Twelve Hours To Destiny Read Online Free PDF Page B

agonisingly, he pulled Kellaway’s inert weight further into the brush. The burning car would make an excellent beacon and he knew it would not be long before someone came out from Kowloon to see what was wrong. He swore softly under his breath. The last thing he wanted right now was publicity of any kind.
    Kellaway groaned, stirred weakly, then opened his eyes, staring up at Carradine for a moment uncomprehendingly. Then he put a hand feebly to his head.
    “Just lie still for a minute,” Carradine said sharply. “Once you feel that you can walk, we’d better get the hell out of here. That blaze will be seen for miles.”
    “What was it? A bomb?” muttered the other, clenching his teeth as a spasm of pain lanced through him.
    “Something like that.” Carradine nodded grimly. “The enemy is evidently playing for keeps. Though how the hell they knew I was here...”
    “They have men watching the port and airport.” With an effort, the other pushed himself up on to his hands. “They have their ways of knowing who comes into Hong Kong.”
    “Then the sooner we get out of here, the better.” Bending, he helped Kellaway to his feet. “This is a damnably bad start. Now that they know I’m here it will make things a hundred times more difficult and dangerous.
    “You’ll have to lie low once we get to Victoria,” gasped the other as he forced himself to keep pace with Carradine. The thorn bush was tearing at their arms and legs now with every stumbling step they took, but they were past caring. Their bodies were numbed from shock and pain and behind them they left drops of blood on the black earth.
    Half an hour later, they entered the outskirts of Kowloon. Down by the docks, the last ferry to Hong Kong Island lay at the quayside, a smooth, sleek, modern bustle. Already, the decks were becoming crowded, mainly with Chinese. They both looked highly conspicuous, but there was nothing else for it but to mingle with the thronging crowd and hope that the enemy, whoever they were, had taken it for granted that the bomb had done its work and their charred, unrecognisable bodies now lay in the smouldering wreckage of the burnt-out car.
    The journey across the channel to Victoria was a nightmarish one. Carradine stood by the rail, feeling the cool, salty air touch his stretched body like a balm. He sucked in great gasping lungfulls of air and tried to divorce his mind from his body, to ignore the pain. He was conscious of the packed crowd all around him, hemming him in. He was thankful that, so far, none of the enemy had put in any appearance. In this crowd it would have been utterly impossible to move an inch and he and Kellaway would have been sitting targets. But the journey passed without incident. Scarcely anyone gave them a second glance.
    For the time being, he was entirely in Kellaway’s hands. He knew nothing of this country. Here, there could be danger every minute, every inch of the way and he would not recognise it before it was too late. Kellaway on the other hand had lived out here long enough to be familiar with the scene and he had readily fallen in with the other’s plan to get him into Victoria and under cover for the next two or three days until he found his feet and had been able to formulate a plan to get into China. Whatever happened, it was of the utmost importance that he should make his move as soon as possible; before the tenuous trail which might lead him eventually to Chao Lin grew too cold to follow.
    *
    Standing under the shower, Carradine hesitated for a moment, gazing down at the dark purple bruises and the long, red weals on his naked body, then he reached out for the valve and turned the water on, gasped as the needle jets struck his body, stinging every muscle and limb. He could just hear Kellaway rummaging around in the other room, pulling open drawers and closing them again.
    Carefully, he soaped himself down, washing off the grime and congealed blood. When he had finished and was