The Killer Touch

Nine

“Take off his shirt, Bunny.”

Rolf’s voice dipped into the well of unconsciousness and drew Burt upward. He felt fingers clutching at his shirt like a tiny trembling animal. He caught the aroma of perfume and another heavy, musty odor. His chest was laid bare and caressed by the quick moist breath of the woman. Her fingertips left damp tingling tracks on his flesh and he could smell the high electric tang of her sweat. She was trembling, excited at this approaching opportunity to mortify a man’s flesh. Her nails raked his shoulders needlessly as she pulled the shirt from beneath him; he heard the voiced exhalation from her nostrils and felt his stomach harden.

“I think,” said Rolf musingly, “that I will let Ace begin.”

“But he ain’t awake.”

“He’ll wake up when you begin.”

Still Burt kept his eyes closed. A spot of warmth touched his stomach, then pain gouged his nerves and ripped a blazing path to his heart. His eyes flew open; he saw Ace with sweat beading his forehead, bending over him with a lighted cigarette. Bunny knelt on the other side, her lips slightly open. She was bent forward at the waist, pressing her palms to her stomach as though in pain. Rolf sat in a chair and looked down at Burt through half-closed lids. His taped wrist hung from a sling around his neck.

“What did you do with her?” asked Burt.

Rolf raised his brows. “Typical cop. With his first breath, lying flat on his back, he begins the interrogation.” He paused. “Do with whom?”

“With your wife.”

“You’ve got a problem, haven’t you, Burt? Can’t you get my wife off your mind? Okay, let’s trade information. I’ll tell you where she is, and you tell me where the diamonds are.”

Burt shook his head, and Rolf waved his hand at Ace. “Go on. Who told you to stop?”

Again came the fiery jolt of pain, and it took all Burt’s energy to keep from crying out. He sent out the tendrils of his thought, gathered up a thousand red-hot needles of pain and drew them up into his brain. He compressed them into a ball and probed it, gauged it, rolled it around, felt it loosen up and flow through his mind with a syrupy sweetness. His fingertips went hot and tingling, as though they were shooting off electricity. The room rippled in the yellow lamplight, then resolved itself into a pattern of glowing lines. The lines dissolved and flowed into a redness so brilliant it hurt his brain; the redness became purple, then green, blue and yellow, as though a series of colored silk veils were being drawn across his eyes. He felt himself sinking into a sweet, warm bath. He was a mind and no more; his body was cold unfeeling clay.

Rolf’s voice reached down again:

“I envy you, Burt. I don’t fear death, but pain drives me insane. How can you ignore it?”

Burt fought to avoid returning, but the act of fighting defeated him. His chest felt as though a thousand burning splinters were stuck into it. The concrete floor beneath his bare back was slick and cold with his sweat.

“You don’t... ignore it,” he gasped. “You... change it.”

“Interesting,” Rolf mused. “Hold on a second, Ace. I’ve got an idea. Bunny, go get that overgrown adolescent, the daughter of the cleaning woman.”

Burt tried to sit up, but his hands were bound above his head and anchored to something immovable. His feet were stretched wide apart and tied to the bedposts. He was trussed up like Gulliver in Lilliput. He lay back amid a fresh outpouring of sweat.

“What... do you want with her?”

Rolf smiled at him. “Obviously pain isn’t your weakness. But you have another vulnerable point; you’re emotionally hung up with other people.” Rolf laughed. “That’s a weakness I don’t have. Go on, Bunny.”

The woman sighed and rose from her knees. “You’ve hardly started with him.”

“He won’t talk, Bunny. Keeping quiet is his life insurance.”

“Can’t Ace go?”

“Go, dammit! You won’t miss anything.”

When the door closed behind her, Rolf waved to Ace. “Light another cigarette.”

Ace frowned. “I don’t get it. You said—”

“I said he wouldn’t talk. From March I want something else.”

“This is crazy,” grumbled Ace as he lit a new cigarette off the old one. “What else can you get out of him?”

“He knows. Don’t you, Burt?”

The pain came again, and through a mist of shifting colors, Burt thought: Sure I know. You want to hear me yell and plead. But when I do you’ll lose interest in me; you’ll be disappointed because another person had turned out to be weak and controllable. And you’ll go on looking until you find a man who’s stronger than you, and you’ll say to him what you’ve been saying to everybody else. Kill me if you can. And you’ll be relieved as hell when it finally happens...

