Page 98 of Hell to Pay

He straightened at last and said, “Two hundred.” In English, which the first man translated.

“No,” I said, and moved to put it back in the bag. I was bitterly disappointed, but I was angry, too, and my anger gave me courage. Dr. Becker was beside me, but I had no idea where our guide was. Standing back, probably, not wanting to be involved. But she’d get a cut. Of course she would. And why not? She was connecting a buyer to a seller, after all.

“Offer more?” the first man asked the other in English. “Thing’s got to be worth at least a thousand to the right guy, because those stones are the genuine article.”

“Hell,” the second man said, “it could be worthfivethousand to the right guy. Maybe more, but I only have a few hundred on me. That’s some kind of royal piece, or maybe taken off some filthy-rich Jew. I’ll bet she stole it and has no idea what it’s worth. Tell her three hundred, and that’s our final offer. If she doesn’t bite, we take it. I’m not letting this one get away.”

Silence for a moment, and the first man said, “I told you, I don’t do violence.”

“Aren’t you lucky, then,” the second man said, “that I do?” His voice was smoother now, but somehow worse than ever.

“We’ll have to change spots, we do that,” the first man said. “And there are witnesses. The woman knows who I am.”

“So?” the second man said. “We get rid of her and find another one. Plenty of them out there.”

“I don’t know, man,” the first man said. “That’s awful risky.”

I said in German, keeping my voice level with a major effort, “We’re leaving now.” I put the brooch in my pocket, put my left hand out for Dr. Becker, and found his sleeve. I could feel, somehow, that he was rigid. Tense.

“I don’t think so.” The second man had something in his hand now. A knife. “Hand it over.”

My hand came out of my pocket fast. It was holding Frau Heffinger’s knife, which I’d grabbed the second I’d let go of the brooch. I didn’t think, I just slashed at his face with all the speed I was capable of. Somehow, I got him on the forehead—he wasn’t a tall man, but short and squat, like a troll—and he called out, turned, blood streaming down his face, and slashed blindly with his own knife.

I’d already jumped back. I had hold of Dr. Becker’s sleeveagain, and we were running. Our guide came out of the shadows ahead of us and didn’t say a word, but started running, too.

Chest heaving, throat burning, I ran, expecting any moment to feel a hand on my shoulder, a knife cutting my throat. But it didn’t come, and after ten minutes or so, when my side had a stitch like a knife wound itself, the three of us came to a gasping halt.

“What have you done?” the guide asked me in distress. “Why?”

I told her what I’d heard. I couldn’t see her face well in the darkness, but her voice was shaky when she asked, “He said that? That he’d get rid of me?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I speak English.’

“You do? How?”

“The same way most people do,” I said. “I was taught. We can’t stop here. Keep going.”

Dr. Becker said, “You’ll be found.We’llbe found.” He was still laboring for breath, and I could hear the fear in his voice.

I said, “Nonsense,” and kept hurrying along. My heart was still hammering with effort, but I wasn’t afraid anymore. The anger had taken care of that. “What will he say? That he tried to rob me? What about whenIsay that he tried to rape me?”

“It would be a lie,” Dr. Becker said.

“Yes,” I said, “and one I’m quite happy to tell. But they’re not going to tell anyone. How can they, without implicating themselves? And I’ll be on a train in the morning anyway.”

“We should have taken their money,” the woman said. “You should have taken his knife once you sliced him, so we could have made them give us their money. They must have hundreds. A thousand, maybe. A thousand American dollars!”

“That would be a good idea,” I said, “if I were a thief. ButI’m not. Just a common everyday vigilante with a very sharp weapon and a very bad attitude. Never get into a knife fight with a cook.”

“Are you a cook, then?” the woman asked.

“No,” I said. “But I knew one.”

“Oma,”Alix said.