy was in the act of closing the front door and in the centre of the room stood a large laundry basket on rubber wheels. She turned and catching sight of Chavasse, smiled.
    'Oh, there you are, sir.'
    Chavasse nodded at the basket. 'What on earth's that thing doing in here?'
    'The basket, sir?' She smiled and put a hand on it. 'Oh, the basket's for you, sir.'
    The man who stepped in from the bedroom was of medium height and at least fifty with a kindly, wrinkled face. He wore white overalls and carried a Webley with a silencer fitted to the end of the barrel.
    'Just lie down on the couch, hands behind your head, sir,' he said briskly.
    'For God's sake,' Chavasse said. 'What is this?'
    Peggy produced a flat black case from one pocket of her overalls. She opened it, took out a hypodermic and primed it briskly.
    'Much better to do as he says, Mr. Chavasse.'
    Chavasse took another look at the Webley and lay down on the couch. She came close, bending over him so close that for a moment he was aware of her perfume and then she pulled the towel away with a quick gesture and he felt the needle enter his right buttock.
    Whatever it was, it was good, he had to give them that. It had roughly the effect of a rather soft blow from a hammer and he dived into dark waters.
    He drifted up from a well of darkness and something exploded inside his head as a hand slapped him across the face. He felt no pain, that was the extraordinary thing. It was as if his body no longer belonged to him. Each sound seemed to come from somewhere in the middle distance and yet he could hear everything with the most astonishing clarity.
    He opened his eyes slowly. The room was festooned with giant grey cobwebs that stretched from one wall to the other, and undulated slowly. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply, fighting back the panic that rose inside him. When he opened them again, the cobwebs had almost disappeared.
    He was lying on a single bed against one wall of a large, square room. A shaded light hung down from the ceiling and curtains were drawn across the window. The only other furniture was a small table and a single chair which stood in the centre of the room.
    Peggy, the Irish girl, was deep in conversation with a large man in an ill-fitting blue suit whose snow-white hair was close-cropped to the skull. They were speaking in Russian, and the girl's accent, while not wholly perfect to the trained ear, was still extremely good. The man was obviously Russian born, Georgian from the sound of him. Another man stood at the open door. He was of medium height, but heavily built with fair hair and an impassive face. He wore a neat white jacket of the type affected by medical orderlies in hospitals.
    'You're sure he's all right?' the man in the blue suit said. 'Eight hours is a long time.'
    'There's nothing to worry about,' the girl said. 'The dose was