Chronicles of the Secret Service (7 page)

‘A revolver would make too much noise, my dear friend. Besides, I am so much more efficient with a dagger. I fail to see why you consider me a fool because I have shown you I possess this admirable weapon.’

‘Oh, I didn’t say you were a fool because of that. You are a darned fool, though, to let me know you aren’t packing a gun,
because I am
. Get me?’ As he spoke, he whipped out his revolver, immediately covering Yumasaki, who shrank back with a gasp of sheer consternation. ‘I see you realise yourself now,’ commented Carter, ‘that you are, or were, a fool.’ Swiftly he placed himself between the Japanese and the door. ‘Now get this, Yumasaki. I am not afraid of a revolver making too much noise. In fact, it would be all to my advantage to fire, especially now those infernal fireworks outside seem to have stopped going off. Any attempt on your part to call for help, or any aggressive movement and you get yours. Savvy? Now
sit down in that chair.’ He indicated the one he had vacated. Yumasaki hesitated a moment then obeyed. ‘Drop that dagger on the floor at your feet and kick it towards me. Come on; get a move on!’ as the Japanese again showed hesitation. Carter was reluctantly obeyed. The knife came slithering across the carpet. He bent, still keeping his eyes on the other; picked it up with his left hand. ‘This will make a nice little curio to take home, I guess. I wanted one of these.’

Putting the dagger under his right arm, he backed towards the door. Not for one moment did he take his eyes off Yumasaki as with his left hand behind him, he felt for the key, which he had already noticed in the lock, and turned it.

‘Now,’ he observed, ‘you’re going to talk, and talk fast.’ He returned to his prisoner; sat down opposite him. ‘Take those glasses off. I don’t like them.’ He was obeyed. ‘Place your hands on your knees. That’s fine.’

Yumasaki’s face was a paler yellow than usual. He looked a very much frightened man.

‘Who are you?’ he muttered.

‘Shall we dispense with my name?’ suggested Carter, in the exact words previously used by the Japanese. ‘It really does not matter. You made a pretty bad blunder in not reckoning that I might be armed, didn’t you? I guess you’re mighty sore about that now. Well, let us get on. You’re going to spill the beans about this secret service racket, get me? If you refuse, or I think you’re not coming clean, I’ll shoot. I can do it without the slightest trouble coming my way. In fact, I’ll probably earn the thanks of the government for removing a pest. Commence right at the beginning, and get a move on.’

Yumasaki was cornered, and he knew it. The dice was heavily loaded against him. Moreover, he felt quite certain the other would not hesitate to shoot, were the slightest excuse given him and, unlike most Japanese, Yumasaki regarded his life as his most precious possession. He must have long since decided that the man who had so completely turned the tables on him was not merely an American mercantile officer but, if he still wondered who he was, he refrained from making further attempts to find out. The expression on his captor’s face warned him that questions might be decidedly injudicious.

At first, in response to Carter’s demand, he strove to temporise, but as he became aware, to his vast astonishment and increased dismay, of that young man’s knowledge, for Carter let him know the full extent of his information regarding Yumasaki’s previous activities, he apparently came to the conclusion that it would be safer and wiser to open out completely. Perhaps he still nursed a hope that his opponent might be destroyed and himself rescued before the former could divulge the facts he was forcing from him. Whether that was the case or not, Carter learnt all Sir Leonard Wallace was so anxious to discover. Of course, it remained to be verified, but the British Secret Service agent had little doubt that it would prove entirely correct. Suggestive movements of his revolver every now and again brought vehement assertions from Yumasaki that he was telling the truth – as well as beads of perspiration to his brow, despite the fan, at fear of his imminent end.

He had returned from Japan on a steamer with half a dozen compatriots of the Secret Service. They had been smuggled ashore in bales of merchandise, and had spread themselves among the
dancing saloons, five of which – the Fan Tan, Macao, Nanking, China Doll, and Canton were actually owned by Yumasaki, having been bought with money supplied by his superiors in Japan. The China Doll had been his actual headquarters but, aware that his connection with that establishment had become known, he had transferred his residence and all articles or papers of an incriminating nature to the Canton. A suite of rooms above the actual dancing hall had been transformed into a flat, which included a secret chamber in which he worked and kept confidential documents. The acting proprietors of the China Doll, Fan Tan, the Macao, the Nanking and the Canton were all in the pay of Japan, each of them having been compelled to work on his behalf by threat of the revelations of unsavoury incidents in their past lives of which he possessed proof.

