The Two Faces of January Read Online Free PDF Page B

business.”
    â€œI would like you to know that I am armed. I should not like to have to take you away at gun-point.” The Greek agent’s black eyebrows came down in a puzzled way as he looked at Chester.
    Chester shrugged, not moving from where he stood. He was glancing around the room, however, as if he might find a weapon in some corner with which to defend himself.
    The Greek walked quickly towards the telephone.
    Chester darted for the bathroom.
    â€œStop!” the agent said. “I have a gun!”
    Chester glanced behind him, saw the man running towards him with a gun pointed, and calculated that he wouldn’t use it. He leapt to the tub edge and yanked the window up. It was sticky and moved only about eight inches.
    â€œChester!” Colette cried.
    The man pulled at Chester’s jacket tail, and Chester looked over his shoulder, raised his left foot and kicked backward, catching the fellow in the pit of the stomach. He got down from the tub edge, and, before the man could straighten up, Chester hit him on the back of the neck. The man’s forehead banged against the rim of the basin. Chester swung him up again, hit him on the jaw and knocked him into the tub. He started to pull him up for another blow, and realized he was out cold.
    Chester stood with his fists clenched, panting.
    â€œMy God!” Colette was standing in the bathroom doorway. “You’re all right, darling?”
    Chester nodded. He picked up the agent’s gun, which had fallen on the bathroom floor. A drinking glass had been knocked down, and there were pieces of glass on the tiles. Chester kicked one nervously with the side of his shoe.
    â€œI’ll clean that up,” Colette said.
    â€œGot to get him out of here,” Chester murmured, “before that other agent—there’s another one downstairs.”
    â€œReally?” Colette gasped. “Let’s see. The balcony?”
    There was a balcony outside their windows that ran the length of the hotel. “No. He’s going to come to in a couple of minutes. I’ll think of something. Start packing us up, will you, honey? We’ve got to get out of here tonight.”
    Colette hurried out of her dressing-gown, pushed it into a suit-case and grabbed the skirt of a dark suit that was hanging over a chair.
    â€œI’ve got it!” Chester said, and took one of the man’s limp arms.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThere’s a store-room down the hall.” Chester heaved the man across his shoulder. “Red light over it. Saw it one night when I was looking for a loo and you were in the tub. Uff! Guy’s heavy.” Chester staggered across the room with him. “Take a look in the hall. See if there’s—”
    Colette nodded and quickly opened the door an inch or two. “Someone at the elevator.”
    â€œDamn,” Chester said, and tightened his hold on the man’s wrists. “He’s going to come to before I can—” But that tub was hard, Chester realized, and so was the basin. In fact, the fellow could be dead. With this thought, Chester’s strength ebbed, and he let the man down gently to the carpet. He was about to say something to Colette about feeling for a pulse, when Colette said:
    â€œIt’s okay now. Nobody in sight.”
    Chester summoned his strength and hoisted him again. Dead or not, he thought, the store-room was the best place for him. If he were dead—Well, Chester had never seen him before. Someone else had killed him. The man had never knocked on his door, never said a word to him. Chester went on towards the door with the little red light over it, praying it would be open as it had been before.
    Then, from around the corridor corner in front of him, the other agent appeared, and stopped short in surprise. Chester stared at him, paralyzed. The young man’s mouth had opened slightly, and Chester saw the start of a faint smile—of