The pain was gone, and Burt heard Rolf repeating his question. “You know what I want, Burt?”

Burt said, “You want to make me mad.”

“Oh, very good, And why?”

“So... so I’ll try to kill you.” He tugged at the ropes. “Turn me loose and I’ll give you a show.”

“Not yet, March. You’d mark me, and I have to meet some people tonight. After that... there’s nothing I enjoy more than a fight to the death.”

Burt curled his lip. “You and a lot of other people. As long as there’s some guarantee it won’t be your death.”

“I can guarantee that myself,” said Rolf.

“You... you’re disgusting, Rolf. You strip yourself of ten thousand years’ civilization and call yourself a higher being. You’re a throwback; your only advantage is that other people are civilized. In a primitive society the tribe would’ve stoned you to death.”

“Or made me king,” said Rolf quietly. “Let’s leave off the cigarettes, Ace. The smell of burning flesh is beginning to annoy me.”

Ace sat back on his haunches. “I watched him in the club while I waited to snatch Charlie’s body. Rats drive him nuts.”

“Do they?” Rolf eyed Burt a moment, then shook his head. “No, it would require too much apparatus; a live, starving rat and a metal box. Besides, the idea of using animals to torture men offends me somehow. Only man has earned that privilege—”

A scream of pain cut him off. Burt stiffened, then realized it was a man’s voice. The scream came again; faded to a low sobbing moan. Rolf looked at Ace and jerked his head toward the door. “Get him quiet.”

After Ace had gone, Burt said, “Charlie’s nightmare is still around, it seems.”

Rolf frowned. “Another hitch in the plan, I’m afraid. We had a young man driving the car. He caught a bullet from one of the ambassador’s bodyguards.”

Ace came in panting. “He’s out of his head, boss. I found him outside; he didn’t know he was on an island. He was gonna give himself up and get a doctor to look at him.” Ace shrugged. “He pulled the bandage off and got the blood going again. I don’t think he’ll make it through the day.”

Rolf chewed his lip a moment, then stood up. “Stay with March. I’ll see if I can help the kid.”

Ace sat on the bed and smoked in short, nervous puffs. Burt watched him, reflecting that Bunny had been gone a long time. He hoped Maudie had followed orders and gone to the cave.

Ace got up and walked to the window. He stared out at the blackness.

“Worried about the murder rap, Ace?”

Ace whirled. “Why should I be? Bunny—”

“Sure, she killed the ambassador. But if you’re caught, she’ll say it was you, and you’ll burn. Nobody believes an ex-con.”

“Nobody’s gonna get caught. Rolf is smart.”

“Smart, yes, but he’s not normal, Ace. He doesn’t figure profit and loss like you and me. He’s got his own balance sheet, and you don’t know what’s on it.”

“I know there’s two hundred and fifty grand on it. That’s enough.”

“Maybe that’s what Charlie thought, too. He didn’t expect a knife in the chest.”

“Ahh, shut up.” Ace turned back to the window, showing Burt his massive back.

“Why did you think Rolf picked this island to make the split? One by one he’ll cut down the percentages. First Charlie, then Hoke or the kid there—”

Ace whirled, his face twisted. “Shut up! I told you—”

Bunny opened the door and looked around. “Where’s Rolf?”

“With the kid. What about the girl?”

“Couldn’t find her. The old lady said she took off during the excitement. She wouldn’t unbar the door, but I peeked in and saw she was alone. I’ll go tell Rolf—”

“Stay with gabby. I’ll go.”

Bunny sat on the bed and lit a cigarette. After a minute she stood up and nudged Burt’s arm with a slippered foot. “Want a drag, baby?”

Burt gazed up the twin white columns of her legs, past the short revealing beach coat, and saw the teasing’ half-smile on her face. “No, thanks.”

“Come on, settle your nerves.” She squatted down and brought the cigarette toward his mouth. At the last minute she reversed it and jammed the glowing tip between his lips. Burt felt the lash of pain and spat out the burning sparks.

“You hate all men, don’t you, Bunny? Is that why you killed the ambassador?”