‘Very nice too,’ commented Carter when he had forced all this from the reluctant spy. ‘So the address you gave as your headquarters, when you were first found out, was just a blind, and the papers discovered there phoney!’

Yumasaki nodded.

‘How is it,’ he ventured, ‘you are so well informed?’

‘Ah! How am I?’ mocked Carter. ‘You sure would like to know, wouldn’t you?’

The Japanese clasped his hands beseechingly.

‘Please do not give me away. After all, if you are in truth an American ship’s officer, it is no concern of yours what is happening in Hong Kong, which is British.’

‘I kinda like the British,’ replied Carter, ‘and I guess I’ve no time for the Japs. And don’t you think I’m some sore about that nice little execution you planned for me?’

‘That was only – only a joke,’ Yumasaki told him hurriedly. ‘Surely, sir, you could not think I would seriously intend any harm to you.’

Carter laughed outright at that.

‘Fruity,’ he chuckled, ‘distinctly fruity! And, of course, this dagger was really meant as a little surprise present for a guest you held in high regard?’

‘How was I to know whether you were trustworthy or not? When the China Doll told me about you, I thought I had better see you, since the information she conveyed to me sounded most ominous. There was the suspicion that you might be a public spy. The dagger was for my own protection.’

‘Sez you,’ jeered the pseudo-American. ‘There’s just one thing more I’d like to know. Did you make inquiries to substantiate my statement that I was the second officer of the
Seattle
?’

Yumasaki inclined his head.

‘Directly the China Doll told me about you,’ he acknowledged, ‘I caused Guttierez to telephone the customs office. He was informed that the
Seattle
was in, and that in spite of the fact that there was diphtheria on board, one of the officers had come on shore. Guttierez was even able to obtain a description which tallied with you.’

Carter smiled. He could trace the forethought of Sir Leonard Wallace in that.

‘Very accommodating customs they must have here,’ he murmured. ‘No doubt, they are anxious to find a man who broke quarantine. Naughty me!’

Yumasaki could not understand this flippancy. He eyed Carter doubtfully.

‘You will get into severe trouble,’ he declared in a tone that implied a certain amount of satisfaction.

‘I will, won’t I?’ agreed the other cheerfully. Then he became stern once more. ‘Look here,’ he demanded, ‘what has the China Doll got to do with this racket of yours? I’m darn sure you haven’t any hold over her to force her to fall into step like Guttierez and the rest.’

‘She is to be my wife,’ explained Yumasaki, as though that in itself was complete reason for the girl to take part in his espionage activities. Suddenly an idea seemed to occur to him. He leant forward, his eyes alight with renewed hope. ‘Listen, my friend,’ he begged, ‘I will make a bargain with you. Forget all you have learnt tonight, give me my freedom, and you can have the China Doll. I will abandon all claim to her.’

Carter shot to his feet, the dagger falling from beneath his arm as he did so.

‘Why, you miserable rat!’ he cried, disgust and indignation mingling in his voice. ‘You worm! I’ve a darn good mind to plug you offhand for that. So that’s the kind of noble lover you are!’

He raised the revolver threateningly. Yumasaki apparently thought he actually meant shooting him without further ado and, either in a desperate attempt to escape the bullet, or with the intention of making a bid for life and liberty, launched himself forward from the chair at Carter’s legs. His action was so apparently unpremeditated and sudden that the Englishman was taken by surprise. He was unacquainted with the tricks of ju-jutsu. Before he could step aside, his ankles were grasped, and the next moment he found himself flying over the prone form of the Japanese, to land with a crash behind him. Immediately,
Yumasaki had grasped the dagger, jumped to his feet, and darted to the door. Carter had been badly shaken by his fall, but he had not relinquished his hold on the revolver. He struggled into a sitting position as the Japanese was turning the key.

‘It’s no use, Yumasaki,’ he cried. ‘If you don’t come back, I swear I’ll shoot.’

For answer, the fellow flung the dagger at him. Carter threw himself aside only just in time, and the weapon stuck quivering in the wall beside him. At the same time he fired. Yumasaki screamed with agony; collapsed to the floor with a smashed leg. Carter rose to his feet, shook himself, and hastened across the room. He locked the door again, as excited cries reached his ears from outside.

