The Venetian Affair (52 page)
Read The Venetian Affair Online
Authors: Helen MacInnes
Tags: #Suspense, #Mystery, #Romance, #Thriller, #Adventure
“Look out!” Holland shouted from the window, and fired. The man’s long revolver, grotesque and grim with its silencers, lifting slowly, painfully, clattered back to the floor.
Holland jumped into the room, side-stepped out of the flow
of moonlight, circled toward the door like an alert and capable terrier flushing out a rat. “He’s had it,” Holland said very softly. “No more strain.” He took a deep breath. As Fenner rose, he switched on the light. They stood half-blinded by the naked bulb’s jagged glare. “It’s Kalganov,” Holland said unbelievingly. He looked at the doorway, where Rosie stood, revolver ready, his breath coming in sharp gasps. “Kalganov,” Chris Holland told Rosie. “It’s Kalganov!”
Fenner looked down at the man who had almost ended their lives. He had died badly. The handsome face was distorted with his rage to win, the clever eyes staring with savage hate, fanatical refusal; declaring a perpetual war; damning all and everyone to everlasting hell. As it might have been, Fenner thought, as it could have been if this man had won. If the moment of death was the moment of truth, then in Kalganov’s truth there was nothing but menace.
He turned away, started toward Claire. She had not moved.
Holland was saying quietly, “It was a close thing, a damned close thing.” He had picked up Kalganov’s revolver, which he was examining with interest. He shook his head over the bullet he had ejected into his palm. Silently, he showed it to Rosie. Outside in the corridor, there were many footsteps, voices. Let Rosie and Chris deal with all that, Fenner thought as he made his way toward Claire. He felt no triumph in Kalganov’s death. Only a sense of warning. The Kalganovs died, the Kalganovs lived. No end? No peace? Yet this one had been defeated. This one, at least. He wasn’t the first to have been defeated, either. He wouldn’t be the last. They were not invincible—if you knew they existed. If you knew, and faced them.
He stepped over a footstool, pulled aside a chair. His
movements were slow, exhausted, deliberate. And at last he reached Claire.
She had started to rise, and then, as all her strength left her body, sank behind the trunk again, her shoulders drooping, her hand—still clutching the automatic—lying inert on her thigh. Her head rested against the lid of the trunk; dishevelled hair fell over her white face. She had been crying; slow tears still escaped from the dark curve of eyelashes, down over the dust-streaked cheeks.
She heard his footsteps now. She looked up at him; tried to smile, but she couldn’t. He loosened the tight clasp of her fingers from the little automatic, slipped it into his pocket. That’s all over, he thought, all over. He reached down and gripped her waist, raised her slowly to her feet. She said, “Oh Bill—I thought you were dead. For one whole minute, I thought you were—”
He caught her, drawing her close to him. Their arms encircled each other, and held.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Helen MacInnes, whom the
Sunday Express
called “the Queen of spy writers”, was the author of many distinguished suspense novels.
Born in Scotland, she studied at the University of Glasgow and University College, London, then went to Oxford after her marriage to Gilbert Highet, the eminent critic and educator. In 1937 the Highets went to New York, and except during her husband’s war service, Helen MacInnes lived there ever since.
Since her first novel
Above Suspicion
was published in 1941 to immediate success, all her novels have been bestsellers;
The Salzburg Connection
was also a major film.
Helen MacInnes died in September 1985.
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
A series of slick espionage thrillers from the
New York Times
bestselling “Queen of Spy Writers.”
Pray for a Brave Heart
Above Suspicion
Assignment in Brittany
North From Rome
Decision at Delphi
The Salzburg Connection
PRAISE FOR HELEN MacINNES
“The queen of spy writers.”
Sunday Express
“Definitely in the top class.”
Daily Mail
“The hallmarks of a MacInnes novel of suspense are as individual and as clearly stamped as a Hitchcock thriller.”
The New York Times
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless creation returns in a series of handsomely designed detective stories.
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
encapsulates the most varied and thrilling cases of the world’s greatest detective.
THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN
by Daniel Stashower
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
by Manley Wade Wellman & Wade Wellman
THE SCROLL OF THE DEAD
by David Stuart Davies
THE STALWART COMPANIONS
by H. Paul Jeffers
THE VEILED DETECTIVE
by David Stuart Davies
THE MAN FROM HELL
by Barrie Roberts
SÉANCE FOR A VAMPIRE
by Fred Saberhagen
THE SEVENTH BULLET
by Daniel D. Victor
THE WHITECHAPEL HORRORS
by Edward B. Hanna
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HOLMES
by Loren D. Estleman
THE ANGEL OF THE OPERA
By Sam Siciliano
THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA
by Richard L. Boyer
THE PEERLESS PEER
by Philip José Farmer
THE STAR OF INDIA
by Carole Buggé
TITANIC TRAGEDY
by William Seil
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
HOUDINI MYSTERIES
BY DANIEL STASHOWER
THE DIME MUSEUM MURDERS
THE FLOATING LADY MURDER
THE HOUDINI SPECTER
In turn-of-the-century New York, the Great Houdini’s confidence in his own abilities is matched only by the indifference of the paying public. Now the young performer has the opportunity to make a name for himself by attempting the most amazing feats of his fledgling career—solving what seem to be impenetrable crimes. With the reluctant help of his brother Dash, Houdini must unravel murders, debunk frauds and escape from danger that is no illusion...
PRAISE FOR DANIEL STASHOWER
“A romp that cleverly combines history and legend, taking a few liberties with each. Mr. Stashower has done his homework... This is charming... it might have amused Conan Doyle.”
New York Times
“In his first mystery, Stashower paired Harry Houdini and Sherlock Holmes to marvelous effect.”
Chicago Tribune
“Stashower’s clever adaptation of the Conan Doyle conventions—Holmes’s uncanny powers of observation and of disguise, the scenes and customs of Victorian life—makes it fun to read. Descriptions and explanations of some of Houdini’s astonishing magic routines add an extra dimension to this pleasant adventure.”
Publishers Weekly
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
BY DONALD HAMILTON
The long awaited return of the United States’ toughest special agent.
Death of a Citizen
The Wrecking Crew
The Removers
The Silencers
Murderer’s Row
The Ambushers
The Shadowers
The Ravagers
PRAISE FOR DONALD HAMILTON
“Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told.” Anthony Boucher,
New York Times
“This series by Donald Hamilton is the top-ranking American secret agent fare, with its intelligent protagonist and an author who consistently writes in high style. Good writing, slick plotting and stimulating characters, all tartly flavored with wit.”
Book Week
“The appearance of a new Matt Helm story is always good news.”
Chicago Tribune
“Fast, tightly written, brutal, and very good...”
Milwaukee Journal
“With Matt Helm, Donald Hamilton helped start the spy adventure genre. I welcome the reissue of these books so that readers can experience this mythic hero.”
David Morrell,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Murder as Fine Art
AVAILABLE IN 2013