“Him! I killed him because he was a pig.” She moved out of sight behind his head. “If you’re curious, I’ll tell you how it happened. Ace and the boys were coming in at ten, see? I was supposed to keep the old guy busy. At nine-fifty he was watching TV, and I came up behind him like this.” Burt felt her fingers stroking his hair. “I rubbed his greasy old bald head, I kissed him like this—” moist lips touched Burt’s forehead “—then I did this—” Burt shivered as she blew in his ear “—then this—” Burt stiffened at the touch of cold metal against his temple. “And I went... BANG!”

Burt jumped. Bunny threw herself on the bed and whooped with laughter.

“You’re as crazy as Rolf,” he said.

She sat up and brushed the hair from her eyes. “Sure. That’s why we make a good team.”

“I’ve seen your type before, Bunny. You hang yourself up with a destructive man knowing damn well that he’ll wind up destroying you, too. What motivates you? You want to die?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but Ace came in and slumped down on the bed. His face was greenish-white. “Jesus!” He shook his head slowly. “I went over there.” He swallowed. “Rolf is talking to the kid like a father. Telling him everything’s gonna be all right, that he’s gonna take care of him. And all the time he’s got this little thin wire, running it through his fingers, and... you know what he’s gonna do?” Apparently Ace had his limits.

Burt felt his stomach twist. When had Godfrey’s guitar strings disappeared? Yesterday afternoon. Then Rolf had planned something like this...

Bunny jumped up and started toward the door. Ace caught her arm and threw her across the bed. “He doesn’t want you.”

Bunny bounced up, her eyes blazing. “Don’t get any macho ideas from last night. I take orders from only one man,”

Ace shrugged. “So go over. But he’ll throw you out He said he wanted to be alone.”

Bunny sighed and lay back on the bed. She looked at the ceiling and sighed. “Men,” she breathed in disgust.

Minutes passed. Ace jumped up and paced the room. He jammed his fist into his palm. “I don’t understand the guy. Why does he drag it out?”

“I told you why,” said Burt.

Ace took a step toward him. “I warned you, fuzz—”

He stopped as the door opened. Rolf walked in with a light step, his eyes bright. He pointed a finger at Ace and jerked his thumb toward the door. “Weight him down and put him in the launch with Charlie. I’ll dump them both at the same time.”

Ace merely stared, and Rolf added: “If you see Hoke, tell him the kid died from loss of blood. He would’ve anyway.”

Ace nodded and went out, walking like a somnambulist. Rolf lowered himself into a chair and closed his eyes; he seemed calm and sated, like a lion who has just devoured a heavy meal.

“The girl is obviously hiding out,” he mused. “She grew up on the island, she could stay hidden for hours. I could bring in one of the others, but that would take time. I’ve got to leave here in an hour.” He stood up and walked to the window. “Those manchineel trees; I’ve heard that their sap does violent things to a man’s eyesight.”

Burt had an idea; he moaned softly. “You... wouldn’t blind a man;”

Rolf looked down at him and scratched his chin. “I wonder if I’ve found another weakness.”

“Going blind is a hard knock for a detective,” said Bunny.

“Hmmm. Yes.” Rolf reached inside his shirt and pulled out a knife. He held it out to Bunny, hilt first “You’ll have to slash the bark to get it.”

Bunny, went out with a flash light and returned five minutes later with a medicine bottle full of milky fluid. They knelt beside Burt, one on each side.

“Hold his left eye open,” said Rolf.

Cool fingers pried his twitching lids apart; Burt looked up into an emerald green eye with an iris splintered with gray. Her pupil was half-dilated, but he knew she wasn’t drugged. She didn’t need drugs...

Rolf held a medicine dropper above his eye. Burt stared at the glistening globule which appeared at its tip, saw it tremble and fall—

Ahhhh!

There was no need to pretend pain. It burned like acid. Burt thought of the old island doctor who’d told him the blindness was temporary, not much worse than poison ivy; he writhed and struggled and recalled that the old doc had been drunk when he said it.

“A last chance, Burt. You can save one eye.” Rolf paused, then: “Okay, Bunny. Hold it, there...”

The pain was worse this time, double. Burt squeezed his eyes shut and stared into a fiery redness like the pit of a volcano. Molten rock spurted up and lashed his brain. Ah, but something else was down there, cool and black. He groped downward with all his being, entered the blackness. Peace. He curled up and went to sleep.