“Do him!” whispered a slut in the front row, who was sporting a swollen black eye.
The saber lifted in a last, desperate attack, but Kahla was in under it, arm and wrist straight in the perfect lunge. His blade went in under the fifth rib on the right side, sliding through clothes and skin, flesh and muscle, piercing the heart. He twisted his hand as the blade was withdrawn, doing irreparable damage, blood gushing from the long, narrow wound.
Gatewood dropped his useless sword, which clattered on the deck, loud in the breath-held stillness. The setting sun concealed his deathly pallor as he slumped to his knees. “Tell my father, Judgethat” Then he fell facedown in his own blood.
“Get our winnings, Jak,” Ryan said in a normal conversational voice.
THE SIX FRIENDS SAT around a plain Amish table in the roulette room, each with a large crystal glass of finest imported brandy in front of them.
Diego Kahla stood opposite, his own balloon glass raised in his left hand, right hand still holding Doc’s bloodied rapier. He peered down at the delicate fluted engraving on the Toledo blade.
” ‘ No mesaques sin razon, no me envaines sin honor.’ ”
Doc smiled. “It means”
Kahla bowed. “I know what it means, my dear comrade. ‘Do not draw me without good reason and do not sheathe me without honor.’ I hope that I followed those rules.”
“Indeed you did, my dear fellow,” Doc said. “Most wonderfully well. It was an honor to watch you at work.”
“And you made us a fistful of jack,” Ryan said with a grin, lifting his glass.
“I made a small profit myself,” Kahla admitted. “Though, as you might expect of a mongrel like Gatewood, his appearance grossly exceeded his value. But” he shrugged “I am wealthier than I was this morning.”
He turned to Doc, offering back the rapier. “I would gladly pay a small fee for the hire of the sword, Doctor. No? Most kind. Perhaps you will dine with me this evening?”
Ryan answered for them all. “Sorry. Got an invite from the captain tonight. Got to go get ready soon.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
BUT IT WAS NOT TO BE.
His undoubted skill as a duelist didn’t save Diego Kahla from the thin flensing knife in the back that took his life at some time during the dark hours of the night.
His bloodless, naked corpse, already prey for fishes, waited to be spotted by the dawn watch, bobbing along the overnight mooring of the Golden Eagle , floating among the empty bottles and rubbish.
Chapter Sixteen
Ignorant of the man’s murder, Ryan led the others through the maze of stairs and corridors to the main saloon to dine with Captain Melville Huston. The oil lamps glowed bright gold along the passages, bringing out the rich colors of the heavily padded furniture.
In the gambling rooms the brilliant chandeliers threw their electric light over the green baize, heightening the crimsons and yellows of the playing cards that flickered across the tables. The whirring of the roulette wheels and the constant ebb and flow of conversation from gamblers, whores and dealers almost drowned out the pounding of the stern-wheel, driving the boat along to her evening berth.
On the way down to eat, they passed the roped-off staircase to the upper grand stateroom. Two sec men in smart suits stood alertly at the bottom of the stairs, and Ryan, glancing sideways, saw two more armed men at the top, in front of a locked door. Whoever was up there ran a tight force and was seriously into keeping hold of his or her privacy.
Ryan picked his way through the noisy throng, reaching the dining room a little before the hour of seven. The head waiter’s name was Eduardo, printed in dark Gothic lettering on a neat white card on his lapel. He was heavily built, swarthy, with a pronounced Mex accent and dressed in a smart maroon tuxedo.
He looked disdainfully at the casually dressed group, glancing down at a list on a small table. “You would be Mr. Ryan Cawdor and party?”
“We would.”
“If you would care to walk this way?” He led them between the half-full tables, stepping with a peculiar gait, tight at the thighs and loose at the knees, feet in polished pumps turned outward like a duck.