‘You brought this upon yourself,’ he observed severely, looking down at the groaning man, writhing with pain at his feet. ‘If you had behaved yourself, you wouldn’t have been shot.’

He pocketed the revolver, dragged Yumasaki to the couch, lifted him upon it, and set to work to do what he could to ease his leg. There came a deafening clamour – fists beating upon the door, voices raised in Chinese and other languages, and other noisy sounds expressive of consternation and anger. Apparently it was known by his henchmen that the Japanese did not carry a revolver, and they had rightly conjectured that the man who was to be killed did, and had used it. Carter took little notice of the row. He had torn a strip of material from Yumasaki’s garments and was temporarily bandaging the wound, making a mental resolution at the same time, to learn ju-jutsu. Presently he was surprised to hear the shouts outside change to cries of consternation. The drumming on the door suddenly ceased.
Then the handle was turned, followed by a loud, authoritative knock.

‘Open this door,’ came a command in English, ‘or we break it down. The game is up, Yumasaki.’

Carter grinned.

‘You hear that, Jap?’ he asked of the groaning man. ‘I guess the police are here.’

‘Are you there, Carter?’

The young man recognised the anxious voice of Sir Leonard Wallace, and grinned more broadly than ever.

‘Coming, sir,’ he called.

The next moment he had unlocked, and thrown open the door. Several police, headed by Sir Leonard and Superintendent Ransome, poured in. Behind them, Carter caught a glimpse of the pale, troubled face of the China Doll. He smiled reassuringly at her, and joined Wallace, who was standing by the couch, regarding Yumasaki with deep satisfaction.

‘I’m afraid I had to shoot him, sir,’ he announced regretfully. ‘But he would play about with daggers.’

‘Thank God, you’re safe,’ observed Sir Leonard. ‘The little lady almost caused me to believe we’d find you dead, though I must admit, knowing you, I had more confidence in your ability to remain alive. Still, there were anxious moments.’

‘Did she fetch the police, sir?’ asked Carter.

‘She did, and at a good deal of risk to herself, I should imagine. All right, Ransome, Yumasaki is quite helpless. Carter and I will take care of him. You had better carry on the good work.’

The Superintendent of Police saluted, and hastened out of
the room with his men. Sir Leonard proceeded to tell Carter that, directly after their telephone conversation, he had got in touch with the Commissioner of Police, with the result that Superintendent Ransome immediately proceeded to the Canton with a dozen men, and surrounded the place. Sir Leonard had joined him there. The China Doll was seen to emerge and had gone off in a sedan chair, accompanied by a gigantic Chinaman, who appeared to be more of a guard than an attendant. They had been followed. When a quiet spot had been reached, the China Doll had ordered her conveyance to be put down. Then before her custodian could stop her, she had slipped out, and had started running along the road. She was chased, but the police tracking her had cut off her guardian, and had arrested him. She had been conducted to Sir Leonard and Ransome. It had been her intent, it transpired, to run to the Central Police Station, a courageous notion that could hardly have succeeded. When they gathered from her story that a young American was in deadly danger, they had broken in. Carter noticed the girl standing by the door, went to her, and took her hand.

‘It was fine of you to think of helping me,’ he acknowledged. ‘I’m terribly sorry I had to shoot Yumasaki, but—’

‘I am very glad,’ she interrupted surprisingly.

‘You’re glad?’ he echoed in amazement. ‘But I thought you loved him.’

‘I hate him!’

She said this so vehemently that Sir Leonard heard, and turned to regard her curiously.

‘Thereby seems to hang a tale,’ he commented. ‘Come and sit down,’ he invited her. She approached him shyly; accepted the
seat he indicated. He turned back to the still groaning Japanese who had been too much concerned with his own troubles to listen to the conversation going on round him. ‘I’m afraid I can’t let your injury put me off, Yumasaki,’ he pronounced sternly. ‘If you expect any consideration from me you must confess everything – and now. You know who I am?’

The spy raised pain-stricken eyes to his.

‘Yes, Your Excellency,’ he groaned. ‘You are the governor.’

‘The governor?’ cried the China Doll in tones in which awe blended equally with surprise.